[ExDilbert]

Start's strong point is their customer service. I agree with that assessment for their TV service. Their internet service is comparable in price and other respects to other TPIAs. In recent months, Rogers has dropped their prices to TPIA levels so it makes TPIAs look less attractive. I've got to wonder what would happen to Rogers prices if the major TPIAs went out of business.

 

[emmy1500]

Prices would go up for sure. They are the only thing forcing the major Telco's to offer anything reasonable.

It's why they are so desperate to keep competition out of the cellular business as well.

 

[Webacons]

Rogers pricing is not improving. I was with their cable tv package and they doubled my bill, forcing me to take their new Ignite TV, internet-based. It was installed in my home 9 days ago and I haven't had my home phone working since then. They are sending a 4th tech to "fix" the problem, but I have no faith in them anymore. As soon as they fix what they broke, I want to switch my service, probably to Start TV. Is that internet based also, or is it cable? I hope whatever my phone problem is, it won't follow me to another company.

 

[Jorgek]

Start TV is internet based.

 

[ExDilbert]

Rogers uses a proprietary VoIP system for its phone service. Start telephone is standard VoIP like many other home phone services these days. VoIP is a crowded market. Better deals can be found, especially with DIY solutions like voip.ms or "free" services like Fongo.

Start uses a proprietary Android based IPTV box. It doesn't run standard Android apps. It would be worthwhile to compare Start TV with Teksavvy TV. Neither have all the features and channels that Rogers IPTV has and each has their own advantages. Start TV has PVR, Teksavvy TV doesn't. Start TV used a proprietary box, Teksavvy TV uses an app that is supported on several standard media boxes. Channel lists, packages and prices differ as well. Each service has deal killers for me. Teksavvy TV sources its channels from a Chatham area cable company. Not sure where Start TV sources its channels but picture quality is very good.

 

[Jorgek]

I have Start internet and home phone VDSL service. Been doing good for almost 2 years. No drop outs or having to reset the Smart RG 505N modem or the Grandstream ATA. The audio quality on VOIP is outstanding.

I don't think that Start TV is a good deal. You can get better with a bundle from Rogers or others.

The customer service is excellent. People who speak English, friendly, and are tech savvy. Start Comm. hires Canadian rather than outsourcing to some off shore site. Any company that supports Canadians is my preference.

 

[57]

Start Comm. hires Canadian rather than outsourcing to some off shore site. Any company that supports Canadians is my preference.

All Rogers CSRs are located in Canada - typically New Brunswick and Ontario. Bell, on the other hand, off-shores a lot of CSRs.

 

[ExDilbert]

I don't think that Start TV is a good deal.

I arrived at the same conclusion. The channel packages seem rather large and inflexible, requiring the most expensive package for some popular channels. That bumps the cost close to Rogers Ignite levels. PVR time has increased from 10 to 50 hours but is still not enough. The TV box is relatively expensive, proprietary and is limited in features. They need to address those issues to become competitive.

 

[Jorgek]

Bell, on the other hand, off-shores a lot of CSRs.

Thats why I left Bell! A Canadian company should be hiring locally. Why should our dollars go to supporting forign staff.

Yes I'm pleased that Rogers also supports Canadians!

 

[dmbcanada]

Just dropped Rogers as I was told I could no longer get Digital TV and I would need to switch to Ignite. Was offered a entry level deal, but have heard of the nightmares of Ignite. Will be signing up with Start, had them for Internet and Voip previously and was impressed by service and quality. Hoping TV works, even though I will be paying a bit more it is better than doing the yearly cancel/renew dance with Rogers.

 

[LONSat]

I know someone who has Start for all 3 - TV, internet and phone. I occasionally see pixelation when watching a show. Doesn't happen on a regular basis but it does. Because it is cloud based recording I found it slow to respond to rewind and FF commands but in line with expectation. I think the biggest annoyance is having to log back into the TV service if the service has totally gone down and a login is required again. Just make sure your password is easily keyable on the on screen keyboard. They do have great customer service though.

 

[bev fan]

Start services are to expensive for a third party provider. Might as well go with Bell or Rogers and have better service for less money.

 

[andisosc]

Start.ca - TV and Internet service not reliable, and not satisfactory!


So I convinced my sister to switch from Cogeco to Start.ca starting in January. Start promised faster Internet for less, and a comparable TV package compared to Cogeco. It came down to getting what you pay for I guess.

Although the Internet service was being provided by Start.ca using Cogeco lines, the Internet kept dropping. It had the promised speed of 100 Mbps, however it would just pause for no particular reason, at different times of the day.

On top of that, the Android set top boxes for the 3 TVs in her home would freeze on the Start TV app, which required either rebooting the box itself, or having to force quit the app from the Settings menu. This would happen 1-4 times per day in the first couple weeks of having the service. And at other times, the TV guide menu would just not populate on the screen - you would see the times and channels on the rows and column labels, but the shows themselves would just appear as blank blocks on the screen. Again, you had to reboot the box or force quit the app on the Android box to rectify it, only to have it happen again a few hours later.

And finally, she also wanted to move her telephone number from Cogeco to Start. We were promised there would be no problem porting the number from an old business number over to a residential number if the address and names matched, which they did. After 6 weeks of attempts, the number was still not ported over, however Start was charging her for the telephone service that wasn't yet activated.

So, in summary: Interruptions in Internet service quality, poor performance on TV service, and billed for telephone service that could not be provided.

After 6 weeks of this, we have moved her back to Cogeco, who agreed to match Start's price (and offered an even better channel package with a guaranteed price for 2 years) just to get her back.

I would NOT recommend Start.ca service to anyone based on this recent experience!

 

[Lennyola]

Sadly I have to agree that Start.ca TV is just not there yet in regards to reliability. I wanted so badly to like it because I was so happy with their Internet service. I had even purchased their modem. However after having Start.ca TV for over a year now we are seriously considering switching back to Cogeco We currently have two Start.ca TV android boxes feeding into a master bedroom TV and into our living room TV. The living room TV is connected directly to our router via ethernet and the master bedroom TV is connected by Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi signal in our home is excellent/full bars all the time. But with that said our experience has been one of an almost daily routine of having to unplug or shut off the android boxes and then restart them in order to solve a number of issues that continually keep popping up. Some of these are are, occasional freezing, buffering issues, audio issues, and the mic not working on the living room remote. We also have an Apple TV box and we have never once experienced any of these problems when using it. I believe that the android box that is used by start TV is wholly substandard and not up to the task. I never thought I’d be saying I am going to go back to Cogeco but it looks like that is the direction we are heading. In my experience the Start.TV technicians have always been helpful and polite But when we sit down to watch TV we just want to warch TV and not have to go through a troubleshooting routine once every 24 hours.

 

[ExDilbert]

Things that prevented me from switching to Start TV were bad reports and the high cost of Start TV hardware, and lack of value in the TV packages. As bad as our current hardware is, it appears to be better than the Start hardware and provides true PVR functionality. The full Start TV package is almost as expensive as our current grandfathered TV plan but provides significantly fewer channels, some that we watch. Start TV's packages are monolithic and provide no advantages, such as pick and pay, over our current package.

 

[Lennyola]

UPDATE - SEPT 2020

Sadly I have come to the conclusion that Start.ca TV is just not there yet in regards to reliability. I wanted so badly to like it because I was so happy with their Internet service. I had even purchased their modem. However after having Start.ca TV for over a year now we are seriously considering switching back to Cogeco We currently have two Start.ca TV android boxes feeding into a master bedroom TV and into our living room TV. The living room TV is connected directly to our router via ethernet and the master bedroom TV is connected by Wi-Fi. The Wi-Fi signal in our home is excellent/full bars all the time. But with that said our experience has been one of an almost daily routine of having to unplug or shut off the android boxes and then restart them in order to solve a number of issues that continually keep popping up. Some of these are are, occasional freezing, buffering issues, audio issues, and the mic not working on the living room remote. We also have an Apple TV box and we have never once experienced any of these problems when using it. I believe that the android box that is used by start TV is wholly substandard and not up to the task. I never thought I’d be saying I am going to go back to Cogeco but it looks like that is the direction we are heading. In my experience the Start.TV technicians have always been helpful and polite But when we sit down to watch TV we just want to warch TV and not have to go through a troubleshooting routine once every 24 hours.

Edit by 57. Unnecessary Quotes Removed. Duplicate Text removed.