Storm Internet (NF)

[Moosebunk]

While I'm thinking of it...

 

The speedtests tonight with my current internet server (a Bell stick) thus far are...

 

Ping: 104

Down: 1.85 Mbps

Up: 0.5 Mbps

 

My wife's...

 

Ping: 198

Down: 0.55 Mbps

Up: 0.36 Mbps

 

 

I'm considering going with Storm. Their package for us would be cheaper and it offers 50GB/month, Down 3.0 & Up 1.0

 

Country living you pay a price... heck, it was faster Internet with FiberOptics in Moosonee and Attawapiskat.

 

We once had XPloreNet and it was absolutely gawd aweful. Paying for the best package (5Down / 1Up) I was regularily getting Down/Up speeds even less than the Bell stick and with a ping rate in the 1000's. Every night being "choked" by the provider. So... now I'm wondering if anyone using Storm has experienced similar choking problems, and if the speeds they advertise (and you pay for) are really what you get???

[Moosebunk]

BTW... really a computer dummie here... so please not too much geek speak. Thankyall muchly!

[Raf]

While I'm thinking of it...

 

The speedtests tonight with my current internet server (a Bell stick) thus far are...

 

Ping: 104

Down: 1.85 Mbps

Up: 0.5 Mbps

 

My wife's...

 

Ping: 198

Down: 0.55 Mbps

Up: 0.36 Mbps

 

 

I'm considering going with Storm. Their package for us would be cheaper and it offers 50GB/month, Down 3.0 & Up 1.0

 

Country living you pay a price... heck, it was faster Internet with FiberOptics in Moosonee and Attawapiskat.

 

We once had XPloreNet and it was absolutely gawd aweful. Paying for the best package (5Down / 1Up) I was regularily getting Down/Up speeds even less than the Bell stick and with a ping rate in the 1000's. Every night being "choked" by the provider. So... now I'm wondering if anyone using Storm has experienced similar choking problems, and if the speeds they advertise (and you pay for) are really what you get???

 

'nother country liver and I feel your pain. Not familiar with Storm but find out if Rogers has a closer / more towers in your area. You should be seeing better speeds. They use the same technology as Bell. Come to think of it, Rogers is the only one that offers LTE wireless if you're somewhat close to a major metropolitan area and it'll be quicker still.

 

I have Rogers and I see 5-6 down and 1.5 up consistently.. with a one time peak I saw of 10 down . It slows down in peak periods as you're sharing the tower with whoever. My work phone is Bell and I see consistently higher speeds but there are more bell towers in my area. Rogers had a promotion recently $50 for 10 GB so I went with them.

[Snowball]

Just checked mine using www.testmyspeed.com

I am with Shaw cable (Thunder Bay, Ontario)

3.13 Download

0.453 Upload

The system was so slow yesterday, I could not watch Youtube videos.

I can always tell when the children are home from school, the computer slows to a snails pace.

 

Regards,

Snowball

[mistaredone]

My iphone 4s on the Fido/Rogers 3G network gets 5.9 mbps down 1.8 up. My buddys iphone 5 on Rogers LTE network gets 25-35mbps down!! Crazy fast. LTE network is expanding but mainly GTA and Barie for now

[mistaredone]

LTE will work on most new phones but you need to get a sim card that can handle it. $10-$15

[Roy]

Mine's been slowing down lately. It's really noticeable. Speedtest now gave me ping= 7ms. Upload= 8.43mbps. Download= 1.06mbps. I'll have to do a little housecleaning I guess.

[Skipper D]

Check out Bells new 5548 aircard , any where your cell phone will work their aircard will give you high speed , i have one and so far i am impressed .

[irishfield]

Do they have cable out along the highway Drew? If so... pick someone with line of sight from your back road and go knock on their door and ask if you can pay for their internet. A couple hundred bucks for two antennas and associated gear.... and Bob's your uncle. We're shooting 7800 feet (almost a mile and a half) for ours.

 

 

Is there nobody out there Drew offering point to point? Seem to recall a LOT of flat panel antennas driving through CP area.

Edited October 14, 2012 by irishfield

[Moosebunk]

'nother country liver and I feel your pain. Not familiar with Storm but find out if Rogers has a closer / more towers in your area. You should be seeing better speeds.

I have Rogers and I see 5-6 down and 1.5 up consistently.. with a one time peak I saw of 10 down.

 

 

Hey Raf, thanks for the reply dood. If it's like the Bell stick, then this household actually needs two of them... and soon enough with a 13 year old, possibly 3 of them. I believe though that my wife looked into Rogers when we first moved in 3 years ago and they didn't have anything available here yet. Bell, XPlorenet and Ripnet were our options. Will look into them again, but with our two Bell Sticks we're just not seeing good enough service for the money we're spending... and the thought of be choked during primetime really annoys and spooks me.

 

 

Check out Bells new 5548 aircard , any where your cell phone will work their aircard will give you high speed , i have one and so far i am impressed .

 

 

Will do D. Never heard of it.

 

 

Is there nobody out there Drew offering point to point? Seem to recall a LOT of flat panel antennas driving through CP area.

 

 

Ripnet. Probably the fastest service I know I could get. $1000 for the 70 foot towering eye-sore they'd need to put up. Hoping that the new "50 house" (supposed) subdivision going in at Innisville will bring better options.

 

 

Thanks guys!

 

 

 

IPhones and the such aren't a part of our lives yet... in fact, I might turn on the old cell phone once or twice a week to note the time if I forget my watch or, really have to call someone about something. Call us old fashioned or unretarded if you will.

 

 

 

Surprised no one at all is using Storm..?

[jace]

There are really only 2 big cell/internet providers here and they are rogers and bell/telus. All of the others are resellers and use those 2 networks (this includes 3web, teksavvy, etc, and everything small like storm that only provide regional services). So what you see with Bell now is going to be similar with Storm. If you can't get a good rogers signal out there, any rogers reseller will not work either. Bell/Telus technology gets longer range from a cell site in rural areas (cdma) which is why it dominates in sparsely populated areas (less infrastructure req'd for coverage). Check with your neighbors to see what they have, that'll be your best guage for selecting a service.

 

As for buying multiple usb stick subscriptions, you're going about it the wrong way. What you should do is get 1 internet stick/subscription and buy a wifi router that can use your 3G stick directly, after that, all your computers go through that single stick through the router. Another option is to set up one of your computers to share its internet conneciton to the other 2 computers but that's not as nice because the computer with the stick needs to stay on and cannot leave the house. I'm assuming you do not need internet on the road in which case you might need a 2nd shared stick that is used outside of the house. If all 3 of you simultaneously need internet outside of the house, ignore this paragraph.

[Skipper D]

I have no clue about the storm but heres what the Sierrs Wireless AIRCARD looks like , its the same size as any cell phone. A few weeks we had a fishing get together north of Parrysound and with this thing setting on the table in the cabin i was the only one at the lake with high speed internet . I like it so far and it dose'nt seem to matter where i take it i have yet to loose the signal , even works great running down the 400 at a 120 k's , Bell gave me 10GB per month for 50.00 which is way more then i ever use , Good luck with what ever you choose . Edited to say ....... it will and dose profide service to ten other appliances in the same house .

Edited October 14, 2012 by Skipper " D "

[Moosebunk]

Not all 3 of us j ace, but yes, 2 of us do. The wife's computer travels outta the home often to work.

 

About going with one stick in a router... my worry (and again I'm unsure???) was that one stick operating for two computers going at a time, will only make what is already a painstakingly slow speed, even slower. My wife having often been required to take online classes/conferences, I also didn't want to jeopardize her current working system with my online porn streaming (fish porn of course). But, now that her school is done, it's time to explore available options.

 

I don't "believe" (not sure) all providers using Bell/Telus tech (ie, ?????? Storm) necessarily choke their users dependent and during busy use times. If they all do, then what I'm using now may be the best option still. The Bell stick was recommended by my neighbor... who works out of her house... for Bell... and gets hers for free. lol. "Some" others use Ripnet... but they must be at a slightly higher elevation because I can't think of any directly around me with a 70 foot tower or more. If Storm does not choke... and what they offer is 3 Down & 1 up untampered with and true to contract at cost, I will allow them to punch holes in my house to pop up a satellite... BUT, if they're like XPlorenet was, punch holes in my house, charge me even more money for their best package which offers supposed better speeds, and then I start Speedtesting them on Thursday nights for results of Ping 1800 ms, Down 0.5 and Up .15 because they're choking... well I can't deal with that shhhnit. lol.

 

I don't need to be a tonne faster because I don't download movies or play online games or such. Just looking to be as fast as I can for surfing, checking the forums, up/downloading pics and watching the odd You-tube video. Getting by here... but barely. lol. Don't like having to always wait to go to work or to my folks place to upload pics and videos for doing up reports either. lol.

 

Appreciate the response. Seriously.

[Moosebunk]

Again... I will have to look into that Skipper. Does it work for more than one computer at a time in the house??? And, what are your speedtests like??? www.speedtest.net

 

10GB would be enough here too...

[Skipper D]

Again... I will have to look into that Skipper. Does it work for more than one computer at a time in the house??? And, what are your speedtests like??? www.speedtest.net

 

10GB would be enough here too...

 

 

speed test ? tell me how to do this and i will check it for you , how many computers ,,,, right now i am running my home pc and my lap top with it , i 've run the both at the same time and i am still getting full strength ........

[Skipper D]

to bad i could'nt loan you this one so you could try it

[Moosebunk]

Go to www.speedtest.net

 

Do not click on "start now" where it says, before your speed test BUT, instead click on "begin test."

 

You'll have to wait about 30 seconds until it is complete, then it will give you your ping rate, download and upload speeds. Those numbers are the results.

[Skipper D]

Go to www.speedtest.net

 

Do not click on "start now" where it says, before your speed test BUT, instead click on "begin test."

 

You'll have to wait about 30 seconds until it is complete, then it will give you your ping rate, download and upload speeds. Those numbers are the results.

 

 

I just took the test ,here are my results .... ping 214ms ...... down load speed 1.13mdps ........ up load speed 0.03mbps , after the test they offered a down load tool i could use to boost up my pc speed by as much as 50 percent which i did not do .

[Moosebunk]

Thanks Skipper. Now you know A) that the Speedtest site exists and that neither one of us are operating on any decent level of "highspeed"

 

You can test and retest changing to different locations but, it usually still ends up the same. Currently I'm at...

 

ping 123 Down 1.8 Up 0.57. Usually for us with two sticks costs are about double... but we're a little faster by the looks of it.

[Raf]

Hey Raf, thanks for the reply dood. If it's like the Bell stick, then this household actually needs two of them... and soon enough with a 13 year old, possibly 3 of them.

 

 

It works on the same concept as the stick but it's a Hub (has router built in) Bell and Rogers both offer them.

 

The slowish speeds you are seeing are due to i) distance from bell tower and/or ii) amount of traffic at said tower (bottleneck) . Sadly there's not much you can do about either if you use a stick. If you have a hub, there are external antennas available that may help if issue i) is your problem. Issue ii) is all Bell.

 

Having multiple Hubs/Sticks wont address anything other than not sharing the signal. ie. if all three pcs are on the interwebs at the same time, you're sharing that 1.5 down.

 

btw, xplornet is a satellite based technology so no matter how 'fast' they claim their service to be, the latency (ping) will always be slow.. till they figure out a way to put their birds closer to earth. It's just physics, man.

Edited October 14, 2012 by Raf

[Raf]

this link will tell you the location of all cell phone towers in your area

 

http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html

[Skipper D]

Thanks Skipper. Now you know A) that the Speedtest site exists and that neither one of us are operating on any decent level of "highspeed"

 

You can test and retest changing to different locations but, it usually still ends up the same. Currently I'm at...

 

ping 123 Down 1.8 Up 0.57. Usually for us with two sticks costs are about double... but we're a little faster by the looks of it.

 

 

so you want the numbers to be higher or should the numbers be lowere ???? , Bel said if i used it in a built up area it would become deadly fast , but i live out in the boneys in the bottom of a valley in the bush , it came tho as one hec of an inprovment over having dail up for nine years ....... lol .Prior to having it i could never see pictures or vids or other links put up here on the board , now its like instantly there .

Edited October 14, 2012 by Skipper " D "

[DRIFTER_016]

Drew

My dad is using Bell's Turbo Hub.

It's a router with built in cell connectivity.

It has RJ45 connections for non-wireless computers and also has built in wireless access point.

When I have used it it has been failry speedy.

[Moosebunk]

It works on the same concept as the stick but it's a Hub (has router built in) Bell and Rogers both offer them.

 

The slowish speeds you are seeing are due to i) distance from bell tower and/or ii) amount of traffic at said tower (bottleneck) . Sadly there's not much you can do about either if you use a stick. If you have a hub, there are external antennas available that may help if issue i) is your problem. Issue ii) is all Bell.

 

Having multiple Hubs/Sticks wont address anything other than not sharing the signal. ie. if all three pcs are on the interwebs at the same time, you're sharing that 1.5 down.

 

btw, xplornet is a satellite based technology so no matter how 'fast' they claim their service to be, the latency (ping) will always be slow.. till they figure out a way to put their birds closer to earth. It's just physics, man.

 

 

Dang Raf... I know you know stuff! My stick operates on 1 bar outta 5 for it's signal. It's the weakest there is. I plug in a small external antenna to that which gives me 2 bars... sometimes. The wifes computer is 1/5 too. Our tower (Bell) is about 3 km's away. The next closest is Telus and it's maybe 7km's. (Cool link, thanks)

 

 

so you want the numbers to be higher or should the numbers be lowere ???? , Bel said if i used it in a built up area it would become deadly fast , but i live out in the boneys in the bottom of a valley in the bush , it came tho as one hec of an inprovment over having dail up for nine years ....... lol .Prior to having it i could never see pictures or vids or other links put up here on the board , now its like instantly there .

 

 

Ohhh it's faster than dial-up Skip. For sure. I had dial-up once back in the 1930's while living in Alert. j/k But yeah man, it's an improvement...

 

I used to be on DSL and it was great! And that was on an island in the subarctic. lol. So... your ping should be lower, but your UP and DOWN higher. My father for instance tested and he's at 21 Down and 4.5 Up. He's in town... and here I am at 1.8 Down and 0.5 Up. He's got highspeed.

 

 

My dad is using Bell's Turbo Hub.

 

 

Thanks Dave... kinda forgot about the Hub. I'd heard about these sometime back from my buddy who works with Bell. They were in their infancy... I should see if he can bring one out to test somehow... although, if going by what Raf has said, it may not cure any bottlenecking issues but could maybe give us a better signal to the tower and at just one cost.

 

 

Appreciated guys. I'll be talking more with Storm in the coming week or two, and I guess as far as providers go... the TurboHub could be worth looking into.

[Skipper D]

I just did the speed test again , this time i clicked on my server as being in Barrie this time instead of Toronto like i did on the last test , no big change but here's the new results Ping 198ms ...down 1.33mbps ....up 0.08 , th's for the fun and good luck .