Internet for Small businesses
September 12th, 2007
The Videotron debate made me think about what I should do with my current provider and I thought it would be interesting to switch to a business account and host my projects at home. After all, even larger sites like plentyoffish.com used to do so (BTW, very interesting story here). While I don’t have a data center in my garage, I could surely put some servers there and it would be a nice way to kick starts my project (for a relatively low cost). I have plenty of computer parts to make something decent. This fits perfectly with my 1000$ start-up goal.
However, after talking with Videotron, it appears that even business accounts are very limited. Yes you can host pretty much any type of server you want, but bandwidth stays the same. This means you run all those services on the 800-900kbps stream. Wow, no way I told myself. I’m not Google but I know I need a bit more than that. The sales guy was quick enough to offer me a T1 but I kindly refused his overpriced under performing offering. BTW, anyone still using T1’s ??
So I went to Bell, even though some people have had bad experiences (oh, really?). There, after waiting for a few minutes and getting the wrong department for a few times (how hard is it for “Emily – the automated assistant” to understand “business internet connection” anyways?) I was told that there was no coverage since I was in a rural area and dial-up was my only choice. “Rural??” I told him. I’m a few minutes from downtown Montreal and I can see the phone junction box if I look outside so I should be able to get wire speed on your DSL. I even got the Bell Optimax flyer in my mailbox a few months ago when they installed fiber optic all over my street. That’s when I found out that he probably didn’t know that the 514 area code was Montreal and that he couldn’t care less about me. He was anxious to get the next call as some fish wanted to join the beaver team. *Sigh* Poor Sympatico users… I now feel your pain…!
Next I found Openface. They offer shdsl (up to 9MBps up AND downstream). While very interesting, it is limited to downtown so once again, I was out of luck.
SO… here goes my question to you all and I hope someone somewhere has an answer for me. What are the options for small business on the Montreal Island? Not everyone is hosting/co-locating in a data center! Are there any SDSL providers out there?
PS: If you’re an ISP, please contact me. I have money to give you! I want to be a customer! But I need a decent upload speed.
Posted in Bell, Startups, Videotron, business, internet | Comments (2)
October 22nd, 2007 at 6:31 am
Videotron offers a commercial services from their ‘videotron business solutions’ division (www.vtl.ca), from .5mbps all the way up to 1gbps through their fiber network depending on the plan and equipment you wish to have on either end.
unlimited bandwidth and you can select the speed you want/need. full duplex so upload speed is customizable.
Also if openface does not have service in your location chances are the other shdsl/sdsh/adslv2 providers will not be able to guarantee anything above normal dialup — also openface’s shdsl is about 900-1200$/m for the 9.2mbit plan.
December 18th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
This is a late reply but I think I can offer some info here assuming this thread is still being looked at. First let me say that Openface shdsl is not what you are looking for if you are hosting services, and despite the previous comment about “other shdsl/sdsh/adslv2 providers will not be able to guarantee anything above normal dialup” this is not exactly accurate. Openfaces infrastructure does not rely on traditional DSLAM’s so just because they do not offer service in your area does not mean others do not. Bell and Rogers both offer sdsl services in 1.5 and 3Mbps configurations but they are rather expensive for what you get. If you are planning to host services for a term of more than 2 years you are best off going with a dedicated fiber solution. This can be reasonably priced provided that you are “on-net” or a given distance from a POP. The install will cost you a good chunk of money, but I have seen 10Mbps fiber connections for as little as 400$ month with 300GB of throughput in metro MTL. Some providers try and sell their service with sustained usage commitments e.g I commit to using 1mbps. Usually these providers are greedy crooks so I avoid them. If you can try and find a provider who offers cogent routed traffic. Cogent sells bandwidth for cheap (1Gbps unlimited for 10k or less per month compared with Bell or MCI’s 75k ) so most providers who use them for upstream will offer very competitive prices. Openface is one of these providers, as is MTO telecom, and Teksavvy. Both offer reliable service IMO, but they are not generous with bandwidth overage. If you are willing to sign up for 3 years or more I would just go with Cogent directly. As for videotron do not, I repeat DO NOT sign up with them. If for moral reasons alone avoid them like the plague. They will screw you in the end somehow, they always do! Again thats just IMHO
Best of luck