Are internet service providers keeping tabs on your browsing?

The Toronto Star contacted Bell, Rogers and TekSavvy to see what kind of information the companies keep about the websites their customers visit

What does your internet service providers know about your internet browsing habits?

The Toronto Star contacted three popular internet service providers (ISPs) in Toronto — Bell, Rogers and TekSavvy — to see what kind of information the companies keep that can track the websites their customers visit.

But first, some background. Customers are assigned a new IP address, or Internet Protocol address, whenever their modem connects to the internet. The IP address is a series of numbers that acts as an address online, telling a website where to deliver its data. If, for example, a Hollywood studio wants to find out who downloaded a TV episode illegally, they would try to acquire the user’s IP address then ask an ISP for the name associated with that number.

When asked whether the companies log such information, the responses from the internet services providers varied considerably.

Toronto Internet Review

UPDATED: a few hours ago undisclosed location  $32 per month  "Low cost, high quality, great technicians, great people"  "None that I've yet found"  "I'm a very happy customer since 2004"

Update 20100601: TekSavvy has recently been extra helpful and reminded me why they're my favourite vendor of any service.

Update 2007/02/25: This website reminded me to update my review and, well, nothing has changed - they still get my full 5 ranking across the board.
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I searched around for some time, trying out various $30/month DSL vendors. Most were idiots, incompetents or liars ("we disconnect you once per day for your own security" was one shovel-full I got).

Then in early 2004 (IIRC) I found TekSavvy and boy oh boy, is it ever nice to find a vendor who has competent, happy employees and gives you what you pay for.

As a side note, once-in-a-blue moon when they they do scheduled maintenance or upgrades that will impact their customer's service they actually email we customers in advance to notify us. Kinda makes you feel like you are important!

They don't force you into any kind of contract either (this website doesn't seem to have an option to say 'never any contract required'). If you stay with them it's because you like their service, not because you have your neck in the noose of a contract.

One last thing: when you call the office or tech support they have actual Canada-based (no outsourcing) human beings that answer the phone right away.

Cancel Rogers Internet - Toronto, Canada.

Toronto,ON

30$ per month

about 6 days

Bell Canada

"Great Value, Friendly Support"

Hi Guys,

This is just a quick word to say I got my TEKSAVVY (Thanks to this amazing website and a friend's recommendation) connection today in Toronto and it works great.

I get 7.25 mbits on speed test for 30$ a month.

Previous situation with BELL:
I was getting slower speed with bell for 40 hidden fees, modem rent and ended up paying hundreds of $ in fees for them not telling me my dl limit had been reduced to something in the 20 gigs. + All the stuff I was downloading so slowly not knowing Bell was cheating me of 95% of my torrent speed.

Now Bell keeps calling me back to offer me different deals not even on their website, bunch of corrupted fraudsters.

I could go on an on, about how the Bell payment service wouldn't wait 3 days until I got my student scholarship money and cut my line even if I have been their client for over 10 years. Then they told me they would not charge me fee for reconnecting if I stayed with Bell. Asking them if they would still charge me the extra 25 days even through I'm already with another company they said: yes. I answered: "well then why are wondering why I changed company if you charge me for service I wont even use and do not want? Thieves"

Anyway, this is my TekSavvy review:
Great service so far. They came to install the modem at my apartment - no BS, a technician just called and said he was in my area and could deliver my modem.
Fast speed.

And like I said (kinda the theme of my review): The exact opposite of Bell in what to expect.

Bell Sympatico and Switched Internet Providers

Oshawa,ON
$60 per month
about 9 days
Bell Canada
"Great Speed so far, Great Value, Friendly Support, Etc"
"A few initial setup delays"
"I just had my line set up not too long ago and its good so far!"


The initial process of Teksavvy seemed pretty easy. We set it up on a certain date and expected it at a certain date. That wasn't the complete case.

Due to no fault to Teksavvy though, I had to get lines installed by Bell and it was delayed a few times as from Bell's end it seemed to work fine. Once the tech came out here and noticed the problem he said he would have the right things installed within 20-60 minutes, and he did.

The tech support at Teksavvy is great. The reviews on this site are proof of that. The support staff are friendly and even crack the occasional joke here and there.

The speed on our line is solid and so far, no hiccups at all. We were starting to get annoyed about the set up time but that couldn't have been helped, no matter who we had to go with.

We used our own Modem (TP-Link TD-W8920G) and it provides a quick setup option which we just went through pretty easily (with our username and password entered) and it just worked.

Yari ka I found it -Teksavvy Internet Provider

I called in a few days before Christmas and got my activation date 2 weeks away because of holidays which is understandable. On activation day, I plugged in my TP-LINK 8616 and WRT54GL and configured my username/password and it just works. My speed profile is set correctly except for upload. Everything is fine except a few hiccups here and there which I will be calling about soon. Although I put initial cost as a bad point, it's still better then bell in terms of overall service/monetary value. Because with bell, you have to rent their modem and they do not allow you to buy it and keep it. Think of teksavvy's modem as an investment.

Best Internet in Canada

St Catharines,ON
Contract price not specified.
"Short hold times, knowledgable staff"
"Line speed, different stories"
"I don't know who to believe when it comes to the excuse as to why I'm getting 3/5 of what I'm supposed to be getting."

I ordered DSL Service and was to have it installed on December 23rd, 2009. When that day rolled around, and I couldn't get my DSL going, I placed a ticket order for a Bell technician to come out and take a look at my line. While here, we discovered that it wasn't the line to my house, but my modem that was causing the issue. Fixed the modem and presto, internet.

When the tech was here, he did a line test and told me that I had a fantastic quality line. That his tests are showing somewhere in the ball park of 6mbps when he tested with his 3M branded testing machine. He said if I'm paying for the 5mbps service, I should have no problem receiving 5mbps.

After running a speed test after he left, I found my speeds to be a terrible 1mbps. I called in to tech support and requested that looked into. They put in a ticket to Bell to increase my speeds. A few days later, I run a test, and my speed is now 3mbps. Definitely an improvement, but not quite the 5mbps I was looking forward to when the Bell tech told me it shouldn't be a problem.


I called in to tech support only to be told that I can't get more than 3. They told me to take whatever the techs say with a grain of salt (aka. the tech is lying) and that 3 is the best I can do in my area. They told me the only thing I can do is call back every couple of months to create new tickets to Bell to try to improve my line speed, but the tech support rep told me it likely won't do much.

I don't know who to believe? And just now, on another forum I frequent, I read another similar story to mine about somebody who feels they should be getting closer to 5 mbps but are provisioned at 3 mbps. What gives? Does TekSavvy save on their lease payments to Bell if they keep as many of their clients as possible provisioned to a lower speed?


Other than that though, tech support is very knowledgeable when it comes to troubleshooting the internet set up, setting up my MLPPP router, etc. I definitely have to give credit to them on that front.

The service is the best widespread offered internet in Canada. I'm just wishing it was as good as it sounds on paper....