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[Niagara] Cogeco 'Contract'Apparently when we got the TV/internet/phone bundle that they locked us in a contract. Where can I find this contract and how long does it usually last? |
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DavesnothereChange is NOT Necessarily Progress Premium Member join:2009-06-15 Canada |
Shouldn't you instead be asking 'The Hangman' any pertinent questions about his noose ? Actually, Cogeco seems to favour a lot of 1 year stuff, but don't quote me. There ought to be some standard ToS on their website, but they usually snail-mail this to you right after you verbally 'sign up', and if you do not call right away to back out, then they regard that as acceptance. They sent me stuff last December, but I filed it unread, as I was not contracted to a term. |
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FarchordLost somewhere. join:2004-08-28 Shawinigan, QC |
to robman50
Hello Robman,
I've seen this on past Cogeco offers in Quebec, but I believe the government voted a law in to force cogeco to divulge those kind of details on signup.
Basically, if I'm not mistaken, you signed up when they had a deal going on, no? If you would have looked at the smaller print, it would have mentionned that you were locking yourself into a contract, that's normally the basic term in those cases. |
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Well first we got the service for TV and internet like many years ago and than added the digital phone and bundled the services earlier in 2011. Would this contract info be on the monthly statement that they send out in the mail and have on the 'my account' site? |
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robman50 |
Would this be the contract I am looking for? » www.cogeco.ca/export/sit ··· 0901.pdf |
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to robman50
If you're on the 14MB cable internet, upgrading to a higher speed will void the contract. |
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I found out that the phone is on an promotion discount until May 3rd. Also my HD box is still free for the year until November, can I return the HD box while the $9.99 discount is still active? We are thinking of cutting down on our Cogeco services so I'm trying to figure out what we can and can't do. |
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cablesmurfet
Anon
2012-Apr-12 5:31 pm
You could return the HD box while it is on discount, but you may be charged a $75.00 fee. I returned an HD box lst November that was on discount until Januarry of this year. I kept my phone and internet with Cogeco (I now have Shaw Direct for TV, which is better and cheaper). I asked about cancelling cable before I did, and they put a note on my account saying not to charge me the $75.00. However, if you cancel everything, you will probably be charged. |
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Really? Shaw Direct is better? I have been looking for another TV service because the price is to high for the quality of channels that we get. Here is what I was I have been thinking. Cogeco TV -> Shaw Direct (essentials HD system with the 'silver' package Cogeco phone -> TekSavvy regular phone Cogeco internet (turbo 14, 14mbps/80gb cap) -> TekSavvy DSL 6 (6mbps/300gb cap) How is Shaw Direct in the winter season when snow gets on the dish? For dropping the Cogeco service, I could first drop the Digital Select 1 SD pack and hope they will just charge me the HD access while the box is still on the discount. Then I could drop the other 2 services. |
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FarchordLost somewhere. join:2004-08-28 Shawinigan, QC |
Every TV provider in Canada has their ups and downs:
Bell TV: More channels, but you pay a bunch of crooks Cogeco TV: Seems to have some quality issues in Ontario, missing some key channels I personally like Shaw Direct: Imo the best of the 3. Lacks HD channels though, but that will be remedied once the new satellite takes flight.
Note that Shaw Direct's HD is only 720p, although they pretty much all are afaik. |
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dillyhammerSTART me up Premium Member join:2010-01-09 Scarborough, ON |
to robman50
said by robman50:How is Shaw Direct in the winter season when snow gets on the dish? Snow does not get on my dish. That said, we didn't have much this year, but it is positioned in such a way as to not accumulate any snow or ice. If it does, it's also positioned above a lower backroom roof that I have access to, and also outside a bedroom window that's double hung, so I can always fire a broom out the window and sweep that sucker off. FWIW, I switched off Cogeco and over to Shaw last fall, and haven't been happier. More channels, way better picture quality, cost is less per month, and they threw 2 receivers and the install at me for the HST, $38. No equipment charges every month - can't get over that, I own the stuff. They seem content with me paying my monthly fee as opposed to nickle-n-diming me to death like some other company who shall remain nameless cough Cogeco cough. Mike |
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cablesmurfet to robman50
Anon
2012-Apr-14 11:02 am
to robman50
We have found that Shaw Direct is better picture and sound quality, and the package we have that is comparable to DS1 from Cogeco, is cheaper wiht more channels. If you go with Shaw Direct, ask for Digital Indulgence or Digital Indulgence Lite (which compare to DS 1, but are cheaper). Also, there have been no problems when snow got on the dish. |
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to Farchord
All the provider's HD is 720p, that's broadcast standard. |
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Gone Premium Member join:2011-01-24 Fort Erie, ON |
Gone
Premium Member
2012-May-13 7:13 pm
said by rodjames:All the provider's HD is 720p, that's broadcast standard. Neither of you are correct. Shaw Direct's HD is 1080i for the vast majority of their channels, though The Score HD for some reason is 720p. Set your receiver's resolution to "Native" and you can see for yourself. 720p is also not "broadcast standard" by any means. Fox, ABC, CBC (inc. Newsworld), The Score and A&E broadcast in 720p. Everyone else - NBC, CBS, Global, CTV, TSN, CNN, Sportsnet, etc etc etc - broadcast in 1080i. I am watching WUTV off-air right now in 720p. If I switch over to WGRZ or WIVB the signal coming in is 1080i. WKBW is 720p, being an ABC affil and all. If you have a newer receiver (that is - not a DCT6xxx) on Cogeco you can set the output resolution to native. If you do this, you'll receive the native resolution each channel is sending. For the most part, it'll be exactly what I described above - ABC, Fox, CBC, The Score and A&E will be 720p, the rest will be 1080i. Having said that, Bell TV does - and this is specific to Bell TV - broadcast exclusively in 720p. This was done years ago back when their boxes couldn't switch resolutions or something silly like that. As a result, they take an HD source (regardless of the resolution) and recompress it into 720p before sending it back out. You end up with a lot less macroblocking on Bell, but the image looks a lot softer and lacking obvious definition that you'll see on Shaw Direct. Overall PQ is a lot better on Shaw Direct than on Bell as a result so long as you aren't sitting two feet in front of the TV. Shaw Direct also broadcasts some of their channels in MPEG4, which is the exact same stuff Bell uses on Fibe. Nat Geo Wild is their first HD channel in MPEG4 (they've had a whole bunch in SD for a whole now), and every channel that will be carried on G1 will be in MPEG4 as well. Not only does MPEG4 use a lot less bandwidth, but there's a lot less macroblocking. The image quality on Nat Geo Wild is one of the best I've seen on Shaw Direct so far. |
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said by Gone:Shaw Direct also broadcasts some of their channels in MPEG4, which is the exact same stuff Bell uses on Fibe. Nat Geo Wild is their first HD channel in MPEG4 (they've had a whole bunch in SD for a whole now), and every channel that will be carried on G1 will be in MPEG4 as well. Not only does MPEG4 use a lot less bandwidth, but there's a lot less macroblocking. The image quality on Nat Geo Wild is one of the best I've seen on Shaw Direct so far. Bell TV is switching to MPEG4 at some point...they just went through a program to swap out receivers for customers which wouldn't support the new MPEG4 programming. |
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Gone Premium Member join:2011-01-24 Fort Erie, ON |
Gone
Premium Member
2012-May-14 9:20 am
said by got_milk2:Bell TV is switching to MPEG4 at some point...they just went through a program to swap out receivers for customers which wouldn't support the new MPEG4 programming. It's going to be tough for them to do that as they lack transponder space to do an easy switchover. |
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Phorkster Premium Member join:2004-06-27 Windsor, ON |
to robman50
Just becareful when dealing with Cogeco. I called up to get my "free" adapter for the digital transistion. They offered instead to give me a basic SD receiver for $2/month instead of the $4/month.
When I eventually cancelled my account I was told I had to pay a $70 early cancellation fee. To which I expressed dismay as I had not signed up for a contract for anything. They proceeded to tell me that the receiver I took instead of the adapter was under a 1 year contract. That sealed the deal for me and I will never go back to Cogeco again. |
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dillyhammerSTART me up Premium Member join:2010-01-09 Scarborough, ON |
said by Phorkster:Just becareful when dealing with Cogeco. I called up to get my "free" adapter for the digital transistion. They offered instead to give me a basic SD receiver for $2/month instead of the $4/month.
When I eventually cancelled my account I was told I had to pay a $70 early cancellation fee. To which I expressed dismay as I had not signed up for a contract for anything. They proceeded to tell me that the receiver I took instead of the adapter was under a 1 year contract. That sealed the deal for me and I will never go back to Cogeco again. I'd bitch that right to the CCTS and not budge on it. After a certain amount of time I'd swap it over to small claims. I'd be demanding proof I agreed to any of that in any way shape or form, or my $70 back. One or the other. If I lost in small claims I'd likely appeal it. That's just bloody obscene that a) they do this, and b) the government lets them. Fsckers. Mike |
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Phorkster Premium Member join:2004-06-27 Windsor, ON |
said by dillyhammer:I'd bitch that right to the CCTS and not budge on it. After a certain amount of time I'd swap it over to small claims. I'd be demanding proof I agreed to any of that in any way shape or form, or my $70 back. One or the other. If I lost in small claims I'd likely appeal it.
That's just bloody obscene that a) they do this, and b) the government lets them.
Fsckers.
Mike I got it all back. Including the overage of $80 that lead to the cancellation of all the services. My story is buried in one of these threads. CCTS was contacted with me sharing my screenshots of usage for the last few months and compared to Cogecos usage graphs. Mostly it was similar, except for one month. I called in (the first time in 15 years as a customer) and to my dismay the Rep accused me of everything from piracy having my network compromised. As I proceeded to tell him that I recently switched offsite backup services to explain why I uploaded 30GB+ in January, his reply was "pictures aren't that big". Long story short, more than happy with Start Communications and Shaw Satellite. I already switch to voip.ms awhile back. |
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It's strange though that they will give you an free box for a year and if you want to return it with in that time that they will slap down an $70 fee on you. You would think if you were to return the box back to them that you would not have to pay a fee. |
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robman50 |
Just for that I am hanging on to my HD box until the time expires. Than soon as they start charging me an monthly fee I am dropping cable TV all together and switching to Shaw Direct. |
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to Gone
lol, 1080i give me a break. If you're still that over 720p I don't want to talk to you anyways. |
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Gone Premium Member join:2011-01-24 Fort Erie, ON |
Gone
Premium Member
2012-Jun-13 5:47 pm
said by rodjames:lol, NO ONE broadcasts in 1080i, you are upscaling. Nice try. Bzzt, wrong. said by »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1080i : Most UK HD channels on satellite, cable, and terrestrial platforms including BBC One HD and ITV1 HD broadcast in this format. In the United States, 1080i is the preferred format for CBS, NBC, The CW, PBS, and My Network TV though some affiliates (especially those that broadcast two digital subchannels in HD) do broadcast in 720p. FOX, MyNetworkTV, and ABC/ESPN broadcast in 720p; many ABC affiliates owned by Hearst Television and Belo Corporation, along with some individual affiliates of those three networks, air their signals in 1080i and upscale network programming for master control and transmission purposes, as most syndicated programming and advertising is produced and distributed in 1080i and must be additionally downscaled to 720p.
Network content from NBC and CBS is 1080i. Network content from ABC and Fox is 720p. The only upscaling that occurs are stations that broadcast in 1080i when network content is 720p. Educate yourself, then you try again. Or are you confusing 1080i with 1080p? Either way, education is recommended. Edit - Nice edit, but too late. Either way, 1080i upscaled on 1080p native display - in other words, any 1080p LCD or plasma - still looks far better than 720p on all but the most fast-moving content. |
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rodjames
Premium Member
2012-Jun-13 6:44 pm
So provide reference or your opinion is no better than mine. I know for a fact that Bell TV broadcasts in 720p, so does Shaw and Dish. |
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Gone Premium Member join:2011-01-24 Fort Erie, ON |
Gone
Premium Member
2012-Jun-13 7:02 pm
Bell has always been 720p across the board, I've never said otherwise (in fact, I think I've mentioned that is the case on more than one occasion)
Shaw Direct most definitely doesn't, you're completely wrong on that. Know how I know? Because if I go into the settings of my DSR600 or DSR605 and change the default resolution from 720p to "Native" it sends a 1080i signal on most - but not all - HD channels, not 720p. There are a few that are 720p. Try it yourself if you don't believe me, or do I need to take pictures of my two televisions with the box set to native and the resolution bar across displaying 1080i? Dish Network is the exact same way, so that's some more education you need.
Cogeco does the exact same thing. The source resolution received by them is what is sent out to the subscriber. The newer boxes (like the DCX700 and the Pace boxes) have a 'Native' resolution option like the Shaw Direct boxes that will send whatever resolution Cogeco's receiving directly to your TV. If you flip between Fox Detroit and CBS Detroit you'll see your TV change resolution between. If you have an older box like the DCT6200 or 6416 you don't have a "Native" option and you're stuck scaling to either 1080i or 720p for everything. |
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to Gone
I have noticed that the Buffalo Channels are broadcasting in 1080i. We have Shaw Direct and an antenna. The antenna receives most of the Buffalo channels. When I press the info button on my TV remote, when I'm watching OTA, it tells me that the resolution is 1080i, for HD. Our TV is a 720. Shaw Direct carries Detroit and Rochester in the east. |
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Gone Premium Member join:2011-01-24 Fort Erie, ON |
Gone
Premium Member
2012-Jun-14 12:48 pm
WUTV, WKBW, WBBZ (if I remember correctly) and WNYO are 720p. WIVB, WGRZ, WNLO and WNYB are 1080i. Both my main TVs are 1080p and it will switch resolution when I flip between those stations when using the antenna, and those resolutions are also consistent with the network feed resolutions.
In Toronto/Hamilton CBLT is 720p, the rest are 1080i. |
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your moderator at work
hidden : Trolling
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