BELL receiver at cottage

  • Thread starter Thread starter MrGrinch
  • Start date Start date
M

MrGrinch

Guest
The way you are supposed to do it (without account splitting) is open a brand new account. Bell allows you to set up a "service address" and a "bill to" address which can be completely different. You would then get 2 separate bills mailed to you from Bell each month.
 
I have 6 receivers on my account now.....is it legal to bring one to the cottage that I own?
 
You can do it. What you are suppose to do is call BTV and deactivate the receivers staying at your house and only keep the one you are taking to the cottage active. You are not allowed to have service at more than one location at a time.

That being said, I would just take the receiver with you when you go.
 
I guess this answers the newbie question I had. We're just looking at getting satellite television (in Manitoba) and was curious if we could split with a relative. I've been reading a few forums where posters say StarChoice has encouraged them to share a subscription with friends or relatives so I was curious if BEV offered the same. I guess it's obvious they don't! :(

That said, what recourse would they have if I just went ahead and did it? Or is it even possible with a relative thats not close to me?
 
I am pretty sure that both StarChoice and Bell TV will not be happy if they find out that you have multiple receivers at different locations. With StarChoice they do allow for a second address that should be a Holiday address, ie, a Cottage etc, with both locations being active at the same time. StarChoice sat the CRTC allows for this. Bell TV will NOT allow this at all, you are supposed to call in and have Bell TV disable all receivers at the main location and activate the ONE receiver at the Cottage. Bell say the CRTC forces them to do this.....

As for a recourse, they would most likely just cut off receivers away from the main location. I guess they could cancel your account and refuse you service in the future if they have proof that you are also splitting the Bills.

Will it work.? Yes. There is no reason why the 6 (Maximum) reievers on a Bell TV account could not be in 6 different provinces.

I take a PVR with me when I travel, along with a Tripod and Dish. Then I do not miss something or if the weather is bad i can always watch a recorded show. Do I call Bell to let them know.? Well I can't say, can I.......
 
Interesting that CRTC is biased in treating Bell vs. StarChoice, or should I say that either StarChoice or Bell is lying as CRTC should be fair to the industry or else industry will take them to court with their big wigs? Or should I say why would CRTC be even interested in how industry does its own business?

Of course providers want you to have separate accounts for each location, since it is extra revenue for them. The problem is how they can enforce it though.
 
BellTV version is that they were sued by cable compagnies (Videotron I think) cause cable compagnies were saying they were doing an unfair competition since they were offering to have a receiver at the cottage at no extra cost. BellTV apparently lost the case and it was decided (by the CRTC they say) that if client wants to have receivers at a cottage they have to call BellTV and deactivate the receivers that are at home in order to have the ones at the cottage active.

That law stands for all satelitte compagnies BellTV says...but Starchoice refused to ignore that law and pay the fines attached to it instead of possibly losing some revenues from clients dectivating their service cause they don't agree with the new policies.

How BellTV enforce that rule? BellTV has a departement SAT who calls, on a daily basis client that, either mentionned on a call they had receivers at the cottage or that have receivers that are not dialling out (because they are not connected to a telephone line). They will ask you to provide them the location ID of your receivers. The location ID changes every 10 minutes so if you took it when you were there and give it to them the code will therefor be incorrect. If a receiver fails the test (you give the wrong code) or they suspect something is going on (they heard you call another person on the call) they will deactivate the receiver in question. The receiver could only be restarted 24 hours after it got deactivated. When you call to reactivate it they will have to test ALL receivers again.

When they call you can choose to calll them back at a later time...make sure you call them back taught, cause after a certain amount of time they speak to you and you refuse to make the test or tell them you will call back cause you are busy they will deactivate some of your receivers.

You can also ignore their calls, but, again, after a certain amount of calls that you ignore, they will deactivate some of your receivers.

When a receiver is deactivated by SAT only a validation of ALL the receivers could restart it.

If a validation is startted, all the receivers that can not be verified (not hooked up, not in the same house) are automatically deactivated
 
Star choice policy is the same. Except for the threats of deactivation.
https://secure.starchoice.com/english/customercare/homeaway.asp?WT.mc_id=s2_hafh
 
With more and more people not having landlines at home, how can Bell/Starchoice possibly monitor this? Are they going to start denying service to people who don't have a home phone?
 
What are you supposed to do when you no longer use a land line.
(I will be moving back to my mom's house and will not be getting a land line.
I will be using my cell phone).
 
As I said in my previous post, BellTV has a group, called SAT, responsible of applying those rules...

They are calling clients when their receivers are not dialling out (because they are not connected to a telephone line) to get the info the phone line connection would have provided them (the location ID)
 
Bell's Customer Service Agreement says you HAVE to connect ALL receivers to a working Telephone line to get service but they never enforce this ruling.
 
So if I have 6 receivers and 4 of them are plugged into phone jacks, does the "verification" call request information for all 6 receivers, or just the two which are not plugged in?
 
If you inform Bell of your intention to do so as outlined in previous posts, it is legal.

I've been visiting the BEV forum for a few years and have been a customer since year 2 of expressvu. I used to have a phone connection to my initial and then secondary receiver in the early years.

Due to various household renovations over the past few years I did not have any of my 5 receivers hooked up to a phone line. I was contacted and asked why. I've simply stated that there were no phone jacks close enough to my receievers due to reno's.

During the last contact I had (about 4 years ago) the CSR explained that I could purchase a wireless jack. I asked them if Bell would pay for one. Of course not was their reply as having my receivers connected to a phone line was a condition of my subscription.

I was contacted by the SAT department as mentioned in a previous post. On their request, I was not about to read out the smart card numbers etc. as requested. The option I was given was either a return phone call or I could call back. My response was both - gimme your number and I'll call back or you can call me. I forgot and I guess they did too.

As a result, none of my receivers are connected to date.

Lucky me? I think so. I'd rather spend my time here recounting my tale as oppsosed to talking to them. :)

I rarely order PPV and if I do, doing so online pipes the signal into all my receivers so as of yet having the telephone connection continues to be a non-issue.

I take and leave a receiver at the cottage for the season without informing Bell. Is it legal? No. Do I care? Not in the least.

It is so simple to split the cost of subscriptions with your neighbour, friend, relative or whomever - something which is, in my opinion, illegal as you are actually ripping Bell off.

By taking my receiver to my cottage without deactivating my primary home receiver(s), I honestly think I'm doing Bell a favour. After all, I'm allowing their CSR's to actually work on matters that actually affect customers and hopefully resolve real problems rather than deactivating my home receivers and activating the one at the cottage.
 
With 4 out of 6 you might never get the call but if you do, they want the info from ALL receivers on the account.
 
I would have to disagree with Pinza... I worked in the verification departement for a few months...if you have 6 receivers you are very likely to get a call from the verification departement. They will hae to verify ALL receivers on the account
 
I find it interesting if Videotron would sue Bell for unfair advantage. In cell phone service industry, one sees lots of family plans or couple plans, sharing minutes and cost on 2 or more phones (although they have to pay a bit more on each features).

So the question is if Bell wants to discourage sharing, all Bell has to do is to lower the monthly plan fee, and set a price on each receiver / tuner (which Bell did at one time, and also did cable provider at one time also). So people know they have a cost on each receiver, sharing or not sharing is their business decision and not a punitive / enforcement. I found it really interesting that a paying customer is scrutinized under a microscope for sharing, while Bell could do nothing for blatant black market signal thieving.

If Bell sets their pricing structure like what a family plan for cell phone is like, I don't object because I think it's fair. Cell phone companies never suspect their customers if they are indeed within "a family", or really are as "a couple in real life", and that's because they also generate revenue from each line. Why can't sat TV be like that?

Let's say that the Basic Package is $20., and each Receiver is $5. each, or if not enough, decrease the monthly fee more, and increase the fee on each receiver (like in cell phone industry), I'd say that is actually a good deal for people who are single and only need one receiver. Now, we have people who have 6 receivers paying the same price as those who have only 1, and now Bell wants to treat those who have 6 like criminals? Didn't they create the situation in the first place?
 
Back
Top