[Ben]

Inspired by a new thread kissing goodbye to Bell, I thought I'd expand the topic a bit to include all 3 essential services. What are the best deals out there for home phone, internet, and TV?

My story:

1. Home Phone: basic line from Bell, $24.26/month after tax. Long distance through YAK 3.5c/min. Total for an average month is somewhere around $30, after tax.

2. We have Cogeco Lite internet, for $34.95/month, or $36.70 after tax. I've thought about calling them for a reduction in rates - anyone have a success story on that topic?

3. Until recently we had basic cable from Cogeco. We've cancelled it, and are now spending much more time at the gym! A lot of popular shows are available to stream on the internet (The Office and Til Debt Do Us Part come to mind). So, $0 for TV.

4. And may as well add cell phone for discussion too!

We therefore spend $66.70/month for 2 services. What's your deal?

 

[FrugalTrader]

Inspired by a new thread kissing goodbye to Bell, I thought I'd expand the topic a bit to include all 3 essential services. What are the best deals out there for home phone, internet, and TV?

My story:

1. Home Phone: basic line from Bell, $24.26/month after tax. Long distance through YAK 3.5c/min. Total for an average month is somewhere around $30, after tax.

2. We have Cogeco Lite internet, for $34.95/month, or $36.70 after tax. I've thought about calling them for a reduction in rates - anyone have a success story on that topic?

3. Until recently we had basic cable from Cogeco. We've cancelled it, and are now spending much more time at the gym! A lot of popular shows are available to stream on the internet (The Office and Til Debt Do Us Part come to mind). So, $0 for TV.

We therefore spend $66.70/month for 2 out of 3 services. What's your deal?

Great idea for a thread! We bundle 4 services with Rogers which gives us a 15% discount on the total price.

We have:

1. Home telephone with caller ID
2. High Speed Internet Extreme
3. Basic Cable with HD PVR box (HD channels included)
4. Basic emergency cell phone (40 min / month)

$126 included tax for 4 services!

 

[CanadianCapitalist]

Home Phone: Basic phone from Bell ($25) without any bells and whistles. Long distance with Yak and G3 Telecom (we make a lot of overseas calls to family).

Internet: Currently Bell (around $50). I'm planning on switching to National Capital Freenet ($30 for DSL service in the Ottawa area).

Cable: Basic cable from Rogers. We hardly watch but I'm keeping it as I'm waiting for a sale on a HD box.

Cell phones: Two pre-paid phones from Speakout Wireless.

Ben, I wrote about squeezing Bell for a discount here:

Money Tip: Just ask for a discount

It worked until recently, when we got suckered into upgrading to a higher speed ("for the exact same price", said the sales rep and I stupidly agreed).

 

[MGL]

We've got our services bundled with Aliant. We pay $115 (taxes in) for internet access, basic TV + 1 specialty package, basic cell phone, and home phone.

 

[Bullseye]

Bell home phone - $30
Bell mid-speed Internet - $25
Cogeco cable - $50
One shared prepaid cell - $8 ($100/year)

I'm a service jumper with my internet. In 2007 I was on a Cogeco promo, then with Acanac last year ($18 taxes in for high speed for first year), and now with Bell for a one year promo.

I was actually happy with Acanac, and would have paid their regular monthly rate, but to get it, you had to prepay a whole year. I refused on principle, and cancelled.

 

[Sampson]

Out West....

Home phone: $0 (we'll probably add one with Shaw - $19)
Cable: $0 (come on guys - internet tv)
Internet: $40 (-$2 off if we bundle)
Cell phone: $20 - phenomenal Corp. plan

If we had full services, I'd certainly get the bundled packages from Shaw instead of the poor and expensive service we used to get through Telus.

Sounds like the same thing is happening out East, the cable companies are really bringing it to the traditional phone companies.

 

[archanfel]

Toronto

Cell phone: $75 after tax.
Home phone: $0
Cable: $0
Internet: $18.95 + $8 (dry loop) from acanac, tax included.

 

[canabiz]

We are with Rogers for home/cable and Internet and we are paying $105/month for all 3 services, taxes and discounts in. We also subscribe to 3 different magazines: Maclean's, Canadian Business and Money Sense as part of Rogers Readers' Advantage Program.

I find Rogers services adequate, nothing to complain about. I put the monthly bill on my credit card to earn points so that's another bonus.

P.S: I had bad experience with Ma Bell before so I am glad I am not the only, judging by articles and comments on Ellen Roseman's site and elsewhere. In addition, I found out today (from an Aeroplan rep) that Bell subscribers no longer earn Aeroplan points. Hope you folks don't have a lot of holdings in BCE ;-)

 

[FrugalTrader]

Out West....

Home phone: $0 (we'll probably add one with Shaw - $19)
Cable: $0 (come on guys - internet tv)
Internet: $40 (-$2 off if we bundle)
Cell phone: $20 - phenomenal Corp. plan

If we had full services, I'd certainly get the bundled packages from Shaw instead of the poor and expensive service we used to get through Telus.

Sounds like the same thing is happening out East, the cable companies are really bringing it to the traditional phone companies.

I don't mean to thread jack, but what sites do you recommend for internet tv?

 

[Sampson]

I'm mainly just watching the major networks. The Canadian networks have made strides to bring this stuff to the internet (in the US, all major networks have been streaming their programs for a long time).

CBC - http://www.cbc.ca/television/
CTV - http://watch.ctv.ca
Global - http://www.globaltv.com/entertainment/index.html
BNN - http://watch.bnn.ca/
Comedy - http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/

These are all clips, but same day. Once you start watching online, its very liberating, since you can watch in batches, and on your own timeline.

 

[Arcaneind]

TekSavvy Rates

http://www.teksavvy.com

Home Phone: $21.48/mo
- No Contract
- Highly Discounted Features

Long Distance: $0.029/min or $19.95/mo for Unlimited North American Calling
- No Contract

Internet: $29.95/mo for DSL
- Up to 5M/800k (my phone line goes no faster)
- Bandwidth of 200G/mo (I average under 30G)

This company is the darling on dslreports. It's a good site to see some reviews of all the Internet carriers.
http://www.dslreports.com/isplist?c=ca

 

[DAvid]

Looks like lots of folk do not have all these services, which makes comparisons challenging. It is also clear that the options available to folks differ depending on the market -- it's easy to find competition in large centers, but not in smaller centers, so some companies take the cream, while others actually try to service MORE of the market, at greater costs.

 

[JF.]

For the home phone we use Vonage.ca. The basic plan is 19.99 + taxes which is around 23$/month. You have so many features. The one feature I like best (besides caller id and voicemail) is the one that sends me an email with the voicemail attach. I send it to my work email and 2 more email addresses so I can take my voicemail on any computers.

Also they have SimRing. When my home phone rings, I also ring my cell phone in case I'm not home.

We experienced no lost of service from Vonage but you need to have an high speed internet service (which most people have now). It's very easy to setup (plug-and-play)

And a tip to save money with Vonage, you can refer people. For each account you refer and sign-up with vonage and use the service for 3 months you'll get 2 months free. I already got several months free.

So if you are thinking about signing up with vonage let me know and I'll refer you.

Edit: And I forgot the best part, no long distance for all north america and cheap fee for europe and other.

 

[Arcaneind]

For the home phone we use Vonage.ca.

Have they overcome the 911 issues with VOIP? I remember that baby died in Alberta because when they called 911 emergency services were dispatched in Ontario by mistake...

For long distance, I think VOIP cannot be beat right now but the 911 issue was a killer for me.

 

[nick24]

Have they overcome the 911 issues with VOIP? I remember that baby died in Alberta because when they called 911 emergency services were dispatched in Ontario by mistake...

For long distance, I think VOIP cannot be beat right now but the 911 issue was a killer for me.

This is a common misconception and there aren't any 911 issues per se. I have Vonage, and from what I recall, they make it very explicit when you sign up, on a yearly basis, as well as on their website that 911 works differently from 911 on regular land lines.

Users are told that the 911 address MUST be their current residential address. For the vast majority of people, the residential address will be the billing address. For some people, however, the billing address may be their office or another location. Given these simple instructions, it's not difficult to get it wrong, but I guess, in the tragic case of the baby in AB, it can go wrong.

As for Vonage itself, at 19.99 a month, it's hard to beat.

 

[nick24]

Great idea for a thread! We bundle 4 services with Rogers which gives us a 15% discount on the total price.

We have:

1. Home telephone with caller ID
2. High Speed Internet Extreme
3. Basic Cable with HD PVR box (HD channels included)
4. Basic emergency cell phone (40 min / month)

$126 included tax for 4 services!

Are you sure you have Basic Cable? I wanted Basic plus HD and was told that I have to have Extended Cable in order to get HD.

I purchased my own HD box at Xmas for a hundred bucks, so that shaves around $12 off my bill each month.

 

[FrugalTrader]

Are you sure you have Basic Cable? I wanted Basic plus HD and was told that I have to have Extended Cable in order to get HD.

I purchased my own HD box at Xmas for a hundred bucks, so that shaves around $12 off my bill each month.

Nick, you may want to call them again. You don't need extended cable to get the HD box.

 

[nick24]

Nick, you may want to call them again. You don't need extended cable to get the HD box.

Fraking Rogers! If I had a dollar for every time I've said that, I'd be a millionaire...

 

[mfd]

Home phone - Bell: $22
Cell - Rogers: free through work
Cable - rogers: $70 includes HD box and channels....no special channels
Internet - Teksavvy: $30

I need to see if I can get this down too $100.

 

[ethos1]

Home phone - Bell: $22
Cell - Rogers: free through work
Cable - rogers: $70 includes HD box and channels....no special channels
Internet - Teksavvy: $30

I need to see if I can get this down to $100.

have you called Rogers and asked them for a bundles deal on combining cable with ultra-lite internet?

With the 'extended basic' package cable (CH 2-99) without HD box should be around $55 combined with ultra-lite with get you in around $78

I pay for those two before tax exactly $78.08