I need a recommendation for cheap cable/web service

[Admiral Beez]

Okay, I'm seriously tired of paying Rogers $90 a month for ultra-light internet and one tier up from basic digital cable, including rental of their basic digital box. So, what are my options?

First a few caveats...I'm not interested in a free HD aerial that will provide five or six channels. Secondly, my wife does not want to move the land-line telephone away from Bell. Basically I want "okay" internet service, plus digital television with which I can watch my shows on Discovery, History Channel, BBC Canada, etc., plus Disney Kids and Treehouse.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. I know a lot of you guys are really into media and probably pay well over $100 a month, but I'd like to get my cable/internet bill below $80 if I can.

I called Rogers and complained about their rate last year and they gave me a "whiners" rate for a year at about $80, but now they've bumped it up again to $90, and they're refusing to budge this time. I need a steady price, not intro discounts that ramp up after a time.

$1,180 a year for only a few hours a week of shows seems like a huge waste with Rogers.

 

[lordmandeep]

for Cable your out of luck.


Internet, try DSL.

 

[smuncky]

for TV you are SOL unfortuently.

internet wise, try out teksavvy. give them a call to see what kind of speeds you'd be getting if you went with them.

 

[JasonParis]

"Bundling" can bring the price of your bill down a bit, but not much. So unless your wife is willing to part with Bell landline (or your move everything over to Bell) you wouldn't get to take advantage of that.

We are only talking about $5/month anyway.

 

[Mustapha]

Okay, I'm seriously tired of paying Rogers $90 a month for ultra-light internet and one tier up from basic digital cable, including rental of their basic digital box. So, what are my options?

First a few caveats...I'm not interested in a free HD aerial that will provide five or six channels. Secondly, my wife does not want to move the land-line telephone away from Bell. Basically I want "okay" internet service, plus digital television with which I can watch my shows on Discovery, History Channel, BBC Canada, etc., plus Disney Kids and Treehouse.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. I know a lot of you guys are really into media and probably pay well over $100 a month, but I'd like to get my cable/internet bill below $80 if I can.

I called Rogers and complained about their rate last year and they gave me a "whiners" rate for a year at about $80, but now they've bumped it up again to $90, and they're refusing to budge this time. I need a steady price, not intro discounts that ramp up after a time.

$1,180 a year for only a few hours a week of shows seems like a huge waste with Rogers.

Cable TV: Most of us will pay because we 'need' the service - who DOESN"T have cable; and we have the money to pay, grudgingly.

An option for you. I would say internet is more important than cable. You need internet for education and research and email, and you can also watch TV shows online off it.

For about 10 years my kids watched only what the rabbit ears would bring in - CBC, CTV, CITY. They turned out ok but rib me about it. At the time we had only one income...

 

[Admiral Beez]

For about 10 years my kids watched only what the rabbit ears would bring in - CBC, CTV, CITY. They turned out ok but rib me about it. At the time we had only one income...

We're considering that, as there's nothing on most of the time, especially in the summer when the kids can be running about more. However, IIRC, next year or soon the rabbit ears won't work, true?

 

[Mustapha]

We're considering that, as there's nothing on most of the time, especially in the summer when the kids can be running about more. However, IIRC, next year or soon the rabbit ears won't work, true?

Rabbit ears not working next year ... I don't know. I goggled it and admit I still don't know; there is so much info to wade through. I hope someone who has studied this in depth will weigh in.

Since you own a house, there will be lots to keep your kids occupied. We kept our kids busy with crafts and library books. Even the trip to the library was a 2 hour thing. We flew kites in the park and those rubber band powered balsa wood airplanes. They still had a Super Nintendo attached to the TV so its not like they were put to work churning milk. I feel for apartment/condo dwellers where it may be tougher to take kids outside - cable TV is probably a necessity.

It's interesting how when the bill is annualized as you have done - it is a lot of money for what you get in the end. I noticed that old man Rogers was looking out for family at the end of the day - his daughter owns a 12mill pad in Rosedale.

I'll also admit that in our cable-less days the house was awful quiet. Sometimes the kids and their mom and I would just talk about how there day went; how their friends were doing.

 

[Tuscani01]

We're considering that, as there's nothing on most of the time, especially in the summer when the kids can be running about more. However, IIRC, next year or soon the rabbit ears won't work, true?

Rabbit ears wont work in 2012, as that is when Canada is switching to digital. Purchasing a DTV converter will allow you to still catch the channels though.

 

[JasonParis]

Rabbit ears wont work in 2012, as that is when Canada is switching to digital. Purchasing a DTV converter will allow you to still catch the channels though.

This is correct. Although, you won't be able to pick-up the Buffalo stations after June (the US' new DTV conversion date), but rabbit-ears in the GTA don't usually get Buffalo TV very well anyway.

 

[Skeezix]

Rabbit ears wont work in 2012, as that is when Canada is switching to digital. Purchasing a DTV converter will allow you to still catch the channels though.

Tuscani's right, but the issue isn't rabbit ears. Over-the-air broadcasters are required to switch from analog to digital -- this year in the U.S. (was supposed to be Feb. 17, but some will now be delayed until June), and 2012 in Canada (I was going to say 2011, but Tuscani may be right on that one). For the folks that can pick up some U.S. signals over the air here in Toronto, it's an issue they are facing now.

One will still be able to use rabbit ears after the switch. The problem arises if you use rabbit ears with an old analog tv - you won't be able to pick up the new digital signals (it isn't a problem if you have an analog tv and subscribe to cable or satellite). You can either buy a digital tv or get an analog-to-digital converter box. In the U.S., the feds are giving applicants a $40 coupon towards the purchase of the box (or at least they were until they realized that Congress hadn't allocated enough $ towards the fund and they ran out of money -- thus the delay until June to get some more coupons out to seniors and low income households that are most at risk of losing their tv signals). Not sure what Ottawa will do here, if anything (I believe we have a higher concentration of cable/satellite penetration, mostly due to our desire to watch U.S. networks, so it might not be perceived to be as big of a problem). I've read that the boxes generally go for $40-80 in the States -- I have no idea what they cost in Canada.

If your tv is a newer model, this won't be a problem.

 

[grey]

Thanks to the CRTC's neocon agenda, you're pretty much stuck with Rogers, Bell, or weak alternatives, like Teksaavy, who really just repackage Bell/Rogers bandwidth.

I get 5 fuzzy channels with my rabbit ears because I'm too close to the CN Tower.

 

[Tuscani01]

This is correct. Although, you won't be able to pick-up the Buffalo stations after June (the US' new DTV conversion date), but rabbit-ears in the GTA don't usually get Buffalo TV very well anyway.

I was watching some Buffalo stations last night and it looks like all of them are going to switch this month as originally planned in order to avoid confusion. They had messages scrolling saying they are awaiting federal permission, but to be prepared for the switch this month.

 

[khris]

Thanks to the CRTC's neocon agenda, you're pretty much stuck with Rogers, Bell, or weak alternatives, like Teksaavy, who really just repackage Bell/Rogers bandwidth.

I get 5 fuzzy channels with my rabbit ears because I'm too close to the CN Tower.

Apparently Teksavvy have really great customer service, so I wouldn't necessarily say they are a weak alternative. Not to mention, they're cheaper and offer the same speed as Bell.

 

[digi]

However, IIRC, next year or soon the rabbit ears won't work, true?

Not true.

Rabbit ears wont work in 2012,

Not true.

They're switching modulation from NTSC to ATSC, of course you'll need an ATSC tuner, but the signal is still an RF broadcast, that can be received by an antenna, such as 'rabbit ears'.

Thanks to the CRTC's neocon agenda, you're pretty much stuck with Rogers, Bell, or weak alternatives, like Teksaavy, who really just repackage Bell/Rogers bandwidth.

What's the CRTC got to do with Rogers and Bell building their own networks?

 

[cacruden]

Okay, I'm seriously tired of paying Rogers $90 a month for ultra-light internet and one tier up from basic digital cable, including rental of their basic digital box. So, what are my options?

First a few caveats...I'm not interested in a free HD aerial that will provide five or six channels. Secondly, my wife does not want to move the land-line telephone away from Bell. Basically I want "okay" internet service, plus digital television with which I can watch my shows on Discovery, History Channel, BBC Canada, etc., plus Disney Kids and Treehouse.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts. I know a lot of you guys are really into media and probably pay well over $100 a month, but I'd like to get my cable/internet bill below $80 if I can.

I called Rogers and complained about their rate last year and they gave me a "whiners" rate for a year at about $80, but now they've bumped it up again to $90, and they're refusing to budge this time. I need a steady price, not intro discounts that ramp up after a time.

$1,180 a year for only a few hours a week of shows seems like a huge waste with Rogers.

I have been thinking of getting rid of Roger's Cable - it is my last Roger's service - I guess the only thing that really keeps me on cable is news stations - I am a news junkie. If I can crack the habit - I no longer need it. It is actually getting easier to do without cable these days, and it is only a matter of time before I can do without it. I have setup an iTunes US account - which required me to "pick" a US address and buy US gift cards (it does not validate the IP address) - and from that service I buy shows that I want. I originally set it up for Stargate Atlantis - which was on the movie network - and the program was of reasonably good quality (picture/sound). Since December I have used it for a few more programs since I am not in Canada/US, and I download some other shows via the torrents. At home I can stream it digitally to my LCD television. For TV, there are three potential alternatives.... Look (no HD), Bell Expressvu (condo service does not currently have HD), and Rogers.

With your requirements - it is probably still too early to "dump" Roger's TV


On the Phone/internet side - I dropped Rogers for Teksavvy. The Teksavvy phone service is really just Bell (pretty much the same - just don't have to deal directly with Bell). Not really much of a cost saving - I just have the option of buying ONLY the add-on services I need. The default long distance plan (pay as you go) - is GREAT. I don't generally get a phone card anymore since the phone call quality is higher than any phone card on calls to Japan - and it costs only 1 cent/minute more than the phone card (5c/minute). The details of the billing on the bill is crap though - not much detail - like phone number - but I don't use it enough not to know what calls I made.

Teksavvy DSL is their own service (they provide all the inter-ISP connections, etc.) - but rely on the GAS tariff bell lines into your house.... They provide me a 5megabit connection to the internet at a very low cost (around $30 - with a 200G cap) -- much better than Bell or Rogers. Their accountants are more technically competent than Rogers technical support (personal experience).