Fibe, Questions..

Moving to Fibe TV from Bell TV

I'm considering the jump from satellite (BellTV) to Fibe TV for obvious reasons: no signal loss during storms, the ability to watch PVRed content on separate TVs,... I looked (quickly) through the forums but still have some questions:

1. Has anyone else done this? Any issues switching from a BellTV plan to Fibe TV?

2. Is the picture quality comparable?

3. Does the new FibeTV menu act much like the BellTV menu (multiple guides which you can create, proper Search function,…)?

4. Is there a skip commercial button (30 secs forward and 10 secs back)?

5. If I PVR an HD program, I suspect I couldn't watch this program back on an SD set.

6. From what I've read in these forums, they suggest you get the Fibe6 internet package instead of the Fibe12 because FibeTV bumps your download speed up. Is this true?

7. Lastly, I know this is for a different forum but I expect anyone reading also has experience with Bell's Fibe internet. How is it? One of the reasons I left Sympatico HSE was that it wasn't reliable or fast. I've had no problems with Rogers hi-speed for the past year, but I could save $$ by switching and bundling. Is Fibe internet reliable?

3: You can customize the guide and there's a pretty cool search function too. I don't know how it compares to Bell TV though.
4: Yes, there's a 30 second skip button and a 7 second back one.
5: There's no such thing as an SD receiver for FibeTV. They're all HD enabled.
6: At the moment, you can't get anything other than Fibe6 with FibeTV. When the TVs are off, you get around 23mpbs down and 4mbps up.
7: I switched to Fibe7 (i'm in montreal) from cable when I got FibeTV. So far, it's been pretty reliable and have not experienced any issues.

This is while my wife is watching TV...

I just changed from Bell satellite to Fibe and its a easy processes , the only thing thought is if the existing receivers are not yours they will send pre-paid boxes for you to ship your receivers by purulator ( this in Quebec ) or they will charge you ( i know this because at FIBETV they didn't know that the receivers that i had were mine ) . The technician when it came only took the old modem and brought a new one ( Cellpipe 7130 , N not G like the white ones ) .

The quality in SD is exactly the same in HD i found some channels to be better not all but some and no loss of signal .

The interface is IMO way better than the existing Bell satellite , the search function also much better .

On the internet side everything works great i was with FIBE16 and i have the same download speed when i have 3 tv`s working ( around 14 mbps but a higher upload 2.73 ) with no receivers working i`m on the 24 and the upload on the 4.50 . In order to have FIBE TV to work they will give you FIBE 25 , but they only charge you FIBE 7 there's no FIBE6 . I asked the technician why bell doesn't have a higher bandwidth compared to there competitors in cable and he told me the in the near future they will have a 50mbps service .

For me it was the best change till now lets wait for the first bill .

What is the point of Fibe?

The oddest thing to me is I see no real point to Fibe on Bell's website so figure ask the people on the net since they know more than any CSR.

I currently have Bell TV (Express VU) & Bell Internet (Sympatico DSL). Now I have heard talk from many people at Bell for quite a few years now about how the IPTV (Fibe) would "change the game" and be so much "better" than cable or satellite that when it launched I of course went to try and research it.

But after looking at website I am left scratching my head. From the website:

What makes Bell Fibe TV better than cable?
Stunning picture and sound quality
Whole Home PVR – a Bell exclusive
Record up to 4 shows at once and get 100 hours of HD recording capacity included
100 HD channels-the most in Canada
Flexible programming – choose more of the channels you really want
Stop paying for the same channel twice – for every standard definition channel you get, receive the HD version at no extra charge
Advanced Search - stop scrolling, start watching - our keyword search feature makes it faster and easier to find more of what you want to watch
Cutting-edge interface - beautifully designed screens make navigating simple
The fastest channel change of any digital TV service
The Bell Install - complete, customized setup1

And this is only the beginning. As Bell Fibe TV advances, you’ll receive automatic updates for new features and enhancements on a regular basis

Click to expand...

Stunning picture quality - still 1080I to the best of my knowledge
Whole home PVR - assuming you need/want to buy more than 1 PVR on other systems
100 HD Channel - blah blah blah, same as regular tv, this means like 15 free HD, 15 premium HD and a bunch of pay tv HD, all of which are available on Bell TV or Rogers
Stop Pay for channel twice - this is what they claim, but the cost of service is almost identical to ExpressVu when I went through packages
Advanced keyword search - assumes the tv listings are accurate as the current theme search is very buggy, & I think most people will search by show name
...

I was expecting more channels (maybe some they cant offer due to satellite bandwidth) or something more obviously better. Only thing Bell seems to point to is a better HD box (gui, fast channel switch, search)

Is there something I am missing here???

Cable/Satellite are broadcast systems - meaning you get all the content available coming at you all the time. This makes VOD and other advanced services more challenging and more restrictive. IPTV on the other hand, delivers to you only the content you are watching or recording at the time. What is sent to you over your IP connection is completely configurable and dynamic.

Most of the capabilities of Cable/Satellite and IPTV are the same - ability to "tune" to a station and watch or record it. But the features possible with IPTV are far more extensive. For example, you could define a custom set of channels and see a tiled view of those channels. You could start watching a recording on your TV, pause, and continue watching on your cellphone or computer.

Because the video stream delivered to you is switched, there is really no limit to the number of channels, unlike with Cable which has a limited bandwidth (large, but still finite). This makes Cable companies choose which channels they will deliver. Rogers has started to compress some HD channels to fit more in. With IPTV, there would be no need to compress to enable more channels (but compression is important to limit the bandwidth required and permit more concurrent streams given a fixed bandwidth).

You can check out the possibilities by seeing what AT&T has done with their U-verse service. Of course who knows what Bell might do in the future, but the possibilities are there.