The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
Trimming the fat--Cogeco/Rogers
Figgy
Fighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered User regular
Fighter of the night manChampion of the sunRegistered User regular
So I'm moving into a house in a little over a month, and I want to trim my Cogeco bill. I've listed the breakdown of what I pay right now, and that includes me threatening to switch to Bell last year and getting some perks. I keep seeing commercials for Primus and other companies offering much cheaper services, and I'm interested.
What I basically want is:
Phone
- Unlimited local
- Call Display and Voice Mail
- Unlimited Long Distance in North America (Optional)
TV
- Basic channels
- HD versions of basic channels
Internet
- DSL or Cable High Speed
- Decent speeds that are acceptable for general Internet use, some downloading, and some online gaming
- Acceptable monthly cap
What I have now:
I pay a grand total of $141.52 each month after taxes. I'm not saying it's a terrible price for what I receive from Cogeco, but I don't need all of that stuff. I feel like their packages are either too dinky and unimpressive or extremely bloated and expensive.
I've checked out Bell's site and they seem to have some good packages on the surface, but if you read the fine print they bury you in extra fees and service charges.
I'm thinking I might be better off going with 2 or 3 companies that are lesser known and might have better offerings. Right now I'm in Burlington, ON and I'll be moving to Stoney Creek. I'd love to be able to keep my same number too.
What I basically want is:
Phone
- Unlimited local
- Call Display and Voice Mail
- Unlimited Long Distance in North America (Optional)
TV
- Basic channels
- HD versions of basic channels
Internet
- DSL or Cable High Speed
- Decent speeds that are acceptable for general Internet use, some downloading, and some online gaming
- Acceptable monthly cap
What I have now:
Digital Phone ($34.99)
- Unlimited local
- All the calling features (way more than I ever need)
- Unlimited long distance
HD PVR ($48.99 + $4.99 HD Access)
- Basic digital channels
- A handful of HD channels
- A PVR (upgraded from regular DVR for free as an incentive to stay with them)
- Some theme package I never watch
High Speed Internet (Standard Edition) ($34.99)
- "up to" 10 Mbps
- 60 GB bandwidth cap per month
- Unlimited local
- All the calling features (way more than I ever need)
- Unlimited long distance
HD PVR ($48.99 + $4.99 HD Access)
- Basic digital channels
- A handful of HD channels
- A PVR (upgraded from regular DVR for free as an incentive to stay with them)
- Some theme package I never watch
High Speed Internet (Standard Edition) ($34.99)
- "up to" 10 Mbps
- 60 GB bandwidth cap per month
I pay a grand total of $141.52 each month after taxes. I'm not saying it's a terrible price for what I receive from Cogeco, but I don't need all of that stuff. I feel like their packages are either too dinky and unimpressive or extremely bloated and expensive.
I've checked out Bell's site and they seem to have some good packages on the surface, but if you read the fine print they bury you in extra fees and service charges.
I'm thinking I might be better off going with 2 or 3 companies that are lesser known and might have better offerings. Right now I'm in Burlington, ON and I'll be moving to Stoney Creek. I'd love to be able to keep my same number too.
Figgy on
0
Posts
So far, I'm still looking at Bell, but they've been pretty clever about making their inexpensive plans utter garbage. I also don't get how when I click on a phone plan that says "$18/mo" it changes to "$44/mo on your bill."
Aren't there any tiny little companies in this area that people use, or are we all slaves to the big monopoly corporations in South Western Ontario? (Bell/Rogers/Cogeco)
For internet most cities seem to have a small dsl company. Not sure about phone lines, and I can almost guarantee you won't find a cable provider outside of the big ones. Its bullshit (and so is 99% of Roger's practices. They've upped the price and cut back service so many times since the original (and only) contract that I've ever signed that its ridiculous, and I keep meaning to call them on it.)
But I digress, as far as other companies that provide similar services in the area (not sure how their prices compare):
Execulink
And... thats all a quick google will find. Check out a phone book for the area you're moving to and look for local ISPs
I switched to Primus for VoIP. Once again, no gripes but I haven't had it long.
We were paying about $110/month with Bell (home phone, no long distance plan (which, oddly, still costs) and sympatico) and they kept increasing prices and reducing services without any warning. We're now in about the $60/month range though we had to buy a bunch of equipment (modem, router, voip gateway) up front.
I can't recommend anything for TV.
Only I don't want near enough TV to warrant having the TV package. For Internet/Phone I've been looking at the following companies, specifically for DryLoop Internet (I hate Bell with a seething passion), and VOIP phone:
Teksavvy
Internet: $29.95/month (+ Band Rate if you wanna go DryLoop. It depends on where you're located. For Kitchener, it's ~$10), $19.95 activation
Phone: $22/month (for my area), $25 activation *note* very little features, you have to pay extra
LD plan (Unlimited North America for $19.95/month)
Total: $45 Activation fees, $52/month + more if you want dryloop/LD plan
Yearly Cost: $669 (includes Activation feels, but does not include DryLoop cost/LD Plan)
Distributel
Internet/Phone: $39.95/month. I don't know if DryLoop is an option, though.
LD Plan: $10/month for unlimited calling plan to US/Canada (I'd use Skype for LD, it's $3/month)
Fine Print: *Rate based on a 12-month commitment. Promotion price of $39.95 per month for the first 3 months and $56.90 thereafter. Activation fees not included, and couldn't find info on web site.
Total: $39.95/month (for 3 months), $56.90/month afterwards.
Yearly cost: $631.95 (+ Activation fees, LD Plan not included)
Acanac
Internet: $18.95/month (+ $50 to buy a modem) Add an additional $8/month for Dry Loop
Phone: $19.95/month ($9.95 if you buy your own VOIP ATA for $70+taxes)
Fine Print: Internet Deal is valid for one year only, then the price goes up. ($33.95/month for internet). Not sure from their web site if there are Activation fees.
Total: $28.90/month (+ one time cost of $80 for VOIP ATA), or $38.90/month (+ $50 to buy modem)
Yearly Cost: $596.80 (Assuming you buy a phone modem for $50, and a VOIP ATA for ~$80 taxes in, and not including Activation fees, or DryLoop charges)
Of the three, Acanac seems to be the best deal for at least the first year, depending on Activation Fees.
Addendum:
Velcom (Internet only)
Internet: $29.95 (+ $40 phone modem purchase, + Band Rate for DryLoop)
Phone: N/A
Fine Print: $15 Activation Fee, $20 Dry Loop Activation Fee
Yearly Cost: $414.40 (doesn't include Dry Loop costs, which would probably be an additional $140/year)
Primus
Internet/Phone/LD Plan - $64.95/month (+ $34.95 for phone modem purchase) *note* there is a lite bundle for $34.95/month, but it's absolute rubbish.
Fine Print: Requires a 1 year commitment and becomes $74.95/mo afterwards
Yearly Cost: $814.35
I'm currently using Velcom for internet great service. If you go with DSL around here I think most companies still have to deal with the bell restrictions for bandwidth from 4pm-11~ so try and find a company that allows MLPPP if your going to be using torrents for downloads.
If there's any other providers for the Southern Ontario region, please let me know.
Telephone:
24.95/mo - featureless, local calling
$15.95/mo - choose 2 features (goes up to $29.95 after 4 months)
Internet:
$35.95 - 7Mbs, unlimited monthly cap (add $2/mo for modem or $3/mo for wireless router-modem)
Package:
$74.95/mo - Phone with 3 features and the same Internet as above. I don't understand why it's more than simply adding those two together :P
I was basically just calling to see if they were available at my new place and whether I could keep my number, and both answers were 'Yes.' I'll probably look into them for a basic phone plan (or TekSavvy). I've got to do more investigating though, and there is no price info on their crappy website.
3 weeks ago my dad was complaining about the cost of the 3 services we have, and i phoned rogers to see if they could help us out. I basically told them i received a better offer from a competitor, and wanted to see what they could do. After 25 minutes on the phone our bill dropped from 233 a month to 152 by adding on a phone package from rogers and adding some discounts.
Here is where it gets interesting. 2 days after ditching our phone plan from bell, I received a call from bell's customer retention department with an offer to leave rogers entirely. I now have an installer coming in about a week to hook us up with all bell services, our bill went down a few more dollars, but we now have just about every bell and whistle Bell offers. We now have more options on our home phone, an extra 1000 long distance minutes, a 2nd HD PVR, just about every channel you can get including HD, and their top end internet for slightly under 150 CAD per month. The kicker with this package is, this is not a promotional price, and will never increase.
If you need a hand with how to get in contact with the right people, and how to handle yourself on the phone, hit me with a PM and i'll walk you thru it.
Good luck.
It may not be a promotional price but in my experience, Bell will occasionally just increase their rates without providing any improvement in service (specifically, they noticed that I had an uncapped DSL plan and just started charging me $5-7 (can't remember precisely) more per month for the privilege).
Holy shit run like fucking hell from Acanac. Customer service is terribad.
I'm still on Bell since I'm grandfathered into a truly unlimited plan, but all of my friends with Teksavvy talk about them like the service comes with a daily blowjob. So I'd suggest going with them.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
I wish Rogers let me be 'grandfathered' into my old unlimited plan. They just added monthly caps, as well as speed caps, and added $5/month to the bill without any warning.
That's basically what happened with me and Bell, though the events were spread out a little more. $15/month jumps at the end of one contract when the regular going rate was not that high, abrupt filtering of traffic, etc. etc.
One neat thing about TekSavvy (that I haven't needed to use yet) is that they offer support through the dsl reports forums. There are about 10 or so of their employees who read through there regularly and answer questions. After having to spend 15 minutes on the phone with a robot to do anything with Bell I think this will provide a nice change of pace.