I'm going to be moving to Orillia in 2 months and it's the perfect opportunity for me to review my current ISP and Television Provider. Currently I am with Rogers and have their TV (VIP), Internet (Extreme Plus) and Home Phone (Basic) - all for just north of $200 a month +HST

I called Bell and they have some sort of WinBack Promotion where I can get a bundle of Fibe TV and Internet for $120.02 per month for 6 months and $143.02 after that. Includes 15MB Down/10MB up/75GB cap + 100GB extra, plus their Fibe TV package with one whole home PVR and 3 addition HD receivers.We are not planning to get a new home phone line in the new house mainly because the only people who call me are those jerks who use the National Do Not Call List to put me on their list (Air Duct Cleaning Services deserve a special section in hell)

I don't really like Rogers, especially the little fees here and the extra fees there and I know if I call them all they will offer me is the PVR and one Receiver for free for one year (every time I call them I say I want to cancel and that's what I get). If I decide to stay with Rogers, I know what I'm in for

So does anyone have experience with Bell's Fibe TV and Internet Packages? Good or Bad, please share

.

Is Telus not an option in that area? I've been with them for 10 years without any issues and no cap at 15MB down for $77/month including a home landline with voicemail and call display.

Take a look at Compusolve Compu-SOLVE | Technology & Internet Solutions (http://www.csolve.net). They service Barrie and Midland, so they might be servicing Orillia too. they are also a Telus dealer. They are a Bell reseller. I have used them for my isp for a long time and though I can't swear to it, my feeling is that their normal prices are less than the "please switch to me" deals from the majors.

It's free to look.

Is Telus not an option in that area? I've been with them for 10 years without any issues and no cap at 15MB down for $77/month including a home landline with voicemail and call display.

Telus has no services (aside from cellular) in the Eastern provinces.

I'm going to be moving to Orillia in 2 months and it's the perfect opportunity for me to review my current ISP and Television Provider. Currently I am with Rogers and have their TV (VIP), Internet (Extreme Plus) and Home Phone (Basic) - all for just north of $200 a month +HST

I called Bell and they have some sort of WinBack Promotion where I can get a bundle of Fibe TV and Internet for $120.02 per month for 6 months and $143.02 after that. Includes 15MB Down/10MB up/75GB cap + 100GB extra, plus their Fibe TV package with one whole home PVR and 3 addition HD receivers.We are not planning to get a new home phone line in the new house mainly because the only people who call me are those jerks who use the National Do Not Call List to put me on their list (Air Duct Cleaning Services deserve a special section in hell)

I don't really like Rogers, especially the little fees here and the extra fees there and I know if I call them all they will offer me is the PVR and one Receiver for free for one year (every time I call them I say I want to cancel and that's what I get). If I decide to stay with Rogers, I know what I'm in for

So does anyone have experience with Bell's Fibe TV and Internet Packages? Good or Bad, please share

Take a look at TekSavvy. They offer both DSL and cable (through Rogers, Bell, or Cogeco, depending on the service area). Their prices are good, and so is the service.

http://www.teksavvy.com/

Telus has no services (aside from cellular) in the Eastern provinces.

Thanks John, I did not know that.

I am actually very happy with Bell Fibe and I have had my share of issues with Bell in the past. It is currently installed at my girlfriends condo and the TV quality is very good. I really like the PVR and the guide. Internet speeds are very good too. For once the speed Bell advertised is exactly what we get.

I would watch your monthly bill as that is one area Bell makes "mistakes" all the time. They promise a great rate with discounts for this and that and then somehow after a month or so they "forget" to apply them. If you notice and complain, they will credit you but if you blindly trust that the bill you get is the rate that was promised, sooner or later, you will get hosed.

Thanks for the info on third party suppliers (Compu-SOLVE and TekSavvy) but both are DSL providers and I'm not getting a home phone line so I won't have that required feature for DSL service.

Anyone else on Bell, I would like to decide on the either the devil I know or the devil I don't

Thanks for the info on third party suppliers (Compu-SOLVE and TekSavvy) but both are DSL providers and I'm not getting a home phone line so I won't have that required feature for DSL service.

Anyone else on Bell, I would like to decide on the either the devil I know or the devil I don't

Phone service is not required for DSL. You need to have a working phone line (as in the physical wire), but no service is required.

Thanks for the info on third party suppliers (Compu-SOLVE and TekSavvy) but both are DSL providers and I'm not getting a home phone line so I won't have that required feature for DSL service.

Anyone else on Bell, I would like to decide on the either the devil I know or the devil I don't

TekSavvy has a cable service. And like John mentioned you don't need a phone service just the wire.

hey, thanks for that info, I would have never known that. I just assumed a phone line was a required piece.

but, I'm still leaning towards Bell or Rogers because of download speeds

I have a place next door to you in Tay Township about 32km west of Orillia. All I can get is Bell satellite for TV --no cable. I do have phone with very slow DSL. I'm not impressed with the basic TV package from Bell either, frankly, it sucks. Doesn't come close to what I get from Roger's here in the city in terms of channels.

The price isn't bad though, the satellite TV, PVR (free for 2yrs), home phone line and the DSL is $135/mo all in.

Make sure Bell can deliver. They offered me Fibe service and then reneged when they realized that they couldn't deliver. I promptly cancelled all my bell services.

I use Teksavvy unto 25Mbps down and 300G per month limit.
Great service. It's resold Rogers.

hey, thanks for that info, I would have never known that. I just assumed a phone line was a required piece.

but, I'm still leaning towards Bell or Rogers because of download speeds

If Bell can offer you a certain speed in an area, then so can TekSavvy. Rogers too, except for the two highest tiers, 32Mbps and 50Mbps.

Another option is

High Speed Internet, IP Phone Service and Long Distance | Distributel (http://www.distributel.ca/en/index.aspx)

I know someone using but they are in Toronto. I think they are Rogers resellers but have not checked them out.

I'd go Rogers over Bell any day. Rogers has free repairs. I've had them come the same day in one case and the problem fixed itself before they got there. They provided free disconnect/reconnection/setup when I moved, disconnecting one home and connecting the other. They were at my new house before the moving van and started setup. They came back after the moving van to complete things. Bell charged me to move their service ( phone), didn't get right the first or second time. I had problems with the service after 1 month and again after 2 months.

I'd go Rogers all the way, but I hate depending on one vendor...

This is interesting as I am in a similar position. We've just moved to Windsor and are thinking of cutting the cord on cable tv. I have been dealing with Rogers and while expensive initially, after many many years and loyalty discounts (received after threatening to cancel) the bill came down to a reasonable level. I had Bell satellite for a while, great interface and excellent PVR, but it did gap occasionally. I am looking at cogeco here. I can get Teksavvy, I'veheard many good things about them and I am looking at them as well.

The issue I have is speed rates and do the providers actually meet their published rates. I know Rogers, and they were fairly consistent. So I guess I would need to know of your choices who is the most reliable.

As an aside, I am switching to AppleTv, so I was wondering what you would suggest are acceptable upload and download speeds for streaming. I intend to also get Netflix.

This is interesting as I am in a similar position. We've just moved to Windsor and are thinking of cutting the cord on cable tv. I have been dealing with Rogers and while expensive initially, after many many years and loyalty discounts (received after threatening to cancel) the bill came down to a reasonable level. I had Bell satellite for a while, great interface and excellent PVR, but it did gap occasionally. I am looking at cogeco here. I can get Teksavvy, I'veheard many good things about them and I am looking at them as well.

The issue I have is speed rates and do the providers actually meet their published rates. I know Rogers, and they were fairly consistent. So I guess I would need to know of your choices who is the most reliable.

As an aside, I am switching to AppleTv, so I was wondering what you would suggest are acceptable upload and download speeds for streaming. I intend to also get Netflix.

I always get what I pay for with TekSavvy.

This is interesting as I am in a similar position. We've just moved to Windsor and are thinking of cutting the cord on cable tv. I have been dealing with Rogers and while expensive initially, after many many years and loyalty discounts (received after threatening to cancel) the bill came down to a reasonable level. I had Bell satellite for a while, great interface and excellent PVR, but it did gap occasionally. I am looking at cogeco here. I can get Teksavvy, I'veheard many good things about them and I am looking at them as well.

The issue I have is speed rates and do the providers actually meet their published rates. I know Rogers, and they were fairly consistent. So I guess I would need to know of your choices who is the most reliable.

As an aside, I am switching to AppleTv, so I was wondering what you would suggest are acceptable upload and download speeds for streaming. I intend to also get Netflix.

Well, Teksavvy is prepaid month-to-month, so you can always try it out for a few months, see if it meets your needs, and then cancel if you aren't happy. Set-up isn't difficult or particularly expensive, so it's not much of a risk.

But I've been quite happy with them.

TekSavvy delivers I'll give you 3 examples -

1) Rogers suffered an outage where I live a few weeks ago - I called TekSavvy to report the outage and they told me that Rogers was suffering from a DHCP/type addressing issue and that I could try to reboot my cable modem to see if I could reinitiate internet. I couldn't but we tired. The TekSavvy SR gave me detail on the postage that I would never get from a Rogers or a Bell. In fact, experiences with Roger & Bell support were the standard - there is a problem and we can't guarantee service for 48hours. One time with Bell the outage went into a day 3 scenario. The Teksavvy SR followed up with me at regular intervals to see if I was up and running. You will never get this level of service from the monopolies.

2) With a good docsis 3 cable modem I get super quality netflix transmissions on Apple TV to the point that visitors have remarked that the quality was better than their cable feeds. I also get fast and stellar 1080p streams via iTunes. My monthly usage never goes much beyond 120g per month.

3) Teksavvy is month to month - no contract.

I would also recommend Teksavvy. Have several friends with the service.

Rogers is excellent (technology wise) if available.

Avoid Bell

Contary to what people have said here you do need a phone number for DSL. If you do not have one the ISP will install a dryloop, that is a phone number just for the DSL. Depending on the ISP they may charge you an additional fee for the dryloop per month. Bell does not charge for a dryloop although they will get you somewhere else ;)

If FTTN is available that would be a good choice too (about $80/month) if it is available in Orilia.

Have you seen this video? My cousins live in Orilia and sent it to me:

Orillia Song - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp_zyuo0W2o)

I will never never ever use bell for anything, the biggest reason.. [out sourcing tech support/customer service - speaking to someone in India who has no clue or can not help me is not service i want.]
Rogers phone in service is Canadians serving Canadians - including the tech support/billings/customer service.

next point: with Rogers one cable comes into to my home in the basement then I have a router which I do what I want after that for internet.
also Rogers that same cable comes into my home and then I have feeds to the TVs I want live.. Bell you need a terminal box on every TV not to mention drill holes for each location..- or they have a strange max number of sets with ugly nasty dishes I have to mount on the side of my home which lowers property value. [ those dishes should be banned ]

as for home phone service I converted my phone lines to SIP/VOIP - 8 years ago and haven't looked back.. the money I am saving is insane - not to mention I had my house built with those requirements in mind.. [ so I have smart jacks throughout the house ]

I have 2 iphones/2 HDPVRs/1 HD terminal/Extreme Net/free long distance on the iPhones. all for $360 tax in a month. [ massive savings because I bundled everything on to one bill ]

Now as for Tek Savvy - I believe you have to pay for installation and a modem- but a rogers guy will do the install. [ I know this because I have a client we set up with Rogers and Tek Savvy in his house - then we installed a router which is handling the fail over / distributed bandwidth per services..]

He is very happy with both - he had bell in there [ fiber version ] it was horridly slow and crashed all the time and tech support was pathetic - so he cancelled it.

Well after investigating all possible third party suppliers for internet service and somebody for TV, I have decided to go with the devil I know - Rogers.

I called and got quotes and options from all but Compu-SOLVE (too slow) but the absence of a phone line in the new home became an extra cost with all parties except for Bell. Although I was not originally leaning towards Rogers, I decided to call figuring I would hear them try to sell me on staying with the "free PVR and one receiver" for an extra year that I always get when I threaten to leave.

Fortunately for me I was pleasantly surprised.

Rogers offered me the exact same internet service I have now (Extreme Plus), the same VIP TV package but with the NextBox whole home PVR and one extra receiver for $114 a month for two years (excluding tax but including all fees) - that's $100 less a month than I pay now. Bell offered my a sweet deal but the good pricing only lasted for 6 months. In 2 years when the offer expires, I'll start over and see what I get then.

You could alway go with primus for phone service (VoIP)

Now as for Tek Savvy - I believe you have to pay for installation and a modem- but a rogers guy will do the install. [ I know this because I have a client we set up with Rogers and Tek Savvy in his house - then we installed a router which is handling the fail over / distributed bandwidth per services..]

He is very happy with both - he had bell in there [ fiber version ] it was horridly slow and crashed all the time and tech support was pathetic - so he cancelled it.

You setup a client with both TekSavvy cable and Rogers cable in a failover setup? That's the very definition of pointless.

Its been 2 yrs and no problems to date.
It is also used to bind the services together to get twice the speed.
Tek savvy and Rogers are two different providers, although on cable - when we had bell in there they were failing regularly and they were damn slow
Knock it as much as you like.
It's working and amazlying fast and stable

Not to mention able to direct each protocol on the two lines for load balancing
If Rogers goes down doesn't mean teksavvy will go down.

Your saying if we have bell dsl and primus dsl is pointless, not true; if bell goes down doesn't mean primus will too.
They are two different providers on the same technology.
Do your research.

Its been 2 yrs and no problems to date.
It is also used to bind the services together to get twice the speed.
Tek savvy and Rogers are two different providers, although on cable - when we had bell in there they were failing regularly and they were damn slow
Knock it as much as you like.
It's working and amazlying fast and stable

Not to mention able to direct each protocol on the two lines for load balancing

I'm well aware that Rogers and TekSavvy are different providers.

However, the last mile is 100% the same. Almost all of the outages I can recall in the past few years have been within the last mile, which would knock both Rogers and TekSavvy offline.

When you're setting up for redundancy, you actually need redundant networks. All you've done for your client is setup load balancing, not binding.

I'm well aware that Rogers and TekSavvy are different providers.

However, the last mile is 100% the same. Almost all of the outages I can recall in the past few years have been within the last mile, which would knock both Rogers and TekSavvy offline.

When you're setting up for redundancy, you actually need redundant networks. All you've done for your client is setup load balancing, not binding.

Binding is done at the firewall level. Do your research
I have clients down town on dsl, one on bell and another with all stream, with a kerio or juniper firewall - you can set balancing and fail over.
Some areas this is all you can get..
I had bell go down and all stream was still up.
So your wrong.
Unless it is a line cut then your right.

Binding is done at the firewall level. Do your research
I have clients down town on dsl, one on bell and another with all stream, with a kerio or juniper firewall - you can set balancing and fail over.
Some areas this is all you can get..
I had bell go down and all stream was still up.
So your wrong.
Unless it is a line cut then your right.

I'm sorry, but you're misinformed.

Binding implies that a single connection could reach the maximum speed of both networks combined (i.e. 2x30Mbps = 60Mbps download speeds). You can't bind networks that run on different IP addresses. The only way around this would be using a VPN connection to an offsite server, which would combine the traffic from both networks into a single stream.

The only way you can use two networks at once is with load balancing (or round robin, spillover, etc). You can't bind the two for a single connection/IP.

Bell and Allstream both use DSL, but they both have their own infrastructure as well.

Allstream installs DSLAMs in many COs, and offers service directly to their end customers. So while they're using the literal last mile of the phone line, they're not using any of the upstream transit that Bell would provide.

You can't compare this service to TekSavvy and Rogers. Both TekSavvy and Rogers use the same CMTS head ends, and aggregate in the same areas. Although TekSavvy provides their own transit from each POI, the majority of problems occur at the CMTS/POI level, not beyond.

You could alway go with primus for phone service (VoIP)

it's not that there isn't a phone line in the new home, I'm not getting a phone line. The only people that call on our current phone is somebody trying to sell me something and the rare personal call. I will be cancelling our current number because we're going to lose it anyways with the move, I've also cancelled my office phone as well, because of the same reason.

What I am doing is moving to Koodo for their unlimited minutes and long distance plan for my iPhone - this will become my new phone and at a savings of over $75 a month from what I am paying right now.