I'm in a similar situation. I'm moving on April 15 (temp accomodations for a year). The building is brand-spanking new, and all set up for both Rogers and Bell Fibe. The building has a deal with both companies, essentially the first 3 months free. The PRO for Rogers is that I'm on the lifetime Winback deal (free pvr, free pvr service, two SD terminals).The CON for Rogers is that they screw that deal up almost every month, secondly the PVR is pretty crappy, and thirdly, it's Rogers. I also probably WON'T get the free 3 months because I'm already a Rogers customer.
I know Bell isn't necessarily any better, but it sounds like Fibe is pretty good. I'm leaning that way, regardless of the Rogers Winback deal.
Any thoughts?

I think Rogers still has a better On Demand service than Fibe. Although Fibe is slowly improving. If that matters to you.

Yes, the On Demand is pretty much non-existent (at least the free TV stuff) only CTV and A-Channel programs at the moment. It's been this way since I first joined in November. Too bad though.

The Bell Fibe PVR is light years ahead of the Rogers one though. My primary reason though is the networked PVRs so I can watch a recorded program and setup a recording anywhere in my house. Much better U.I.

do you get the latest on demand movie selection similar to Rogers?

there's lots of programmes from hbo that I watch. The CTV and A channel shows are most US stuff. I heard they will have CityTV shows too

are the movies the latest releases? I know Rogers get the latest releases in line with the video stores

Well after finally* taking a look at a bill for Fibe TV, I'm not as happy.

I agreed to a free trial of their service for a month. I wasn't told that Internet service wasn't part of that trial. So I'm paying for overlapping Internet bills. I also wasn't told about any installation fees. Supposedly the fee is normally $250, but $200 was credited away since I signed up for two years. So my initial payment is going to be roughly $100 higher than I anticipated.

I would like to describe how I feel about Bell right now, but this is a family forum. :(

*They were sending the bills to an address further down our street.

Does Rogers have TMN on demand in HD? It didn't years ago when we were with them. It also never worked properly, though I am sure they fixed that by now. Fibe TV is very good for on demand content, especially since you get HD versions.

philip

not as happy with the internet portion for now; internet is much slower considering there are at minimum 2 TV's on quite often in the day; so when i connect i get slow speeds (coming from 50Mps) i now have 8-12Mbps...

TV options are great, love the PVR, love the extra channels; i will have to modify channel selection since the pricing is high for all the individual choice channels;

still waiting for the online options; PVR, app store application for FIBE; i cant even see the channels i have on my account unless i all CSR;

all in all i would rate this a 7-7.5/10 since I would much rather go with another internet provider so i am not limited to slow speeds...

had fibe for 3 days now. i was a bell expressvu client for 7 yrs, and switched to videotron when i moved in august. that mistake is a whole other bag, whew what a mistake!!!
so far, the quality is great, on demand and apps work fine.
i experienced a few freezeups on day 1, and the install took almost 9 hours, the videotron wires outside were so decrepit, they had to rewire everything inside and out. videotron installer left wires hanging everywhere, left open holes, and used the outside wiring intended for analog, for my digital setup.
my internet speeds when the tvs are off are sick!! i suscribe to fibe 7 internet, and get 25!! with 3 tvs on, its 7:)

Finally got Fibe service coming from Bell ExpressVu here in Montreal. I'll give my observations by grading different features and comparing them to the BEV service I had before (BEV grade in parenthesese). A+ would be my definition of ideal and the benchmark where I wouldn't change a thing.

Picture quality: B (C)
Only had it for a week and was mostly out of town during that period so maybe I have to do some tweeking. Definately an improvement over satellite, but still far from BluRay-type quality.

EPG: C (B)
Disappointed with the guide. Sure, its got a few nice features I didn't have before but those are far out-weighed by what was removed. First, I loved the fact that I can set up favorites with different customizable categories on BEV. So I had one favorite with all the movie channels, another for sports, another for science/documentary types. You can't do this anymore and you have only one "Favorites" category. Second, I liked the fact that you can call up the guide and still view the current channel in the top right-hand corner. Came in handy when I was watching something and my wife would check the guide for what's coming up and I could continue watching. Now the current channel is behind the transparent guide and difficult to watch. Third, the font and size of the grid cannot be changed. On the plus side, menu and search features on the guide are an improvement.

On Demand: B (D)
Could easily give this an A but honestly I haven't familiarized myself enough. But from what I've seen its great. Service before was workable but limited.

PVR: B (C)
We can now watch recorded programs from our set upstairs...great for my wife while I'm watch football on the TV with the PVR attached. Would have given this an A if I could access the PVR remotely on my Blackberry as I used to be able to do.

Reliability: A (D)
Okay not enough time to evaluate but obviously loss of signal is not an issue with Fibe versus satellite. That was a real PITA especially in the winters. No drop outs or any issue with the signal so far.

Pricing: B (D)
They promised me additional credits over and above what I was already getting (for bundled services). I had credits end with my previous service and my bill incresed a good $40/month. Let's see if they keep their promise now.

Installation: D (D)
Don't know why but both installatios were done by some seperatist-leaning technician who questioned me why I don't take some French-language package. I don't know...maybe because I don't want to pay for something I won't use? Bell really should screen their contractors for that type of thing. Also, he did not connect my optic cable for sound and didn't realize what it was until I told him. Other than that, the installation went reasonably well.

Overall, the signal reliability, improved on-demand, PVR functionality and pricing made this a worth-while switch. Hope this gives some insight.

Picture quality: B (C)
The SD channels stand out as inferior because you get the raw feed. HD especially sports and Oasis are outstanding

EPG: C (B)
They tell me there are going to have groupings like sports, movies, lifestyle in the menu soon

On Demand: B (D)
I like all the TV networks on demand

PVR: B (C)
You can use the browser on the Blackberry.

So I finally got FIBETV installed, up and running.

Let me say this:

FIBETV blows Rogers out of the water in every way. I love this service. Here are my general impressions:

• The GUI looks like it was designed in the year 2011, not 1987 like Rogers.
• The menu is in HD, full screen, unlike Rogers.
• The navigation is way snappier than Rogers was. I had the best Rogers could offer, the $600 500GB PVR. It is a piece of crap compared to this, laggy and unintuitive.
• This just works. The user interface is intuitive, as is the button placement on the remote. This helps create a more relaxing, enjoyable, end-to-end experience.
• The menu, as well as looking slick, is very intuitive to use. It's easy to locate and record shows. It's fast.
• Whole Home PVR works and is amazing. I have access to all the shows I record from each terminal. I can watch anywhere, resume somewhere else.
• On-Demand - the On Demand service is much more elegantly designed than on Rogers, and loads quickly. (On Rogers it was so glitchy, you could sit there waiting for ages for something to load on the crappy menu only to have the whole hardware crash and require a force reboot)
• I have Facebook on this and it works well but I don't really use it. An avid Facebook user might enjoy it.
• I am paying $135/mnth compared to $210/mnth with Rogers for TV and internet.
• I am getting better download and upload speeds with this service than I was with Rogers' 'faster' ultra-high-speed service.
• Customer service - as frustrating as my installation process was, every time I called I got a human on the line quickly, and everyone was pretty on-the-ball trying to help. Every interaction I have had with Rogers customer service was absolutely infuriating, right down to the final interaction - returning a cable box. Every single time, calling Rogers would end up making my blood boil - glitches, problems, requests not recorded or processed correctly in the file.

Rogers must be freaking out because anyone who actually sees/uses this service would never choose Rogers over it.

I've seen their ads warning that FIBE works over telephone cable. Guess what? Who gives a crap what the cable looks like - it's all about performance, reliability, and user experience. This tech is state-of-the-art compared to Rogers – it is light-years ahead of what Rogers is offering.

I am very glad I made the switch.

If anyone has a question feel free to ask here, and I'll be glad to respond.

Welcome to the Fibe TV experience. I love it too.

Hi everyone. I just signed up for fibe tv and am quite disappointed with many aspects of it.

I used to have bell satellite but when a tech came to upgrade my internet, he told me to get fibe tv (apparently he gets a commission or 'points') and he told me the good stuff, but he didn't tell me about the bad.

So the good is that i get a bigger capacity pvr with the whole home feature...meaning you can watch the same show in any room of your house...great if you feel the need to change rooms while you're watching tv, I guess if you're that much of a couch/bed potato. I have a one bedroom condo so not interested in that part. Other than that, that's the only positive i can think of...larger capacity pvr.

Now the bad...


no slow motion or frame by frame viewing...if you watch sports, you know this is a key feature and simply ridiculous they released fibetv without it.
some channels cannot be recorded altogether (like fight network)...This is ridiculous. I would have never signed up if they told me that I might not have the ability to record some channels. Without the ability to record, what's the point of a pvr?
no way to see only the channels I subscribe to, other than having to create a favorites list (this was a feature on satellite tv). They offer 1500 channels, so i have to scroll through all of them to figure out what I can watch or not watch? Seriously, it's hard to believe anyone who actually watches tv tried this service before they released it.


I called customer service and rather than explain why the features were missing, he just tried tell me how great the whole home pvr was and he was actually unaware that certain channels can't be recorded. Bout ready to return to satellite. Bell is just a shi**y company, run by morons...

@dgreener - sorry to hear that you are not happy with Fibe TV.
Point 3 - To view only the channels you are subscribed to - in the "Menu", go to Settings>General>Customize Channel Guide

"They offer 1500 channels, so i have to scroll through all of them..."

Am I missing something? The Guide on my TV currently lists a total of "only" 574 channels, including radio stations. Are there another 1000 or so TV channels that I'm not watching?

574 is it, including EVERYTHING. I think the previous poster was just using some hyperbole to make his point.

I decided to switch to Bell Fibe for Internet, Home Phone and TV. So far I love it. Great picture and great guide. No problems so far. Here are some comments on the install.

1. Originally supposed to install all 3 on Nov 27. Told that the phone would have to be done on the 28. No problem except the guy arrived on the 27 and said for some tech reason he couldn't install. Took a while to get info on why. Was fixed by Nov 29 and install was moved to Dec 2.

2. Install on Dec 2 took 4 hours. Rewired a lot of the house. Good job. Everything worked ok. After they left I found out the alarm system didn't work anymore. I called the guy who installed (had his number on my phone) and he came back at lunch on Monday and fixed it. Just loose wires.

3. For some reason they told me I had to order the home phone on a separate order and now I have 2 phone lines. I am getting one cancelled but it seems the home phone people don't talk to the Fibe people. This one has been the hardest to fix.

So far so good. Only negative is no FX so no American Horror Story.

Don

I was approached to move to Bell Fibe service (by a door-to-door rep). "Bell Fibe" is a new service; I was offered "significant" discounts in order to sign-up to the latest & best Bell "Fibe" services (Aug, 2011). I have spoken with 10 customer-service reps since my subscription; EVERY time I called, the attending agent told me that their "system" was down/slow and to please be patient. I was calling regarding "On-Demand" services (Fibe TV movies) as continually quitting out on me; the response was that this is a "known & onging issue". As well, Fibe TV customers are unable to see (exclusively) the channels to which they subscribe... the only option (as told to me by several CS reps @ Bell), is to manually add (from their near 600 channels they offer), the channels to which you are subscribing (so not actually "your" favorites, but a work-around to a "known" flaw to the new Bell Fibe TV service). I was told that they would "get back to me". Bell sattlelite was better than Fibe (and even THAT was poor).