« T Minus 11 Months and Counting.... »

When we first moved into our new house, setting up cable and phones and internet was one of the first things on our list of important things to do. As Rogers isn’t up in our neck of the woods any more (north of Stoufville Sideroad), we had to make some hard choices.

My Primus Talk Broadband phone came with me. I couldn’t give up a 416 land line, not after spending so much time lamenting my 905 area code for so long. I’m probably the only kid in my neighbourhood with a 416 in a sea of 905s. The video store is confused by me.

The Wiz got a Bell phone for work. (Poor guy).
The last things to sign up for were TV and Internet service. The wiz talked me into Bell. It was the first time I’d ever had a taste of satellite TV that wasn’t grey market. You know the funny face you make when you eat something that just isn’t…. good. I made that face.

No more Movies on Demand, no more clear reception regardless of the weather. We bundled TV with Internet. The internet lasted 30 days before we cancelled it, complaining so voraciously to get out of the 1 year contract we were nailed to. ADSL might work in some places, but north of the sideroad, it’s muddy at best. Perhaps we are more than 3 kms from the Bell central office, where DSL comes from, perhaps living on the Oak Ridges Moraine has introduced interesting interference into the copper lines. Regardless of the reason, it was an experiment that went hopelessly awry.

In comes Aurora Cable to light our internet fires. Fast, lovely fast internet service. They wanted to know if we wanted to bundle the internet with their new HD Cable TV. Alas, in our naivety, we signed a 24 month contract with Bell. Cancelling that contract prematurely is worse that the hit you take on withdrawing RRSPs before their prime.

Now, we’ve come 12 months through the 2 year contract, and the service continues to be middling at best, interference, pixilated and the painful expense of paying for something you don’t love. Aurora Cable - we will see you next September!