Rogers sucks; Bell sucks; which one sucks less?

Holy Hell! Got back on the chat and had to re-explain everything. After some back-and-forth I asked if maybe I have to plug it in, get it activated, just so I can deactivate it to get a shipping label (the agent was actually going to de-activate my PVR that I'm actually using). Agent says, yeah, that might be a good idea. So I run upstairs grab the extra PVR, plug it in, hook the TV up to it, then wait. And I don't have a remote for it but I'm hoping the IR slim from the non-PVR box will work for simple things like navigating menus (agent said something about going to menu-6-1-3 or something like that).

Except it detects a set-top problem and says to call xxx-xxx-xxxx (no sh*t, Xs and not an actual number) and that the STB will auto-reboot at the end of self test.

I run back downstairs to let the agent know the latest. Then back upstairs to check the ST. The remote is not working, it is telling me something about not finding the VAP and some instructions involving navigating the menu, except the remote doesn't work.

Run back downstairs to update the agent on the latest but the agent left and now I have to wait for a new agent. And then when the new agent finally appears he says "Thank you for choosing Bell. How may I help you" or something like that.

So I have to start from scratch???!

I think I wasted 2 hours today between twitter interactions with the Bell support account, phone call, three agent chats and running around trying to get the PVR activated.

All because some tech left an extra PVR in my house which I never ordered, never used but somehow got charged to the tune of $20 x 21 plus taxes.

I think I wasted 2 hours today between twitter interactions with the Bell support account, phone call, three agent chats and running around  trying to get the PVR activated.  

All because some tech left an extra PVR in my house which I never ordered, never used but somehow got charged to the tune of $20 x 21 plus taxes.

And I'm still not done. I should have just said they charged me for a second PVR which I never had and then sold the extra one on kijiji.

Jesus Walter.  Why you're still with Bell is beyond me.  And if Rogers cable is available at your house (which it is), then TekSavvy cable is available at your house, or CarryTel, or any of the other resellers.

Also, if you have 5 people streaming HD in your house at the same time, you still shouldn't need 100Mbps. In theory, 50Mbps would be able to handle this easily. I've had 75Mbps for a while, and it certainly handles 4 concurrent users with no problem. But having the extra speed is always nice.

Well, first of all I was going to drop them last summer but found out that I had another 12 months left on the contract.

Next year we should have both girls away at University, my oldest will likely be working in Montreal (he is finishing up McGill now), and my 2nd oldest will be finishing up his Music Industry Arts program at Algonquin. So there's a good chance we will be down to just three. Streaming two HD shows can easily be done with 75Mbps.

However when my Bell contact runs out we may still be on lockdown. 75 might not be enough.

I was trying to get internet access through Costco (Primus) but they didn't have service at our location (just checked again, still no go).

Just checked TekSavvy and according to their availability checker they don't deliver here. I used to think that's a new neighborhood so maybe they need to update their availability database or something, but we've been here almost three years now.

CarryTel didn't have an availability checker (maybe you have to go further in the ordering process than I tried).

Someone on Reddit recommended Start for Bridlewood, but their availability checker also didn't like my address.

I might have to give TekSavvy a call to find out for sure.

Yes, for the love of Cussing god, please call TekSavvy or Carrytel or any of these other resellers with good prices so I don't have to laugh at you every few months for paying waaaaaaaay more than you should.

I have had Fido internet for almost two years now. It was like $30 per month for the first year, and $45 right now in the second year. Advertised as 75 down but I get speeds up to 100, and unlimited data.

Fido availability check says my address is covered. So $65/month for 75Mbps including modem, and $20 off the first 12 months.

How is the wifi router party of the modem, or did you get your own? The cable comes into the house through the basement and right now with the Bell supplied equipment the wifi rates on the second floor aren't great.

Another issue. When I was returning the Rogers gear (we had Rogers our first year here) there was a piece of equipment the guy at the store didn't think was theirs. Bell installer said for sure it wasn't their. At some point (possibly while our basement was being finished) the very thin fibre going into that piece was torn off. I *think* this was Rogers, despite what the guy at the Rogers store said, and if that's the case then I certainly could not do a self install.

"Jazz" from Bell finally called back this morning. At least I didn't have to re-explain my situation because she'd already heard it a couple days earlier. She input do my info and prepared a shopping label, then sent me an email. In the email were two links. One to print out the shipping label and the other to have it sent to you by this mail. I think you can figure out what happened next. The first link did not work (nothing loaded after 20-30 seconds) so I went back to the email, but that first link was a one-time only link, and even though nothing loaded, I could but try it again. So I clicked the second link and I should be getting my shipping label some time next week.

Wouldn't it be more efficient if I could drive to the nearest Bell store and just drop it off?

wprager wrote:Fido availability check says my address is covered. So $65/month for 75Mbps including modem, and $20 off the first 12 months.

How is the wifi router party of the modem, or did you get your own? The cable comes into the house through the basement and right now with the Bell supplied equipment the wifi rates on the second floor aren't great.

Another issue. When I was returning the Rogers gear (we had Rogers our first year here) there was a piece of equipment the guy at the store didn't think was theirs. Bell installer said for sure it wasn't their.  At some point (possibly while our basement was being finished) the very thin fibre going into that piece was torn off. I *think* this was Rogers, despite what the guy at the Rogers store said, and if that's the case then I certainly could not do a self install.

Check with TekSavvy and CarryTel too before committing to anyone. Under no circumstances should you be signing up for a contract that will make you pay $65/month for 75Mbps service in the 2nd year.

I typed in my old address to get past the availability check to see the plan price. TekSavvy (75Mbps unlimited) is $58.95 per month plus $49.95 activation fee. They also require the purchase or rental of a modem but don't list the cost (other than $10 shipping fee). Without the modem that's $61.03 per month over 24 months.

Fido ($45 monthly for 12 months then $65 next 12) averages out to $55/month and modern rental is included.

CarryTel is $44.95 per month ($20 off first month). And modem rental is included.

And the key thing with TekSavvy and Carrytel is there is no contract. It's just month to month and you can quit at anytime. TekSavvy has good customer support too. I haven't had to contact Carrytel yet.

Ok, here's my situation. There are two fibre lines coming into the house -- one white, currently connected to the Bell hub, and the other one black, not connected to anything. The black one *was* connected to this other piece of equipment which Rogers did not want to take back but the fibre part broke off during reno. I think this is not like most houses where there's actual coax coming into the house and the fibre stops at the neighborhood hub. So my situation (house is less than 3 years old) is not what you'll see throughout most of Kanata.

All the re-sellers who offer internet service over Bell's lines fail the availability test. But the ones which use Rogers pass. But because of the broken fibre I could not do a self-install, which all/most of them are offering. So I decided to call CarryTel and speak to an actual person. When I explained my situation, how I would need a tech to re-connect the fibre (and the fact that I have fibre and not coax coming into my house) she put me on hold to check with someone more tech-savvy. When she came back she said she was very sorry, but they *cannot* offer me service, even though the availability check passes.

So from what I've been able to gather neither Rogers nor Bell has a deal with the various resellers. It looks like I'm stuck with these two. Maybe things will change at some time in the future but that's where it sits now.

wprager wrote:Ok, here's my situation. There are two fibre lines coming into the house -- one white, currently connected to the Bell hub, and the other one black, not connected to anything. The black one *was* connected to this other piece of equipment which Rogers did not want to take back but the fibre part broke off during reno.  I think this is not like most houses where there's actual coax coming into the house and the fibre stops at the neighborhood hub.  So my situation (house is less than 3 years old) is not what you'll see throughout most of Kanata.

All the re-sellers who offer internet service over Bell's lines fail the availability test.  But the ones which use Rogers pass.  But because of the broken fibre I could not do a self-install, which all/most of them are offering.  So I decided to call CarryTel and speak to an actual person.  When I explained my situation, how I would need a tech to re-connect the fibre (and the fact that I have fibre and not coax coming into my house) she put me on hold to check with someone more tech-savvy.  When she came back she said she was very sorry, but they *cannot* offer me service, even though the availability check passes.  

So from what I've been able to gather neither Rogers nor Bell has a deal with the various resellers.  It looks like I'm stuck with these two.  Maybe things will change at some time in the future but that's where it sits now.

Weird. Does Rogers wire new houses/neighbourhoods with Fibre instead of Coax? That would be news to me.

https://amp.reddit.com/r/Rogers/comments/ddcahe/rogers_fiber_internet_ftth/

"As of May 13, 2019, we’re starting construction to eventually bring Fibre to the Home (FTTH) to residences throughout Ontario. "

Our home was built in early 2017 (move in date was in March). But we definitely have two identical cables coming in - one white, one black. Inside there is a single strand of fibre. I'm assuming one is Been and there other is Rogers.

Just down the street there is another house with *unhurried* cost cable running from an outside box to the house. We had this in our previous house but that was just during the winter; in late spring Rogers came back and buried the cable. The other house was finished before ours so the unburied cable had been there for more than 3 years!

Makes me wonder if they switched from coax to the home, to fibre better the earlier phase and the last one (when ours was built) and maybe they incorrectly assume the whole street is FTTH and never bothered to send a truck to bury the cable.

Well, I'll be stuck with Bell for a while longer.

Called Rogers (to find out what they can offer me in terms of unlimited internet) and, apparently, nothing right now. I need a tech to come out to re-attach the fibre to the plug on the modem and, because of Covid-19 they are not offering any in-house services.

So I called Bell to drop my TV. Apparently the *lowest* unlimited Internet plan they can offer me is $95/month for Fibe 150 (their website shows Fibe 50 unlimited for $75, so not sure why the guy on the phone said Fibe 150 is the lowest they can offer *me*).

I was thinking of porting my home number to my mobile and then getting one of those link-to-cell cordless sets where you can port your cell phone to the home set and receive/place calls over your cell but using the home phone handsets. But then I found out that you can only pair 2 cell phones like that. So now I'm thinking of just keeping me home phone number but porting it to a more reasonably priced VOIP service.

Any recommendations?