[kwlug-disc] Cable internet price increase

[B.S.]

----- Original Message -----

> From: Bob Jonkman <bjonkman at sobac.com>
> To: KWLUG discussion <kwlug-disc at kwlug.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 23, 2016 2:39 PM
> Subject: Re: [kwlug-disc] Cable internet price increase
> 
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> On Jan 23, 2016, at 11:38 AM, Khalid Baheyeldin <kb at 2bits.com> wrote:
>>>  From what I remember, the installation fee was waived or reduced 
>>>  because I was on Rogers, and it is just an administrative switch 
>>>  (no technician visit or anything physical to do).
> 
> On Sat, Jan 23, 2016 at 11:42 AM, Andrew Kohlsmith wrote:
>>>  A friend just went through this; Teksavvy said that they had to 
>>>  disconnect the cable internet before they could “take over”
> 
> I recently helped someone move from Bell phone to VoIP.ms, and as a
> result Teksavvy's DSL needed to be switched to a dry loop. I thought
> this would have been done as an administrative switch too, since the
> incoming wires weren't changing, but Teksavvy insisted on sending a
> technician.
> 
> Turns out they actually provided dry loop on a different pair than the
> Bell phone, so a tech had to switch the wires at the central office
> location. When he came in to ensure that the new pair was properly
> connected he discovered that the almost-60-year-old wire from the
> demarcation box to the disconnect inside the house was bad (all of 5
> feet of wire), and replaced that. Together we discovered that the
> internal house wiring was awful (bare wire splices, some original
> 60-year-old three-conductor wire, unterminated wires going nowhere).
> 
> Internal wiring isn't covered by the tech's visit, but he 
> "forgot" a
> few metres of three-pair cable, and I ended up bypassing most of the
> internal wiring by connecting the DSL modem directly to the disconnect
> inside the house.  As a result, the modem we thought was flakey has
> been working flawlessly ever since, and download speeds have improved
> remarkably.
> 
> Moral of the story: Never refuse a technician's visit, especially if
> there's no charge as part of some other service.


When VDSL went in Wed., the tech found both pairs defective and switched them.

Which explains why I went off DSL years ago to cable - Bell was supposed to be giving 5Mbps down, was only getting 1.5, asked that it be looked at, they switched it down to 512. Goodbye Execulink (Golden) - sad to see you go, it was good while it lasted. Can't say enough about the excellence of Execulink service to the time - too bad they were sideswiped by Bell. i.e. Poor bell response lost Golden a customer.

Moral of the story for Bell - send a tech. You wouldn't have lost a customer all those years ago.

Pairs are 'perfect' now, says the tech. Full 50/10, getting 60 some tests.

Pairs will never have the speed of cable - peerless service with Rogers, then Acanac, throughout. Since I was happy with 30/5, and 50/10 was same price as 25/5, I can live with it.

Came down to the quality of the STB user interface. Even now, neither Rogers nor Bell will do slow motion. Never mind frame advance/reverse. And price. But not much to choose from between Rogers and Bell, price/service wise - although even the Rogers guys say Bell has a better user TV experience.

I'll be unsurprised if I switch back to cable in 3 years after the price guarantee is up.

Keep your eye on Bell and Rogers - they appear to be hungry. Rogers bringing 4K TV, Bell now has 'restart' (catch the program from yesterday that you missed). Warn, though - it's not every channel. Bell seems hungrier.

It will be interesting to see what happens to Vmedia in that time - they just went to a quad core STB.  They've been beaten up for poor service and STB. The quad cord should address the STB, and over time they should be able to build out their network better. (Not much different than the impression of Acanac 5 years ago. They built out since, and service was perfect over the last year.)