We’ve been Bell Canada Internet customers for a very long time. In the past, I’ve considered leaving Bell but whenever I grumbled about high prices, Bell almost always offered a discount on the regular rate. The catch is the discounts are offered for a limited time (six months or one year) and when the deal expires, you have to remember to call Bell to get a discount yet again and be prepared to haggle over whether you want to sign a contract. One reason I continued to stick with Bell is sheer inertia: we received reliable service and we heavily depend on the Internet to telework regularly and I didn’t want to undergo the hassle of finding out that a smaller provider’s service was less than reliable.
But when Canadian Money Forum members said they were very happy with Teksavvy’s Internet service, I decided to take the plunge. The regular rate (prices up-to-date as of Jan. 2014) on Bell’s 5 Mbps Internet service with monthly bandwidth capped at a measly 20 GB works out to $51.87 (including HST). If you net out the bundle savings of $5 that Bell provides to customers with multiple services, Bell’s High-Speed Internet service works out $48.53 per month.
Teksavvy’s Internet prices are much lower — $30.49 per month for 6 Mbps and bandwidth of 75 GB. No limited time deals, contracts or bundled savings. You do have to purchase a DSL modem that Teksavvy sells for $75 plus shipping but you can pick it up at local computer stores for around $60. Also, Teksavvy charges an Activation Fee of $50, so you’ll be paying around $120 in start-up costs and realize savings of $18 per month thereafter.
Teksavvy is cheaper not only in the one product tier that we were interested but across the spectrum as you can see from the table below (all prices current as of Jan. 2014 and exclude taxes). We are comparing Bell’s regular bundle rate (which assumes you have some other Bell service) not the introductory 3-month rate with Teksavvy’s regular rate. It should be noted that Bell’s bandwidth is significantly lower than Teksavvy’s, so the following comparison is not quite apples-to-apples.
| Product Tier (Down/Up) | Bell Canada | Teksavvy | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Internet 5/1 | $42.95 | $26.99 | $15.96 |
| Internet 15/10 | $52.95 | $34.99 | $17.96 |
| Internet 25/10 | $60.95 | $39.99 | $20.96 |
| Internet 50/10 | $85.95 | $54.99 | $30.96 |
We’ve had Teksavvy for more than 2 years now and I have only one complaint — if you should need a service call, you are likely to encounter delays as I noted in this follow-up post. Internet is reliable and download speed is close to advertised numbers. We have download services like Netflix Canada and watch TV shows on our tablet or on our Smart TV and do not come close to exceeding 75GB/month. And now that Bell has increased the monthly rate on home phone service by $2 — basic home phone service costs $24.27 at Teksavvy compared to $30.72 at Bell — I’ll be soon severing all ties Bell, hopefully, forever.
Update (Sept. 27, 2013): More than two years later, we are still very happy with Teksavvy DSL Internet. The post has been updated with Teksavvy’s pricing and bandwidth cap changes. Originally, Teksavvy charged $31.95 per month for 5 Mbps and bandwidth of 300GB for the lowest tier service. Note though that if you have a problem that requires a technician to visit your home, you may encounter some problems at Teksavvy.
Update (Jan. 29, 2014): We are still happy with Teksavvy — it is reliable for us and remains much cheaper than Bell Canada. I’ve updated the post with the latest pricing information.
