Boomerang effect: I'm back with Xplornet
My Bell TurboHub "Data Usage Notifications" finally got resolved, but the overage charges were starting to become significant... at $10 per extra GB. I will say that the TurboHub service was excellent, just very pricey. The Rogers RocketHub experiment didn't work out. So I decided to give Xplornet another go, with its 4G service and large download limits.
When I left Xplornet about 2.5 years ago, I did so because I was getting less than 300 Kbps on their 3 Mbps service and no satisfaction from their technical support (i.e. $125 to align my antenna to another tower... or $150 to buy a Bell TurboHub).
But while snooping around for residential high-speed that was either a) lower cost and/or b) higher data limits, I stumbled back onto Xplornet. Their 4G plans started at $45 / month for 1.5 Mbps and 5 GB of data. I opted for their 10 Mbps + 20 GB data for $85 / month, plus an extra 80 GB for $5 per month. Plus there was a small discount for the first 3 months or so.
I've had the service for about a month now. The speeds are kinda all over the place, but they're reasonable and I'm able to work from home, surf the net, watch videos, and play online games without any major hiccups. The 100 GB data limit is great, and blows the doors off of Bell's 15 GB limit. If 100 GB isn't enough, Xplornet's overage charges is $1 per GB. Yup. One dollar. Finally, even once the discounts wear off, I'm still looking at a $30 reduction in my monthly internet bill.
So far, I'm happy with the switch from Bell to Xplornet... until something better comes along.
--Chris
When I left Xplornet about 2.5 years ago, I did so because I was getting less than 300 Kbps on their 3 Mbps service and no satisfaction from their technical support (i.e. $125 to align my antenna to another tower... or $150 to buy a Bell TurboHub).
But while snooping around for residential high-speed that was either a) lower cost and/or b) higher data limits, I stumbled back onto Xplornet. Their 4G plans started at $45 / month for 1.5 Mbps and 5 GB of data. I opted for their 10 Mbps + 20 GB data for $85 / month, plus an extra 80 GB for $5 per month. Plus there was a small discount for the first 3 months or so.
I've had the service for about a month now. The speeds are kinda all over the place, but they're reasonable and I'm able to work from home, surf the net, watch videos, and play online games without any major hiccups. The 100 GB data limit is great, and blows the doors off of Bell's 15 GB limit. If 100 GB isn't enough, Xplornet's overage charges is $1 per GB. Yup. One dollar. Finally, even once the discounts wear off, I'm still looking at a $30 reduction in my monthly internet bill.
So far, I'm happy with the switch from Bell to Xplornet... until something better comes along.
--Chris
posted by Chris Spencer at 9:52 pm
22 comments
22 Comments:
Hi Chris... just came across your blog and recent post as I searched again for solutions to my own rural west end Ottawa Internet solutions (I'm outside Carp, near the 417).
You mention an 80GB bump in cap for $5/month with XplorNet... their site currently shows a 30 (thirty) GB bump for $5. Did you make a typo, or did you negotiate a sweet deal? Overage is also listed at $5/GB.
@Fitz. No, I meant 80 GB. It may have been a limited time offer. Still, 30 GB for $5 ain't too shabby either. -Chris
Hi Chris, I to have been in the Rogers Bell cycle because nothing else works. I tried Explornet, but after the 30 days, all kinds of bandwidth issues cropped up, including not being able to watch any netflix HD.
I had Rogers LTE, but their tower kept having power issues, and it would drop to a distant lower speed tower. They would never fix it permanently, kept saying it will take three to four days for someone to come out and check it. Finally cancelled Rogers without a penalty.
Got Bell LTE, with the same issues you reported in an earlier post. Kept interfering what I was doing with those stupid bandwidth usage notifications. I agree, th cost of LTE is atrocious.
I am from the Telco industry, and I can tell you that the cost to Bell or Rogers is cheaper for LTE then for wired customers. They make massive profit off of LTE Internet customers to fund their wired customers. Thats why in my area, the only movement we saw for wired access, was when Verizon was threatening to move in to Canada. All of a sudden Bell engineers were doing site surveys to wire the area. When Verizon pulled out, everything stopped.
Bell and Rogers will not shoot themselves in the foot as long as they can maximize profit from the LTE Internet service.
I hope an external provider moves into Canada, I would like to see Bell and Rogers either improve their services and pricing, or suffer consumer backlash.
I am trying to see if storm can provide service again, here is to hoping.
Dan
Northwind Communications recently expanded into my neighbourhood (Sierra Woods) and people are signing up PDQ. After Simply Surf went under, there was a huge gap in internet provision waiting to be filled. Tried Bell Hub which worked OK with an external antenna but the data caps were exorbitant. Xplornet has pretty well worn out their welcome here with promising the moon then oversubscribing their service to the point of congestion. So far, everyone I've spoken to who has made the switch to Northwind is pleased with their service. Nice to be able to enjoy Netflix, etc. just like a city person and not pay a king's ransom for the privilege.
I was out of luck with Storm, and I may be out of luck with Northwind. They say if I have trees that they may block the signal since I am near the edge of coverage area. Here's to hoping it will work. I seem to be hoping a lot lately :-)
I was also told by Bell today, that they cancelled bringing wired to the area because of rocks... I asked them why they need to dig, since all the need to do is update the node on the corner, and use the new copper that's here already. It looks like they did not want to use copper since we could use any provider. With fibe to the home, they can lock us to their limited/costly plan. With copper, I would have gone with TekSavvy.
Hi Chris
Are you using the fixed wireless plan?
I'm currently using Bell Turbo Hub. Or should I say barely using since I like to keep the bill down.
I also looked at the plans and it shows addtional 70 GB for $5 bucks (a lot better than Bell at $15 Per)
The only problem may be that when they came out many years ago, they said they couldn't get a signal from the tower because of the trees :(
@Cat, yes, I'm on a fixed wireless plan with Xplornet. When I signed up, in September, they were offering an extra 80 GB for $5. Give them a call anyway; they've changed their network a fair bit in the last few years, so they may now be able to get a signal at your place. --Chris
Hey Chris. I've actually been an xplornet customer for the past year on their business plan (4G fixed wireless in Carp on their top SO-HO plan) and they have definitely improved since their previously horrendous practises. I called them up today actually to find about the package you aren't talking about and switched, however when I called they said there are no overage caps for the "stream" plan or any other residential plan. Instead they throttle your internet speeds to 150kbps for the remainder of the month.. So basically a tad better than dial up. And they don't have an add-on option for additional bandwidth. I switched because no overage and a $50/month savings vs. $5/gb overage meant some money being saved for the same service. But I'm curious where you saw or heard the $1/gb overage fee?
On another note they said overage fees aren't being charged right now anyways until they get everything finalized and we would all get an email when that happens in advance.
Hi Matt. Thanks for the update. I read about the overage fees back in September/October, and Xplornet's offerings have changed since then. Not surprising, since a lot of companies -- not just ISPs -- have monthly specials. Xplornet appears to be aggressively trying to attract new customers and/or get former customers back. --Chris
We moved to the west side of Richmond 6 years ago. There is no cable out here and we started using DSL through Bell. The DSL lines had decent speed but it kept disconnecting. We were told that the reason was that we lived 5.5 km from the nearest hub. After 4 years of this (and many tech support calls to Bell) we gave up and went with Xplornet. The connection is stable but the speeds are horrible. We too only get 300 Kbps download.
We lived with it for 2 years and just recently tried DSL again...same problem. Back to Xplornet we go.
I did call about the 4G service and they said I needed a tower in my yard at a cost of $1,000. Anyone have any experience with this?
Yes, DSL is very sensitive to distance from the central office, although 5.5 km seems a little short (but I could be mistaken).
I didn't have Xplornet require me to put up a tower to get their 4G service, and my service is homed to the Xplornet tower in Kemptville, approximately 15km away. The Xplornet 4G speeds and reliability are pretty good, although it has been a while since I've done a download speed test. My user experience is fine, except sometimes videos don't play without hiccups.
However, Storm did require me to erect a tower to get their service... which I declined.
-Chris
Hey, I had a great time reading your website. Would you please consider adding a link to my website on your page. Please email me back.
Regards,
Joel
JHouston791 gmail.com
Hi, Chris
I too am in the Kemptville area, and am trying to find decent high speed internet. I am currently with Xplornet on their non-4g service, but to get a closer tower I need to upgrade. I am dissatisfied with their sustained internet speeds (0.6 on a 3.0 plan), and was wondering what it is like with your plan.
Thanks,
Robert.
@Robert: I have the 5Mbps/20GB Share plan with an extra 80GB. It's been a while since I've bothered to test the download and upload speeds on my Xplornet service, mainly because I've been quite happy with the service. I work from home frequently using xterm and VNC connections with very rare slowdowns, and I game online without problem. I just ran two download tests in a row on testmy.net and got 1.6 and 3.5 Mbps.
Hi Chris,
I did a search on your blog for any references to EORN, it didn't come up with any results. Lots of good information on where HS will be going in and when. www.eorn.ca
Thanks for the info on EORN, Christian! I'll add a link to it on the blog's main page. --Chris
Hi Chris,
Thanks for all of your information. I live in rural Kemptville and have been an Xplornet customer for years. Last year, I switched to their 4G line of site service and average 3.5 - 4.3 Mbps. For $65/month, I have the new modem and 100 GB limit.
I am considering switching to TekSavvy DSL. I called them and can get 15 Mbps download, with 300 GB limit per month for under $40/month. I do have to pay $120 for a new modem.
Have you or others heard of how well TekSavvy DSL works in rural areas? Will I get that speed. The pricing is great and I am looking for 300 GB, as we recently purchased Apple TV and Netflix (Both of which are fantastic)!!
Thanks,
Mike.
@Mike. I haven't heard much about Teksavvy, other than they are low-cost. I haven't heard anything negative about them.
I haven't looked into them much since they only offer DSL or cable in the Ottawa area. If you can get DSL or cable to your house, then you are not "rural" within the definitions of this blog and you have many options for obtaining high-speed internet.
Apparently, Teksavvy only offers "Sky Fi" (fixed wireless internet) in the Chatham-Kent area, so they don't have much to offer people in the Ottawa Valley etc who can't get DSL or cable.
Good luck, and if you do decide to go with Teksavvy, let us know how it is.
-Chris
Thanks Chris for your reply. I think it is only very recently that DSL has become available in my area as an alternative. I believe I need a tech visit by Bell to upgrade my line to my house and I can then use TekSavvy. I live approx. 7 km from "downtown" Kemptville.
We can get speeds up to 14 Mbps. A neighbour down the street has this service and receives fairly consistent connection speeds. I am monitoring how they feel about the service. If I do make the switch, I will be happy to report back, although I understand it may not help many rural customers that cannot get this service. But I do recommend that people periodically check their home phone number to see if it qualifies.
I would like to add that I have been very happy with my Xplornet internet service. I am near a tower and have always had good connectivity and decent download speed rates for a rural area. Their switch to 4G was a nice improvement. If I do switch it is strictly for additional monthly GB limits and the significantly lower cost for better speeds. But pricing is not my top priority, I will pay more for a reliable and consistent internet service.
Regards, Mike.
Just to update everyone, I'm still with Xplornet, but I've upped my service from 5 Mbps to 10 Mbps... mostly because my kids have discovered Netflix. No issues with service or speed or anything, really. At least for me, Xplornet's 4G service has been great.
-Chris
I'm in south Ottawa and just switched from Bell Turbo Hub as well Chris. It was fast, but twitchy and frankly, WAY too expensive. The tech installed everything and the speeds on the 5mb package are about 2mb during most of the day a solid 5 in the mornings. is this about what you found?
Thanks, Craig
@Craig B, I haven't specifically measured my download speeds on Xplornet for some time. I tend to view things the end-user experience. I work from home (VoIP, on-line meetings, and large file transfers), play online games (low ping), and watch Netflix (low latency/jitter), in addition to normal web browsing and emails. All in all, I am happy with the service.
Price is what drove me away from the Bell Turbo Hub and back to Xplornet. Good service quality is what keeps me on Xplornet.
-Chris
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