James Uncovers More SaskTel Ugliness

When I was trying to figure out what internet connection speed I have from SaskTel so I could compare to Access' deal, I had to do an internet bandwidth speed test (see link below) to determine my speed.

The initial test seemed low, so I turned off one of my two SaskTel Max TV boxes and got higher readings.

Some speed tests can be inconsistent so I repeated the test over and over, some with my second TV box on, some with it off. Consistently and without exception, I got significantly higher download speeds with the box off than with it on.

1440 kb/s with second max box off.
884 on
1383 off
1437 off
872 on

I also got about 25 per cent faster upload speeds with it off.

In short, with the box off, I got what I'm supposed to get with my internet connection that I pay for. But you're supposed to be able to have up to two boxes without loss of internet bandwidth.

I think I may run not walk to Access for my digital TV services/phone and internet. Why? Because at a friend's house for Thanksgiving dinner on the weekend, my wife and I both immediately noticed the sharp picture quality of Access digital TV. John has a similar TV to mine, his TV would have to be WAY better than mine to show such an improved picture quality. It was noticeable with every new shot on screen. SaskTel seems to add a slight blur to their MPEG2 compression to compensate for their crappy compression ratio.

Link for speed test. (Choose Calgary as your test center, it's quick, easy and fun!) There's lots of different sites for speed tests but this is my favourite so far.

Note: I am not anti-crown corporation in any way. However I am anti-telecom price gouging and anti-Canadian TV distribution industry picture quality loss due to over-compression, if you follow me.