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Hey fellow Canucks! What sat/cable service to use?

 
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech



Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24296
Location: Langley, BC

TV/Projector: All of them!


PostLink    Posted: Mon Feb 03, 2014 11:24 pm    Post subject: Hey fellow Canucks! What sat/cable service to use? Reply with quote


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So I've been realizing that I haven't bundled anything in my home.. I've got separate bills for satellite, internet and phone. Haven't been too happy with bell over the last couple of years, pricing went up, and I can't justify the $85 I'm paying each month. I rolled that back from $99 or so a year ago, but lost a few of the channels that I did watch.

So, options:

1) Switch over to Shaw, as I have their highspeed internet, and add an HD package that I want for $39 (I think) a month. The catch is, I need to buy two HD PVRs, which will take 2 years or so to equal out the savings that I will get by switching.

2) Forget about cable or satellite and switch to streaming. I haven't checked into Netflix at all, but hear that the selection in Canada is crappy compared to the US. I do have a US mailing and billing address. I wonder if they can tell that I'm Canadian?

3) What other options do I have?

As for watching, I will be critical with signal quality. I hear that Telus service is crap from some people, I hear it's no different from others.

Now, I watch true crime type stuff and movies, that's really about it. A couple of reality shows are fun, but I'm sure I could download seasons, and I don't need to watch them the same day that they air. Heck, right now I don't have a DVR, so when I want to watch something, I need to be there when it goes on the air. Yay me, dragging myself right into the new millenium, about 10 years too late. Very Happy

I don't watch sports of any kind, oh, but I like music. Not music videos per se, but concerts and documentaries.

What do you guys suggest?
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Ron W




Joined: 07 Aug 2009
Posts: 806
Location: Mississauga


PostLink    Posted: Tue Feb 04, 2014 4:50 pm    Post subject: Re: Hey fellow Canucks! What sat/cable service to use? Reply with quote

Curt Palme wrote:
So I've been realizing that I haven't bundled anything in my home.. I've got separate bills for satellite, internet and phone. Haven't been too happy with bell over the last couple of years, pricing went up, and I can't justify the $85 I'm paying each month. I rolled that back from $99 or so a year ago, but lost a few of the channels that I did watch.

So, options:

1) Switch over to Shaw, as I have their highspeed internet, and add an HD package that I want for $39 (I think) a month. The catch is, I need to buy two HD PVRs, which will take 2 years or so to equal out the savings that I will get by switching.

2) Forget about cable or satellite and switch to streaming. I haven't checked into Netflix at all, but hear that the selection in Canada is crappy compared to the US. I do have a US mailing and billing address. I wonder if they can tell that I'm Canadian?

3) What other options do I have?

As for watching, I will be critical with signal quality. I hear that Telus service is crap from some people, I hear it's no different from others.

Now, I watch true crime type stuff and movies, that's really about it. A couple of reality shows are fun, but I'm sure I could download seasons, and I don't need to watch them the same day that they air. Heck, right now I don't have a DVR, so when I want to watch something, I need to be there when it goes on the air. Yay me, dragging myself right into the new millenium, about 10 years too late. Very Happy

I don't watch sports of any kind, oh, but I like music. Not music videos per se, but concerts and documentaries.

What do you guys suggest?


Will Shaw do anything for you as to provide discounts or freebies on the extra boxes? They should if you bundle all your services with them, play hardball and threaten to move all your services to another carrier. If you are in the service area, you might want to reconsider cable and try Rogers as well, they are always having deals going on and you can get free STBs for a couple of years on bundled packages. I got two PVR STBs free for two years and a buyout of them in the third year. Unless they give you a two year deal you can negotiate with Rogers and usually get a new deal every year and at least a twenty-five percent discount off the whole package. My wife worked at Bell for over 30 years and had an employee discount and when she left(downsized) we looked at Rogers and even with her discount we still got a better deal and got rid of Bell. Nowadays, with similar services and bundles, after comparing all, there doesn't seem to be a significant difference in overall prices between the carriers.

As far as the US Netflix is concerned, you can set up the regular Canadian account, however, it is just a matter of being able to "manually" enter the alternative US server account numbers to access the US Netflix. In my opinion, the US Netflix is better in overall choice but not that much better. No problem with the set-up as they don't know where their servers are being accessed from at least that is what my son tells me who is a Web designer by occupation and you can have at least three different IP addresses on the one account.
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Mr. Green




Joined: 23 Feb 2007
Posts: 1394
Location: Calgary

TV/Projector: Marquee 9501LC / NEC 9PG+


PostLink    Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 4:01 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

My internet is through Nucleus, which I believe is only in Alberta. Been with them since they pretty much started almost 20 years ago. Still has the best tech support out there IMO. I don't know if it's still true, but Shaw internet is dependant on how close you are to the nearest hub and how many people use it. Apparently the one in downtown Calgary bogs right down at 6 Pm when everyone gets home from work.

I have shaw for regular cable and the high def channels. They are slowly getting more and more content and raise rates every 6 months to justify it. I do wish I could pick what channels I got. I hate the tier system. If you want to get HD channels you have to get all the tiers underneath. Digital music is ok in a pinch. I don't rent boxes, I buy them so I've spent a lot to have their programming and I don't want to walk away from the investment. I've looked at Telus and Bell at other peoples homes and I'm not too concerned. Different Chit, same pile.

I believe shaw has better support compared to Telus, but haven't asked in years. Don't know about bell except we almost went through them, but the installer said I didn't have line of site for the dish so couldn't install... I think its because I had a 30 foot high roof and he only had a 12 foot ladder, which I asked them to make note of before coming out. Was enough to keep me from going with them.

Netflix is awesome. There's enough content on there to keep you busy for quite a while if you don't see every movie as it comes out. If you want the American version which is apparently heads and tails better than the Canadian version you can pay for an online service called "unblock us". It's like $4/ month but get's you the content. I haven't bothered yet. There's free versions of it, but I wouldn't recommend it. http://www.unblock-us.com/

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Current Projector Marquee9501LC with PS3 (BLu-Ray) at 1080P LOVE IT! Screen is an Elunevision 120" 4:3 (2.4 gain - no hotspots). (also own a NEC 9PG+)
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HD-DAVE




Joined: 16 Feb 2007
Posts: 223
Location: Delta, BC


PostLink    Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 4:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hey Curt,
Since you already have shaw internet, you could call them up and see if they would offer you a free Arris Gateway/Portal system if you bundled HD cable TV (and possibly your phone ? Shaw Home Phone (VOIP)) in with it. We first had a couple of Pace HD-PVR boxes (160 gig) plus two of their smaller non-HD terminals plus we had shaw internet. When the Pace boxes started to glitch a lot Shaw "downgraded" us to some Moto DCT6416's...by "downgrading" i mean't we found out these couldn't decode Mpeg 4 so we lost a bunch of HD channels we were paying real $ for...so, I called to complain and they went away, hemmed and hawwed for a bit and came back offering a free Gateway & 2 Portals lifetime rental - which have been wonderful. Nice clean signal, whole house PVR...its the cats meow so far.
....Dave
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Curt Palme
CRT Tech



Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 24296
Location: Langley, BC

TV/Projector: All of them!


PostLink    Posted: Wed Feb 05, 2014 6:28 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Dave, you and Zap have recommended Shaw and their Gateway setup. I'll call them tomorrow to see what I can squeeze out of them..
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416ray4538




Joined: 14 Jul 2009
Posts: 517
Location: near Toronto Ont


PostLink    Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2014 9:23 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I've had pretty good luck with BEV. A few complaints but when I suggested to them that I was going to disconnect and join book of the month club, they came through. I suspect that if you don't bother complaining, any of these suppliers will crap on you and take your money.
If your not happy, tell them so and tell them you are ready to take your business somewhere else.
You gotta be squeaky if you wanna get greased.

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No point being pessimistic; it probably would't work anyway.
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Ron W




Joined: 07 Aug 2009
Posts: 806
Location: Mississauga


PostLink    Posted: Sat Apr 12, 2014 11:30 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

416ray4538 wrote:
I've had pretty good luck with BEV. A few complaints but when I suggested to them that I was going to disconnect and join book of the month club, they came through. I suspect that if you don't bother complaining, any of these suppliers will crap on you and take your money.
If your not happy, tell them so and tell them you are ready to take your business somewhere else.
You gotta be squeaky if you wanna get greased.


Actually this approach is nothing new with any of the service providers, the problem is most people don't bother pursuing a better deal beyond the CS Rep. who doesn't have the authority to offer any thing anyway. For eg. Rogers has what they call the "customer retention" dept. in which, as you say, threaten to take your business elsewhere, the deals come fast and furious. My last three contracts have been negotiated with substantial discounts the most recent(25-30% for two years) and a two year FREE Nextbox HD PVR for that same period. Of course, it helps to have more than one service with the same carrier(in our case cable, internet and home phone), however, overall, it is still well worth it, it is just a matter of persistence.
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WTS




Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 1276
Location: Calgary


PostLink    Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well sorry to drag up an old thread but I am thinking of jumping from Bell to Shaw's gateway system but I'd like to know how their HD PQ compares to Bells HD PQ. Anyone compare the two providers?
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Walter
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AnalogRocks
Forum Moderator



Joined: 08 Mar 2006
Posts: 26690
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

TV/Projector: Sony 1252Q, AMPRO 4000G


PostLink    Posted: Fri Jan 16, 2015 3:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Or you could go OTA and IP TV
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