[oclug] Sympatico update

[samper.d at gmail.com]

At the end of the day almost everyone on dsl is controlled by Bell Nexia, the broadband wholesaler for Bell.

The difference is how the middleman treats you. Read ISP.

When I was sympatico they sent out bell nexia (bn) techs.

Now with ncf they send out BN techs but list tech savy as the isp.

My understanding is that each line into a house goes through th DSLAM. Just a matter of if the isp has a service contract with BN to do the work.

The bigger the reseller, eg sympatico or tech savy the better the support.

Imho no reason not to use ncf, save lack of 24 hour support. I can usually wait. Maybe I might even unplug for a weekend. (Never waited longer than 24hrs for support.

Enjoy what ever choice you go with.

Cheers
Sent from my BlackBerry device on the Rogers Wireless Network

-----Original Message-----
From: dman at lanhouse.ca
Date: Wed, 23 Dec 2009 09:42:59 
To: General Membership Discussion List<oclug at lists.oclug.on.ca>
Subject: Re: [oclug] Sympatico update

I was in the same boat as Garth.  It was a total disaster with me as well. 
Billing me when I had no service.  Avoid 3web, cybersurf, etc.

As for Sympatico, my father-in-law is attempting to upgrade from dial-up 
to high speed in the new year (yes he is a little behind the times).  He 
called his current ISP and they checked his two phone lines for DSL 
service.  Both could have the service but there is no space left in the 
DSLAM.  So, he called Sympatico.  They will sign him up no problem.  How 
can that be?  What is Bell doing?  Are they keeping space in the DSLAM for 
Sympatico and screwing the smaller ISPs?  Or maybe they kick off a 
competitor's customer's service to free up a spot for a new Sympatico 
customer?

I advised him against Symaptico because I think Bell is scum.  However, 
Rogers is also scum.

I have only heard good things about Teksavvy but I believe they are also 
at the mercy of scummy Bell with regards to the DSLAM and would 
potentially put him in the same boat as I was in with (in order) Magma, 
IStop, Cybersurf (bought customers from IStop) all of which claimed to be 
screwed by Bell during my times of service.

The only thing that works for me (and yes it is kind of a deal with the 
devil) was to get Rogers and then host my email with another company.  And 
the only way to get competitive pricing from Rogers is to threaten to quit 
once a year to get a "customer retention" deal.  And yes, every time I 
call, I feel a little bit dirty having to deal with the devil.


Good luck with what ever you choose.  I have not found a satisfactory 
solution.

Dennis


On Wed, 23 Dec 2009, james terris wrote:

> I also recommend teksavvy.
>
> --- On Wed, 12/23/09, Garth Boyd <garth at fios-software.ca> wrote:
>
>> From: Garth Boyd <garth at fios-software.ca>
>> Subject: Re: [oclug] Sympatico update
>> To: "General Membership Discussion List" <oclug at lists.oclug.on.ca>
>> Date: Wednesday, December 23, 2009, 8:10 AM
>> I would strongly advise AGAINST CIA,
>> 3web, Cybersurf and any of the
>> other names they go by.
>>
>> Check with the BBB first. Also check at DSLreports.com.
>>
>> I was with them (not by choice, they purchased the ISP I
>> was with) and
>> it was a total disaster.
>>
>> I recommend teksavvy. They know how to run a business.
>>
>> G
>>
>> 2009/12/22 Jean-Francois Messier <jf at messier.ca>:
>>> ....or get yourself an email account which is not
>> dependent on your ISP.
>>> I have my own domain name hosted in Arizona
>> (GoDaddy.com), and it works
>>> with all ISP's I had over the years.
>>>
>>> Now, switching to another ISP entirely is another
>> option. Sympatico is
>>> known to be more expensive than many others, I use
>> CIA.COM (3web.com)
>>> and I'm rather happy with them. No download/upload
>> cap, a static IP is
>>> available, and no fuss, it works just fine. I may not
>> have the 5 MBPS
>>> that Bell wants to promise me, but thisis likely
>> related to the distance
>>> with the POS than the actual service.
>>>
>>> One thing to do is to test your performance using
>> speedtest.com. Of
>>> course, you won't know the difference until you
>> switch, but for $10 less
>>> per month, it's worth it any time.
>>>
>>>
>>> JF
>>>
>>> http://www.franconerd.com
>>> http://www.messier.ca
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> -------- Original Message --------
>>> Subject: [oclug] Sympatico update
>>> From: Mike <kenziem at sympatico.ca>
>>> Date: Tue, December 22, 2009 9:03 pm
>>> To: oclug at lists.oclug.on.ca
>>>
>>> Just had an automated phone message from Bell
>>>
>>> They are switching mail servers (January 4)  the new
>> servers are pophm
>>> and
>>> smtphm  (hm for Hotmail)
>>>
>>> I tried to get the needed info from the Outlook and
>> Mac instructions
>>> they give
>>> but it keeps failing on password.
>>>
>>> I looked into it a bit more and it looks like it is
>> wanting a windows
>>> live
>>> login
>>>
>>> Does anyone have a work around,  or is it time to
>> find a new ISP?
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Collector of vintage computers http://www.ncf.ca/~ba600
>>>
>>> --
>>> OCLUG general discussion list
>>> OCLUG at lists.oclug.on.ca
>>> http://oclug.on.ca/mailman/listinfo/oclug
>>>
>>> --
>>> OCLUG general discussion list
>>> OCLUG at lists.oclug.on.ca
>>> http://oclug.on.ca/mailman/listinfo/oclug
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> - Garth
>> --
>> OCLUG general discussion list
>> OCLUG at lists.oclug.on.ca
>> http://oclug.on.ca/mailman/listinfo/oclug
>>
> --
> OCLUG general discussion list
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>