[hugh]

for the record Bell today announced the launch of Bell Fibe TV, its Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) service, in select Toronto and Montréal neighbourhoods.

Bell says it plans to have the service available to almost five million Canadian households by the end of 2015.

Nothing new in today's launch that you don't already know.

 

[catechumen]

Has anyone seen or heard a more definite rollout schedule for Toronto? I'm in the Mount Pleasant and St. Clair area. When I do the check of my address and phone number on the Fibe site it just says mid-2011. Has anyone heard anything more specific?

 

[daveharr]

Nope, but to add to the list, it says 2012 for my location in Ajax.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

How do you even get that message? My address comes back with:

"Bell Fibe TV is not currently available in your area.

In the meantime, you can enjoy Bell Satellite TV right now."

Which is BS... turns out some random company owns the portion of the roof top of my condo where the satellite needs to be. So even though Bell wants to put a satellite, they can't.

Are you checking fibetv.bell.ca?

 

[Dr.Dave]

I saw this post in the Montreal thread and thought it might be useful to others. Obviously all installation timelines are subject to change.

Spoke about this again this evening with a tech... and here's a summary:

For Montreal:
Anjou (MTRLPQ51) + Papineau (MTRLPQ07) + Sherbrooke (MTRLPQ03) Ready
St-Dominique (MTRLPQ28) + SAUVÉ (MTRLPQ31) Working not to full capacity

For Toronto:
MAIN (Toroon04) + Asquith (Toroono2) + Simpson (Toroon05)
+ Dufferin (Toroon09) + Rogers (Toroon10) Ready

Next Step In Montreal:
Cote des Neiges + Montée St-Michel + Montreal-Nord = Starting March 2011

Next Step in Toronto:
Adelaide + Donlands + Eglinton + Ridelle + Islington + Simcoe = February 2011

Use this link to find your central office if you don't know which area of Toronto or Montreal you're in:

http://www.telcodata.us/telcodata/telco

Click on the "Detailed Switch Info" to see the CO address.

The central office lookup only works for original phone numbers - not numbers that have been migrated from other areas or other carriers.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Thanks for the tip Dr.Dave, but I don't have a phone... nor do I know anyone in my building's number. Is there a way to check what my CO is without NPA-NXX?

 

[Dr.Dave]

You can use Canada411 to do a reverse address lookup for common phone prefixes in your area.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

Thanks... I looked up NPA-NXX where there were multiple matches. Noticed that 416-231, 416-233, 416-234 come up a lot.

It looks like my CLLI is TOROON26DS0. I tried to look up the switch name and it comes up as "TORONTO EAGLE". From what I remember Islington and Eagle are separate COs (correct me if I'm wrong). Not only is it currently not provisioned, it doesn't look like it will be in the next round of provisioning either.

 

[hsantos]

In regards of my post:

Next Step in Toronto:
Adelaide + Donlands + Eglinton + Ridelle + Islington + Simcoe = February 2011

Here's the CO NAME for each:

TOROON01 + TOROON03 + TOROON06 + TOROON07 + TOROON27 + TOROON63

 

[Dr.Dave]

@JoeyJoeJoe, if you're near Eagle Rd, you found the right CO (near Islington and Bloor). If so, it looks like you'll have to wait until after February.

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

^-- Yup... I'm actually at Kipling/Bloor. So I'm actually not that close to the CO either. This is disheartening as I have some issues with Rogers Internet. The connection is solid, but Rogers will drop connections from other people to my computer. I did a ton of tests and even bought a new router, but the problem persists. According to the Bell website, I am eligible for Fibe25, but being 1.7KM away, I'm worried I won't get those speeds... which may mean I won't be eligible for FibeTV down the road.

My plan was to move TV and internet to Bell and bundle 3 services (cell, contract about to expire), but it looks like that's not going to be an option for at least 6 months.

 

[Dr.Dave]

@JoeyJoeJoe, Bell has probably laid fibre-optic cable from the CO to your neighbourhood so that your condo will be served by a node in your area which will be able to provide the necessary speeds.

 

[UkuNZ]

I'm at Wellesley and Jarvis, and just finished off my order with it due be installed next Thursday, 23 September. We had Fibe 12 already so will be going down to Fibe 6. We are only getting one TV box set up as it's a one bedroom apartment and no TV in the bedroom

Is this service generally better than the satellite service?

 

[JoeyJoeJoe]

^-- I'm jealous.

I guess being far from the CO is much of an issue with fiber-optic cable. Anyways, thanks Dr.Dave, you've been very helpful.

 

[000]

hsantos, I don't mean to call you out, but I need your help.

Your list, and the one provided to Bell employees, says that Adelaide (TOROON01) and Simcoe (TOROON03) won't be ready until February 2011.

However, the building in which the Fibe TV pressconference and live demonstration took place on September 13, Bell Lightbox, is fed from one of those exchanges. That must mean the exchange, in one form or another, has IPTV support.

I know a few people at Yonge and Eglinton with IPTV (TOROON06), which also doesn't match up with your list and the one Bell's ordering system uses.

I'm a little frustrated because I live close to Adelaide. close to other buildings with working IPTV installations. I know my building has been provisioned for IPTV for months, we have VDSL2 equipment in our telephone room which I'm connected to (Fibe25), but since none of the databases employee's search in the tool to book an order say it's available here, they are unable to do anything.

 

[000]

330 King St. West, the address of Bell Lightbox where the Fibe TV pressconference was hosted, is ready to take new customers; however neighbouring buildings that have similarly been provisioned, won't be able to order unless they are on "the list". So the new question for people in my scenario is, how do you get on "the list" and become qualified?

There seems to be a very big delay between time of provisioning at an address (installing fiber and a new VDSL2 shelf) and delivery of service at an address.

I'm not sure if this is intentional to hold off too many people signing up at once, or there is a big bug in their system. Either way, it needs to be looked into: add more capacity at high demand CO's or fix the location tool bug, maybe the database just needs a mass import of new eligible addresses.

 

[Dr.Dave]

Hi 000. The info that hsantos provided is unofficial. The COs that are scheduled for completion in the spring are in progress and individual locations may already be ready even though the whole CO isn't complete.

According to other posts I've read, the best way to check your availability is by your Bell phone number, not by address. Bell's database is far from perfect and there seems to be problems with particular buildings.

Even though your building has a VDSL2 shelf, there may be other components, connections and/or testing that needs to be done before you're ready for Fibe TV.

 

[hsantos]

I never said it was official. Im just getting this from someone inside that
is informed weekly about the evolution of the project. Maybe its ready but not yet in operation.

I posted the info so people are informed of the deployment and are not expecting too much since more of the action will take place in 2011.

Regarding the demo, I know they had some kind of special setup yes the CO
is almost ready but not yet for the public. And communication is not always clear.

Just be patient... and sorry If I mislead people. But I trust my source.
And will share more If I have.

 

[000]

hi hsantos, I'm not disagreeing with the source of your info, I've heard similar dates elsewhere.

I just wanted to point out that the exchanges, whether partially or fully completed, are able to and are providing IPTV to certain provisioned addresses in their respective areas.

I was more curious to know if you could possibly pass my word along for someone at Bell to express customer sentiment at one of these meetings. All people with VDSL2 inside the footprint should be able to place an order for the service. In advance of mass marketing and the official 'Fibe TV' campaign at your doorstep, I can't see any trouble accommodating a few extra customers-the one's that effectively educate and maybe even persuade their neighbours through word-of-mouth more than than a radio spot or a piece of paper

Since September 13 this is no longer supposed to be an "exclusive" club of specially selected addresses as it was for the trials aka Bell Entertainment Service.

Thanks

 

[hugh]

I am in Etobicoke and just checked my availability. Not until 2012!

Talking about a slow launch!