Virtually all of the fibre we run is fibre-to-the-home or FTTH (that’s a good thing)! This means that a new fibre line is brought right to your home, so you experience true fibre speed, entirely on Start.ca’s own infrastructure. Some other providers offer fibre-to-the-node services under a “fibre” banner but typically these services rely on traditional copper wiring so they cannot deliver true fibre speeds.

We take great care to cause minimal impact to your home or property when we install fibre. If you live in a multi-dwelling unit such as a condo, we generally run our fibre through the existing conduit (tubing that carries other utility lines) and along molding, then into your unit via a small hole that we drill. The fibre line itself is nearly invisible. If you live in a detached home, we will run a fibre line directly to your home. We can do this either by utilizing the existing aerial utility poles, or via a non-invasive trenching technique. If you want to know more, please check out this article about our fibre construction practices.

Start.ca fibre relies on a completely separate infrastructure than DSL or cable internet so you can have fibre and cable/DSL service simultaneously. If you’re a Start.ca cable or DSL customer who is upgrading to fibre, we’ll ensure that your old service remains active until your fibre is up and running. If you’re with another provider, your connection will remain active until you cancel it.

If you have the router you wish to use onsite, our friendly technicians will gladly help connect your router to your modem. Often, it’s as simple as connecting your new fibre modem to your existing Wi-Fi router (we only recommend this if your current router is capable of handling gigabit speeds). If you don’t happen to have a router at the time of hookup, our friendly Customer Experience Group will be happy to help guide you through the process.

Once you have signed up, you will receive your first bill on the 1st day of the following month. This will include any equipment or setup fees that apply. After that, we’ll send your monthly bill via email on the 1st (for the upcoming month’s service) and will automatically take your payment from the credit card or bank account that you’ve provided. You can change your method of payment at any time through our customer portal or by calling in.

If you want Wi-Fi (and who doesn’t?) you’ll need a router. Any gigabit router with a WAN port will work with the modem that we supply, including the Mercku mesh Wi-Fi system that we carry in-house.

We provide you with a special fibre modem (known as ONT’s) that is included in all fibre packages. This will allow us to easily replace or upgrade the modem at any time if necessary.