hosing a Local Internet Provider
Documenting my search for a pipe to the internet .. High Speed Providers -
I wish - vs standard dialup services .. There are some high speed internet
providers in Lethbridge (30 miles away from my office) but no viable choices
here in my little home town -- whine .. To date, I have settled for the
dialup service offered by the local telco. Recently over used my 100 hour per
month limit and got billed an extra $50 - ouch - hence the incentive to
search for a better alternative.
Background: There are several competing technologies for providing
internet access .. high speed vs regular. Of course, you will need hardware.
I will quickly describe the various pro's and con's and local availability.
So .. current local choices are:
| ADSL | Cable | Satellite
1-way | Satellite 2-way | Dialup
| Other |
ADSL 
Telus ADSL www.telus.net
Cost: about $40 per month plus $190 for ADSL modem purchase. Pro: Always on.
No need for 2nd phone line. Fast .. some 80 times faster than 56K dialup.
Con: Only available in larger centers (ie Lethbridge).
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Cable
Shaw Cable www.shaw.home.com Cost:
About $40 per month plus up to $150 for NIC/setup. Pro: Always on. No need
for 2nd phone line. Claim up to 4 times faster than ADSL .. but you share
bandwidth with others in your neighborhood. Con: Only available in larger
centers (ie Lethbridge). Other
local TV cable providers (e.g Monarch Cable data.monarch.net)
have no current plans to offer cable internet services.
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Satellite (1-way)
Bell ExpressVu www.expressvu.com
Cost: Dish starts at $199, PCI Adapter Kit is $299, then up to $70 per month
(standalone unlimited) slightly less if you also subscribe to (bundle with)
TV services. Con: with 1-way need still need your land line ISP connection as
well -- so you have to keep your dial up service to send out commands and the
result is beamed back to you via the high speed satellite connection.
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Satellite (2-way)
KU Sat www.kusat.com C-Com
www.c-comsat.com
both sell the Direcway (formerly DirecPC) dishes. Cost: Dish starts at
$1300+shipping FOB Ont, $50 one-time activation fee, up to $400 for
installation, $80 per year licencing fee, $150 per month subscription fee
'unlimited'. Pro: High Speed*, Works anywhere in Canada with no phone line
required, transportable (in theory you can take it with you to the cottage
for the summer) Con: A bit expensive for most SOHO's, *caution: some users
report problems achieving advertised connection rates (buyer beware).
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Dialup up to 56K access
Telus www.telus.net Cost: up
to $25 setup, $13 for 12 hours monthly. $22 for 100 hours (if Telus LD
customer, or get 160 hours if AMA member) monthly. Pro: Pay on phone bill ..
no credit card required. Billed month after service provided vs before. Only
month to month contract required. Con: $1.50 per hour for each hour used over
plan maximums. ATT
Canada attcanada.com
Cost: up to $25 setup, $23 monthly for 'unlimited' access. Con: subject to
disconnection at peak usage times, maximum data transfer rates apply. Net
Rover www.home.netrover.com
$20 monthly 'flat rate' ACN
Canada www.acncanada.net
$20 monthly for 150 hours MyExcel
www.myexcel.ca $24 monthly 'unlimited'.
Con: Must pay by credit card and signup under a myexcel representative (kinda
MLM). Databoss
www.theboss.net $30 monthly
'unlimited' access. Pro: local ISP.
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Other What about the freebies? Juno
www.juno.com and NetZero
www.netzero.com offer free internet
access (NetZero also has ad-free option for $10 per month) but the
closest access number is 200 miles away in Calgary. See also www.findanisp.com
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My decision? Undecided at present. ADSL=not available .. Cable
Internet=not available .. Satellite Internet=expensive and unproven (in both
the ISP and technology) .. freebies=not available .. so ..
Toying with staying a Telus dialup customer for now but leaning toward
setting up with the Net Rover dialup $20 monthly flatrate plan. Why?
Lots of little things. Local access numbers. No set monthly time limit. Nice
clean website design. Reasonable access policies (at peak usage time - i.e.
evenings- priority is given to users with least amount of time used in past
month - others subject to disconnection .. seems fair). Demonstrable
understanding of Canada (they knew Magrath was local access to Lethbridge).
Easy sign up page (they get the info via mail form and then call for
sensitive payment info). Online self-serve options for account maintenance.
Initial impression very nice.
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