xplornet speeds

[zalternate]

Yea. Oppps. I was gong to edit and didn't see it was past time. 

Try these two. Or call support in the 2am hours. Reports of there being better people at that time.

Eddie Drganc - Vice President Customer Care

506-324-6689

EddieD @ barrettxplore.com

Scott Mazerall. Customer Affairs Liaison

ScottMa @ Barrettxplore.com

Oh well. You have 30 days guarantee. Unless it's software based at the source for an actual throttle if the SM is aligned right. Keep a log of your speeds for the month, just in case. A good bargaining tool(be hardcore about it) if your speeds again go to crap after 30 days if you get your speeds fixed now.

[nived]

Yea. Oppps. I was gong to edit and didn't see it was past time. 

Try these two. Or call support in the 2am hours. Reports of there being better people at that time.

Eddie Drganc - Vice President Customer Care

506-324-6689

EddieD @ barrettxplore.com

Scott Mazerall. Customer Affairs Liaison

ScottMa @ Barrettxplore.com

Oh well. You have 30 days guarantee. Unless it's software based at the source for an actual throttle if the SM is aligned right. Keep a log of your speeds for the month, just in case. A good bargaining tool(be hardcore about it) if your speeds again go to crap after 30 days if you get your speeds fixed now.

Waiting on an E-mail back at the moment ive been keeping Logs from day one knowing that Xplornet has problems but my Neighbours both have xplornet same package and are running 1.8-2.1 Normally, something just feels wrong

[zalternate]

Waiting on an E-mail back at the moment ive been keeping Logs from day one knowing that Xplornet has problems but my Neighbours both have xplornet same package and are running 1.8-2.1 Normally, something just feels wrong

Just log in here and do a couple of tests a day. It's a fair Internet based test without any, ummmmmm, discrepancies.  And sometimes the 3Mbps speed is a suggestion. It all depends on what the 'bandwidth to users ratio' is on a tower. Because really, a 3Mbps package should stay above the 1.5Mbps package 24/7.  Not that the CRTC cares. Just look at the circus with DPI and throttling questionnaires going on right now.

[Veritable]

Ok... "dealer here" ... *cough*

From what we've seen... depending on your area, there are a lot of panels full on towers due to specific locations of customers.

There are 2 types of systems you can be on. Omnidirectional and Panel based. If you are on a panel based connection, then you are allowed so many people withing X degree's of the panel to connect to it. if you are on an omnidirectional antenna, then there are X number of users that can connect to it at any given time.

A lot of the problems are due to close over-loading. This month they are upgrading like 8 towers in Alberta alone to the 3.5GHz system (Expedience) or "Advanced high speed" blah.

Anyway, they used to have the same pricing, but now have up'd the cost of 3.5 if you can get it, and made it like a "higher package" even if you cannot get Canopy... personally I can't believe they did it but... i'm 1 voice.

If you dropped down to .3mbps  a few days after install... then something really screwy is happening. Either they're screwing with you, or something has changed in the days after you had it installed. Be it your own doing, someone else putting something up nearby, or Xplornet messing with their system *Upgrading* it.

If you are < 10miles from the tower, and the tower has 2.4GHz available, you want the 2.4Ghz module and the reflector dish (even if it costs like $5) because the 2.4 module is a better unit than the 900. Ya the 900 goes further, but the 2.4 has the bandwidth to do higher speeds. It's even better than the 3.5 units. I don't know why they bought it unless it was just for the "interference" but the 2.4 is way better and more reliable. A lot of the oil companies in the country use 900 and cell communications, so the 2.4 doesn't really affect it.

most of the 2.4 problems I see are with particular types of tree's which completely absorb or reflect the 2.4 frequency because of the atomic makeup. ya it's weird but it's reality. If you are having that much of an issue where you have like a 3mbps connection and you are getting .3mbps consistently throughout a 24 hour period, then it's not them, it's probably interference, or you're "on the border line" of the connection. Remember, 900 is around 15-20miles and 2.4 is around 10 miles. That's the usual limits, some places vary, depending on what other providers are in the area and such, but ... it's a general loose guideline.

We don't "PM" each other with questions that should be placed on the board for others to absorb , Thanks 

[Musher]

Hi,

found your forum today because I wanted to check my speed connexion with Xplornet ..i have signed a 3 year contract last year, on Kazoom , never had a good day with them since last fall .. when I phone, it's "because of the snow", "because of the  rain" and so on ... sonce two weeks I'm experiencing A lot of problem with my speed, this is what your pages just told me :

Your connection is: 745 Kbps or 0.7 Mbps

You downloaded at: 91 kB/s

You are running: 13 times faster than 56K and can download 1 megabyte in 11.25 second(s)

Member Ident: CompID:67977858658

Test Time:: 2009/07/29 - 10:50am

Test Browser and OS info: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

Test ID: BE7O6Z4S3 (if this is a screenshot go to testmy.net to see if this is fake)

Diagnosis ^info^: May need help : running at only 83.52 % of your hosts average (barrettxplore.com)

This was tested from a 1024 kB file and took 11.266 seconds to complete.

Your connection is: 33 Kbps or 0 Mbps

You uploaded at: 4 kB/s

You are running: 1 times faster than 56K and can upload 1 megabyte in 256 second(s)

Member Ident: CompID:67977858658

Test Time:: 2009/07/29 - 10:53am

Test Browser and OS info: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

Test ID: NY615SK9Q (if this is a screenshot go to testmy.net to see if this is fake)

Diagnosis ^info^: May need help : running at only 19.41 % of your hosts average (barrettxplore.com)

This was tested from a 97 kB file and took 24.281 seconds to complete

Sooo.. I just gave one more phone call to the level 1, then level 2, then level 3 , and they told me thay had a "thunderstorm" in Toronto ?!?

I'm living wayyyy north as Veritable is saying, french speaking ( sorry for my mistakes) , I'm north Lac St Jean in the Boreal Forest, no idea where is the nearest tower but boy do I feel lonely with my connexion problem here !!! There is no Ku dishes sold here, apprently the signal doesn,t work that far, only KA ...

[Musher]

ok..just to add some salt... to have that kind of connexion  , for a 3 year contract they made me pay 104.00$ per month ... I just went on their website and saw exactly the same package now offered for 79.00$/month !!!... so, in order to save 290$ per year I just made them change my contract for the new one, I figure with the money saved it will pay the cancellation if a another company show up with internet connexion in my area ....

tested again :

Your connection is: 643 Kbps or 0.6 Mbps

You downloaded at: 78 kB/s

You are running: 11 times faster than 56K and can download 1 megabyte in 13.13 second(s)

Member Ident:Username:Musher CompID:67977858658

Test Time:: 2009/07/29 - 1:03pm

Test Browser and OS info: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

Test ID: 5B42NC0MF (if this is a screenshot go to testmy.net to see if this is fake)

Diagnosis ^info^: May need help : running at only 72.09 % of your hosts average (barrettxplore.com)

This was tested from a 1024 kB file and took 13.047 seconds to complete

Your connection is: 31 Kbps or 0 Mbps

You uploaded at: 4 kB/s

You are running: 1 times faster than 56K and can upload 1 megabyte in 256 second(s)

Member Ident:Username:Musher CompID:67977858658

Test Time:: 2009/07/29 - 1:04pm

Test Browser and OS info: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

Test ID: HRLV5QU1I (if this is a screenshot go to testmy.net to see if this is fake)

Diagnosis ^info^: May need help : running at only 17.92 % of your hosts average (barrettxplore.com)

This was tested from a 97 kB file and took 25.219 seconds to complete

[zalternate]

ok..just to add some salt... to have that kind of connexion  , for a 3 year contract they made me pay 104.00$ per month ... I just went on their website and saw exactly the same package now offered for 79.00$/month !!!... so, in order to save 290$ per year I just made them change my contract for the new one, I figure with the money saved it will pay the cancellation if a another company show up with internet connexion in my area ....

Make sure that they did not extend your contract to a full 3 years again by getting the new price.

Cancellation fee is 25 dollars per month left on contract, to 450 dollars maximum pay out price.

Your speeds are decent for the time of day. Speeds will drop between abouts 5pm to 10pm. Sometimes severely, depending on Telesat Spot beam location(map attached. Click to enlarge). Anik F3 is Ontario and Quebec with two spot beams. It will be replaced by the Anik G1. A new higher bandwidth capacity satellite sometime in 2011.

I am not sure if there is a NOC(network operation center. Satellite ground station) in Toronto. There is a NOC in Vancouver and also Manitoba. Then there are the American NOC's(WildBlue).

Was just looking at the Xplornet packages list. For 'Pro' (on Hughesnet KA), here is the description that you can do with it.... "Excellent for downloading information" . Boy thats good to know that you can go on the Internet and get information. 

[Musher]

Thanks for the reply

yes they did extend for a new full 3 years but I had only one year done, so if I did my maths correctly even if I cancel I save some $ ...Around here, there is absolutly nothing else ( cable, hi speed by phone) except dial up, no way I get back to 28,8 connexion.... .I tried ( unsuccesfully) to get the info of what would be the download limit on that new contract ... is that legal that so many terms are not fullfilled by them when they make you sign a contract with so many empty space ????

[zalternate]

On the Telesat satellite... There is an hourly limit. Meaning that you can download between 12MB's to 36MB's per hour before being slowed down. The variable MB's depending on all the other users online at the same time. And then FAP resets, but will slow you back down if you continue to use slightly too much bandwidth.

There is an unofficial FAP free period overnight.

On the Hughesnet satellite, there is a daily limit. Exceed it and go to dialup speed for about 24 hours. And using the service at the slow speed may extend your FAP jail time.

There is a FAP free period between 2am and 7am eastern time.

There are continuing to be problems with the KU satellites. Power issues and such. Hughesnet has it's own Spaceway3 KA band satellite, and a new KA band, coming in 2012.

Some people like to stir the pot with the 'Shared Bandwidth' B.S. ... If the satellite/spot beam gets oversold? Who's fault is it? It is not the users, thats for sure. 

It would be interesting to know how much bandwidth has been sold to users and how much bandwidth is actually available on the Telesat satellite.

Xplornets contract is one sided. It favors Xplornet and not the users.  But the users are too lazy to fight, Via consumer protections, and will continue to pay each and every month for what at times can be a slow service, until their contract is done.  Some users are lucky and get decent speeds for the times that they are online.  But when people come home after a long day of work and want to surf some webpages? Well thats were the PrimeTime bandwidth issues can come in.

Everyone blames downloaders/file sharers, but when you have to update Windows or update your Protection software, that can eat in to the bandwidth real quick.

And remember that Xplornet is just a reseller of the service. They do not own the satellites. Some people may get confused on that.

But Xplornet does own it's increasing amount of Wireless towers. Many more as of late via Government subsidy's.

New Brunswick's Government has made the contract more fair by removing the  contract term portion. http://www.highspeednb.com/

And Saskatchewan is paying Xplornet around 6 million dollars over about 6 years to brand SaskTel onto the satellite service powered by Xplornet and which ever satellite may be used by Xplornet.

[Veritable]

Kaboom is pointless... drop your package down to the Kazoom cause you will not go above that. As far as the satellite ranges are concerned, I know that really far north is only Telsat. So if that is all you are able to get, then unfortunately that's it.  I mean, there are other KU providers that do have birds up that far north but they are usually large commercial (3meter) dishes, and very expensive.

Whatever you feel comfortable paying is what you should go, because regardless of how much you pay, with telsat you will never reach even remotely close to what it's supposed to be, and you will get FAP'd all the time (Fair Access Policy reduces your speeds till the top of the next hour). From what we've all seen here is that it really doesn't matter how much or little you use it. The Telsat system is just too over loaded to be able to handle the shear amount of people on the system.

In your area, do you have access to good cellular reception with bell/rogers? They have aircards, and their plans aren't cheap for what you get, but you will have way better service than on a KA plus things like youtube will actually work if you have data.

For example, out west:

Telus Mobile Internet Key

$25/mo. for 500MB of data and $0.05/MB overage fees.

$30 for 1GB of data --- same overages

$60 for 3GB

$80 for 5GB

1GB is roughly 6-8 hours of youtube per month. So if they work there, get one. Your latency is only going to be around 200ms sometimes less, and if you have like 3 bars of service on the aircard, then you will be pretty close to the top speed anyway. I know i've hit a top of 2.4mbps on the telus aircard in town but it averages around 1.7mbps.

Just a suggestion. Also, make sure from Xplornet that Hughes KA will not work out there. it is the new KA system, but if you are that far north, then you will not be able to get service.

[Musher]

Thx.. to answer : no, no tower, no wireless, no cell phone around here , as I said, nothing , nada, Xplornet was and still the only way with dial up to be connected ... at this point, I can't afford to change any dish or else, I just want to be able to browse ...

This morning, for the first time in weeks, it's ok :

Your connection is: 809 Kbps or 0.8 Mbps

You downloaded at: 99 kB/s

You are running: 14 times faster than 56K and can download 1 megabyte in 10.34 second(s)

Member Ident:Username:Musher CompID:67977858658

Test Time:: 2009/07/30 - 5:35am

Test Browser and OS info: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

Test ID: 2TJDWHV0B (if this is a screenshot go to testmy.net to see if this is fake)

Diagnosis ^info^: 90% + Okay : running at 90.7 % of your hosts average (barrettxplore.com)

This was tested from a 1024 kB file and took 10.375 seconds to complete

Your connection is: 122 Kbps or 0.1 Mbps

You uploaded at: 15 kB/s

You are running: 2 times faster than 56K and can upload 1 megabyte in 68.27 second(s)

Member Ident:Username:Musher CompID:67977858658

Test Time:: 2009/07/30 - 5:37am

Test Browser and OS info: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows NT 5.1)

Test ID: YBQG3REKW (if this is a screenshot go to testmy.net to see if this is fake)

Diagnosis ^info^: May need help : running at only 70.52 % of your hosts average (barrettxplore.com)

This was tested from a 386 kB file and took 25.844 seconds to complete

[Veritable]

Ok two comments heh.

1) When you do your speed tests in the morning after you turn your computer on and haven't been on since sleepy time... you are probably fap'ing yourself for that hour XD Just because the satellite is full...

2) The speed you are getting is pretty much the average of every single person that is paying $89.99/mo and up. The $59.99/mo. package is actually slower.

Your internet connection isn't "bad", it's just not what you paid for. What you are paying for is like $169 and a 2.0 Mbps. You should technically be getting around 1.2Mbps on your connection on a regular basis on average.

What you could do, is make sure all your stuff is updated on your computer (windows update) so that nothing is going to run. Unplug your modem for like an hour and then plug it back in, run a speed test, see what it does.

If you have done that already, I mean... there's not much they can do because the satellite is full and has been for a little over a year (but it took till last like august to tell us). You could always try downgrading to something like the $79.99/mo. package (Kazoom) which is a 1Mbps, and if your speeds are the same, then you're paying less and getting the same results.

You should be able to browse, but yes, it will be slow. Telesat does not cache on the satellite, so every request has to go out to the web and come back at 500ms+ latency. That is why dialup is faster for browsing, but for anything like downloading an mp3 the satellite will be faster. Tiny little graphics will load faster on a dialup connection because of the lack of the 500ms+ latency. It's a physical limitation of the satellite. The new Hughes KA system caches websites on the server, so if you request a site that someone visited in the last X minutes, it just sends you the copy on the website instead of going to get it from the web (cutting out half the travel time).

[Veritable]

Bah delete this post, I quoted instead of editing

[jondaryan]

This is supposed to be the 1.5 Mbps package from Sasktel (xplornet) and is probably what we average most of the time except in the evenings when it gets worse than this.

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Download Connection is:: 487 Kbps about 0.5 Mbps (tested with 3064 kB)

Download Speed is:: 59 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (Main)

Test Time:: 2010/01/12 - 9:18am

Bottom Line:: 8X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 17.36 sec

Tested from a 3064 kB file and took 51.542 seconds to complete

Download Diagnosis:: May need help : running at only 55.59 % of your hosts average (barrettxplore.com)

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-L3XTNECAR

User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.0.17) Gecko/2009122116 Firefox/3.0.17 [!]

[zalternate]

This is supposed to be the 1.5 Mbps package from Sasktel (xplornet) and is probably what we average most of the time except in the evenings when it gets worse than this.

It's been noted to contact SaskTel first, as it keeps them notified of system slow dows. Since SaskTel is supposedly guaranteeing a minimum speed.

in writing that if you are on Sasktel's 1.5 Mbps package, you should begetting no less than 825 Kbps download speed even during peak hours. If you are not, contact SaskTel.

Office of the President of SaskTel.

http://sasktel.com/forms/email-the-president.html

Sasktel customers--call the Sasktel #1-800-727-5835 and use their menu to get to Xplornet tech support. There are few more steps, but when I did this this morning I got straight to level 2

There is also, Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services

http://www.ccts-cprst.ca/en/

Since SaskTel is responsible for using Xplornet as the official SaskTel Internet provider. Complaint goes against SaskTel, since Xplornet has still avoided being a member.

SaskTel promised 100% province coverage, but the way they are doing it involves some shortcuts. but as far as I know, SaskTel is responsible for the whole coverage thing.

[Veritable]

This is supposed to be the 1.5 Mbps package from Sasktel (xplornet) and is probably what we average most of the time except in the evenings when it gets worse than this.

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Download Connection is:: 487 Kbps about 0.5 Mbps (tested with 3064 kB)

Download Speed is:: 59 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (Main)

Test Time:: 2010/01/12 - 9:18am

Bottom Line:: 8X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 17.36 sec

Tested from a 3064 kB file and took 51.542 seconds to complete

Download Diagnosis:: May need help : running at only 55.59 % of your hosts average (barrettxplore.com)

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-L3XTNECAR

User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.0.17) Gecko/2009122116 Firefox/3.0.17 [!]

Wow, that's really bad. You should be at least 700kb/s on the 1.5.

Without knowing what saskatchewan's network is like for supporting the system, I couldn't tell you what the problem is. But if it's anything like Alberta, it's probably either an over loaded panel (or an omni on the tower which is a big no-no and we've told them to not put omnis on anymore), or it's an interference issue from other carriers in the area.

I know this one time, a new carrier put some 900 equipment on a tower, turned it on, and the other 2 carriers equipment just stopped working because it was broadcasting so powerfully and on the exact same frequencies, that it just made them inoperable. So it does happen. The other thing I would look at, which you can do, is see if the module is loose at all. Sometimes the wind can move them enough in strong winds that it will actually losen the bolts that tighten it to the pole they mount it on. If it seems pretty sturdy, then I don't know what else. :/

[zalternate]

Wow, that's really bad. You should be at least 700kb/s on the 1.5.

Without knowing what saskatchewan's network is like for supporting the system, I couldn't tell you what the problem is. But if it's anything like Alberta, it's probably either an over loaded panel (or an omni on the tower which is a big no-no and we've told them to not put omnis on anymore), or it's an interference issue from other carriers in the area.

I know this one time, a new carrier put some 900 equipment on a tower, turned it on, and the other 2 carriers equipment just stopped working because it was broadcasting so powerfully and on the exact same frequencies, that it just made them inoperable. So it does happen. The other thing I would look at, which you can do, is see if the module is loose at all. Sometimes the wind can move them enough in strong winds that it will actually losen the bolts that tighten it to the pole they mount it on. If it seems pretty sturdy, then I don't know what else. :/

SaskTel Internet powered by Xplornet/Telesat/Hughesnet is satellite. So those that converted their billing over to Sasktel from Xplornet and then still get billed by Xplornet are supposed to get a minimum speed of 825Kbps.

It's part of the SaskTel corrupt 100% high speed Internet coverage in Saskatchewan. Some small towns were supposed to get bids from other third parties for wireless towers(WISP's). Otherwise they might get suck with satellite in the long run.

[jondaryan]

SaskTel Internet powered by Xplornet/Telesat/Hughesnet is satellite. So those that converted their billing over to Sasktel from Xplornet and then still get billed by Xplornet are supposed to get a minimum speed of 825Kbps.

It's part of the SaskTel corrupt 100% high speed Internet coverage in Saskatchewan. Some small towns were supposed to get bids from other third parties for wireless towers(WISP's). Otherwise they might get suck with satellite in the long run.

Yes I was told by Xplornet of the minimum speed B.S. too. The satellite option for rural users around here is the only option because we live in a part of Saskatchewan that has hills, unlike other parts of the prairies. Therefore we are stuck with Satellite, even though I can look out my window right now and see a wonderful Sasktel cell phone tower that could be dishing up Sasktel wireless service to rural customers too. Unfortunately Sasktel does not think there are enough customers for them to make the effort to try wireless instead relying on their wonderful crap service from Xplornet to bring "Higher Speed" internet to all rural Saskatchewan.

My Speed as of tonight.

Your connection is: 346 Kbps or 0.3 Mbps

You downloaded at: 42 kB/s

You are running: 6 times faster than 56K and can download 1 megabyte in 24.38 second(s)

Member Ident: CompID:1.90849586805E+13

Test Time:: 2010-03-28 01:37:48 GMT

Test Browser and OS info: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/532.5 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/4.1.249.1042 Safari/532.5

Test ID: 5ZS73KLTE (if this is a screenshot go to testmy.net to see if this is fake)

Diagnosis ^info^: May need help : running at only 39.72 % of your hosts average (barrettxplore.com)

This was tested from a 1013 kB file and took 23.964 seconds to complete

[zalternate]

Yes I was told by Xplornet of the minimum speed B.S. too. The satellite option for rural users around here is the only option because we live in a part of Saskatchewan that has hills, unlike other parts of the prairies. Therefore we are stuck with Satellite, even though I can look out my window right now and see a wonderful Sasktel cell phone tower that could be dishing up Sasktel wireless service to rural customers too. Unfortunately Sasktel does not think there are enough customers for them to make the effort to try wireless instead relying on their wonderful crap service from Xplornet to bring "Higher Speed" internet to all rural Saskatchewan.

You could try to contact Saskatchewan consumer protection for some help. Maybe the Government could give a crap about what SaskTel is dishing out to people.

http://www.justice.gov.sk.ca/cpb

The Consumer Protection Branch is a regulatory agency that investigates consumer complaints, answers consumer inquiries, provides advice and direction to the public on how to resolve their complaint, educates consumers and businesses on their rights and responsibilities, and conducts compliance audits of licensees.

An interesting blog post.

http://countrytowns.ca/blog/index.php/2009/06/27/p39

SaskTel 100% Highspeed Coverage Smoke Screen

They have GOT to be kidding!

SaskTel Satellite Internet powered by Xplornet- June 9, 2009 -

SaskTel today announced the launch of SaskTel Satellite Internet powered by Xplornet providing coverage to all areas of Saskatchewan not able to receive SaskTel High Speed Internet.

And you gotta love this part:

SaskTel Satellite Internet powered by Xplornet provides affordable, fast, and easy Internet access packages with speeds of up to 1.0 Mbps or up to 1.5 Mbps starting from $56.95/month.

[More:]

OK... for those who haven't been suffering along with dial up , hoping Xplornet install costs would go down in our rural SK areas.... lets start with the fact that, before this announcement, Xplornet dealers from Manitoba have been direct mailing SK border residents about those packages starting at $49.95/month. The equipment cost is being promoted as discounted down to $50 (as per the latest flier in my mailbox last week), yet the Xplornet page that tells you about promotions for your local postal code only give you the SaskTel Deal, with equipment costs at the full $250. and $ 7 more per month on the 3 year contract. No deals.

Apparently SaskTel has one sweet smokescreen to redirect the $129 million into cell phone towers. The deal involves SaskTel forking over $6 million to Xplornet to provide the "service". So they are paying them a token amount of their budget for the privilege of jacked up prices to SaskTel customers. Anyone who lives in Rural SK knows there are almost always deals available for reduced cost of equipment from Xplornet. Its the installs that kills you. $200+ for a tech to come from all of 50 km away. The last neighbour I talked to forked out over $700 in the first 30 days, for equipment, install, activation, first months payment and all the other hidden charges, even with a discount deal on her equipment. That's highway robbery! What does it take to install, I've seen it done in 2 hours. And that was on a tough to install situation.

Am I the only one that thinks that if SaskTel is going to do this deal, that these funds should mean lower prices?? Xplornet was already here, SK residents could get there service before this deal.

I've emailed Xplornet (can't get to the right page on SaskTel... their site is not optimized for dial up users), questioning the higher prices. No doubt I'll get a form reply that holds no meaning.

So with the remaining $123 million of the budget will we see 3g cell service? I'd much rather go for the Rogers Rocket.....

A few facts about SaskTel "High Speed" - this deal will mean 100% coverage for the province, but outside the 13 cities most of that will be either DSL or Satellite. DSL only qualifies as high speed is you've never had anything better than true dial up. Satellite is extremely susceptible to weather condition, like prairie thunder storms (not that we get many of those...right!).

Interestingly enough there is yet another bonus for SaskTel NOT providing the true high speed by wireless methods is that both DSL and Satellite Internet mean VoIP phone lines are useless. Too unreliable.

Cool perk for SaskTel, keep the competition out....

Well, I'm sick and tired of waiting for real high speed out here in the country.

Also here is the SaskTel news item. The 100% sure sounds good until you hear how they are gong to achieve that. It's one thing to be on satellite in the middle of nowhere with near zero population, but it's another thing to be in a small town or on the edge of it and get stuck with satellite.

http://www.sasktel.com/about-us/news/2009-news-releases/sasktel-invest-220million-in-network.html

2009 news releases

SaskTel to invest $220 million in its Saskatchewan network Windows Media Player icon

Watch the full announcement.

May 5, 2009

Bringing High Speed Internet to 100% of Saskatchewan population and Cellular to 98%

May 5, 2009 – SaskTel will invest $220 million in its Saskatchewan network in 2009, which includes $42.4 million from the Government of Saskatchewan for year one of a three year Rural Infrastructure Program. Residential and business customers in communities across the province can expect improved and expanded SaskTel services as a result of this latest major capital investment.

“With this major network investment, SaskTel is continuing its commitment to Saskatchewan,” Minister of Crown Corporations Ken Cheveldayoff said. “As SaskTel moves into its second century, residential and business customers can look forward to improved and expanded service in 2009 and beyond.”

“Since 1987, SaskTel has invested more than $3.2 billion in our Saskatchewan network,” SaskTel President and CEO Robert Watson said. “In 2009, we will continue our efforts to deliver expanded coverage, increased bandwidth and even better service to our Saskatchewan customers.”

Highlights of this year’s investment program include:

* In 2009, SaskTel will invest $48.5 million to begin construction of a new $172 million Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) wireless network, which is the next evolution of GSM technology. UMTS/HSPA is a next generation wireless network which will enable SaskTel customers to enjoy the benefits of using UMTS/HSPA compatible cellular & data devices. The first phase of the new network build, which will provide coverage in the major Saskatchewan centers, is expected to be available early 2010. Full coverage, similar to today’s digital cellular coverage, is anticipated to be available by the end of 2010.

With the continued investment in next generation networks, SaskTel will be shutting down its analog network mid-2010. The majority of cellular service providers across Canada and in the U.S. no longer support analog roaming, vendors have discontinued support of the analog network and device suppliers no longer manufacture analog devices. The continued evolution of our network infrastructure will provide the residents of Saskatchewan with exceptional wireless service.

* In 2009, SaskTel will begin the Rural Infrastructure Program to deliver 100% high speed internet coverage and improved wireless coverage across the province within three years.

o As part of this program, SaskTel will provide digital cellular service to 55 locations by the end of 2011. Please see Appendix A for a list of the 55 locations.

o In 2009, SaskTel will invest $37.6 million to expand and improve its existing wireless network, including the addition of 12 out of the 55 new digital cellular sites across the province.

o This year, SaskTel will invest $43 million to expand rural broadband. This includes upgrading the rural backbone infrastructure to provide an enhanced transport network that will deliver basic high speed internet (5 Mpbs) to approximately 90 out of the 187 communities by the end of 2009.

o Under the Rural Infrastructure Program, SaskTel has recently concluded an agreement with Barrett Xplore Inc, who operates Xplornet Internet Services, Canada’s largest rural broadband provider. The agreement calls on Barrett Xplore to deliver SaskTel Satellite High Speed Internet powered by Xplornet to rural areas that do not have access to SaskTel’s other high speed internet services. Full details regarding the service availability will be announced in June 2009.

o As part of the Rural Infrastructure Program, SaskTel is also seeking private sector partners to make proposals to provide high speed internet to 13 towns out of the 66 new towns that are becoming part of CommunityNet, as well as other unserved areas of the province. SaskTel is exploring partnership options which would allow private sector companies to provide residential high speed internet in the community in return for a subsidy.

* Next Generation Access Infrastructure (NGAI) – Initiated in 2006, NGAI is a five-year $310 million program to offer increased bandwidth by providing fiber optic cable closer to customer homes and businesses. In 2009, the third year of the NGAI program, SaskTel will invest approximately $11.9 million to continue to increase the bandwidth of SaskTel’s access network.

* Evolving SaskTel’s leading-edge Max™ Entertainment Services – Max is full-featured digital television service with over 180 digital TV channels, 40 HD channels, Digital TV Recorder, High Speed Internet, Video-on-Demand, Pay-Per-View and Local on Demand. SaskTel will invest approximately $12.8 million in Max this year to meet customer demand and make ongoing enhancements.

* Basic network growth and enhancements – $61.4 million.

Here is the latest government news release version. Maybe you could find a Saskatchewan government contact somewhere on the site there.

http://www.gov.sk.ca/news?newsId=4b5f0610-81f3-4f9d-a1bd-445e71eff430

News Release - March 10, 2010

SASKTEL TO INVEST $239 MILLION IN ITS SASKATCHEWAN NETWORK

SaskTel will invest $239 million in its Saskatchewan network in 2010. Residential and business customers in communities across the province can expect improved and expanded SaskTel services as a result of this latest major capital investment.

"SaskTel's commitment to providing a world class communications network for Saskatchewan is clear with this latest announcement," Minister responsible for SaskTel Don Morgan said. "Saskatchewan residents can look forward to a new 3G wireless network, faster high speed Internet service and MaxTM expansion."

"Since 1987 we've invested more than $3.5 billion in our network," SaskTel President and CEO Robert Watson said. "This year's network investment will help to ensure that Saskatchewan's best network is current and competitive well into the future."

Highlights of this year's investment program include:

* In 2010, SaskTel will invest $88 million to continue construction of a new $172 million Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS)/High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) wireless network, which is the next evolution of GSM technology. UMTS/HSPA is a next generation wireless network which will enable SaskTel customers to enjoy the benefits of using UMTS/HSPA compatible cellular and data devices. The first phase of the new network build, which will provide coverage in the major Saskatchewan centers, is expected to be available in mid-2010. Full coverage, similar to today's digital cellular coverage, is anticipated to be available in 2011.

* SaskTel will invest $48 million to continue the Rural Infrastructure Program to deliver 100 per cent high speed internet coverage and to build 55 new cellular towers to improve wireless coverage across the province within three years.

o SaskTel will reach 100 per cent high speed Internet coverage in 2010 following the launch of high speed Internet service from private sector partners RFNow and YourLink in 15 communities.

o In 2010, SaskTel will invest $17 million to expand and improve its existing wireless network, including the addition of new digital cellular sites across the province, scheduled to be complete in 2011. (See Appendix for a list of 2010-2011 locations.)

o This year, SaskTel will invest $31 million to expand rural broadband. This includes upgrading the rural backbone infrastructure to provide an enhanced transport network that will upgrade existing basic high speed Internet service (from 1.5 Mpbs to 5 Mpbs download speeds) in more than 200 communities by the end of 2010.

* Next Generation Access Infrastructure (NGAI) - Initiated in 2006, NGAI is a five-year $310 million program to offer increased bandwidth by providing fiber optic cable closer to customer homes and businesses. In 2010, the fourth year of the NGAI program, SaskTel will invest a total of approximately $11 million to continue to increase the bandwidth of SaskTel's access network.

* Evolving SaskTel's leading-edge MaxTM Entertainment Services - MaxTM is a full-featured digital television service with more than 190 digital TV channels, 42 HD channels, Digital TV Recorder, High Speed Internet, Video-on-Demand, Pay-Per-View and Local on Demand. SaskTel will invest approximately $7 million in MaxTM this year to expand the service to new communities, meet customer demand and make ongoing enhancements. SaskTel recently announced that it will invest $22 million to expand the Next Generation Access Infrastructure program (NGAI) to 14 more communities over the next two years. The project will expand MaxTM Entertainment Services and offer higher Internet speeds to those communities by the end of 2011.

Other network expenditures - $26 million, which includes:

* High speed Internet expansion for First Nations (dependent upon additional federal funding) - $6 million.

* Fiber to the premise (technology to deliver increased bandwidth by connecting fiber optic cable to the customer premise) - $9 million.

Basic network growth and enhancements - $59 million.

Edited March 28, 2010 by zalternate

[cajeptha]

Gentlemen and Ladies,

This is High Speed Wireless Internet, taken on a Back Haul link that must still be upgraded:

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Download Connection is:: 9551 Kbps about 9.6 Mbps (tested with 12280 kB)

Download Speed is:: 1166 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (Main)

Test Time:: 2010-04-09 11:10:26 GMT

Bottom Line:: 167X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 0.88 sec

Tested from a 12280 kB file and took 10.533 seconds to complete

Download Diagnosis:: Awesome! 20% + : 321.31 % faster than the average for host (airnet.ca)

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-NQWBDVEFX

User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/532.5 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/4.1.249.1045 Safari/532.5 [!]

[wernerfr]

Rural highspeed???? Would be interesting to see how many grants xplornet got in order to bring highspeed to rural Canada. While storm was our provider service was good - they actually tried to give you better speed, had fast and efficient customer service but then xplornet bought their wireless here... Speed has been decreasing constantly with daily dropped connections then this week it got really bad - see below. Took 2 hours plus with level 2 tech support until she was convinced that something was wrong with THEIR equipment/setup (after safemode networking stalled at about 2% download for about 5 minutes!! and similar on speedtest. Was supposed to hear from level 3 but sofar nothing.... send some emails again nothing...

Anybody know anything about ripnet and or bell portable? Thanks

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Download Connection is:: 63 Kbps about 0.1 Mbps (tested with 1544 kB)

Download Speed is:: 8 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (Main)

Test Time:: 2010-05-01 13:52:55 GMT

Bottom Line:: 1X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 128 sec

Tested from a 1544 kB file and took 200.157 seconds to complete

Download Diagnosis:: May need help : running at only 22.99 % of your hosts average (15.197)

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-F59ISAEUB

User Agent:: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.1; en-US) AppleWebKit/532.5 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/4.1.249.1064 Safari/532.5 [!]

[nbtt]

My fixed wireless is anything but the 3mb/600kb package I pay for.

I have been their customer since 2008 and have logged more hours with attempting to resolve my service issues than time I spend with my own mother!!!

Xplornet is NOT one of the member ISP's which would fall under the CRTC, so all of their "traffic shaping" they do, cannot be challenged through that route.

I have sent a complaint to the Maritime Better Business Bureau, as this is where their head office is located, although I live in eastern Ontario, and am waiting for a response.

Yesterday they sent the same 2 techs back who initially installed my service. They first found some problem with signal strength, but as soon as Xplornet's tower saw the tech's pc with the proprietary testing software, POOF... the speed was back to snuff. They did a "re-point", only to say that they actually did something, but an hour after they left with my signature on their work order, the speed had been throttled back to unacceptable limits.

Here is the link for filing a complaint with the Maritime Better Business Bureau, but be forewarned, their site and complaint information intake methods really suck, so be prepared for some copy and pasting.

Maritime BBB Complaint

Once the complaint is filed, I did receive a prompt response from the individual responsible at the BBB.

If anyone who is a dissatisfied Xplornet customer;

1) files a complaint with the Maritime BBB HERE

2) sends a copy of the complaint to their Federal Member of Parliament , you can look them up HERE

3) try to coordinate any and all discussions of these complaints here in this forum

If we can begin a cohesive complaint body while remaining lawful and objective, we may actually begin to receive the internet services we were sold and are over paying for.

Cheers, and I'll hopefully be checking in to this forum daily (mon-fri)

nbtt

[warezmike]

check out xplornetsucks.com....... been posting for years about the xplornet speed scam

Mike.. ( I endorse testmy.net for ALL speed tests... no brainer

My fixed wireless is anything but the 3mb/600kb package I pay for.

I have been their customer since 2008 and have logged more hours with attempting to resolve my service issues than time I spend with my own mother!!!

Xplornet is NOT one of the member ISP's which would fall under the CRTC, so all of their "traffic shaping" they do, cannot be challenged through that route.

I have sent a complaint to the Maritime Better Business Bureau, as this is where their head office is located, although I live in eastern Ontario, and am waiting for a response.

Yesterday they sent the same 2 techs back who initially installed my service. They first found some problem with signal strength, but as soon as Xplornet's tower saw the tech's pc with the proprietary testing software, POOF... the speed was back to snuff. They did a "re-point", only to say that they actually did something, but an hour after they left with my signature on their work order, the speed had been throttled back to unacceptable limits.

Here is the link for filing a complaint with the Maritime Better Business Bureau, but be forewarned, their site and complaint information intake methods really suck, so be prepared for some copy and pasting.

Maritime BBB Complaint

Once the complaint is filed, I did receive a prompt response from the individual responsible at the BBB.

If anyone who is a dissatisfied Xplornet customer;

1) files a complaint with the Maritime BBB HERE

2) sends a copy of the complaint to their Federal Member of Parliament , you can look them up HERE

3) try to coordinate any and all discussions of these complaints here in this forum

If we can begin a cohesive complaint body while remaining lawful and objective, we may actually begin to receive the internet services we were sold and are over paying for.

Cheers, and I'll hopefully be checking in to this forum daily (mon-fri)

nbtt

[Demaje]

I live in Alberta and have been a Xplornet customer since 2008. I filed a complaint with the Maritime BBB on May 18 and just received a response (May 28) today. The deadline for a response was May 29. I guess they don't work on Saturdays so they answered a day early! They did not address my issue of not attaining the KaZaam speed of 512kBps that I pay for. Basically all they stressed was that I constantly exceed the hourly download limits which I stated in my complaint that I knew I did! The solution that they offered was to upgrade my package which I am not willing to do until I receive the download speeds that I am paying for now.

I want to encourage EVERYONE that is not happy with Xplornet to do something about it don't just sit there and read all the posts about dissatisfied customers!! File a complaint with the BBB, send an email to the government, do whatever it takes. We need to start making some noise and if enough people join in we will be heard!

One thing I would stress though is to contact Xplornet's customer service with your issues and then file the complaints. I am one of those that gave up on their so called customer service and did not contact them recently which was pointed out in the response I got to my complaint! The important thing is that complaints are being made.

Take care,

De

My fixed wireless is anything but the 3mb/600kb package I pay for.

I have been their customer since 2008 and have logged more hours with attempting to resolve my service issues than time I spend with my own mother!!!

Xplornet is NOT one of the member ISP's which would fall under the CRTC, so all of their "traffic shaping" they do, cannot be challenged through that route.

I have sent a complaint to the Maritime Better Business Bureau, as this is where their head office is located, although I live in eastern Ontario, and am waiting for a response.

Yesterday they sent the same 2 techs back who initially installed my service. They first found some problem with signal strength, but as soon as Xplornet's tower saw the tech's pc with the proprietary testing software, POOF... the speed was back to snuff. They did a "re-point", only to say that they actually did something, but an hour after they left with my signature on their work order, the speed had been throttled back to unacceptable limits.

Here is the link for filing a complaint with the Maritime Better Business Bureau, but be forewarned, their site and complaint information intake methods really suck, so be prepared for some copy and pasting.

Maritime BBB Complaint

Once the complaint is filed, I did receive a prompt response from the individual responsible at the BBB.

If anyone who is a dissatisfied Xplornet customer;

1) files a complaint with the Maritime BBB HERE

2) sends a copy of the complaint to their Federal Member of Parliament , you can look them up HERE

3) try to coordinate any and all discussions of these complaints here in this forum

If we can begin a cohesive complaint body while remaining lawful and objective, we may actually begin to receive the internet services we were sold and are over paying for.

Cheers, and I'll hopefully be checking in to this forum daily (mon-fri)

nbtt

Just a side note......... i noticed that I joined this group 1 month after I became a customer of Xplornet! What does that tell you? LOL

Chuckling to myself,

De

I live in Alberta and have been a Xplornet customer since 2008. I filed a complaint with the Maritime BBB on May 18 and just received a response (May 28) today. The deadline for a response was May 29. I guess they don't work on Saturdays so they answered a day early! They did not address my issue of not attaining the KaZaam speed of 512kBps that I pay for. Basically all they stressed was that I constantly exceed the hourly download limits which I stated in my complaint that I knew I did! The solution that they offered was to upgrade my package which I am not willing to do until I receive the download speeds that I am paying for now.

I want to encourage EVERYONE that is not happy with Xplornet to do something about it don't just sit there and read all the posts about dissatisfied customers!! File a complaint with the BBB, send an email to the government, do whatever it takes. We need to start making some noise and if enough people join in we will be heard!

One thing I would stress though is to contact Xplornet's customer service with your issues and then file the complaints. I am one of those that gave up on their so called customer service and did not contact them recently which was pointed out in the response I got to my complaint! The important thing is that complaints are being made.

Take care,

De

[rspacek]

Today's Xplornet satellite speed is the worst yet:

:::.. Download Stats ..:::

Download Connection is:: 60 Kbps about 0.1 Mbps (tested with 97 kB)

Download Speed is:: 7 kB/s

Tested From:: https://testmy.net/ (Main)

Test Time:: 2010-06-26 15:39:35 GMT

Bottom Line:: 1X faster than 56K 1MB Download in 146.29 sec

Tested from a 97 kB file and took 13.219 seconds to complete

Download Diagnosis:: May need help : running at only 1.27 % of your hosts average (215.60)

D-Validation Link:: https://testmy.net/stats/id-Q5BDKFPJV

User Agent:: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 5.1; Trident/4.0; .NET CLR 1.1.4322; .NET CLR 2.0.50727; .NET CLR 3.0.4506.2152; .NET CLR 3.5.30729) [!]

Why ever did I dump my 56K modem? The service cost only half as much!