Canada

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

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

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..

🤦🤦‍♀️🤦🏼‍♂️

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.

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

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.

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.

This is a very sad day.

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

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

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.

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.

What industry turmoil?

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.

That sucks. Long time Teksaavy customer.

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.

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!

Article is subscription only, you can read it here.

Well.... Damn it

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.

Never used TekSavvy but always heard good things

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.

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

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...