Ryan’s Custom Machine

After 11 years working as a mould maker and machinist in Toronto, Steve Ryan opened his own small machine shop in September 2008.

“We do custom machining for various industries,” he explains. “It is metal manufacturing so, for example, we do custom parts for cars and motorcycles, and camera solutions for the film and TV industry.”

Ryan’s Custom Machine (www.ryanscustom.ca) focuses on prototype development, custom parts, rush jobs, difficult projects, and small production runs.

The company’s specialty is unique projects. For example, Ryan designs and builds small parts for custom bikes, mould and die components, as well as architectural and design elements. If a machine breaks down in the middle of a production run and the part is out of stock and unavailable, Steve will quickly make a new part to get the equipment up and running again. He also does modifications on parts that aren’t working well.

When Steve was opening up his company last fall, he called around before choosing a phone and Internet service provider. 

“My biggest complaint is that some of the companies I called had really bad phone lines, which isn’t a good start for a phone company,” he says. “And I had trouble getting through to anyone who could help me out. They only worked certain hours or didn’t return calls.”

Finally his wife, who is an interior designer, suggested he call Allstream Small Business.

“Some of her clients had switched to Allstream Small Business and she had heard good things about their customer service,” he explains.

For Steve, who was busy and stressed with all the details involved in opening a company for the first time, the price of his business communications was important. But equally valuable was finding a hassle-free provider with the expertise to deal with his telecommunications needs for him -- so he could concentrate on his area of specialty, metal manufacturing.

Steve points out that some of the telecommunications providers told him it could four to eight weeks to get the lines installed! He couldn’t afford to wait that long. Luckily, this wasn’t the case with Allstream Small Business.

“Beyond offering me a competitive price, I mainly chose Allstream Small Business because of their customer service,” says Steve. “They gave me prices, they followed up, the installation happened quickly. The whole process was quick and efficient and hassle-free. They made it all seem very easy -- so I could get on with my business.”

Allstream Small Business offers a choice of four simple and affordable phone and phone/Internet bundles, so customer’s can choose a package based on their company’s requirements. Recognizing that each business is unique, and may have specific needs, clients can customize their bundle by adding on individual phone, Internet or long distance features.

Steve chose the Phone + Net 1 bundle that includes two phone lines (with two calling features) and Internet service (with 5 e-mail accounts), plus 1,000 U.S. and Canadian long distance minutes.

“I like that you can choose the services you want and it is bundled so that you pay one fee and get one monthly bill,” says Steve. “There is a lot of flexibility.”

And the long-distance minutes offer additional value. 

“So that is another expense I don’t have to incur,” he says.

With a national fibre-optic network, equipped with the latest digital technologies, Allstream Small Business delivers reliable communications solutions. Should any issues arise, the support of a qualified service team is available 24-7.

“Allstream Small Business offers a trouble-free and inexpensive service,” says Steve. “And they have the best customer service of any phone company I have ever dealt with.”