We’re in Canada, as many of you already know. Compared to the United States, our customer base for services such as telephone and Internet are quite small, only 10% the size of the U.S. On top of that we’re spread out across the second largest country in the world. Is it any wonder that some of our costs are higher than they are south of the border? Add to this the fact that  we have two mega-companies that border on monopolies, thanks for our current and previous governments’ non-intervention. In their view, bigger is better and to heck with competition!

Thankfully, we have a couple of independent ISPs (Internet Service Providers) who offer lower prices than the big guys and, in some cases, better customer service. We’ll get to the customer service later but for now, let’s compare prices.

Three Scenarios

In order to get to the bottom of the pricing question, we have to set up three different comparisons. Since Worldline offers a bundle price and Teksavvy doesn’t, we’ll compare the following:

1. Internet by itself.

2. Home phone by itself.

3. Internet and phone together. Worldline only.

Standalone Internet (DSL)

We decided to look at the basic DSL rates for this post. Why? Basically because it’s the cheapest but also because our experience with cable, at least where we are, hasn’t been great, to say the least. Cable Internet is very dependent on such things as temperature, distance from the amplifier as well as how many other users are on your particular ‘network’. With DSL, there are no screw-in connectors that are affected by temperature and no bandwidth-sharing. DSL is affected by the distance from the telco office but that usually isn’t a big problem, at least not in our area.

Fees for both companies are made up of the basic service, we chose 6 Mbps/unlimited gigabytes in each case, plus the cost of the modem and activation. Here is the breakdown as of February 13, 2014:

Worldline: $39.95 a month plus a $25.00 activation promo. Add $29.95 for a modem and you’re away…sort of. There seems to be a ‘Regulatory and Essential Services Fee’ of $5.00 floating around somewhere. This ‘non-governmental’ charge may not be applied to standalone Internet service but it does raise its ugly head in the bundle price we will look at later. Add this up and you’ll get $95.00 for your first month then $39.95 after that. We have a 13% HST tax that is added on top but that changes from province to province so it’s not included. NOTE: If Wordline does indeed charge a network access fee as described above, add $5.00 to the $39.95.

Teksavvy: $39.95 a month plus $75.00 for the modem and a $50.00 activation fee. First month total becomes $165.00, substantially higher than Worldline but keep in mind the $5.00 monthly fee that we think Worldline charges. The fee isn’t mentioned on their site and the only reason we know about is because we are currently paying it. It would only take a year to make up the difference in initial charges, then it’s a dead heat after that.

Home Phone: 

When you’re talking about home phones these days, you’re far better to go with VOIP  (Voice Over Internet Protocol) instead of the normal POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service). Why? If you go with VOIP, you’ve got a whole host of features at your fingertips for little or no cost. Add to that the very low cost of long distance charges and switching to VOIP is a no-brainer. Check your monthly phone bill and see how much you’re paying for ‘extras’ such as caller ID or call waiting. Sure, many of these can be bundled for a bit lower monthly rate but you’ll never get the same price as you will with VOIP.

In each case, we’re looking at digital home phone with unlimited North American long distance. In case you are wondering, yes, you can keep your existing number.

Without getting too technical, VOIP uses the same strategy as SKYPE does when you’re making a call. All of your voice data travels over the Internet instead of being routed through telephone switching offices. Voice quality is the same so don’t worry that you’ll sound a million miles away when you’re making a call. The main technical glitch is that in order to use VOIP, you need what is called a ‘dry loop’. Essentially this means that your phone line won’t have a dial-tone until it comes out through your modem. Since you’re not connected to your local phone company any more, the line can’t be used until a modem is put in line between the copper wire and your telephone. Dry loops cost money, usually consisting of a small monthly fee. Here are the breakdowns for VOIP phone services:

Worldine: $19.95 monthly plus $49.95 for the modem (currently with a $25.00 mail-in rebate) plus what looks like a $10.00 a month fee for the dry loop. There is also a $9.95 Dry Loop Activation fee. Again, we assume that there is a $5.00 per month ‘essential services’ fee. Total becomes: $85.00 for the first month then $35.00 after that. (We stand to be corrected here but that’s the total as we see it from the site. If Wordline finds that figure to be incorrect, we’d love to see where a complete breakdown is, one that a customer can read before calling to sign up. )

Teksavvy: $22.95 per month plus $49.95 for the modem and $10.00 shipping. Teksavvy does NOT have an essential services fee nor do they have a dry loop charge for this particular service. Initial outlay becomes $83.00 for the first month and only @22.95 after that. All figures are plus 13% HST, of course.

Home Phone and Internet Bundle:

Only Worldline offers a bundle but, unfortunately, it does not compare directly with the phone service listed above. Their price of $49.95 a month only includes long distance inside Canada, not North America. Since we already have this package, we know that the total is actually $54.95 a month because of the essential services fee. On top of that, it is impossible to figure out what your initial fee will be since none of this is listed on the Worldline site, this despite the very clear wording in their Terms And Conditions:

It seems that Worldline’s webmasters didn’t read their own company’s Terms and Conditions, doesn’t it? When you actually sign up for the service, there is a raft of extras that you’ll have to cough up before installation. Of the two companies, Teksavvy’s site is much clearer about the preliminary charges.

 

 

We’ll leave it up to you as to which company offers you the best price but there is something else to consider when you’re trying to make a decision here. That something else is customer service. Since we deal with both companies, we know what we’re talking about here. For us, there is one clear winner here and that is Teksavvy. Why? Because when we make a call to them, we aren’t routed offshore, no matter if we’re calling because our Internet isn’t working or we have a question about our bill. Before you get your back up about how this sounds, here is what we’re talking about. When you finally decide to go with Worldline, your call is answered by a polite and knowledgeable CSR. That CSR isn’t in Canada or the U.S. and English is most certainly NOT their first language. What’s the problem here? Well, the further you go in the process, the less you will be able to understand. The conversation will be recorded and you will have to verbally agree to certain things along the way. Trust us, the call will take a while because of the frequent repitition of certain words and terms that aren’t clear the first time you hear them.  Also, from our experience, the lines Worldine uses for tech support and billing are not as good as the home phone lines they sell. Whether this is because the calls go to the Dominican Republic and their infrastructure isn’t up to snuff, we can’t say.

Teksavvy, on the other hand, is a night and day difference when you’re calling about billing or tech problems. Crystal clear lines, very patient and knowledgeable CSRs that seem to ooze genuine friendliness. How un-friendly is Worldline? We remember politely interrupting a tech CSR during his instructions only to get the reply, “Look. Do you want me to help fix your Internet or not?” Yes, we were shocked too.

We all like to think that we get what we pay for. In this case, you have to look beyond the monthly fees, even though they are actually quite close.  If you depend on service from time to time, there is only one choice. If handling a router or modem isn’t on your list of ‘fun things to do’, stick with Teksavvy and you won’t be disappointed. If saving a bit of money is your preference and you’re a bit more comfortable with Internet technology, head over to Worldline. You might get the odd surprise but, overall, the monthly charges should be less except as noted above.

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