February 21, 2007

Curious George and his cable / internet bundle. Ontarian monkeys -- I need your help. After years of no cable nor home intertube access, I'm about to make the jump to hyperspace and get both.

I'm fairly certain that I'll go with Ma Bell for the regular phone, but do I match that up with Cogeco cable and internets, Sympatico intarwebs and Cogeco cable, or do I forget about Cogeco altogether and look to Look for tv and access? I'm a little wary of the digital-tv adapter thingy, and I'm really unsold on this digital phone business. My tv needs are simple. My pr0n-downloading needs are not. Any advice? Words of caution? Sympatico doesn't want to tell me nuthin' without a phone number, which I don't have yet. Help me, monkeys -- you're my only hope.

posted by Capt. Renault 17 years ago
  • I've had StarChoice satellite for a few years, and I'm not impressed. I'll probably switch to digital cable very soon (I'm lucky to be in a Rogers-free area). For internet, I have high-speed DSL from Sentex, which has been flawless and hassle-free so far (2 yrs).
  • I would go with cable. I have had 100% problem free service with Comcast (no competition in our cable market in our area, sadly) for three years now and the data rates rock.
  • When I was last posted in Ontario, I had some experience with the various solutions out there, some of which might be useful. Bell Sympatico's ADSL internet service tends to be more reliable than Rogers cable internet, due to instabilities in Rogers cable-based network, even if Rogers tends to be faster overall. I'll take reliability over a few more bits, since ADSL is generally fairly fast. How Cogeco compares I don't know. I do notice that Cogeco's spec page lists a download cap, and one that isn't really that high by current standards. Sympatico currently doesn't have a cap (they lifted it a couple years ago). My read is that while Bell wouldn't hesitate to impose a cap if they felt the need (they're not capless because they're fair or nice), their network is fairly robust compared to current demands and they have chosen to use their capless state as their major competitive advantage in marketing. This could become an even greater factor in the near future as video downloading takes off on a broad basis, putting a greater strain on the 'net and further bandwidth pressure on strained cable resources. For a phone line, I have to admit I like the security of having a Bell POTS, even if routing long distance through your 'net connection makes a lot of sense. As for TV, get the cheapest thing out there. Some friends of mine have cycled through ExpressVU, and two types of digital cable and I couldn't tell the difference whenever I was over surfing channels. My parents had basic cable and it seems just fine and dandy, even if there is occasionally a bit of static. If you really enjoy TV then you might occasionally miss not having one of the specialty channels like SciFi or Home&Garden when there's nothing on the standards channels, but is it worth the extra $10-$20 a month to you?
  • I'm no help. I suck in all my TV and intarwebs via satellite (read: $$$) as I am in the middle of nowhere. On the other hand, I transmit to a satellite dish, which I am sure means I have some way to send a death ray out that will destroy the world. Now if I can only figure out how...
  • 'bout time!
  • Yeah, you'll wonder how you ever got by without it. The home Interwebs, that is.
  • *attaches new piece of string to Dixie cup*
  • I've had good luck with Look, and they are by far the cheapest for high speed internet and digital microwave TV . . . if they are in your area. I only use Look for my interweb right now, 'cause I don't have a clear line of sight for the microwave tv receiver. I'm tempted to switch my local telephone, long distance, and internet to Primus right now, 'cause they are only $69 for local phone, unlimited long distance, and unlimited high speed intertubes. Sadly, I have to use Rogers for my cable. Evil bastards. We hates them, we do.
  • A place where I used to work had a "look" style microwave-line-of-sight internet hookup called "World Without Wires". We called it "World Without Internet". Don't go that way.
  • This means you'll be able to show girls your 'johnson' in real time now, instead of just attaching jpegs to work emails. Way to go, bro!
  • Yeah -- your sister mentioned she would appreciate the upgrade.
  • That's me in drag, remember...
  • Shh! You'll ruin the "surprise"!
  • Oh yeah, sorry. *Tucks*
  • The Look package I had was DSL intertubes and Microwave TV. While I never had a problem with either one, I wouldn't go for the microwave interweb either.
  • Another thumbs up for Sympatico DSL. Oh and once you're interwebbed you can get way cheapo long-distance with Skype ($30 unlimited calling to North America for a year) and I've heard you can download your tv shows and watch them secretly for free.
  • Thanks, everyone. You've given me a lot to go on. Cheers!
  • You're welcome!
  • I was glad to share my in-depth knowledge of cables and internets in Ontarontoland!