Tag: teksavvy

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Mobile Syrup

TekSavvy expands fibre service to Cedar Springs and Blenheim, Ontario

Chatham, Ontario-based independent internet service provider (ISP) TekSavvy has announced an expansion of its fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) service in Cedar Springs and Blenheim, Ontario.

TekSavvy says its fibre service is now available to more than 700 homes and businesses in the two communities, and will reach more places in the coming weeks. TekSavvy expects fibre construction to wrap up in February 2022 — when it does, the expansion will reach 450 homes and businesses in Cedar Springs.

The ISP expects to finish construction in Blenheim this summer, reaching a total of 2,350 homes and businesses.

Connected homes and businesses will have access to TekSavvy internet services with speeds up to 1Gbps. The ISP notes that all its plans come with unlimited bandwidth.

Finally, TekSavvy noted that it’s currently offering a $20/mo credit for 12 months on select fibre internet plans, making now a good time to sign up if you’re in an area where the ISP offers fibre internet.

Source: TekSavvy

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Mobile Syrup

TekSavvy TV is now available across Canada

TekSavvy’s internet protocol television (IPTV) service is now available across the country.

According to the press release, TekSavvy TV can now be accessed in “select regions” in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, PEI, and Saskatchewan.

This is in addition to the provinces of Ontario and Quebec, where the IPTV has been up and running for a few years now.

TekSavvy TV offers 150 live HD channels, plus video on demand. PVR services are also available, for an extra charge of $10/month for 50 hours of cloud-saved recordings, and subscriptions start at $20 per month for basic service.

To access the service, you need to already be a TekSavvy residential internet customer with a plan packing a download speed of at least 15Mbps.

Hardware-wise, TekSavvy TV says it runs on most Amazon Fire TV devices, Apple TV (Version 4 or higher), iPhones and iPads (iOS 10.3 or higher), Android TV (Xiaomi Mi Box 3, Nvidia Shield, Chromecast with Google TV) and Android phones and tablets (Version 5 or higher).

Otherwise, the indie telecom company also rents out a “TekSavvy TV Box ” for $5 per month. The box features HD 1080p resolution (though it claims to be 4K ready), HDMI output, an SD card slot, and USB 2 ports.

This Canadian IPTV service is a joint venture between two Ontario companies: TekSavvy, which is based out of Chatham-Kent, and Hastings CableVision in Madoc.

Together, the two groups launched TekSavvy TV in February 2019, specifically in Chatham-Kent, Ontario.

The service later expanded to include Ottawa and the Greater Toronto Area, before rolling out across Ontario in July 2019.

TekSavvy TV later became available in select regions of Quebec in March 2020.

Source: TekSavvy

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Mobile Syrup

Federal court greenlights TekSavvy’s appeal of CRTC wholesale rates ruling

The Federal Court of Appeal will hear TekSavvy’s case against the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC)’s decision to not lower wholesale internet rates after previously announcing it would.

The court made the announcement on September 15th, according to The Globe and Mail, though a date for the hearing is not yet listed on the Federal Court of Appeal’s website.

TekSavvy has been advocating for months, both through the legal system and in multiple public statements, against the CRTC’s controversial ruling in May 2021 that it would be backtracking on its decision to impose new regulations on wholesale internet rates in Canada.

For context, wholesale rates are the fees that smaller internet service providers — like TekSavvy — must pay in order to access the country’s physical internet network (think wires and lines).

Due to the high initial cost of building the infrastructure, that network is predominantly owned and operated by a trio of telecommunication and media corporations: Bell, Rogers and Telus.

The CRTC had planned on lowering the wholesale rates, but, following legal pressure from several of Canada’s larger carrier companies, decided not to go through with it, claiming that its original findings — i.e. that the rates were grossly inflated — contained errors.

TekSavvy has since blamed the CRTC’s reversed decision for a $3 price increase to its own services, and launched an online petition courting voter support.

The wholesale rates decision has very much become an election issue.

The Conservative Party of Canada is promising to reduce the CRTC’s regulatory powers and called for more competition in Canada’s ISP market.

Meanwhile, the New Democratic Party said it would work with the CRTC to reverse the wholesale rate ruling.

Source: The Globe and Mail