Rogers digging in Pickering; HDTV & VOD close?

[gelsheimer]

I live in Pickering, Ontario near Whites Rd and have seen numerous Rogers trucks and fiber-optic trucks working in the same area (along with lots of digging). Talking to Roger's CSRs they say they are putting in the 750Mhz plant for HDTV and VOD... so I know it's close. But, they don't have a date when it will be ready.

My question is... anyone well connected to Rogers know when it will launch in Pickering?

[bolmsted]

...Scarborough East -> Eglington Ave/Markham Road area?

[spicoli]

Pickering/Markham and Scarborough are all involved in rebuild. Pickering should be complete at summers end next year, same with Scarborough, Markham will probably be further behind due to issues with local utilities.
Expect HD in Scarborough/Pickering next fall or earlier. FYI they are building Pickering to 860Mhz.

[gelsheimer]

Egad... next summer's end? Sniff. I had heard Q1 2003 about a month ago from a CSR... but I guess they decided to stop giving out dates they never met.

Interesting that they are putting in 860 Mhz.

Oh well... still enjoying the new RPTV anyways :lol:

[tv_guy]

I know it's one of those friend of a friend things but I do know someone at Rogers who said that Scarborough and Pickering upgrades were done.

Rogers was just doing the final testing to make sure everything was up to par. (i'm told the testing can be fairly lengthy but I got the impression that it would be ready to go in Dec or January)

[Zelko]

Anybody hear anything about Woodbridge HDTV and VOD availability. I am in the Weston / Rutherford area.
I know that south of Steeles is OK, but nothing as of yet my way...

[digitalcable]

Where I live, the rebuild was completed in the summer to 860 MHZ and I still don't have VOD or HDTV.

[Zelko]

What location are you in ?

[bolmsted]

This is what Rogers said... some apparent form letter:

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for taking the time to write to Rogers Cable Inc. We
appreciate this opportunity to respond to your inquiry.

Because Rogers expanded cable service roll out on a postal code to
postal code basis in newly turned over areas it is very hard to
specifically estimate a ready date for the area without creating some
false assumptions. Some regions take much longer than others. In some
areas the cable plant structure may not be as stable as some other more
modern networks. In order to correct this we need to modify the
cable/network structure and this is a lengthy process which is too
difficult to predict in terms of time-frame - some lines may be upgraded
while others may have to be changed. It is only until the point that the
specific area is being worked on by our field techs that we may predict
a final "ready date". It is at that point that we pass along the
information to our potential subscribers.

We do understand and appreciate your concerns in having, at the least, a
predicted "general" date as to when you may have the HDTV service
available, but to provide a date at this time would simply be
speculation on our part and may possibly be misleading.

If you have any further questions or comments regarding our service,
please contact us by replying to this e-mail.

For any future reference with respect to this e-mail, please quote
reference number XXXXXXX.

Regards,
Agnes D.
Rogers Online Customer Care
http://www.rogers.com



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Original Message Follows:
------------------------

Can you give me an estimated time when the Scarborough cable rebuild
will be completed in my area so that I can get HDTV? next week?
next month? 3 months? 6 months? 9 months? 1 year?

Here's my info: XX XXXXXXXXXX XX, XXXXXXXXXXX, XXXXXX, XXXXX


Thanks

[bolmsted]

Well about two days ago I sent this email (below) to Mike Lee, VP, New Product Introduction and have not received a response (kinda what I expected, but maybe it's at the bottom of his inbox :roll: :wink.

I don't know if this is pure coincidence or not but when I came home tonite around 8:15-8:30 I saw a truck on the oncoming side as I was driving down the street about 30-40km/h that said "WestLink" or "WestTech" or something similar (I think), but it looked suspicious and kinda like a cable company type of truck.

Okay, so I continue down the street and park my car and I notice a green 8" Wide x 8" Deep x 2-3ft tall plastic box in the ground (about 2-3 metres from the fire hydrant) that was NOT there this morning (I swear) with a red pylon sitting beside it (I actually noticed the pylon first). I had my hot dinner with me so I didn't stop to investigate, so I went out briefly tonite around 10:30 and it said "Telecommunications" on the top. Usually, the cable companies have like 2ft wide x 3ft long x 1.5ft high metal box on the street don't they?? So I suspect this is a minature one for just my street / suburb. I don't think it's a Bell telephone box as there is a patch panel type of box down at the end of the street as I see Entourage / Bell trucks at occasonally.

Now, back in July/August they had dug up my street big time for some pipes (and other things???? (i.e cable TV???)) and I recall one Rogers truck being on the street one morning as I was walking to my car. I dunno if they were laying fibre or not or just checking for cables "call before you dig", but I think the road was quite dug up at that point. :lol:

Okay, now putting 2+2 together I begin to wonder...

Does this sound promising to you guys? Do you think this is a cable access box? I can't see it being a Bell box as the DSL stuff worked fine when I had Sympatico, so I can't see them needing to move our area closer to the central office considering that the Bell central office is about 1-2km away (just up the street).

Maybe the squeaky wheel gets the grease? Maybe he's holding off on responding to me for like 1-2 weeks and then say "try ordering now" 8) :lol: I sure hope it's coming soon as I've heard as late as July/August next year :evil:

I took a look for a new channel 350 (VOD), but nothing yet, but I suppose they might have not moved me yet if this is just preliminary work and would do the whole street / area at once and then flip the switch. :P

The CSRs say that there will be a notice in your mailbox when new services are available in your area such as HDTV and VOD, so who knows maybe I'll see something in the next 1 month or so? Mind you I don't get a physical bill / mailings as I do it online / pre-authorized payment, so I don't get their advertising all the time.

Here's hoping. :lol: :wink:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Brian Olmsted" <bolmsted@rogers.com>
To: <mike.lee@rci.rogers.com>
Cc: <bolmsted@rogers.com>
Sent: Monday, November 04, 2002 1:54 PM
Subject: HDTV and VOD service availability


> Hi Mike,
>
> I've seen you a couple of times on the "Online with Rogers" show and you gave your email address a few times so I thought I would drop a line, so perhaps you can answer some of my questions. I know you are VP of New Product Introduction so my questions relate to these new products and services.
>
>
> I would like to know approximately how long I can expect to wait for the network upgrade/rebuild of the Scarborough area to be complete so that I can get the HDTV/VOD services in my area that you talk so prominently about on this show.
>
> I can't seem to get a straight answer from the customer service representatives answering the phone (besides we don't know). Should I be expecting to wait 3 months? 6 months? 9 months? 1 year? 2 years? longer?
>
> Specifically in the Bellamy Road / Markham Road / Eglinton Avenue / Lawrence Avenue area?
>
> I'm not looking for something written in stone or a firm commitment, just an idea of how long I can expect to wait. I realize these things take time and you are upgrading an old Shaw area that wasn't maintained properly before the trade/sale of the assets. What area is Rogers in right now as far as the upgrades and where are they proceding to next?
>
> Perhaps you could put up a tool on your website where you could look up your postal code to check for availability.
>
> Also will these network upgrades improve my analog cable reception significantly as I think I'm at the point that it's the "best it's going to get" and service calls are just not going to improve things. What are you plans with respect to converting the analog channels to digital or carrying digital versions simultaneously?
>
> Finally, what are your plans to deploying a HD version of a cable set top box that has PVR capabilities? I know that Scientific Atlanta is working on a 8000HD version of their recently released 8000 model which has PIP features, etc.
>
> Also, does Rogers have plans to deploy the 3250HD in the meantime to correct issues such as the onscreen graphics with HD signals?
>
>
> I look forward to your response to my questions.
> Thanks in advance
> Brian Olmsted
> Rogers Digital Cable and HiSpeed customer
>
>
>

[PBC]

spicoli - how/where did you get that info on Pickering/Scarborough/Markham? Any ideas when Richmond hill (northern Richmond hill) is getting done?

Thanks,

PBC

[bolmsted]

Originally Posted by digitalcable

That new box is a fibre-node which will be servicing your area. Its basically fibre-in and coax out. They have them all over the city now. I'm not sure but I think that node will service about 300 homes. What they do is run Fibre from their main headend all the way to that box with a nice clean feed and then distribute the cable service from that point via coaxial to the neighborhood. They need those nodes to be able to deliver VOD.

Sweat, so you are saying that my rebuild is imminent then and I should expect VOD/HDTV by years end then as per the other threads posted tonite! :P 8) That fibre node box is literally across the street from my landlord's house so I'll be hanging off it rather than way down the street, but the drop coming into the house from the back so I guess they have to wire it somehow to this box.

[bolmsted]

Originally Posted by gelsheimer

I live in Pickering, Ontario near Whites Rd and have seen numerous Rogers trucks and fiber-optic trucks working in the same area (along with lots of digging).

Your about 13-14KMs away from me so hopefully that isn't too much of a stretch and not that long. :lol:

[gelsheimer]

Just thought I'd pass along that I (in Pickering @ Whites Rd) received yesterday a postcard from Rogers telling me that improvements were being made to the cable system in my neighbourhood and I may experience an outage of cable and internet access over the next 30 days.

30 days! Woo hoo... this suggests that we'll be up to speed by the end of the year!

- Phil

PS: Has anyone who is in an area that has been upgraded noticed a PQ improvement? Does going to fibre really help?

[travisc]

It's not that you're going to fibre - presumably the fibre is already there, unless maybe they're installing more nodes, in which case they're extending the fibre deeper into the neighbourhoods. I would imagine they're replacing all the hardware in the field with 750 or 860 Mhz stuff. That doesn't have anything to do with fibre.