1. generally, applicant's wont be able to see their side of ecas until later on. most won't be able to access it until they receive their own UCI number, which comes when the visa office contacts the applicant. generally, the applicant receives the UCI late in process, and already knows what's going on with the application before being able to sign into ecas. you can certainly keep trying to sign in with the application number, just know that ECAS is not a reliable source for knowing anything about your file. it should not be used to determine anything about the process.
2. people check it daily because that's what they do. it's certainly not recommended, as it usually leads to disappointment.
3. some applications are being processed quickly right now, and no one can provide an explanation as to "why". you will notice, there is a trend towards certain visa offices that are processing quicker. Note, in general, not every visa office has a "17 month" wait time, and the statistics found on the CIC website are not averages. 17 months means 80% of applications were processed WITHIN that time, meaning most were processed in less time than 17 months. To know how long what current people are experiencing on this forum, go to thread dedicated for your visa office. most have spreadsheets available that will show trends.
