<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;">Thanks for the sharing your experience — it’s always interesting to hear tails from the front!<div><br></div><div>My only concern about any sort of re-sold RF Coax internet is that it’s backed by Rogers — be it vMedia or CarryTel or TekSavvy, etc, you are still a slave to having Rogers as your last mile. My personal experience is that it is Rogers policy to give the worst possible service to their wholesalers; they will force their wholesalers to jump through extra hoops, schedule and cancel appointments, make service appointments less timely, etc.</div><div><br></div><div>I only sell cable-based internet to my client via Rogers directly, and I’ll never deal with a 3rd party for it; I avoid using it as much as possible because I hate rewarding Rogers for bad behaviour. My personal story, from about 7-10 years ago:</div><div><ol class="MailOutline"><li>For my home internet, I signed up with vMedia (they were a big partner with us at the time, I knew the CTO, great team, good processes)</li><li>It works for a bit, but around Janurary starts getting dodgy… start calling support, they tell me I have to unplug/replug the modem, I have to ensure it’s not plugged in via power bar, I have to make sure it’s a CAT6A (not CAT6 or CAT5e!) between my modem and router, etc. I do all that, soonest service appointment is a few days out.</li><li>I arrange to be home all day, nobody comes, internet is still dodgy as hell.</li><li>I call in; vMedia says Rogers cleared the ticket as “no fault found”, cancelled the appointment, didn’t tell anyone.</li><li>I have to go through more things — leave the modem off for an hour, reschedule for next week (no way to get a tech sooner)</li><li>Rogers clears the ticket as no trouble found again. Service usablilty even worse.</li><li>Reschedule again. They no-show again. vMedia support is losing their mind, but when pressed, admit this not uncommon.</li><li>Reschedule again. I just entirely unplug is so that Rogers will see big black nothing when they check the line (Ha, “no trouble found”)</li><li>Tech finally comes out (where into two weeks here since I started calling); problem is the line from the pole to my house was not well terminated, water got in and damaged the connector. Connector replaced. </li><li>Line lasts until about next year.</li><li>Similar hassle with getting a tech out; on the second call, I remembered to just unplug it — had to leave it powered off for 2 days and hotspot/work from outside the house because never know when Rogers might otherwise check the line, declare “no trouble found” and ghost me.</li><li>Water damage again. Tech discusses how it’s all piece work, and guys will often leave things not quite right to generate further work later — sounds insane to me, because stuff breaks all the time in physical plants without having to go looking for trouble, but who knows. Anyway, more days without internet, frustrating hassle.</li><li>Next year it happens again. Tech is showing me the water damaged connector, and telling me I ran “high voltage through it”, and “he’s being a nice guy” for not billing me for the call. This time I unplugged my gear on the first call.</li><li>I give up, and cancel the service — the best Bell can do is 15/1 (I can spit on the service concentrator, it’s at the corner of my block, and yet!), I get a point-to-point wireless link — 20/5 Mbit, but it’s just not quite enough for 2 people working from home, on calls, needing to move data… ultimately end up on Starlink.</li></ol><div><br></div><div>In the same time frame, I’m monitoring the relative experiences of colleagues and such that are direct with Rogers, or when I need to call for a client that is direct with Rogers; the typical direct experience:</div></div><div><ol class="MailOutline"><li>Call Rogers. Tech often out same day or following morning/afternoon. No whacky jumping through hoops, unplugging and being without internet for days. Done. Need a modem swap? Sure.</li></ol><div><br></div></div><div>I’ve been in charge of systems for an entire ISP (it’s been a minute, true!), I talk to folks who do that job today; generally what I’m told maps to the experience I’ve had — my bottome line perception is that Rogers seems to wholesale consumer internet out of necessity/regulatory requirement, not desire, and if you are with a wholesaler, then you’ll always be at the back of the line.</div><div><br></div><div>Anyway, I’m glad for everyone who has a better experience than I, and I may have had a patch of bad luck. Knocking on wood for things being much better than that!</div><div><br></div><div> -C</div><div><br></div><div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfMessage"><div>
<div style="orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; widows: auto; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;"><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px;"><font face="Helvetica" size="3">│</font><font face="Helvetica" style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>CCj/ClearLine - Hosting and TCP/IP Network Services since 1997</font></div><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px;"><span style="orphans: auto; widows: auto;"><font face="Helvetica" size="3">├</font></span><font face="Helvetica" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;"><font size="3">──────────────────────────────</font></font></div><div style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); letter-spacing: normal; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; orphans: 2; widows: 2; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">│</span><span> Cedric Puddy, IS Director, cedric@ccj.host, </span><span>51</span><span></span><span>9-489-0478x102</span></div></div>
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<div><br><blockquote type="cite"><div>On Dec 11, 2024, at 20:47, CrankyOldBugger <crankyoldbugger@gmail.com> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Thanks for clearing that up, Gary. I can't keep track of who owns who anymore...</div><div><br></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, 11 Dec 2024 at 20:36, Gary Walsh via kwlug-disc <<a href="mailto:kwlug-disc@kwlug.org">kwlug-disc@kwlug.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<div dir="auto">Freedom Mobile is owned by Québecor. It was formerly with Shaw but changed as a result of the Rogers Shaw merger. VMedia is also owned by Québecor.<br></div><div><br></div><div>--<br></div><div><div dir="auto">Gary Walsh<br></div><div dir="auto">Sent with Tutanota, the secure & ad-free mailbox.<br></div></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">11 Dec 2024, 12:18 by <a href="mailto:crankyoldbugger@gmail.com" target="_blank">crankyoldbugger@gmail.com</a>:<br></div><blockquote style="border-left:1px solid rgb(147,163,184);padding-left:10px;margin-left:5px"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="auto">I thought I should give you an update on my adventures with shopping for internet and cellphone plans, since so many of you offered suggestions.<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Back in the Olden Days I was using vMedia for my ISP, getting 300/30 for around $90 a month.<br></div><div dir="auto">For cellphones, my wife and I had a "shared" account from Zoomer Mobile, aka Cityfone out of BC. We were paying around $70 a month for 3gig data and endless yapping Canada-wide.<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">My wife was the primary user of the shared cellphone account. My phone sat on the charger and did nothing more than forward any incoming calls (usually spam) to my work cellphone, which is what I used primarily.<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Then one day I got a letter from Zoomer saying that they were being eaten by Rogers, please find enclosed two new Rogers SIMs, feel welcome to blindly use them without asking any questions...<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Around the same time I got a letter from my ISP vMedia stating that they were being eaten by Freedom Mobile. I'm under the impression that FM is actually part of Rogers, but I couldn't tell you if that's just as a reseller or as an actual division in the company..<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">My wife's phone (Samsung S12, I think?) has a cracked screen, so we decided she should get a new phone. The current hot model is the Samsung S24FE, so that's what I'm shopping for.<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">So, in preparation for Black Friday I regularly harassed KWLUG members for suggestions, as well as a few people at work, and of course my favourite non-google search engines... <br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">At this point, I was leaning towards Freedom Mobile for their cheap cellphone plans. So prior to Black Friday, I dusted off my walker and braved a trip to Conestoga Mall. This is when an employee at FM told me that my old Samsung Galaxy SIII wouldn't work on the newer networks. So I left, empty-handed.<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">Thinking that the guy at the store in the mall was just overanxious to sell me a phone, I phoned Freedom Mobile World Domination Headquarters to see if I could get the plan and phone from them directly. Sure, we can sign you up for a plan, but we don't have any of those S24FEs in stock at the WDHQ, so you have to go into the store to sign up there, assuming they have the phone in stock. Nasty people, telling lies like that.<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">So I phone the store on Black Friday, and as you might expect, they didn't answer. I left a voicemail that basically said, "shut up and take my money." No reply. The next day I phoned again, again no reply.<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">So we went into the mall to punch someone in the face until they sold us a phone. We went in the wrong mall entrance and came across a Virgin Plus kiosk. For fun, I went over and started talking to the guy. Long story short, we got a plan for Wifeski with an obscene amount of data, free calling, etc., for around $50 a month, and a shiny new Samsung Galaxy S24FE. Done.<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">I then decided on using <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://voip.ms/" target="_blank">voip.ms</a> for my own cellphone, as many people recommended it. So after a long wait for the porting to complete, I now have call forwarding set up in <a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="http://voip.ms/" target="_blank">voip.ms</a> that costs pennies a month. There's that problem solved.<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div>Finally, I signed up with CarryTel for internet. Get this: 1000/50 up/down for around $50 a month, including free modem rental. Compare that to vMedia's 300/30 for $90 and BYOB modem. It's kind of sad as vMedia used to be the place to get a deal...<br></div><div><br></div><div>Shortly after I got all this settled, the guy from the Freedom Mobile store finally returned my call. I told him a few of my Grandmother's more choice words...<br></div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto">So thanks to all who offered suggestions. It was a lot of work getting all this straightened out, but right now I think we're in a good position...<br></div></div></blockquote><div dir="auto"><br></div> </div>
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