Rogers sucks; Bell sucks; which one sucks less?

spader wrote:Rogers and Bell suck equally.

And how!

Fascinating:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/wireless-black-market-offers-cheap-plans-outside-manitoba-saskatchewan-1.3166491

SeawaySensFan wrote:Fascinating:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/wireless-black-market-offers-cheap-plans-outside-manitoba-saskatchewan-1.3166491

Wind offers a $35/month plan with unlimited calling/text (Canada-wide) and unlimited data (2GB at highest available speed then they throttle you, but it's still unlimited). There's free wifi now in so many places that it's ludicrous that Bell/Rogers still charge as much as they do. Some carriers support wifi calling or you can use one of a number of apps (like Skype Out but free).

Speaking of free, is there an app I can use on an Android tablet (or phone without service) that allows me to send texts to a phone number? People told me about WhatsApp but if your cell service is not on it won't let you do it (or at least not unless the contact is also on WhatsApp).

I've used Google phone to make phone calls and I've done texting from a website, so I know it's possible. Would be nice to have it as an app.

OK, some corrections, it's not Google Phone it's Google Voice (well, Google Voice is the service you create and account, and then there's a phone app for it called GVPhone).

And it's no-longer free. You need "credits" which you can either buy ($2 for 100) or earn by downloading games, taking surveys, etc.

Calling rates page says Canada/US is free but when I entered an Ottawa local number to check it said I needed credits.

Anyhow, still cheaper that any pay-as-you-go plan.

Sounds sketchy and also like a hassle, but hey, anything to save a buck!

I just installed Text+ on my son's old LG Android phone. No working SIM card, just wifi. I got a 613- area code number (free) and I can text for free (I only tried 3 numbers, all area code 613, but I think it's free for any NA number). When I received a text I was notified immediately. Voice calls require credits which you can buy or earn (watching ads, downloading apps, taking surveys). Assuming you just purchase the credits, NA calling is 2 cents/minute.

OK, so my 2 years with Bell are up (actually 2 years were over in February) so I've been -- as Fagin said it -- reviewing my situation. I've been extremely dissatisfied with the internet access speed -- I believe this is mostly the terrible WiFi router built into Bell's modem, but the access speed of (claimed) 15 MB/s is also nothing to write home about (ah, takes me back to when a 14.4 Kbps modem was thought to be the theoretical maximum over copper). In addition to that, I've had several issues trying to record a third program when 2 were already scheduled. The PVR has 4 tuners so you'd think you can record three shows at once. Problem is that it automatically pads by 3 minutes (even if you are recording two shows one after the other on the same channel, it will use 2 tuners for 3 minutes); I haven't seen a way to change this behavior. Also, in order to implement the "Pause live TV" function they use an extra tuner for the remote set top box. So you're watching an HD channel on the TV upstairs, and the PVR is downstairs, so in order to allow you to pause live TV on the non-PVR box upstairs they actually use an HD tuner on the PVR. Or something like that.

Anyhow, I called up Rogers and they are offering me:
- Ignite Internet 150 Mbps down / 10 Mbps up (unlimited)
- Digital Plus package (as near as I could tell, all the channels I watch now are there)
- Shomi
- digital home phone with unlimited Canada-wide calling
- 2 year term, price guaranteed for the 2 years
- $146/month plus taxes

I think they also offered HBO+TMN for 2 months, and Game of Thrones is coming up, isn't it.

Called Bell, explained my situation with the modem and that I'm thinking of switching. This is what they offered:
- free upgrade to new Home Hub 2000 modem (stronger signal, longer reach, more features -- would finally be able to automatically control the kids' surfing times)
- upgrade to 25 Mbps service (I assume unlimited but would have to confirm; I think it was $30 extra w/o having three services with them, so if I cancel Bell Mobility as I'm planning they may not give it for free)
- same TV package as before
- same phone package as before (I think it's the same as Rogers, although I may have unlimited North America; but I rarely call the US so and add-on for 100 minutes would do)
- $178.86/month (it took her a good 5-7 minutes to get all those discounts for me )

So I said, pardon me, but Rogers is offering me $146/month for a 150 Mbps service with the same TV/phone service. So she says let me look some more. This time it was at least 10 minutes and she was able to find me another $18 off, so $160.86/month.

Sounds like an easy decision. I just hope I don't regret it.

I've asked on DigitalHome.ca if Rogers has fixed the issues it had with the NextBox 2. I was told, no, the issues are still there. I find it hard to believe it could be any worse than NextBox 2, which became completely unusable (and made me miss my 8300HD terribly).

Is there anyone here who lived through the NetBox 2 and survived to NextBox 3? Is it really just as bad as before or did they at least fix the performance issues? I realize the UI is not as good on the Rogers box but, frankly, I don't use it all that much (once you've set up your weekly shows you mostly use just the PVR part of it).

Also, how is the wifi router that comes with Rogers nowdays? Can I set it up to control per-device internet usage?

I dunno anything about the services, but Rogers is certainly offering much better value there. Their internet speed is waaay better than Bell's.

As for the router, if the Rogers one can't do what you want, just get your own router and let the modem just be the modem (that's what I do).

The Nextbox update fixed all the issues I was having. As for the router, it is way more stable but I don't know about device restrictions. Since they are offering unlimited data why do you care.

tim1_2 wrote:I dunno anything about the services, but Rogers is certainly offering much better value there. Their internet speed is waaay better than Bell's.

As for the router, if the Rogers one can't do what you want, just get your own router and let the modem just be the modem (that's what I do).

That's what I had before. Got myself a half-decent Cisco router. But stuff happened when I switched to Bell. Read somewhere that with their older modems it was a little tricky to disable to WiFi part (probably wrong/stale info) so I just tried using it for a while. Didn't bother me, but I was mostly on the same floor as the router. Upstairs, especially in the girls' bedroom (where the home desktop was) it was unusable. By the time I decided enough was enough I couldn't find the AC converter for the Cisco router (had one that fit the opening but router would not power up, so I guess it could have been broken, too).

Oglethorpe wrote:The Nextbox update fixed all the issues I was having.  As for the router, it is way more stable but I don't know about device restrictions.  Since they are offering unlimited data why do you care.

I went to a Rogers store and played around with one of the STBs there. Unfortunately it was the new 4K box, not the PVR, but the menus do appear to be a little more streamlined.

Since I am the one doing the morning rounds (getting them up, making lunches, shoving them out the door) it's in my best interest that they don't stay up too late. Plus it's easier when I have to punish someone

Yeah, $14/month less for 6x the download speed plus Shomi and the ability to record, what, 8 (?) HD shows simultaneously? Hard to justify *not* switching.

Now, when I first went with Rogers they were claiming that they didn't re-compress their feeds so they presumably had the best PQ (as compared to BEV, at the time). Over time, though, with more HD channels being introduced you stopped hearing that claim. When FibeTV came out they said they had the best PQ and when I switched, I had to agree. But back then Rogers still hadn't completely gotten rid of the analog signals and those ones were, apparently, taking something like 1/3 of their network capacity.

So how is the picture quality now? Can anyone speak to a recent comparison between Rogers and Fibe?

OK, so I'm back with Rogers. Just finished the install a half hour ago. STBs are updating and it could be another half hour (or more) before I can start playing with it.

First glitch, he thought he reconnected everything but he actually left the HDMI coming out of the PVR dangling on the floor. Not a big deal but now I start wondering what else he could have missed.

Second "glitch" is that when I tried to connect my wife's laptop to the new WiFi network the new Rogers Networks (they run both 2.4 and 5 GHz) it didn't show up in the list. She works for the RCMP so they may have some security-related policies there. But other Rogers networks (from neighbors) are showing up in the list, so not sure why not the new one. Maybe have to reboot.

Took a while to get Shomi on the laptop. First CSR had trouble linking the myrogers profile to my account. In the middle of him trying a second time my phone died. I figured he would have completed. But later in the day, another CSR (online chat this time) said it was still not linked and managed to finally do it. That allowed me to login to shomi.com.

But it's still not working on channel 300. At first it was giving me some error code, CSR said to reboot the PVR. Now it keeps saying "Loading".

Checked the catalog on my laptop and Orphan Black (one of our "Space" shows) is not there. We had three of our shows on Space last year so that's a small problem. The next level package (which includes Space) is another $15/month (which would bring it to Bell's price).

CTV.ca used to stream full episodes (as did Space.ca) so maybe I'll find something that way. There's always magical means, too.

What's your issue with just downloading whatever you want? The legality of it?

tim1_2 wrote:What's your issue with just downloading whatever you want? The legality of it?

A few things:
- legality of it (my wife works for the RCMP; no, she doesn't "carry" but, still)
- warning e-mails (depends on whose content you d/l; anything owned by Disney/ABC and you'll get a warning)
- not as easy to watch (especially now that I am in-between tablets)
- actually, being in-between tablets makes it more difficult to d/l as our IT department detects the presence of bittorrent clients on the laptop

wprager wrote:

tim1_2 wrote:What's your issue with just downloading whatever you want? The legality of it?

A few things:
- legality of it (my wife works for the RCMP; no, she doesn't "carry" but, still)
- warning e-mails (depends on whose content you d/l; anything owned by Disney/ABC and you'll get a warning)
- not as easy to watch (especially now that I am in-between tablets)
- actually, being in-between tablets makes it more difficult to d/l as our IT department detects the presence of bittorrent clients on the laptop

I've never gotten one. What makes you think they send one to anyone who dl their stuff?

EDIT: Also, have you ever gone to an RCMP party? If you're telling me that you're worried about legality because of a connection to the RCMP, I'm guessing no.

Just don't want her to have any hassles for top-secret clearance (they do a fairly deep search into just about everything).

As for Disney, the only warning e-mail I'd ever received were after downloading something they owned. I don't use a VPN anonymizing service, maybe it will be worth investing in one.