Great connection...

Last night I streamed two hockey games at once from the CBC website ... no speed or connection issues at all! It's awesome to have a solid useable internet.

Save the most with Primus!

I got a letter in the mail from Primus, they're offering a "triple value bundle" of home phone, DSL high speed internet, and long-distance calling. The letter says that "there simply isn't a better bundle on the market."

I checked out their website and got the following two bundle prices (click to enlarge):



Comparing these prices to Acanac's $34/month (internet) plus $20/month (phone) - and that's ignoring the first year's discount and any referrals you might have - still puts Acanac on top.

There's also a lot of fine text, something about an increase to $79.95 after the first year and a $100 charge if you cancel in the first year are in there.

Smooth sailing!

No downtime or hiccoughs of any sort to report to date. I found out that my parents are paying Rogers for internet that's so slow that they can't even access GMail during the day ... so I told them about Acanac in case they're interested in switching as well! I'm going to try to get my ten referrals; I think it's worth it, that's for sure.


On a Saturday morning here's the speeds I get:

Connected!

The Bell technician came today at about 4 pm, connected the dry loop, and even plugged in my Acanac router and made sure everything was working. When I got home it was all set up!



Over 4 MBps download?

Awesome!

To summarize:
- ordered internet on Nov. 9th
- got confirmation of payment Nov. 11th
- router arrived on Nov. 17th
- found out I needed a dry loop Nov. 18th
- ordered a dry loop Nov. 19th
- Bell technician did not show up Nov. 26th
- Bell technician finally did come and I'm golden Dec. 1st

In all, it took twenty-two days to get connected; was waiting for Bell for twelve days.


Things for you to learn from my experience:
1) Find out ASAP if you need a dry loop - to do this you just call your current provider and ask for a circuit ID and if you have analog or digital service.
2) Don't cancel your current internet until you're hooked up with Acanac (this I did do!).
3) It might take a week or two to get connected.

Still waiting...

It's been three weeks since I signed up, and still no internet service. I got told by my neighbour upstairs (duplex rental) that Bell tried to call me yesterday (but called my neighbour upstairs instead) ... she gave her name to my neighbour and said I should call back.

I called Bell phone service, they refused to talk to me about any technician that might be scheduled to come to my house, and told me that I should talk to Acanac instead.

I was transferred to Sympatico (Bell's internet) and they said the exact same thing.

Apparently when Bell calls your neighbour, asks for you, and leaves a name ... you're not supposed to call back.



And then of course Bell didn't show up on the date they were supposed to; Acanac re-scheduled for December 1st.

I will post then!

Router is here...small issue :(

The router arrived via FedEx, I took a few pictures in case you'd like to see what's in the package:


They arrived on Tuesday the 17th, six business days since ordering internet (as promised). I hooked it up to the phone modem I have ... and ... nothing.

I sent a quick email to Acanac (10:30pm that same day) saying "Are you able to see if my DSL connection is active, or tell me when it should be? I'm pretty sure I'm connecting the router correctly, but would like to make sure!"

By the next morning I received this reply:

Hello,

As I checked your order has been rejected on account of "Tn not found in bell database (incorrect tn or local provider)",

Are you sure this is an active Bell phone number xxx-xxx-xxxx?

If it is non-Bell, you'd need to provide us with your circuit ID. for all NON-BELL landlines (eg: Primus, Yak, Tek, etc.), we require the circuit number formatted as LCLXXU######000BCLA000, which you can get from your current service provider.
If your phone provider does not provide any circuit number,you will need to order dry loop DSL service that costs 8$/month more.

Best Regards,
Acanac Inc.

What?

I looked on the Acanac website for information about this "dry loop" and found this:

Naked DSL

Acanac Naked DSL lets you surf the net with out having an active phone Line. This is great for cell phone users who do not have land lines or Voip users who are tired of paying the big bucks to the major phone providers. All you need for Naked (Dry Loop) DSL is a phone jack. No dial tone is necessary.

Note: Naked DSL is only available In Ontario and Quebec and it costs an extra $8 per month.

I do have an active phone line, though! I thought it would work.... Next I called my Rogers to see if I could get a circuit ID. They don't have them - only Bell does.

I searched the Acanac community for "rogers dry loop" to see if anyone else has had the same issue, and came up with this thread called Do I need to stick with Bell home phone to have Acanac ASDL?

The answer is something like this: You can use anyone that is an analog service (Bell), but not digital (Rogers).

It would be awesome in the future if Acanac would inform new customers ahead of time of this fact!

So I replied to the email that Acanac tech support had sent me, saying that I guess I'll need to order a dry loop. Really quickly I got a reply:

Hi,

We are really sorry for inconveniences,

First of all, I have extended your account term for 2 weeks for unused days and the next due date will be on 2010-11-24.

Also, please note the charge for dry loop service is 8$ per month,
Do you agree with the charge?

We are looking forward to hear from you.


Best Regards,
Acanac Inc.

I replied in the affirmative, and now just need a dry loop installed. The good thing (the silver lining, as it were) is that this brings me one step closer to ditching Rogers altogether and signing up for Acanac's home phone service as well! (We'll wait to do this after internet is up and working well!!)

I'll post when the dry loop has been installed!

Router is en route!

Hello Chris Togeretz,
Your unit is now being sent via Fedex.
Tracking number : xxxxxxxxxxxx
You may visit http://fedex.com or fedex.ca and track your package. Please note it may take a few hours for Fedex to scan the package and for it to show up on the online system.
If you feel you have received this in error please contact us immediately. Thank you and have a great day.
Best Regards,

Shipping Department Acanac Inc.

http://www.acanac.com