Packages include:

Smart PVR,
Fiber-fed Internet access,
web record ability and
on demand movies and shows.


Four Packages available as of Oct 2009


Super - Over 140 channels Including: 6 Themes Packs, Premium Movies,A la carte Channels for $165 per month

Extra - Over 100 channels Including: 6 Themes Packs, Premium Movies for $150 per month

Core - Over 90 channels Including: 5 Themes Packs for $130 per month

Core - Over 50 channels Including: 5 Themes Packs for $99 per month



All packages are 50% off per month until Dec 31, 2009.

what do you think will happen after the 50% off 1 year promo? Will it really be full price or will there be other promos?

My guess is you will pay full fare

That's what is supposed to happen with Rogers internet, but every year I call and they renew my 30% off for an additional year. I have no experience with bell, but I hope they'll do the same. The prices look great at 50% off for the year, but after that, those prices seem quite steep. Time will tell... but no contract so if the prices are crazy after a year, I'll go back to Rogers and to Shaw Direct satelite.

what do you think will happen after the 50% off 1 year promo? Will it really be full price or will there be other promos?
I have read other places that they continue to extend it through calender years.
the offer was originally valid until 2008 Dec 31, then 2009...

It appears to be quite an interesting service and I may be making the switch from pure OTA and Rogers internet to it.

Hmm, went to check what it says now that we are past dec.

It's been extended again. "Offer ends February 28, 2010" but it also says: "until December 31, 2010"

Can anyone interpret the fine print? Maybe the offer for new customers is extended to Feb and for exisiting customers it is good until at least Dec?

source: http://entertainment.bell.ca/en/package.html

While the price of the packages at full price do seem high, I keep needing to remind myself that it includes internet too, and it's a fairly fast internet connection, so that alone would cost at least $50/mo, probably closer to $65/mo seeing it's about 20Mb down that you get on the Entertainment Service.

I've compared to Rogers pricing, and even at full price, it's fairly competitive. One thing too is that I've noticed with the BES service and Home Phone through Bell, you're not eligible for the 'bundled' rates as the BES service isn't an official service through Bell - yet. I bet there will be some good prices they'll give us - just maybe not as great as 50% off.

They still need to beef up their service with more channels to compete in my view, but I think over the next 2 or 3 months we'll see more channels and some neat services introduced too. March is supposed to be when they announce this to the public and advertise it. Considering I haven't seen much in the way of very negative (and consistent) posts about the service, I'd say their trials with the service is going well.

so what exactly is the internet...? I heard it's a 20Mbps pipe coming into your condo for TV/internet combined...? Or is it something else?

Generally for speed, they allocate 22Mb to start for download speed, and
11Mb up. For each additional console, they add another 4 or 5 Mb to the download speed.

When you're not watching TV, you get close to having 22Mb down for internet (usually around 17 - 18) and basically an HD stream will take up about 7 or 8Mb, SD 4Mb. So if you're recording an HD stream and watching an SD stream, you're using about 12Mb of your 22Mb and during that time for TV and you'll get 10Mb down on the internet activity.

this almost sounds too good to be true! i will have to look into this.
does anyone know of any resource that talks about availability or do i have to call in? i like looking things up black/white instead of having some CSR tell me yes yes yes over the phone and not know for sure if it's true.

It's best to call up. They actually do know what they are talking about. When you call, you're not talking to someone overseas - it's usually a department in Ottawa if I'm not mistaken and this is pretty much all they handle - IPTV.

Generally I've found, if you're eligible for the top tier of DSL through Bell (it used to be the 16Mb service, but is different now), then there is a good chance you'll be able to get IPTV. Don't forget, this is primarily for condo's / apartments, but some houses can get it too if they are close enough. There's no guarantees on availability too because if there is poor quality copper they find during an install, it can completely kill a signal.

IPTV (VDSL2) relys on a pretty short distance to the remote - about 1Km, but with that said, Bell has been installing lots of new remotes to support neighborhoods as well as condo's.

is it only available to condo? or somebody who has a house, can that person subscribe to it?

Packages include: Smart PVR

What constitutes a smart PVR?

so is it still DSL for internet? I'm just wondering if all the pros/cons of DSL apply to this package? or if it's a "dedicated" 22Mbps/11Mbps pipe...? also, anyway to get more than 60GB cap?

actng - It's a form of DSL known as VDSL2. It's the same idea, but better, beefed up equipment that can handle a higher speed. As for the 60Gb CAP, you can apparently get the insurance policy with this service as well where you essentially pre-pay for extra bandwidth a month.

MarcP - As for the comment about 'Smart PVR' - it's a PVR that is much much much better than the one offered by Rogers. Search works really well, and the options it has are what a PVR should have. I'm not going to list everything because it's too much, but in my view, it works really well.

julie_rose - As for the condo / house question - it's primarily for condos and the reason is that this service relies on the LINE distance between where you would plug your VDSL2 modem into and the remote out on the street to be 700 meters. Considering this isn't much distance, if Bell drops a remote infront of a large building (or any building for that matter), then they can quickly service whoever is in the building or even multiple buildings. In a housing development, 700 meters doesn't go very far. They might be lucky to be able to service 20 or 30 houses over a 700 meter distance, compared to 100+ units in a condo. Lines in housing developments don't always follow the most direct route either or even distance by car. They can sometimes take crazy paths to get to a remote, they may go down the street a few hundred meters, then double back and eventually make it a remote. It's what makes the most business sense for Bell to do.

I'd post the website, but last time I tried, my post didn't go through, so I'll name the site by name. Check out DSL Reports - there's some really great info over there about this service as well.

I was looking into getting BES in my condo (once it becomes available), however I see that most French HD channels are absent. These are normally carried by Bell TV such as TV5HD, TFOHD, TQSHD, etc... All I see in French for HD is RC and TVA. Looks like I will pass for now. I waited long enough for Rogers to offer them, so I guess the only benefit for BES would be Tele Quebec and the hgh speed upload speeds.

Patience wysiwyg, BES is only in its infancy and only available in remote areas of Toronto for now. ON s'entend qu'a toronto il n'y a pas beaucoup de français? ;)

More channels will be added as the needs expand.

I dont see channels like

Peach Tree TV, KTLA, CW channels. These american channels but they have good sitcoms on I watch a lot.

Are they not allowed to use all the satellite channels on IPTV or something?

I can confirm I get those 3 channels you asked about on IPTV. PeachTree, KTLA, CW11.

If I get enough requests, I'll post a full linup of what is listed. It's going to take a while though. I know there is A LOT that is available on BES, but not listed anywhere. The channel guide online is from November 2008 and the copy I got is from late 2008 or early 2009. Out of date like you wouldn't believe!

Oh - and Bell needs to apply to cary the channels separately from their satellite, so that is why it takes a while to get stuff approved. It's like anything - give it time.

I'd love to see whats actually on BES presently to compare to BTV and other providers.