For just basic cable with multiple outlets and illegal splitters, then Rogers is the best for you.

Another opinion might be Rogers delivers the best overall -- even if you pay for it.

Turner Classic Movies, Showcase HD and National Geographic HD are three good reasons Rogers delivers more value over Bell. And of course On Demand is awesome: Winter Olympics, FIFA World Cup, MTV, Treehouse, Much Music content and lots more -- free. Plus HD Movies On Demand (they are running Silent Hill just now) and, while a little odd, HD "gallery" shows with explorations of Monet paintings, African safaris, Space, nature stuff -- with music backgrounds all in HD; great stuff as background for a holiday party.

I know Bell offers more HD channels -- but I'm more likely to watch Discovery, HDNet, National Geographic and Showcase than I am the four French channels and Bell's four eye candy channels from HiFidelity. So, it's pretty much an HD trade-off. Plus, if anyone cares, Rogers delivers its HD at (up to) 19 mbps not the compressed ExpressVu 12 mbps (Edit by 57 - correction up to 15 Mbps).

I have had it up to my neck with my Rogers setup. I'm tired of having my HD feed pixelate and block up at random and SD channels chugging along at random. I'm SERIOUSLY thinking about making the switch to Bell...

I'm SERIOUSLY thinking about making the switch to Bell...

I thought that too and made the switch to Expressvu.

When my contract is up, Expressvu will be gone. The last straw for me is Expressvu's blocking A Channel Ottawa whenever the Senators play - trying to force people to buy C.I.

With family members wanting TCM, the choice is Rogers or SC.
When checking out these two for our viewing habits SC wins:
1) cost of hardware
2) HD included at no extra charge - except for Discovery HD + A&E
3) Ability to easily change programming. We will load up for winter, go to Essentials for Spring/Fall and $0 during the summer by using our OTA ATSC setup

I have had it up to my neck with my Rogers setup. I'm tired of having my HD feed pixelate and block up at random and SD channels chugging along at random. I'm SERIOUSLY thinking about making the switch to Bell...You must have a problem with levels on your cable system. I have had Rogers HD for > 4.5 years, I now have 3 HD and 3 SD boxes and I rarely, if ever, experience these problems.

I currently have SC (401x2, 500) and Bell ExpressVu (6100).

Best SD quality: 401 on SC. The 500 has problems with lower resolution channels, the 6100 suffers from Bell's over-compression
Best HD quality: 500. On Bell, NBC-East has lipsync problems, compression does not help (why would a game on Bell's own TSNHD look better than NBCHD when TSN's source is NBC? - BTW, no simsub on that game Sunday on Bell ExpressVU).

Of course Bell wins when it comes to flexibility (at a price), HD choice, PPV channels, HD PPV.

I've watched two hockey games in SD on Rogers last week, resolution seem quite high, but resolution was cranked up as well. That was on CBC (CBC Montréal, then CBC Ottawa). Other channels were not as bad.

-gmd

Man it's hard choosing between bell and rogers. I'm currently with expressvu with a single 3100 receiver but I'm moving to a new house and am stongly considering making the switch to rogers & HD with the 300$ HD PVR from futureshop. It's half the price of the one from bell and I need two... I'll be moving to a brand new residential area so I shouldn't have any issue with rogers, right? I want a good picture quality (for 50" plasma and a projector in the basement) and am fed up of having to shovel the dish or lose signal quality during a storm... Plus, I don't want to drill a hole in my new roof to install the damn dish.

I've however seen lots of complaints about rogers poor signal quality... is that only for people living in older residential areas?

I don't understand the issues with signal quality, particularly if you are going to have digital boxes. - which it appears that you are Some digital channels may look slightly better on BEV but that is likely debatable. Rogers seems to have slightly better quality on HD channels as BEV compresses some channels. BEV says they have more channels but they don't appear to have some channels that people want more, such as The Score, Showcase HD and National Geographic HD.

Wayne, you're right. I should have said "poor picture quality", ie: some people complain about too much compression. I'm not worried about signal quality, I'll be digital and the big box (massive box I should say, it looks like a fridge) for the entire neighborhood is on my neighbour's lawn!

It's true, I am that ignorant about cable tv...so, anyway, I've been thinking of changing cable providers and was told about Bell...if I get Bell, is it the same as Rogers in that it's just a cable coming through from outside or is a dish hanging outside my house mandatory.

I did ask this question at BEV forum and haven't gotten an answer.

Has anyone had Bell cable service and switched to Rogers because Bell wasn't satisfactoy?

Bell requires a dish outside your house. Star Choice is also a satellite provider. I recently moved to a new home and Bell ExpressVu installed everything free of charge but I did have to sign a 2 year contract.

Thank you for the response.

I'm hesitant to switch since I've had no experience with a satellite dish and I've heard that they go down because of wind, snow, rain...they just don't sound reliable to me.

But the deal sounds so amazing.

I recently switched to BEV when Rogers decided to give me a hard time about moving my services (I was a 12 year + customer) during a move. Quality wise the HD picture appears to be slightly better on BEV than it did on Rogers (at least to these old eyes). I have only lost the signal on BEV for about 6 hours since I've had it (subscribed in mid December).

I quickly discovered that dealing with Rogers and BEV is much the same so don't switch for that reason.

I'm hesitant to switch... But the deal sounds so amazing.What deal?

I've had rogers for the past 12 yrs and a dish for a decade (not BEV). The dish has never been down in winter. Only a few times in summer for about 10-15 minutes when a severe thunderstorm passes. I've had about as many outages with cable, and those lasted longer. So I wouldn't take outages into account for deciding either way.

The deal I was offered over the phone was 3 digital terminals (with Rogers I have 1), for 20 dollars a month for the first 6 months, then 39 dollars plus a hundred dollar credit.

I'm paying 50 dollars a month now for 1 digital terminal and 3 basic cable (VIP) outlets.

ShaSha ... do you live in a condo? That sounds a bit like ExpressVu TV for Condos. This Bell product ("Tv through your phone line) doesn't offer HD, PVR or On Demand plus a number of channels Rogers includes in the $50 price (like Turner Classic Movies).

No, it's a house. I just spoke to the girl I spoke to yesterday again today and she said they'd have to install a dish somewhere on my house and that it would be very secure and there would be no weather issues, that it's "very rare"...I told them I'd want Rogers VIP Digital equivalent (CNN, Food Network, TLN, Prime, CW, Spike, MyTV, etc.) and the girl said that, yes, we would still get all those channels for that price, but I'm looking at bell.ca and standard digital doesn't have any of those channels. Some of them are part of a theme pack.

I'm not going to be able to speak to her again until Tuesday. I spoke to someone else just now and she told me that package would be $72, so somebody's got it wrong.

In my dealings with both Rogers and ExpressVu I've found that the only way to ensure I'm going to get what they say I'm going to get for the price promised is to ask for it in writing before hand.

They may insist it's not required and they promise you will get whatever service for whatever price but once the sale is closed you will never be able to speak to that person again - you've now become a customer and it's a whole new ball game.

Enjoy your TV watching, regardless of which provider you pick.

Cheers.

I told them I'd want Rogers VIP Digital equivalent (CNN, Food Network, TLN, Prime, CW, Spike, MyTV, etc.) and the girl said that, yes, we would still get all those channels for that price

Bell ExpressVu doesn't have an equivalent of VIP in the current version ($58.97/mth before discounts).

Here are some stations you can't get on Bell or pay extra for beyond "Digital Essentials" at $54/mth

Rogers Television - not available on Bell
TFO (TVOntario French) - subscribe separately to "French Networks"
ShopTV- not available on Bell
ABC, CBS, Fox, NBC, PBS feeds from Buffalo
Weather Network - specifically for your area including road reports
Telelatino West feed - not available on Bell
TBS - only available as part of Premium Movies (add $16 to $19/mth)
Turner Classic Movies - not available on Bell
American Movies Classics - not available on Bell
Ontario Legislature - not available on Bell
Real Estate Television - not available on Bell
Christian Channel - not available on Bell
Rogers On Demand - not available on Bell
Treehouse On Demand - not available on Bell
NFL Network On Demand - not available on Bell
MTV On Demand - not available on Bell
OMNI Plus On Demand - not available on Bell
Food Network On Demand - not available on Bell
HGTV On Demand - not available on Bell
National Geographic On Demand - not available on Bell

You can choose 5 theme packs from Bell: News & Learning 1, Sports 1, Family 1, Lifestyle 1 and Variety 1 to get most of the older specialty channels you automatically get with VIP.

But VIP also gives you
Biography - News 2 on Bell extra $5
National Geographic - News 2 on Bell extra $5
BBC Kids - Family 2 on Bell extra $5
Discovery Health - Lifestyle 2 on Bell extra $5
BBC Canada - Variety 2 on Bell extra $5
Fine Living - Variety 3 on Bell extra $5
Showcase Diva - More Movies on Bell extra $5
Showcase Action - More Movies on Bell extra $5
IFC Independent Film Channel - More Movies on Bell extra $5

Wow. This list even surprised me and there may be more. The point is: Rogers VIP has a LOT of value built-in. Bell's "equivalent" falls far short.

Thank you, SensualPoet, for listing the differences in what you get with Rogers VIP vs. Bell. Your post has been very helpful to me.

sensual poet, you are making it seem as though the channels that bell is missing, are worthy

Rogers Television - not available on Bell
TFO (TVOntario French) - subscribe separately to "French Networks"
ShopTV- not available on Bell
Telelatino West feed - not available on Bell
TBS - only available as part of Premium Movies (add $16 to $19/mth)
Premium Movies Also includes the TMN movie packs, and American superstations.........
Turner Classic Movies - not available on Bell (Boring) Reruns.....
American Movies Classics - not available on Bell (Boring) Reruns.....
Ontario Legislature - not available on Bell (Snooooooooooze)
Real Estate Television - not available on Bell (Snoooooooze)
Christian Channel - not available on Bell (Not religous)
Rogers On Demand - not available on Bell All
Treehouse On Demand - not available on Bell Part
NFL Network On Demand - not available on Bell Of
MTV On Demand - not available on Bell On
OMNI Plus On Demand - not available on Bell Demand
Food Network On Demand - not available on Bell And
HGTV On Demand - not available on Bell How
National Geographic On Demand - not available on Bell Often
Do you use it

I could care less if Rogers continues to add channels, that I would never pay for
They are catering to a small percentage of people who would actually pay for Ontario Legislature , or the Real Estate Television channel (hehehe)
i have had both, and prefer Bell to Rogers
i HATE rogers customer service, bell is slightly better, but not much
We were having NUMEROUS outages when we had cable (new housing being built to the north of us)
this would cause disruptions to our digital cable, internet, and sometime the regular (analogue) cable
i was told there was no reports of outages in my area, and then i would mention i saw a contractor installing line amplifiers/taps or other trunk line main cable hardware, and then they would put me on hold, and say that they do see a ticket order for some work that should be completed by 5pm, and sorry for the disruption
my satellite has gone down a few times, due to extreme weather (tv shouldnt be on anyway during these electrical storms) but not for as long as our cable was down
to make an educated decision, before you choose a provider, get literature in your hand, price out what it will cost for the channels you want from each provider
that coupled with peoples opinions in here (some may be biased....) and friends/neighbors, then you can choose what will be best for you


But VIP also gives you Digital Essentials can include
Biography - News 2 on Bell extra $5 all of these channels as
National Geographic - News 2 on Bell extra $5 part of the package, at
BBC Kids - Family 2 on Bell extra $5 no extra charge!
Discovery Health - Lifestyle 2 on Bell extra $5
BBC Canada - Variety 2 on Bell extra $5
Fine Living - Variety 3 on Bell extra $5
Showcase Diva - More Movies on Bell extra $5
Showcase Action - More Movies on Bell extra $5
IFC Independent Film Channel - More Movies on Bell extra $5


im not too familiar with Rogers channel packages anymore, but $58 (VIPRogers Package) is comparable to the digital essentials package
you are saying EXTRA, but you choose the 5 themes you want with the digital essentials package (and $5 for each additional theme)
I do wish that TBS was part or a theme pack other than the Premium movies, but that doesnt affect me, because i want TMN anyways, for the HD
some of the on demand channels, are not even available yet, so that is misleading a bit......
no history channel
no discovery channel
no nfl network
no outdoor life channel
no speed channel
no GOLF channel (thats a biggie)
no Bravo channel
no showcase channel
no food network channel (coming soon, but not yet...)
no HGTV (coming soon, but not yet...)
no womens network
no game show network
no 102.1 the edge

i could go on, and i may be wrong with some of these (i was flipping back and forth between the 2 websites, but you get the point)
choosing between the 2 under $60 packages, i think you can get more bang for you buck, with Bell, but, it all depends on what channels you want.......