Hey guys. Since I'm planning to rent an apartment nearby campus, I was wondering what options are the best for internet ... Like are there any good deals out there (eg student deals). What companies do most people go with when living off campus?

PS: Sorry if my wording is incorrect .... Low tech guy here =).

Originally Posted by husayn12

Hey guys. Since I'm planning to rent an apartment nearby campus, I was wondering what options are the best for internet ... Like are there any good deals out there (eg student deals). What companies do most people go with when living off campus?

PS: Sorry if my wording is incorrect .... Low tech guy here =).

Teksavvy is what I've used for 2 years. Pay roughly 47$ in total for 300Gbs. Speed is decent, it's actually faster than my internet at home. Also no contract so you can cancel at any point.

I would also recommend TekSavvy.

Ya, TekSavvy DSL is pretty much the way to go (at least until TekSavvy cable makes its way to Hamilton).

If you're living with a bunch of other people (probably not since it's an apartment, but just incase), you *may* want to look at Cogeco since they offer much higher speed. Their cap is pretty ridiculously low though.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Ya, TekSavvy DSL is pretty much the way to go (at least until TekSavvy cable makes its way to Hamilton).

If you're living with a bunch of other people (probably not since it's an apartment, but just incase), you *may* want to look at Cogeco since they offer much higher speed. Their cap is pretty ridiculously low though.

I personally had no problems with speed sharing with 5 other people. I was downloading 30 minute shows in about 5 minutes.

By the way, when is cable supposed to be implemented anyways?

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

TekSavvy DSL is pretty much the way to go (at least until TekSavvy cable makes its way to Hamilton).

Yeah, what he said.

Being a cable connection, Cogeco is fast, but their bandwidth cap, as others have noted, is fairly low (for students, anyway). I am currently using their "Ultimate 30" package, which offers absurdly fast speeds and a satisfactory bandwidth cap (125 GB) for about $60 per month. It suits my needs fine, but there are more affordable, efficient solutions.

In short, go with TekSavvy. Oh, and, avoid Bell like the plague.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Ya, TekSavvy DSL is pretty much the way to go (at least until TekSavvy cable makes its way to Hamilton).

If you're living with a bunch of other people (probably not since it's an apartment, but just incase), you *may* want to look at Cogeco since they offer much higher speed. Their cap is pretty ridiculously low though.

Thanks for all the answers. I'm kinda a noob ... so I have to ask whats the difference between DSL and cable. From your comments I assume only DSL is offered ... so does this mean slower speeds? In terms of mbps, what speeds does Teksavvy offer? Also, another noob question but I will still be able to have wifi in my apartment right? Like through a router (?)

Thanks for all the answers. I'm kinda a noob ... so I have to ask whats the difference between DSL and cable. From your comments I assume only DSL is offered ... so does this mean slower speeds? In terms of mbps, what speeds does Teksavvy offer? Also, another noob question but I will still be able to have wifi in my apartment right? Like through a router (?)

Oh now let me tell you about cable and DSL *engages teacher mode*.

The difference between DSL and Cable are that they are two different technologies. DSL uses your phone lines for internet. Back in the day this meant when using your phone, you couldn't use internet. Later on, it was discovered that it was possible to send the signal instead over a different inaudible frequency simultaneously with any phone activity - thus bringing us to today. If you have a land line, you have put special filters in between your phone line and the wall on every phone in your house because phone calls create a lot of interference on the internet connection otherwise. Typically your internet service provider will give these to you. Your phone is used to connect to a hub in your neighborhood which is typically linked with other hubs using fibre optic cables or any other high bandwidth cable.

Cable uses the same cable as your television line, and although still pretty damn old, is a newer technology than that used by DSL. In cable you're kind of connected to a backbone with everyone in your neighborhood without a smart intermediate hub like DSL has. Therefore, if a bunch of douchebags in your neighborhood are constantly using a ton of internet; your connection will slow down. This was an issue back in the day but seems to have alleviated pretty significantly as technology has advanced. Cable also tends to go underground, so heavy construction equipment running over the road can break it.

Ya, so cable is faster because the cables can handle higher bandwidth. Most of Canada's phone networks are old as hell, so if you're living somewhere with super crusty copper lines, your DSL connection may suffer.

-----

Now back to the stuff you care about,

TekSavvy's max speed for DSL is 5 mb/s, which means your max download speed is ~ 500 kb/s. Cogeco's goes as high as 30 Mb/s I think. Most people can live comfortably on 5 Mb/s (even the epic downloaders).

You can have wireless either way; just plug the router into the modem and you're good.

Also, protip - set your wireless password security to WPA2 encryption. The default (WEP) can be cracked in about 5 minutes on any modern computer. You may be thinking "lol, but who knows how to do that?", but in all seriousness - 10 year olds can do it.

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

Oh now let me tell you about cable and DSL *engages teacher mode*.

The difference between DSL and Cable are that they are two different technologies. DSL uses your phone lines for internet. Back in the day this meant when using your phone, you couldn't use internet. Later on, it was discovered that it was possible to send the signal instead over a different inaudible frequency simultaneously with any phone activity - thus bringing us to today. If you have a land line, you have put special filters in between your phone line and the wall on every phone in your house because phone calls create a lot of interference on the internet connection otherwise. Typically your internet service provider will give these to you. Your phone is used to connect to a hub in your neighborhood which is typically linked with other hubs using fibre optic cables or any other high bandwidth cable.

Cable uses the same cable as your television line, and although still pretty damn old, is a newer technology than that used by DSL. In cable you're kind of connected to a backbone with everyone in your neighborhood without a smart intermediate hub like DSL has. Therefore, if a bunch of douchebags in your neighborhood are constantly using a ton of internet; your connection will slow down. This was an issue back in the day but seems to have alleviated pretty significantly as technology has advanced. Cable also tends to go underground, so heavy construction equipment running over the road can break it.

Ya, so cable is faster because the cables can handle higher bandwidth. Most of Canada's phone networks are old as hell, so if you're living somewhere with super crusty copper lines, your DSL connection may suffer.

-----

Now back to the stuff you care about,

TekSavvy's max speed for DSL is 5 mb/s, which means your max download speed is ~ 500 kb/s. Cogeco's goes as high as 30 Mb/s I think. Most people can live comfortably on 5 Mb/s (even the epic downloaders).

You can have wireless either way; just plug the router into the modem and you're good.

Also, protip - set your wireless password security to WPA2 encryption. The default (WEP) can be cracked in about 5 minutes on any modern computer. You may be thinking "lol, but who knows how to do that?", but in all seriousness - 10 year olds can do it.

Wow thanks for the explanation. At my house atm, I am currently receiving 15 mbps speeds (with Rogers). Do you think 5 will be enough?

Originally Posted by husayn12

Wow thanks for the explanation. At my house atm, I am currently receiving 15 mbps speeds (with Rogers). Do you think 5 will be enough?

How many people are using the connection?

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

How many people are using the connection?

7 ... although only 3 are real users (like kids who actually use it for things apart from email =)). However, keep in mind that at Mac ill be the only one using it (single-bedroom appt).