ISP alternatives

In the days of dial-up modem connections, we had variety when it came to choosing an internet service provider. Of course, this was contingent on us having a local telephone line, which was generally monopolized by Bell, and it was often the case that my phone bill would be higher than my internet bill.  Back in those days, our usage was measured in the amount of time connected, and it was often the case that the smaller companies were more generous with the cost of this time than were the ones ran by large companies.

A 9600 baud modem from the early days of Internet

These days, I pay for bandwidth, because I am always connected with modern high speed internet service. This market became monopolized in my area by Bell and Rogers, because they are largely responsible for the lines that come into our homes, the expense of which have been long paid for by us consumers. It wasn't long before I was paying more for a basic internet connection than I was for my home phone service. Internet based technology advanced to the point where it became viable for telephone and television content to be carried on that internet connection. Recognizing this threat to their existing phone and television content businesses, Bell and Rogers placed artificial caps on their high speed internet service, and have employed "Bandwidth shaping" techniques making the use of online content streaming and telephony services impractical and expensive. In essence, the Internet provides an infrastructure that is good for a frugal person, but what is good for my savings account is not good for Bell and Rogers, and so they play these games with their caps and bandwidth shaping to keep their phone and television content services artificially viable.

The case for alternatives

As it turns out, the lines installed by Bell and Rogers, paid for by people like me, exist on public property, and companies like Teksavvy have successfully argued in court that the use of these lines should be open to competition. As a homeowner, I have paid for the cable and telephone lines running across my property, into my home, and throughout my home, so those are owned by me. This competition is good for the consumer, because a company like Teksavvy doesn't have a traditional home phone and television content division to protect. There is also the fact that Bell and Rogers both have shareholders to take care of; shareholders that don't add any value to me, so the shareholder-free companies can offer the same services at much more competitive rates.

My own ADSL modem, no fees

The first advantage is the fact that alternative companies like Teksavvy allow me to use my own equipment. To put this into perspective, Bell and Rogers browbeat their customers into paying, at minimum, a $4/month rental fee for a modem. $4 a month doesn't sound like much until you realize you can go to Canada Computers and buy a good quality D-Link DSL modem for $30. After seven months, it pays for itself. A common argument is that, if anything goes wrong, you get a replacement covered, but these modems have a one year warranty and usually last forever, so it's pure profit for Bell and Rogers, and pure expense for me. They know it, which is why they'll offer to waive the rental fee for a limited time whenever I complained, hoping I'll forget after a few months.

The second advantage is the reasonable bandwidth cap. With a 300GB cap, I can utilize an economical on demand video delivery service like Netflix ($8/month), which also eliminates the need for a costly PVR. It also provides a viable inexpensive alternative to my home phone. I can get local content in HD with a regular UHF antenna.

A third advantage is the fact that there is no contract. Want to leave the country for a couple of months? Run into some tough financial times, and need to disconnect Internet until finances look better? Call them up and stop service whenever you want, start it back up whenever you want. No penalty to break a contract. Having this option for a plan "B" is very important to me.

Fourth, it is generally less expensive overall. Rogers and Bell may offer a better rate over a very limited short term, but it's usually limited in other respects, like bandwidth capacity. With Teksavvy, it's a good rate that's consistent.

Fifth, services like Netflix and Skype work better, because Teksavvy isn't actively "Shaping" the bandwidth. This opens the door to further savings with alternative home phone service and TV content.

Conclusion

Alternative providers like Teksavvy might not be available in your area, but if they are, it's to your advantage to make use of this Bell/Rogers competitor. If they're not, try to fight for your right to use your own hardware to eliminate the rental fees. In any case, it's always worthwhile to negotiate, because quite often you can realize discounts, even if they're only for a short period of time.