Best ISP north of Toronto? (Richmond Hill)

[Jonathan Bones]

My wife and I are moving just north of Toronto to Vaughn: just above highway seven on Yonge. While in Scarborough we've been using Bell Sympatico and I have no major complaints. I haven't used Rogers cable internet for years, but know that they're a lot better than they used to be (though still evil just because they're Rogers).

Providing that Bell offers service there, I could pretty much flip a coin to pick between the two. But what I'm really wondering is if there are any decent third-party providers in the area. We don't have many requirements; just a decently fast connection for all the usual stuff. We don't do much downloading, but it would be nice to subscribe to a service that takes their customers' privacy seriously (just on principle).

Any ideas? Thanks!

[plymouthhater]

My wife and I are moving just north of Toronto to Vaughn: just above highway seven on Yonge.

Richmond Hill is NOT Vaughan. Both east and west sides of Yonge north of Hwy 7 are Richmond Hill. Be thankful of that fact. Vaughan has one of the most disfunctional municipal councils in Ontario.

[7jaii]

Search RFD for "Teksavvy" for RFDers' reviews. They rent lines from Bell so connection is the same as Sympatico. Most agree Teksavvy offers good to very good tech service. Everyone agrees they're currently fighting for the little guy (consumer) when other ISPs remained silent on Bell's & Rogers' recent cap & throttling.

In any case, it's your distance from the CO that determines your connection speed and dependability. You should be within range for good service. You can also post your question at DSLReports for feedback - they also have a DSL availability engine - enter your Postal Code and it'll verify if DSL is available at your new house.

Good luck, and I'm selling a Teksavvy modem with free setup :)

[brucedlx]

Rogers is great, but damn it, it's expensive!

Sure, their customer service is not the best but the internet service works so well I RARELY every need it. 99% of problems can be fixed by unplugging the router+modem and replugging them back in.

But, if you like a company that's all about the consumer, then TekSavvy is for you. They have representatives that post answers to most questions in the dslreports.com public user forums. I'm certain they are the only ones that actually do this, big companies like rogers could not even be bothered by such a thing!

Rogers is like a big bully, they keep taking away and they don't care whether or not you like it. First, it was e-mail (outsourced to yahoo). Then, newsgroups (first outsourced to giganews then removed totally). Then, transfer caps (100gb at most). But, they still provide a reliable service, and the FASTEST one (are they at 8mbps now? which translates to 1megabyte per second) which is important for a heavy downloader like me.

Bell is just a mess, I jumped ship long ago and will never return.

[Jonathan Bones]

How long does it take to get set up with them? We're actually going to be moving this upcoming weekend. If you don't get the modem mailed to you, where do you go to pick it up?

But they look pretty good. That's exactly the type of service I was looking for. And the price is pretty awesome (considering that 200 GB/month is plenty for us :lol:). I just wonder whether we'll for sure be eligible for it, as we're moving into a house built in the 50s. (I'm not aware of DSL's technical requirements.) The phone number check checks out, though.

[Jonathan Bones]

Do I need a filter for every jack in the house a phone is connected to, or just for the outlet the modem splits off of?

Thanks.