Do you know a good ISP in Vancouver?

[Madeleine]

Hello all,

Yes, that's right, there's an "I" in front of that SP. I am turning to an escort review board for computer help. The Perberts and Perbettes know all. I am humble before their greatness.

I'm here to pick your brains for a moment. Not being the world's most tech-savvy person (that's my roommate laughing hysterically in the background), I'm here on bended knee asking for your assistance. As you clearly all use the internet, I imagine you are all also qualified to give an educated opinion. Handy!

My girlfriend (ridiculously good-looking, smart as a whip, and would like to be able to get her first look at porn -- you are doing the world a great service in helping here) lives in East Van, and has just acquired a swanky laptop. She now needs internet service.

Since she doesn't need any of the other services (like phone or cable) that the big ISPs provide, where should she go for the fastest speeds, best service, and best price?

Her computer is using Vista (argh!). She'd like wireless, but if the difference in speed or price is great enough, I think she'd plug in instead, as her house is tiny, anyhow.

She'd probably rather pay more and get faster speed or unlimited service as opposed to cheap and slower.

Your help is massively appreciated; her first dirty movie viewing festival will be dedicated to the provider of the chosen ISP with great aplomb.

Your hopelessly un-techy masseuse,

Madeleine.

 

[Rodge]

Okay, honestly if you want the best speeds for the best price, I suggest going for one of the big ones like Shaw or Telus. Yes, they offer other services but they also offer big infrastructures and 24/7 phone support. (VERY YMMV).

Telus should be able to tell her how far she is from a relay station, and if she is less than 1km get Telus DSL, she will have good speeds. Shaw is reliable, only slows down if you're in a busy neighborhood or in a big apartment building. Do not get satellite internet. Just don't. Don't do dialup. Why crawl with your lips across broken bottles when you can run in Nikes across tarmac?

Vista is not a problem, if you spend the time to configure it properly and learn how/why it's different from XP. Functionally, it's XP with an annoying security feature and lots of makeup.

Wireless - ISPs do not provide wireless. To get wireless, go to Best Buy/FutureShop and buy a wireless router. Make sure it is capable of doing either G or N. It will say clearly on the box something like 802.11G or 802.11N. If you have a 2.4ghz (again, should say on the phone) cordless phone, do not buy a wireless router. Or if you do, buy a 5.8ghz cordless phone on the same shopping trip. 2.4ghz cordless phones operate on the same frequency as wireless and will knock you offline every time the handset 'phones home' to the base and every time the phone rings. This will connect to whatever modem you get from Telus/Shaw and will provide wireless. If you want info on how to make the router secure, PM me and I will be happy to help.

Let me say this right now: Make sure that she has a firewall, and an anti-virus program. AVG is available for free from grisoft.com. Do a google search for 'Free AVG' and it will be the first result.

Your hopelessly geeky PERBite,
Roger

 

[d_Duck55]

. If you have a 2.4ghz (again, should say on the phone) cordless phone, do not buy a wireless router. Or if you do, buy a 5.8ghz cordless phone on the same shopping trip. 2.4ghz cordless phones operate on the same frequency as wireless and will knock you offline every time the handset 'phones home' to the base and every time the phone rings.

True, 5.8GHz phones interfere less, but 2.4GHz phones are frequency hopping and have never caused me grief. And I run 3 different sets of 2.4GHz phones in my house. If you have 2.4GHz phones, don't replace them unless you *know* they are causing a problem.

Shaw is probably the simplest way to go - most people already have a Shaw account for cable tv. I have the "super duper high speed" (extra $10/mo) and get a consistent 8-10Mbps downloading from newsgroups. I call that fast.

 

[Madeleine]

Thanks all!

Thank you very much for your help (more please!),

So, the big question, let me get this straight: the ISP doesn't provide the actual wireless service? So does that mean she can get any kind of internet and just needs to buy a wireless router? Meh? Meow?

To the last comment, she doesn't have cable or phone service and doesn't want them, so the whole package thingy is useless. Thanks, though. It would be a good idea if she had cable or land line service. But we are modern 21st century women, and hooked on internet, DVDs, and cell phones.

She definitely won't be using dial-up, don't worry. Does anyone still use that in N. America anymore? Seems like ancient history now, doesn't it? I find it hard to remember a time before the internet. Weird.

What I'm wondering about are smaller providers, like the ones on this site:

http://www.canadianisp.com/cgi-bin/...couver&city2=&maxprice=&service=wir&showall=1

What think ye, oh helpful geeks of Perbia?

Thanks again very muchly,

Madeleine.

P.S. Please, please, be gentle and explain to yours truly the whole wireless thing. I am utterly befuddled.