Bell wiring in new condo

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digiobsessed

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Hi all!

I'll be moving out of Cambridge, back to Etobicoke in late May.

My parents saw the place and said that the condo has Bell's wiring and provides their satellite service in this condo building, as well.

If we decide on Rogers, can we get it?:confused:
 
I have heard of buildings being Rogers or Bell only, however, I lived in a fairly new condo, and we had the option of either, so you would have to talk to the condo board, or call rogers, they will be able to tell you for sure
 
Call Rogers with the address. They'll be able to look it up on the phone and check if it is wired for cable.
 
If it is wired for Bell, check it out as well, because it could be either normal receivers or VDSL.....

This might restrict your choices of receivers and HD.....
 
Well, I talked with Rogers today. They said they couldn't have access to my new residence, so it's going to be BEV.

When calling Bell, they had told me that there was no satellite dish on top of our condo's roof, and it wasn't needed. It's apparently a new thing where once everything is hooked up in our apt, everything will be set to go. I
didn't know that this was possible, but I've never had satellite service before,
so there I go.:eek:
 
Bell ExpressVu for Condos has many restrictions. No HD, no interactive services, choice of 1 receiver . The main TV can connect via S-video, and has AC3 while the secondary TVs must tune via COAX (=mono sound and poor quality). The service is VDSL.

The next wave is real IPTV using DSL2+. Widely used in France which offers phone service, Internet (up to 24mbps) and TV (including HD) all on one box. (They charge $45 Cdn for all 3 there, where the competition is huge due to about 8 companies fighting for your money). Here the pricing will be much higher since Bell and Rogers are the main players in town and work together to fix their prices.
 
IPTV with VDSL2 is something Bell is exploring. It's very similar to AT&T U-Verse. They promised HD, PVR and On Demand in 2005 and, in 2007, it's still not working. Bell has post-poned the roll-out until Microsoft can get the software working well and Alcatel & partners can deliver reliable hardware. The latest word from Bell is they will "complete development in 2007" which, reading between the lines, means a product launch in 2008.

Bell has also, on multiple occasions, said it intends to deliver IPTV to single family homes, and a lesser product -- VDSL2 for example -- to condos and apartments. In various annual reports and financial reports, Bell has only promised to deliver "next gen IPTV" to neighbourhoods, not condos, where they have already invested in DSLAM equipment in the basement and set top boxes in the suites. ALL of this needs to be replaced to move to IPTV.

I don't believe France Telecom is running the Bell/Alcatel/Microsoft system but I could be wrong.

For the next several months or perhaps year or two, people in "ExpressVu for Condos" buildings will not have HD or PVR or On Demand. Where a choice exists, Rogers VIP deliver far better television than EVu4Condos. In 2007, delivering over-compressed digital TV over RF analog coax and calling it "advanced" is surely entering Alice-in-Wonderland marketing heaven.

It may be TV that is "good enough" for your 10 year old 19" colour set in the spare bedroom but put the signal on a modern LCD screen of any size and you will be disappointed.
 
Is there a cancellation fee? If so, how much would it be if we decide we don't want Bell's ADSL TV for condo's service anymore?
 
Sympatico generally requires 2 year contracts now. There is a signing fee, a fee to cancel before service is installed, and fees to cancel during the contract.

BEVu4Condos are generally 1 year contracts but don't have a pre-install cancellation fee nor do they require purchase of a rental kit like satellite does (I could be wrong on this last point).

Bell Home Phone + Sympatico are compatible with Rogers Cable as they are each delivered on their own wiring. If you are a current Rogers customer and moving you should be able to get free install. And, of course, Rogers does NOT have contracts as a general rule except associated with ongoing savings on multiple products (TV + Internet + Wireless for example).
 
"BEVu4Condos are generally 1 year contracts but don't have a pre-install cancellation fee nor do they require purchase of a rental kit like satellite does (I could be wrong on this last point). "

Does this mean if we sign the one year contract, we can't get out of it by paying the $25 cancellation fee(just found this out)?:confused:
 
The terms are whatever you signed; there are standard agreements for this service on the bell website such as this one:

http://www.bell.ca/web/tv/en/all_regions/pdfs/csa_contract_9_27.pdf

However, Bell often waives fees for new subscribers using credits, or different terms. You can subscribe to BVU4Condos with a one year or monthly contract. I don't believe there is an onerous exit clause for this service; and there is no mention of charges for a cancelled install.

Sympatico operates a little differently and the terms, under VDSL, are not entirely clear. Nor do they state the speed of service available or how, or if, the Internet is affected by three TVs being in use at once.

If you were to change your mind just about VDSL TV, I am sure you would not incur any charges by cancelling before install.
 
We haven't signed any contract yet, SP. Mabe the technicians are planning to bring it with them, the same day the install the receivers?

I just talked with a Bell technical service guy. I told him that we were planning to get the ADSL TV for condo's serice, and asked him if it would
slow my HS internet access down. I said from the main settop box to
my bedroom would be about 17 feet max. He said I shouldn't have
any problems with my internet speed.

However, I forgot to ask him about the TV reception in my bedroom would be.According to him though, there should be no problems with my internet
access and speed.
 
Digi:

The speed of the Internet over Bell TV for Condos has nothing to do with the distance you are from the hub inside your own home (well, anyway, under normal circumstances). The distance your condo is from the Bell wire centre plus the number of services sharing the copper wire within the VDSL environment are the bottlenecks.

VDSL delivers about 15 mbps bandwidth as I recall; VDSL2 targets 26 mbps. VDSL2 is coming but probably not installed where you are moving to; it's only in test sites as far as I know. Each MPEG-2 SD TV stream takes around 3 mbps; your Internet gets what's left over; plus there is overhead. That's why I stated I believe the current average VDSL Internet install Bell has allows up to around 3 mbps. However, Bell could give you the accurate answer.

As we move further toward 6, 10 mbps and higher, you may find yourself stranded with TV hogging your Internet bandwidth. Regular Sympatico shouldn't have this problem because it will then have the full theoretical 15 mbps pipe all to itself.
 
"The speed of the Internet over Bell TV for Condos has nothing to do with the distance you are from the hub inside your own home (well, anyway, under normal circumstances). The distance your condo is from the Bell wire centre plus the number of services sharing the copper wire within the VDSL environment are the bottlenecks."

Well, I am certain of what we're going to have set up in our home. Only one comp with HS internet access, which will be in my bedroom. Two TV's will have ADSL, one in the livingroom and the other in my bedroom.Do we have to install the TV's where the phone outlets are? In the LV and my Brm, one side has an outlet for cable. The other side a jack for phone, internet and TV.

How far a Bell call centre is from my residence, I haven't a clue.:confused:

"As we move further toward 6, 10 mbps and higher, you may find yourself stranded with TV hogging your Internet bandwidth. Regular Sympatico shouldn't have this problem because it will then have the full theoretical 15 mbps pipe all to itself."

Will it only be hogging my internet bandwith if my TV is on only?
 
From the basement of the condo there are four copper wires coming up through the elevator shaft to your apartment terminating in a standard phone jack. Two of these wires are not currently used. The other two wires are used to deliver your POTS telephone service.

VDSL TV For Condos uses that same POTS pair and adds up to three streams of TV and one stream of Internet. That's enough for around 3 mbps for each TV stream and an Internet stream of about 3 mbps. (Again, check with Bell; you may be able to squeeze more Internet but certainly not more than 5 mbps under the present design. Rogers, I noticed in another thread today, has begun to re-speed existing customers to 7 mbps.)

The first thing that comes out of the telephone jack is a hook up to the blue "Next Level/Motorola" box. It has a connection for one internet and two TVs. You can attach a router to the Internet jack and split internally in your home or just run an ethernet cable to the room your computer is in.

The first TV connection goes to the nearest TV; the second goes to your internal condo coax network (ie the cable coax wall jack) and delivers RF, not digital, TV throughout the rest of your suite. In up to two other rooms, you can connect a TV via this coax network and use a UHF (aka radio, not infrared) remote (supplied) to change channels -- from your parents bedroom, you are actually "changing channels" on the Motorola box via radio command; the TV remains fixed on a single channel (8 or 13).

The system does not provide HD, PVR or On Demand programming and the SD signals are more compressed than you will typically find on Rogers Cable. That's why the signals look ok on a CRT screen but not great on LCD; and since you cannot attach component or Dolby, the TV experience is limited in the secondary rooms and limited to composite on the main TV. For some it is good enough.

And of course you lose access to channels like Turner Classic Movies and the breadth of channels Rogers offers which Bell does not. If you require more French programming, OTOH, Bell may be the way to go.
 
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