Hey, all!

With us moving into our new house in a couple of weeks, we're exploring our options when it comes to home phone, cable and internet packages.  Since I haven't shopped around for this stuff in about 4 years, I'm wondering what your thoughts are?  Do y'all prefer satellite vs. cable these days?  Does it still have issues with bad weather?

Should we rent a PVR or buy one out right?

Also, I haven't had a home phone in.. wow, almost 10 years I'd say.  We've just been using cell phones.  That being said, we're going to finally get a land line this year to go with our home security system.

Internet usage is kinda low, I don't do much online gaming anymore.. and I download most of my torrents at work  

One thing I noticed with Bell that really irks me is that they want us to sign a 3 year contract.  I'm tired of signing contracts, and we've never tried satellite before (aside from FTA), so we really don't want to be stuck with it if we don't like it.

Anyway, thanks for your help!

- B+N

Bell isn't that bad anymore, and fight them on the 3 year contract, they shouldn't make you sign one that long.

If you want a deal on bell services, give this number a call

1-866-242-0008 and quote my name Eric and employee ID : B53644

they have a $19.95/month for 8 months internet for students no contract right now, but i've been told anyone can order it not just students.

Eric

I'm a mixed bag of services...

I have Rogers for Digital Cable TV.  No complaints.
Buy the [HD] PVR outright. Wait for boxing day sales when they go for half price.

I have 3web/CIA for High Speed Internet (via cable, my neighborhood does not have DSL ).
Best price anywhere($32.99)  for High Speed [6Mb] access with no throttling or bandwidth caps,
... but customer service is non-existant...

http://www.cia.com/products/highspeed.html

3web also offers VoIP phone services for an extra $10/mo,
but we found the service to be a tad unreliable  (this was 4 years ago...),
so we switched  back to Bell
(...but at $38/mo for basic service for Bell , I'm thinking of giving 3web another try... )

Steph

We've used Costco/Primus for our home phone line & web for the past few years.   Fairly happy overall - not the best, but we save around $20/mth over the Bell rates at least.   Torrents work fine - if that's a concern - maybe not as fast as a Bell premium plan.

One thing I've done just recently is use the free VoIP lines - the one I'm using is Freephoneline ( http://www.freephoneline.ca ).   Basically buy a Cisco ATA (spa2102 or spa3102) and pay freephoneline $50 for a configuration file (basically just a username/password for the ATA).   No monthly fees.     Then hook up a wireless phone (DECT phone).   For us, its currently our second phone line as we try to decide if its working, but its been working fine for 2-3 months now.   It comes with caller id, voice mail, call logs/fowarding and free national calls to quit a few Canadian cities.  It can also email your voice mails to you - kinda  a neat feature.

There's probably other choices other than freephoneline, but it was the one I chose and I still can't figure out their business model.

If you like the ATA/freephoneline idea and wanna nerd-out you can get the Cisco spa3102 (a bit more expensive), but you can set it up such that you can phone it from  your cellphone and then place outgoing calls via the freephoneline (only worthwhile if (a) you place expensive long distance calls from cell which would be free via the freephoneline and (b) if you are willing to dial your home, wait for a prompt, then dial the long distance number just to save a few pennies).

No question on buying the PVR, do it. It saves tons of cash long term and if you can wait until boxing day as mentioned there are huge savings.

DO NOT BUY A PVR I am wiht rogers...

They all suck BUT  they will give you 1 year free rental, when that is up call and complain tell them you are going to switch, they will do another year, rinse repeat I have never paid rental in like 3 years...

PLUS the real advantage- I have gone through maybe 4? PVRs HD dies/farts out... I just unplug walk into a rogers store hand it to them, and they hand me another one back...

I'm with Bell. I bought their cheap hd box at half price around xmas. Bought an external 1.5 tb usb drive on sale. Plugged it in and BINGO!. PVR for about 200$ and its got way more storage than they offer in their dedicated pvr.

Mike

I STILL use my VCR. 16 years old and still ticking! It's even easier now. I just program my satellite receiver to turn on and go to a certain channel at a certain time, and program the VCR.

Hasn't failed me yet!

Quoted from Sparky

I STILL use my VCR. 16 years old and still ticking! It's even easier now. I just program my satellite receiver to turn on and go to a certain channel at a certain time, and program the VCR.

Hasn't failed me yet!

Ok, Grandpa...  

I'm liking this cheap HD Box that you add an external hard drive too... does Shaw Direct (Star Choice) offer this?  We're looking at Shaw Direct at the moment.. they don't require you to sign a lame 3 year contract.

Also, can you install a home security system over VoIP?  The security system is the only reason we're getting the land line right now.

Thanks for the help!

Quoted from machine.slave

Ok, Grandpa...  

I'm liking this cheap HD Box that you add an external hard drive too... does Shaw Direct (Star Choice) offer this?  We're looking at Shaw Direct at the moment.. they don't require you to sign a lame 3 year contract.

Also, can you install a home security system over VoIP?  The security system is the only reason we're getting the land line right now.

Thanks for the help!

Shaw has a PVR. No contract. You just buy it. I have been with them for 7 years. NEVER any issue. Customer service is actually friendly and helpful.

I have a darn 3 years sucking contract , IP phone/net , with a small local server . They use videotron cable system as a way in . I thought phone would be the same quality as videotron was , but it sucks BIG TIME . For long distance , i ' m with world line . $3.95 a month , unlimited time across Canada , I think they supply internet as well in some areas . It maybe worth checking it out . Just type "WORLD LINE" on google ...

Cheers ,

Claude

Quoted from machine.slave

Also, can you install a home security system over VoIP?  The security system is the only reason we're getting the land line right now.

Save your money on security and move to a nicer area.  

I have never had an issue with a PVR. I understand some fail just don't fill them up past 80% and you will never have a problem.

Quoted from Monkeybug

Save your money on security and move to a nicer area.  

Agreed, or buy a dog.

I got time this morning, and found this:

http://canadahomesecurity.com/brampton-adt-home-security-systems-alarms-services-companies/

Do the math, 450,000 people, maybe 170,00 homes, 4566 break-ins, 60% residential, so 2740 homes, that's less than 2%.  So that's 1 in every 50 houses, so maybe one on a decent sized street.  Sounds like you need to move....   Of course these are skewed results, like any town there are pockets of neighbourhoods that are targeted more than others.  The odds are low, you need to decide if it's worth the investment.  If you think that a security system will deter people, then you're better off going to a print shop and getting a few ADT stickers made up an put them on the windows...a lot cheaper.

As for the VOIP line, they are somewhat less reliable than twister pair, we have an internet phone and it goes down from time to time (few times a year) but only for a short time, mostly we just reset the modem and it's back in business.  Having said that, if I was a thief and saw that you had ADT or some system, the first thing I'd do is cut your phone line, I probably wouldn't think to cut your cable....

Well I already signed the contract on the security system (and the house), so NOT getting the security system (or the house) isn't in the cards anymore.  Besides, a home security system means cheaper home insurance  

So far Bell is the winner here, this is the bundle I have in mind:

B.e">http://bundle.bell.ca/en/on/ma.....vice_televisionB.e

Under the current promotion, it comes with the HD receiver for free (to keep) and all I have to do is whip some parts together for an external hard drive and I'm laughin!  (provided they haven't changed their hardware).

I'm happy with $81 per month for all that.. much better than what we're paying now, stupid Rogers...

Security systems are good for other things besides just break ins.

I like knowing that if my house catches on Fire and I'm not home, the security system company will alert the fire department.  That could be the difference between my entire house going up in flames or just some damage, also the difference between my dogs being friend and not being fried.

So it serves other purposes other then just deterring break ins.  

Quoted from machine.slave

Well I already signed the contract on the security system (and the house), so NOT getting the security system (or the house) isn't in the cards anymore.  Besides, a home security system means cheaper home insurance  

Don't get too many false alarms... you might get a nasty surprise. Did you know that it is common for police departments to actually ignore alarm central calls for a certain address if more than 5 false alarms are declared?

I used to work for a few alarm companies and for one of them, 80% of the clientèle was blacklisted by the police due to too many false calls. But they don't tell the customer this. So the homeowner keeps paying every month for absolutely nothing. And it happened regularly that people STILL got broken into and tried to sue the police and alarm company for it, and lost. It is often a little if unknown little bylaw.

I have the best alarm system... 3 big dogs that go off like foghorns when they see a bug fly by any window. Someone tried to break into my shed 2 years ago and my neighbor said they went completely batshit. My neighbor went to check and saw the guy running off. He saw my dogs practically looking to go through the damn door...

I have both my phone and internet with TekSavvy. They are by far the best internet provider in Canada, possibly North America. Their service is amazing. It's just over $30 for unlimited, unthrottled, DSL (cable too in some areas). They also offer phone service, but unlike Primus, it's true analog phone service, not VoIP crap.

This is the company that's been in the news lately fighting for our rights to have access to unthrottled and uncapped internet access. I wouldn't dare use another provider.

Quoted from Sparky

Don't get too many false alarms... you might get a nasty surprise. Did you know that it is common for police departments to actually ignore alarm central calls for a certain address if more than 5 false alarms are declared?

Yup, I think we get two freebies and then there's (I think) a $200 fine for each false alarm.  It varies per region.

Thankfully I have 12 years experience using an alarm system at my work so I'm not too worried about myself.. more so for my wife!  

And Adam's right.. $20 per month isn't a lot to pay for piece of mind.    Especially with my babies in the basement!  ... oh, and our dumb dog.  

Vengeance,  I agree, security systems provide a peace of mind, however I would be interested to see some statistics on house fires between those that do and don't have monitoring.  I would suspect that unless they are very close to the station, it wouldn't make a difference.  i.e. unless they get there within 5mins for example, the house is gone anyway...

And your dog doesn't need to be not friendly, mine is very friendly, but she will also bark like mad at anyone that gets close to the house.  I've had people stop when I'm outside with her and they say 'Oh, that's the dog, we've never seen her, but we hear her and see the window shaking every time we walk by with our dog"...they don't need to know the dog is friendly, but it's just not worth the risk to a burglar, there are easier targets out there.

Moot point anyway as he's already got one.  Personally, the thing that drives me nuts about them is that little beep-beep-beep that it makes every time you open a door.