Aliant (a subsidary of Bell) DSL. With my Linksys Hub, all of our desktop and laptop computers are hooked up via a wire or wireless. The iBook has the best range of all, in that I am able to be in my neighbors backyard and post on ehMac.
The only complaints that I have had with them was that they initially gave me a faulty modem. For the 7 days of frustration they game me a month's rebate on my DSL charges.
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Dr.G.
14" G4 iBook
15" MacBook Pro (July, 2009)
13" MacBooK Pro with Retina Display
Paix
"The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who can't read these books." Mark Twain
As far as the connection itself goes, I have no complaints at all. I'm getting excellent speed, and it's very consistent. I have never had compatability or configuration problems with Mail.app.
On the downside... dealing with Sympatico service drones can be awful. And because of their alliance with Microsoft (and whatever "goodies" this may bring in the future... I dunno, I just feel wary,) I plan to switch to Videotron cable this Spring. As soon as I have finished renovating a room downstairs I'll have a permanent cable connection installed, it's bye-bye Sympatico.
I use Telus ADSL High Speed and am very pleased with the service. I had something go wrong last month, when it slowed down and they sent in a repairman to rewire the entire house to make it perform at optimum speed. All at no cost to me.
Perosonally not a big fan of DSL connections, too many things factor into them working correctly. Any phone installer/bell installer anywhere in the path can muck up your connetion badly, and it's very hard to diagnose it back to the problems (most times it's crosstalk/noise issues that leave you with a barely usable connection).
Also of late I've noticed that the majority of new customers in Toronto area's dsl connections are actually routing out to montreal/ottawa, etc, anywhere but toronto connections, which also leaves me a bit stumped.
Lastly not saying that cable will always be the better option, but in the right neighborhood it's great. In my area (etobicoke), I have the 'ultra' high speed optin, 5 megabit down, 3 megabit up, and I get those speeds very consistantly. Very little network downtime (and if/when there are problems it's usually a large one that is quickly resolved at their end). I've not had to call tech support in 3.5 years I've been using it. Tip: If you go with cable connection, _insist_ they run you a dedicated line from outsite (if possible) for the cable modem connection. That's the most of the magic in it
Well, I was with dsl.ca, which was owned by wiznet which was great.
Then Magma (which is owned by Primus) bought wiznet and service went to hell. We had daily outtages at first--wreaked havoc since both of us work from home, and my husband in particular needs a constant connection.
Service is improving, but we're still thinking of switching. But I'd advise against Primus.
Oh also wanted to add, that before I did the cable stuff I went through 4 local DSL providers, they _all_ had issues for me even though I did have a dedicated clean phone line installed just for them. DSL is still a 'dailup' connection, no matter what they tell you, it just dials up in a different way and is faster (it's a lot like having 20 dialup modems all connected together that work as one unit .. in fact that's pretty much exactly how it works).
Well, I was with dsl.ca, which was owned by wiznet which was great.
Then Magma (which is owned by Primus) bought wiznet and service went to hell. We had daily outtages at first--wreaked havoc since both of us work from home, and my husband in particular needs a constant connection.
Service is improving, but we're still thinking of switching. But I'd advise against Primus.
Just in case anyone is interested, the old dsl.ca (aka. velocet) folks (all the sysadmins and technical people that made it such a great service) are now with http://eicat.ca
I get fantastic business service from them, SDSL ... no issues at all over last 1.5 years and great service as always.
Oh also wanted to add, that before I did the cable stuff I went through 4 local DSL providers, they _all_ had issues for me even though I did have a dedicated clean phone line installed just for them. DSL is still a 'dailup' connection, no matter what they tell you, it just dials up in a different way and is faster (it's a lot like having 20 dialup modems all connected together that work as one unit .. in fact that's pretty much exactly how it works).
The problem with xDSL in general is that it's dependent on a lot of varibles; distance from the central office, condition of the copper loop, any bridge taps, etc. I work on this stuff all day and as good as the technology behind it is the limiting factor is always the length and condition of the copper loop. Well, that and the fact that sometimes the salespeople will sell service to customers who are more than 18,000 feet from the C.O. But that's human error even, dare I say, stupidity.
If you're located 10,000 or less feet from the C.O. you should have no trouble getting good connection with excellent speed. Some older parts of the city where the copper loops were installed in the fifties and sixties may be harder pressed to get good xDSL service just because the copper is old and has generally seen better days. I live about six blocks from the central office and my service with Sympatico High Speed has been fantastic from day one. That was over three years ago. I got lucky though. If I had purchased a house a little further down the road I would have been fed out of a different C.O. and would likely not have the same level of service.
So when it works it works well. When it doesn't it can be a real nightmare.
In my case I was literally < 1000 feet from a main bell switching center .. which should have been great, but that was also the problem, as 10 guys a day were in the boxes messing with the copper out front of my place ... I couldn't keep a solid connection for more than a couple of days at best, until someone decided they needed to bump me across to a new pair or manage to mangle my copper pair in some other means by mishandling of them No less than 3 times within one month they had to redo my copper pairs as they were busted off right inside the box. At least with cable most times it's much lower traffic in and out of the breakouts.
No less than 3 times within one month they had to redo my copper pairs as they were busted off right inside the box. At least with cable most times it's much lower traffic in and out of the breakouts.
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