Bell Canada → Help to improve friend's Bell bill?

Trying to help a friend get their Bell bill down. I see some obvious places to save (by dropping TV services, and they'll have to decide how much they want them) but is there any non-obvious, e.g. being grandfathered on an old inferior plan when there's something better available? I know it's unlikely.

Phone:
Home Phone Lite ($31.94), 30c/min LD (they're another carrier which is a separate issue), $4.00 bundle discount makes $27.94 net. Don't see much I can do for them here.

Internet:
Performance ($49.95) + HN Modem Lease ($4.95), $4 bundle discount makes $50.90 net. I don't even know what speed Performance is supposed to give. I know their computer is older and slow and they blamed the internet connection and asked for more speed.

TV: Digital Standard ($40.00), 3 Themes ($20.00), US Timeshifting ($3.00), DSF ($3.00), $8 bundle discount makes $58.00 net. Obviously they could save by dropping services and I'll work through which channels they're getting and which they watch, but it's possible they want the ones they get. It also says "2yr term renewal" though I don't know when it started, but maybe they're committed to some of that (e.g. did Bell offer a deal where you committed to 3 Themes and got a deal).

Thanks for any advice and info on what these things are.

=aw

Drop the Phone/Internet.

Get VOIP from Anveo.com
»www.canadacomputers.com/ ··· d=045506
Monthly, will drop the phone to 5$ or so depending on usage.

Swap the internet to TSI or another TPIA provider.
»teksavvy.com/en/resident ··· rnet/dsl
»www.distributel.ca/en/ca ··· Internet
»www.electronicbox.net/en/

If they've got FibeTV you can do all this by switching to Zero-Rated, call into retentions, tell them you have another provider and don't need the internet anymore. If your friend has satellite, no issues then.
Discussion about zero-rated internet starts here, mid-way down the page, »www.digitalhome.ca/forum ··· 6&page=3

On the stand alone TV, you can call them after the rest of the switching is done, and tell them that you're getting an offer from another provider, they will give you another year of discounts (Generally 10-15$/mo), you can do this yearly. Call around to the other providers first so you know the offers.

You should be able to get a 30-60$ drop in overall costs at a minimum doing this, there will be a small outlay, you'll need to buy a modem and VOIP box, but in 1-2 months it will pay for itself.

If you need help getting zero-rated, PM me, I'll go over it with you, I've got several of my clients on it, no issues at all, retentions can do it.

Thanks, they're definitely not on Fibe, the modem is one of the white 2Wire ones and also I think the TV interface doesn't look like Fibe (another friend has Fibe but I haven't studied closely). Probably a dish on roof of the condo.

One problem is their email for everything is @sympatico.ca (I argued against it when they switched from an independent ISP to Bell and had to go through a lot of pain telling everyone they were moving from @[isp] to @sympatico.ca but they didn't get it.

For the TV, if they got the PVR 2yr ago, would they be committed for Bell and therefore not get a deal out of Bell? Or would Rogers typically be helping customers get out from their commitment to Bell?

=aw

Get them a gmail, or outlook.com email account, for the next month or 3, setup an autoresponder on the old address that they have a new address.
You need to break them away from the @.isp.com address.

Yeah for sure, I was trying to get them on Yahoo or Hotmail last time and I think they were already reading their @isp.com email on Eudora (shows how long ago it was) but they just couldn't get it.

=aw

I understand your pain, whenever I setup someone, I refuse to get them an ISP account so they have portability.

But yeah, Anveo works great, they can kill their phone almost right away, it will take 2-3 weeks to port the number over, and buy the box for $38. It works great, I've personally been using them for the last 6 months, my last bill was $6.47 CAD.

If they're a light phone user, they don't even need a subscription, it's free

edit: Just checked my Grand Parents account, they had a $3.98$ bill last month.

If they have a cell phone, you could drop the home phone entirely. I have long since given up on having a home phone, as my cell phone has functionally unlimited minutes anyway. You can get unlimited minutes with nationwide long distance for $50 (from a company like Koodo), or less if they're willing to go with a company like Mobilicity (that doesn't have coverage outside of big cities). I know that $50 is more than $30, but if you're paying for a cell phone anyway, going with the $50 cell phone package will save money.Here's where you'll find the big savings: they're on a legacy package which is high priced. Switching to Fibe 5/1 would give the same speed as Performance, for about $20/mo less with the bundling discount. If they want more speed, they could go with 15/10 and it'd still be slightly less than they're paying right now for the Performance.They're on a legacy package here, too. But the pricing changes to the TV are more difficult to figure... it depends on what they actually watch, whether they'd save money by switching to a newer TV package. They may or may not.

Thanks, they have a cell phone but it's a Speakout (7-11) prepaid which is $1.25/mo (for 911) + 25c/min or ($20|$25|$30)/(200|300|400)min/30days. Most of the time they're on 25c/min and come out ahead.

I had thought of TekSavvy Home Phone (POTS) which is $25.08 for what they pay $27.94, so about 9mo for breakeven on the $25 activation. Not the kind of saving they'd get from Anveo (or that I get from voip.ms with 99c/mo plus airtime) but still cheaper. There's the worry factor for them though (ditto for VoIP).

I think I may have had Performance at one time, it was about 6/1 or 6/800 or something? But what makes me scratch my head over that is their comments that they called Bell to get a faster package. Unless they were on Performance Lite, which is possible.

To the pricing, I'm seeing Fibe 5 advertised as $43/mo (in the Bundle) ongoing after 6mo. That's only $8 less than they're paying now, and Fibe 15/10 is $53 ongoing which is $2 more. Am I missing something? $8 is worth saving (though it's technically slower if my memory of Performance is correct) but I'd prefer to save them $20. TekSavvy DSL 7/1 is $25/mo (since they don't have DL) but with significant up-front costs (modem, activation).

And yeah, even without changing to Fibe they should be able to save money on TV but I guess that really depends on what channels they want. They hardly need US Timeshifting with a PVR though.

Thanks again!
=aw

You can try switching them to a Business bundle with all 3 services. I know for sure for the first 6 month the price is really good, it pays off the installation over time. Thats what I did, I had a bell Fibe 10 plan for many years, and was looking for another deal, but the new internet pricing were outrageous and low data as well. This solved my solution.

»www.bell.ca/shop/Sb_Busi ··· egion=ON

just have your friend call and use the word rogers....they will bend over backwards to keep your friend as a client

Thanks, that's how I got them the PVR, they were on Bell and I said call or go in, and tell them Rogers is offering [whatever the deal was] and ask them to match it. Their reaction was, "but we don't want to switch to Rogers" and it took some effort to show they weren't committing to Rogers, they were just threatening Bell.

I'll look into the SB rates too, thanks.

=aw

one word teksavvy... but expect the result that tpia is getting... big telecom is choking them right now.... realize that they don't run on their own infrastructure.... the big telecom provides the install and the infrastructure and tries to put them out of business

On the SB bundles at the linked page, the only difference I see between the top 3 and the bottom 3 is upload speed (10/10 vs 10/1, 15/15 vs 15/10, 25/25 vs 25/10). Pricing is the same, is this one of those "if you can get it you take it" things (like TSI's DSL7 for less than DSL6)?

If I'm reading it right, the Starter package (Internet at either 10/1 or 10/10, plus phone) is $60/mo for 6mo then $100/mo and TV is $13/mo for 6mo then $43/mo (including DSF). So $73/mo then $143/mo. Installation is $125, and do you have to buy a dish?

If taking it for only 6mo, the installation makes it $94/mo. Then it's $143/mo (since the installation's already amortized). Which sounds like a fortune to me, but I realize it's still less than they're paying now.

TV looks like a pretty limited selection of channels (the TV page says $20/mo for first 6mo). Though the internet includes Unlimited so if TV is more than $10/mo it could be abandoned for online.

Yeah I had TekSavvy cable a couple of years ago and it went fairly well. Cancelled when I went on vacation because they don't have a vacation-stop service, then when I came back I used a 4-month Dell Bell Grab&Go (when they still did that) and the up-front cost afterwards (even with existing cable modem) meant it wasn't worth switching back to TSI for just a few months.

I follow TSI's forum here fairly closely, but I'm still on Bell because they're cheaper and flexible enough that the price is about the same except I get a very limited data usage instead of 300GB.

Given the TPIA troubles overall, and the high up-front costs, I keep on sticking with Bell. I also keep checking to see if it might be worth switching, but I have to figure on at least one month of overlap to make sure the TSI is working (IOW not give notice to Bell until TSI is live, so pay for both for 30 days). I recognize a lot of this is out of TSI's control, and some of it is price matching to keep me with the big guys, but ultimately until the dust settles, I have to worry about me first. Of course if all else were equal I'd be on TSI, but right now it isn't, and I can (just) live within my limited data allotment.

=aw

I didn't look at the tv packages clearly, as I don't use the TV (only phone / internet). Reason why I considered this was because we wanted to stay with bell and need more data for the month. For the 2 types of packages, I would say pick the one you can get ofcourse. Who wouldn't want more upload :P

For my reason for picking it, I was paying $93 a month for phone and 10/1 internet with only 105 gb of data. So $60 a month + $125 installation isn't that bad as it pays off for me and I heard you can continue the 6 month promotion as bell will most likely try to keep you if you want to cancel.

Compare to residential 5/1 I would pay $33 for first 6 months + $49 activation / installation + phone $40 + extra 125 gb $25 or unlimited $30. Business was the best for me.

I'm paying $45 for Fibe 12 (12/1) with 40GB. No TV, no home phone. I don't think I've ever had an overage charge though that's through careful use of the data especially at the end of a cycle. I might add 25GB/$5 this month (and probably next, since I'm guessing it's impossible to cancel at the exact right moment to pay for only 1 month).

As long as I can live without the phone, the $94/mo (for 6mo) on that business package is a bit higher, I could add unlimited for $30/mo to what I have and still be at only $75/mo ($78/mo starting Nov 1). I think the key to the SB package is to want a real phone (which you do, and which my relative does).

=aw

ain't it so when the cost's we passed on from big telecom... this is a policy placed on tek and the tpia from the big guys... it's a one time fee so it can paid off like the modem.... i hope the techs are decent to hook up tek or tpia. same with robbers

i dont think bell treats the tpias all that bad they d rather seem the provide the service the numbers make sense cable on the other side hasnt reached that level yet

Only reason I have phone is because my parents need it for w/e reason. I just want the internet :P

It's okay, we still respect you.

Actually I have two older immediate relatives and they're each still on Bell Home Phone too. There's something secure about it for them (and when TSI has major outages, or even Rogers network goes down, I can't entirely blame them).

That's why I wondered about TSI's POTS service, which I _think_ is truly reselling Bell, not interfacing with it the way they do with Internet.

=aw

They're paying about $79/mo for Home Phone Lite and Performance Internet (6/1?). Probably going up $6/mo on Nov 1.

What about a Primus bundle as an option? On the Primus website they're offering $68/mo ongoing (for dial tone, local calling, and 6/0.8/UL). Add $3/mo modem and $8/mo in lost Bell TV Bundle discount and it's about $79 so hardly worth it. (There's also $32/mo discount for first 3 months but a lot of that is eaten up by $50 activation fee and possible cost of paying for Bell for a few days after switching to Primus).

But at Costco they were advertising an ongoing cost of $59/mo +$3/mo modem rental and no activation. Making it about $70/mo net plus saving about $72 over the first 3 months.

How's Primus as an option? Is the phone really POTS or some sort of superior VoIP like with Comcast in the US (or, I assume, Rogers Home Phone -- but I only have experience with Comcast).

Thanks!
=aw