[weiner]

Hi Folks...

I am hoping to gather some insights and advice on understanding Bell's services. We have been using Bell HSE for many years (10 +) basically wired into one computer.

We are now looking into basically a full household upgrade... Upgrading the home computer, picking up an Apple TV, perhaps a Sonos and iPad later this year.

For now, the wireless service / modem /router is our first step. After reading a few threads it seems like the plan would be to get Airport extreme to do the routing and only use Bell's as a modem only? I am curious if that is a lot of tinkering or fairly straight forward, or bell configures it how you want... and of course if the apple router is worth it. Are there any others that have done this and can share some advice?

Also, our current service plan is not capped so these Fibe usage caps are a little concerning. I would like to measure our current usage myself so at least I can have a ballpark of what we would need/use. I assuming everything thing is considered usage from a torrent to, streaming a hockey game, to having internet radio stations on for hours, to downloading a movie in apple TV?? So if any one has ideas how I might be able to gauge my usage please give a reply. (I see teksavvy has higher caps)


Thanks so much for reading.

 

[hugh]

Setting up a router is extremely easy provided you follow the instructions. If you are an Apple household then the Extreme is an excellent choice though you can use routers from D-Link, Linksys, Netgear and so on.

Regarding usage, does Bell not provide that information through a log on? If not, there are software applications you can get that will measure your usage for Windows. Not sure what is available for Mac but I'm certain a Mac owner could help you.

 

[topherpaquette]

with Bell Internet, I know that you can log into self-serve and view your unbilled data at anytime so you can use that service to view your usage on a day to day basis. For what you are suggesting using Fibe for, you will easily exceed 100GB a month, maybe even closer to 150GB per month. I use MLB.tv on both my Apple and PS3 and my average monthly usage is around 110GB. I do not use torrents or internet radio, that usage is based on light computer use and viewing about 25 baseball games a month (Tiger Games) on MLB.tv. We do not have Fibe but use DSL with the $10 a month 80GB insurance plan and that usually covers our usage. Apple AirPort will do exactly what you are looking for, but if I may recomend take a look into Time Capsule which incorporates AirPort as well as a wireless backup and storage solution.

Hope this helps.

Cheers

 

[weiner]

thanks so much

Thanks so much for replying all the info is very helpful...

just an fyi for any mac user wanting track usage, I found a useful little freeware monitor called "Surplus Meter" to compare with bell's meter.

thanks again