• Tag Archives review
  • Colba.net review

    So Like I mentioned in my last post I have new Internet so now i feel is an apt time to review my old ISP

    http://colba.net/main.php?lang=en

    Choosing MY ISP:

    first off I was paying a lump sum of $481 annually as it gave a discount over monthly payment this included the internet service($299.4) and dry loop(119.40) and tax or ~$40 per month. I purchased my modem(tp-link) from amazon for $20 instead of renting or buying($90) one from colbanet (zone)

    the service I was paying for was ADSL2+ max speeds of 24mbps/1mbps unlimited bandwidth at the time of subscription it was the best option  all other options bell, videotron, electronic box,distributel; were either more expensive for the same service (or way out of my budget), blocked critical inbound server ports(80,25,21), had tiny bandwidth caps (i.e.100gb combined/month), and/or were shitty companies.

    Service hookup request:

    very straight forward sales rep wasn’t pushy, I told her what service option I wanted and that was it set up install date paid and done. 10/10

    Service install:

    because its an independent ISP (used to be the first ISP in Montreal 56k/16k modem service) they lease Bells phone lines for ADSL service we have the bell tech come to install our line now we live in an old apartment building (circa 1910-1920s) our old twisted pair was rotted and was practically unusable so he went beyond the minimum (like many of bells techs have a reputation of doing) gave us some brand new cat5 straight out to the buildings distribution panel (mind you he did it during a downpour) and ran the drop exactly where i wanted it inside. I was verry impressed I would have given him a tip if i had any cash at the time.

    10/10

    equiptment:

    modem: tp-link td8816 (solid fucker never had to reboot it only ever was off when the power went out)

    router: started with a Dlink dir-601 (running DD-WRT) sometimes slows down and needs a quick power cycle (currently being used as a switch/ wifi AP)

    later/current:TP-link TL-WDR3600 (stock os) (no complaints but nothing super postive to say about it)

    i  owned it all so it dont matter I did have some experience with there Zhone modem didn’t like it so bought my own

     

    Service:

    I was getting 15mbps down and .6-.8 mbps but very few network outages there was a period of about a month where the speed was very bad. it turns out bell/colbanet were upgrading equipment and the speed jumped and stabilized at 15/.8 once they finished ,so it did get better and also latency was excellent 10ms-40ms was common and rarely saw it above 100ms

    the office hours for the administration kind of suck for the end user 9-5 mon-fri the tech support is 24/7 though

    7/10

     

    cancellation:

    not a fuck was given

    me:i would like to cancel

    sales rep: ok, i need your phone,name,etc

    me: X,Y,Z

    SR: ok you will be disconnected on the last day of your billing period (jun 13th) and your account will be closed on the next day

    and done, total time:5min. Absolutely no attempt at customer retention or even asking why i was terminating service with them

    9/10

     

    so the reason i left was first I needed better speed  and the “better” options were $50+ a month for a slight bump in download and 7mbps upload and also included a 300gb bandwidth cap  + dry loop fee

     

     

    overall: 8/10

    if you are tech savvy they are the best option for ADSL (they offer IPTV now as well) I do recommend them if you are on a budget but if you can spare an extra $10/month i would recommend a different ISP


  • Dirty Business Practice

    So the other day I had to make a business card for a class I decided to use vista print since that’s what the teacher recommended due to its price point for the most part the design process was somewhat limited with a decent set of templates with their background images. I found one i liked made it up and was fairly happy with it so i went to the check out process. First its all good select your quantity paper stock finish type etc. Problem is if you just click next for the card it takes you through a line of do you want this accessory or that or this shiny thing or maybe a magnet with your design on it etc. then you do a standard checkout process until you give them payment info and show your order review then it gives you one final promotion and if you are not paying full attention you miss it. It gives you 2 options 1 accept without promotion and 2 accept with promotion. well I was going fast so i missed it (and to be honest when you have done enough online orders it becomes pretty automatic). So i accidentally clicked accept with promotion(which is at the bottom of the 2 invoices displayed so i got another 8$ tacked onto my order at the very last step of a standard checkout.

    I see no reason to ever give them any more of my money if they try to get you to buy every other thing they sell just before checkout and then subversively try to trick you into buying more than you want. Ads are fine and fair play even the annoying “buy all our shit” thing before checkout is ok. But tacking on an option after words is down right dirty business practice. Granted its partly my fault for not paying attention, but i got caught in the trap that was designed specifically for people who stopped paying attention to the last step of online ordering (scroll to bottom, click accept order) because of more honest companies. Now i’m stuck with 140 return address labels and i don’t even send mail more than 2 or 3 times a year

    TL;dr:
    Vista print does everything to trick you into buying more stuff so don’t give them the business.


  • Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X. review

    it was fun but too short it took maybe 4.5 hours to beat the campaign on hard
    the story was a bit generic and lacking details to make it more emersive like the ace combat series does so well at least America gets attacked on its home soil which is soo rare to see in military games its always Americans fighting else ware like in russia, china or the middle east but never on there own soil i would give it a
    3/5 fun to play not emersive enough