this post was submitted on 22 Jun 2023
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[–] shamrt@lemmy.ca 49 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've been with Teksavvy for nearly 15 years. This is a sad, sad day.

[–] DrSheldonCooper@kbin.social 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Same. They're not just an ISP. They're strong consumer advocates, bordering on activists. This is terrible.

[–] bionicjoey@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I've been with Start dot CA for a few years and following their sale to Telus, I've been seriously considering switching to Teksavvy. This is tragic. Are there any good ones left? Our country is about to have literally no options apart from the big three.

[–] crilen@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

Not any big ones. Maybe locally to you.

[–] Gazing2863@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago

I use Coextro. Just some small company operating out of Mississauga. I wouldn't call them amazing, but they try their best. At the end of the day they are really still at the mercy of Bell or Rogers (depending on if you go dsl or cable). They are smaller so they are likely a bit safer for now from being consumed by the duopoly.

[–] Grimpen@lemmy.ca 6 points 1 year ago

I've been with Lightspeed for years. They're based in Burnaby though, so I don't know if they are available Canada wide.

[–] smuuthbrane@sh.itjust.works 37 points 1 year ago (8 children)

Oh shit, not good. They've been the one bright spot in a sea of ISP bleakness.

[–] kakes@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 year ago

I've been with them for nearly 10 years now. Stuck with them out of principle even though the speed/price weren't as good as I could get elsewhere.

This seriously sucks, I'm so tired of a small handful of corporations owning every aspect of my life.

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[–] lightrush@lemmy.ca 32 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

TekSavvy is the last remaining large internet wholesale provider, as others have been snapped up by bigger rivals in what independent ISPs describe as a challenging regulatory environment.

Roughly half a dozen independent ISPs have been sold since February of 2022. According to BMO Capital Markets analyst Tim Casey, BCE Inc. paid roughly $139-million for Ebox, an internet, telephone and television service provider based in Longueuil, Que., and approximately $335-million for Ottawa-based Distributel last year.

Telus, meanwhile, acquired Altima Telecom and Start.ca for undisclosed amounts, while Quebecor Inc. snapped up VMedia, an independent internet and television provider serving customers primarily in Toronto, in July of 2022. The price of the VMedia acquisition was also not disclosed.

Montreal-based Cogeco Inc., meanwhile, paid $100-million for Oxio, a Montreal-based provider with 48,000 internet subscribers, Mr. Casey wrote in a research note..

πŸ€¦πŸ€¦β€β™€οΈπŸ€¦πŸΌβ€β™‚οΈ

Sent an email to my MP. This is a competition issue similar to the Shaw sale to Rogers and the feds should get involved. You should do the same.

[–] httpjames@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

It's astonishing how few independent telecom providers there are now

[–] lightrush@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Now we know how these competitors were able to offer cheaper deals than TekSavvy for the last couple of years. They were all acquired and their costs are now dramatically lower as a result of not having to pay wholesale costs.

[–] floofloof@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The CRTC has been doing a fine job of driving small ISPs out of business and keeping the market closed to all but the biggest established players.

After lowering rates in 2019, which immediately sparked lower internet prices across the country, the CRTC then astonishingly reversed its own decision and raised them back up again in 2021. And 8 years after saying they’d grant wholesale access to state-of-the-art fibre technology, it’s still not available to independent providers. Which means smaller ISPs simply can’t compete against those faster connections of the incumbents.

https://www.thestar.com/business/opinion/2023/02/25/canadas-small-internet-providers-and-choice-are-dying-at-the-hands-of-ottawa-and-the-crtc.html

[–] lightrush@lemmy.ca 7 points 1 year ago

Ian Scott was a Telus exec after all.

[–] httpjames@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Minister Champagne always talks about how he wants ample competition, but we've yet to see any actual effective effort.

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[–] Woofcat@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 year ago

Because none are independent. Reselling someone else's network isn't really a great position to be in.

[–] thayer@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ugh, this is so discouraging. I'm a big fan of Internet Lightspeed as an independent ISP (Vancouver area). I haven't seen news of a buy-out for them yet, and I hope I never do.

[–] 9488fcea02a9@sh.itjust.works 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Why the fuck does the government keep allowing competition to be snapped up by the big 3????

Rhetorical question i guess.... But wtf. Do your job... Where are the antitrust regulations in this country? I am not a lawyer

[–] wvenable@lemmy.ca 19 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Canada loves it's monopolies. I can't believe that Shaw deal went through -- the government literally will not allow us to have more than 3 telecommunications companies. It's ridiculous.

[–] randy@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 year ago

For context, remember that the Competition Bureau tried to block the Rogers-Shaw merger and was overridden by the courts. So continuing consolidation is a problem that won't be fixed easily.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Canada was literally, actually, no shit created by corporations for the purpose of facilitating the extraction of value from human and natural resources by corporations. It genuinely exists to exploit us.

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[–] DaveX64@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Here's a non-paywall link: https://archive.is/qfn4r

We were Teksavvy subscribers for 10 years but switched to Bell Fibe last year...all Teksavvy had here was 6 Mbps DSL with a lousy 720 Kbps upload speed. Felt bad because I liked them but needed better internet for today's demands. CRTC screwed them.

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[–] riptwo@lemmy.ca 23 points 1 year ago

This is awful. TekSavvy was a strong advocate for positive change in a terrible, entrenched market, and the entire landscape is going to be worse without them. I guess at this point I hope that we see more municipal broadband efforts like in Olds, Alberta, though I fear that I'm never going to see something like that in any major cities.

[–] cpw@lemmy.ca 18 points 1 year ago

This is a very sad day.

[–] Stochastic@lemmy.ca 17 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Okay, who's in to form a co-op and buy them?

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 10 points 1 year ago

You have my sword. I don't have a lot more than that to offer though. And the sword is just a metaphor.

Canada needs co-ops and Canada needs public access to communication networks. Is there a lawyer in the thread?

[–] lightrush@lemmy.ca 8 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Even if we did that, it will still die without a drastic change in costs from the CRTC.

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[–] lxpw@lemmy.ca 15 points 1 year ago

I had Rogshaw come to the door yesterday pushing their merger high-speed promo. Hopefully Teksavvy doesn't get gobbled up by the three-headed Robelus. Sad day indeed.

[–] darcmage@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Not going to be long until we see the return of tiny data caps with more frequent price increases.

[–] mbryson@lemmy.ca 13 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I've really enjoyed my time with TekSavvy. My wife - then fiance - told me about them when I moved into our new place before her when I was comparing internet prices from the "Big 3". Their front facing disdain for the monopolization and lobbying of telecom in Canada was fascinating to see and made me a big fan, alongside their competitive pricing and good service as well. Although it's only been just over a year I'm really going to miss them if they change everything/are bought out. Hoping for the best here but it is looking grim.

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[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)
[–] nevernevermore@kbin.social 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

TekSavvy is the last remaining large internet wholesale provider, as others have been snapped up by bigger rivals in what independent ISPs describe as a challenging regulatory environment.
Roughly half a dozen independent ISPs have been sold since February of 2022

From the article

[–] someguy3@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Personally I wouldn't call that turmoil. I'd call it industry consolidation.

[–] nevernevermore@kbin.social 10 points 1 year ago

Consolidation can be tumultuous; but I’m just citing the article. They go into much further depth about the situation.

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[–] grte@lemmy.ca 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That sucks. Long time Teksaavy customer.

[–] sweetholymosiah@sh.itjust.works 11 points 1 year ago (3 children)

One would think that the current Liberal CRTC would be better at maintaining competition than the previous Conservative CRTC, and yet here we are. start.ca is now telus, and teksavvy is soon to be.... Rogers? Bell? Viacom?
Fuck it, bring on Starlink!

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[–] hub@news.cosocial.ca 11 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Ah yeah that really suck.

Municipal network? Look at Toronto. CIty council wanted to create a network to service area where the cartel wouldn't service. The whole thing was vetoed by Rogers Director (member of the board) Mayor John Tory.

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[–] roguemetahuman@lemmy.world 11 points 1 year ago

This is a very sad news. I was rooting for them to be the last standing ISP that’s not part of the big tech.

[–] drukqs@lemmy.ml 10 points 1 year ago

Article is subscription only, you can read it here.

[–] cmcalgary@lemmy.ca 9 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Never used TekSavvy but always heard good things

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[–] evil_opossum@lemmy.world 9 points 1 year ago

Well.... Damn it

[–] alex@geddit.social 8 points 1 year ago

To bypass the paywall and read the article: https://archive.ph/qfn4r

[–] boris@news.cosocial.ca 7 points 1 year ago (4 children)

I was with TekSavvy for a long time but they were getting worse. I Switched to Oxio https://oxio.ca which is cheaper and faster than TS was. It’s a brand for Cogeco.

[–] Mugmoor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago

Oxio is owned by Cogeco now.

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[–] scasagrande@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 year ago (1 children)

What?? This country is so useless. I've stuck with Teksavvy since I got my first internet account back in 2009. I think I was getting 5/1 over DSL shared in a house of 3. I stuck through all the data usage crap they had to fight against, through the years of deep packet inspection, through the price increases in recent years, and even with knowing that the Liberals and the crtc are both seemingly in favour of never allowing them access to the fiber network.

Wind/Freedom mobile is getting sold yet again, I just experienced cable-cable being sold to Rogers, and now Teksavvy might next. And for what; its not like they're bringing their fancy fiber to my house any time soon. They came by in 2019 letting me know they're making the plans to roll it out on my street. It never happened. All while I get to watch them install fiber in the suburbs.

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[–] unfazedbeaver@lemmy.one 6 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Aw darn it. I was just about to switch to them too... Unless they get bought by an idealist buyer, they are just gonna get gobbled up by the big 3...

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[–] Mugmoor@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Once again I am thrilled to have an ISP not based in Canada!

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