theiceman

hey Guys I have been a Rogers customer from about startup time, 20 years or so and recently decided to switch it up due to " the last straw" . In the new house I am going with Bell Fibe but need to understand the technology a bit better. Wonder if anyon eout there has Bell and can answer a couple of questions.

Here is my Scenario:

In the basement on my " media panel " i have a full 24 port network switch . I have cables running to every room from this switch ( i hate wireless so this is just a preference thing ) .

Then up from the network switch i have a " feed line " going to my router which is to reside in my family room. ( i have reasons for wanting this also )

The idea is to have a modem down in the basement , run a line ( cat 5 ) from this up to the router in the family room ( the WAN line ). then my Router will take over feeding all IP addresses via the switch ( the feed line ) and through out the rest of the house. ( i know i have a cat 5 running up from the modem to the router , then one coming back down to the switch ) .

This is how i am running now with rogers in my current house and it works fantastic. I bridged the rogers modem/router combo to use only the modem as my router has way more functionallity.

With the new setup i have to connect the Bell PVR to the modem soemhow . On rogers it was coax , but im not sure what the Bell PVR uses . I was wondering if i could hook the PVR using CAT5 to the router in the family room which is in turn connected to the modem downstairs. I thought possibly this would conflict with my hom network or wether i could get away with it setting up a different subnet mask .

So is there anyone still with me that can comment ?

( ps this is not an internet provider bashing thread just looking for some tech help from those with experience. )

also an additional non related side note . I plan on running a secondary access point for up stairs as i was able to run a line from the switch through the cold air return to the upper hall ceiling ...

Thanks

Turbodan

Clive,
I have fibe and like it a lot. I also hate Rogers.
realize that Bell will have some of the same customer service issues as Rogers.
if you want to run hard lines it is cat 5 from modem to tv receiver. however they now have wireless for the tv signal, which I don't have but would like to go with.
they also need to test the phone line coming in to make sure the signal is strong enough, for me they had to replace this.
also with Rogers it takes them 30 days to cancel service. not a bad idea to run both for the first little while.
if you are having any issues I found a guy Mattieu.levesque@bell.ca employee 21405 who is a great guy and very helpful.

P0rsch3F113

Was a long time Rogers customer until moving here (north of Barrie). Liked their "product", hated their customer service. Rogers doesn't service our area so had to go with Bell. After 3 years with Bell...I wish I could get Rogers again! If I had choice, would definitely go with Rogers!

Turbodan

I can't wait until I go hd antennae and subscribe to nhl.com...hopefully next year
but again I feel Bell is much superior to Rogers, especially the cable box interface, makes rogers look like mickey mouse.

porsche0nut

Rogers has terrible customer service. It's not very fun trying to reason with somebody who doesn't have enough common sense to understand your point of view and keeps repeating "I'm sorry you feel that way".....

"I've been a customer x years, can I please order a new supergadgetphone?"
"we thank you for your valued business, but no, those are reserved for new customers"
"so I should cancel and re-apply as a new customer?"
"that will be $5000 in cancellation fees, plus $800 in new activation fees"
"oh, that's no good... can you do anything about that?"
"I can give you a $10 credit on your first bill?"

*above scenario based on a true story... may have been exagerated*

Rally Guy

I have fibe and love it. The bell pvr has a broad range of connectors, I actually run coax from router to pvr. But cat5 works too.

Not sure about having other routers or switches in the mix, but the pvr runs lots of " client" software, so it's not just a dumb receiver. It'll need to be inet aware for sure to get full value.

TONS of tech info here...

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=179234

Note the mention of old 10/100 switches causing problems.

RK

JGB

This all sounds reasonable but without knowing how the Bell PVR connects to the Bell fiber modem ??? You might need to set the router to pass the PVR IP through to the internet. Shouldn't Bell be able to answer all this?

to late

Jim

Dale Gribble

Check your PM iceman.
The Bell Fibe PVR system itself is years ahead of the laggy limited Nextboxes. Worth it based on that alone, but if you play your cards right you should end up saving some $ for your chosen channel packages as well.

theiceman

Thanks Jim

I think i will ask the tech as it was hard to explain what i was doing over the phone. he is coming on site obviously. i just wanted to see if i needed to string any more lines before he gets there.

Dan

The main PVR on mine is wired . For 7 dollars a month more i got a second wireless one as you mentioned. That one will be good for watching hockey out on the deck .. er .. after i build it ...

Torontoworker

A second plus talking about Bell Fibe: is that Robber's is getting rid of Speed some time in March - despite widespread trashing of them on the net they seem to be going forward with this plan and NOT refunding any fees to Speed fans.

Revn29k00

You still in Cambridge Clive? I called Bell last weekend to find out about fibe but it is not yet offered in my neighborhood

hoffa

TekSavvy.. no caps, flat fee, awesome customer service.
No reason to go with the big guys if you dont have to (bear in mind TekSavvy will use the bell or rogers access network.

I just had TekSavvy installed in my new house - super happy with it. Using the cable 35/3 service.

Oh yeah, no TV service for me - just netflix & streaming!

Pags993

Be careful with Teksavvy they have just been ordered to provide a detailed list of 2000 customers for illegal downloading will likely get stuck inn the courts but there is a reason distribution companies are going after the small fish first.

pontifex4

This is also not a cable TV issue, but just to pile on Rogers, I had a similar experience when I tried to get the new Supergadgetphone. I was paying them $100/month, but they wouldn't allow it unless I changed my plan (from the 6GB/month that I had to 1GB/month that cost $5 MORE).

I made a cursory call to customer retention to be sure this was really their policy, and that they wouldn't make an exception for me because I had paid them tens of thousands of dollars while a customer. It was. I walked across the street to WIND, got an Android phone and now pay $30/month, unlimited. Eff you, Rogers. Coverage is plenty good out here, and getting better by the month.

I'm a TekSavvy customer here in BC now. Be aware that their customer service is appalling, though provided you don't need to use it (as most internet customers don't, really) you do save around 25% over the other companies, though I did have to buy the modem from them up front.

Imo000

What the hell is up with the Rogers Netbox and how laggy it? It also freezes up arond 2am. This all started to happen after August of last year.