« Switching from Bell Expressvu to Rogers Cable: What you NEED to know »

A few weeks ago, The Wiz and I decided to finally break free from the chains of satellite TV and ordered cable TV.  Too many times had we been let down by fuzzy programming due to inclement weather. Too many times had the PVR pooched a recorded movie.

Last week was the BIG CHANGE OVER. The snappy Rogers fellow came, he disconnected, he reconnected and voila. Cable TV in all its glory. Ahem….

If you are a hard core Bell Expressvu user, you do NOT EVER want to switch over to Rogers Cable. Not yet, anyways. You don’t realize it, but you have become spoiled by the Bell Programming Guide. Trust me. It’s got a great HD resolution, it lets you see 3 hours of programming in the future on one screen, it lets you see 7 channels of shows at a glance. You don’t think these things are valuable, until they are gone……

The Rogers Interactive Program Guide (IPG) is from 2004. It doesn’t display well on an HD tv, it doesn’t display well with any resolution better than 760. It doesn’t let you do any searching for programs, all you can do is browse by day. You don’t realize how sucky this us until you want to search for a program and have to browse through 30,000 shows that start with the same letter as the program in need….

This isn’t a new problem. People have been complaining about this for years. Funny, in 2004, it wasn’t a show stopper. It’s amazing what 6 years of innovation (or lack thereof) can do. The IPG feels like it should be running on a 386 with Windows 3.1 in order to be viewed correctly. Funny, the image to the left sort of looks like this, if you have a standard definition TV that is smaller than 36 inches. If you have anything else, the fonts are completely distorted, the colours are off and the size is ridiculous.

There are a few other VERY significant problems:

1. There’s no skip ahead button on the Rogers Remote. You know the button, it’s yellow on the Bell remote, and it is your best friend. It gives you the power to skip ahead 30 seconds. It’s the commercial button :-) Rogers actually makes you view everything, albeit at 3times the speed.
2. Rogers added a marketing screen to the IPG, so now you have to hit the guide button twice to get to the guide.
3. There are some wickedly ridiculous buttons on the Rogers Remote, a button to take you to Rogers on Demand… duh.

We lasted all of 45 minutes before we looked at each other and said at the same time “I can’t do this”.

Twenty minutes later, the Rogers boxes were all packed up, and the calls were made to Rogers to cancel (you get a 30 day guarantee), and we were lucky enough that we tried this before our Bell cancellation had been activated, so we were safe on both sides.Turning on the TV and the Bell PVR, we breathed a collective sigh of relief.

I’m sure that eventually Rogers will improve their IPG, (maybe), but right now, there are SO MANY benefits to the Bell Service, we simply couldn’t overlook them in favour of avoiding imclement weather problems……

Caveat Emptor!

Update on Saturday, March 13, 2010 at 10:37PM by jules

There’s been an added, hilatrious twist to this adventure….

I’ve been charged $130 for the priviledge of having the Rogers service for 24 hours.

:-D

Comments

[makayla.]

im 15 years old and i've had bell like, forever, then my mom just made us switch to rogers and i hate it so much! but everyone else in my family loooves it so my mom won't switch back. i think rogers really sucks :(

[belltorogers]

Agreed, I just switched from Bell to Rogers and HATE the IPG...love the internet speeds but the program guide makes the TV service unusable. Unfortunately they are a bit cheaper on the deal I'm on and my old PVR was getting wonky on Bell...choices, cancel now or wait it out for a better IPG?

[Netcommie]

You want spoiled? I had DirecTV up here in Canada (yes, I was one of THOSE people) for over a year, and when I finally lost my service and my Tivo PVR, I went to BellExpressVu. Talk about a let down.

I've seen the Rogers IPG and it sucks, big time. So, since I've not had the inclement weather issues you've had, and not lost a recording, and love the dual LNB setup, etc. I ain't switching. Plus, since I have home phone with Bell, I have a cellphone with them too, so I get the trifecta of a bundle, online billing, and credit card payment option for savings galore.

Now, if a Canadian outfit were to adopt the Tivo model....

[Zoltan Hawryluk]

I just get the local broadcasting with an antenna ... not the old school one with lots of snow and ghosting, but the new digital high-definition signal. It's crystal-clear, 5.1 Surround *and* free. I don't get the specialty stations, but I don't care - what I can't get on broadcast TV I can get via Internet streaming sites.

It has a guide, but it is basic. But I am paying nothing for it, so I can put up with it. :-)

[Vic]

I am a Rogers customer of many years and am thinking of switching. Rogers makes arbitrary changes to the channels we can see and does not communicate with the customer - except to say that there will a price "adjustment" (increase). I don't feel that I am getting my money's worth. I don't even know how to contact them in writing. But they will harass you endlessly on the phone. They have no outlets that you can go to - except to buy things. Sc-ew them!

[DD]

How do Bell and Rogers compare these days?

A long-time Rogers customer (decades), although I am an HD subscriber, I just got a letter from them saying that they are upgrading their network to deliver the current analog TV channels in an all-digital format. They said that, even though I don't currently use an analog TV, I could get a free digital adapter to allow me to use analog TVs on cable and that there would be no change to my Rogers Cable TV services or fees.

So, I went in to the Rogers store and waited in line for about 30 minutes to pick up my free digital adapter. There were only a few left but I got one. I had to go to the checkout so that they could record on my account that I had one of the adapters. This is because they still own the device which you have to give back if/when you cease to be a customer. No problem!

However, at the checkout I was informed that Rogers would start charging me $6.95 per month for using an additional outlet! "But it says there will be no change to my services or fees," I said. The girl said that they hear that all the time and that it doesn't matter what it says in the letter, you will be charged!

I've read the letter several times since and it sure looks the same to me; there will be no change to my Rogers Cable TV service or fees.

Even though I currently use only one outlet, I just don't like their attitude. So, I plan to get off Rogers and try Bell who send me competitive information all the time. One problem is that I also use Rogers for internet, although that is getting slower as time passes and also unreliable.

Does anybody know, realistically, how do the prices compare? I also have a couple of Bell telephone lines, so that would be part of my Bell package.

Thanks for any response.

[jules]

I have kept my internet service with Rogers, but have everything else with Bell.
The pricing for internet between the two are comparable, but the actual service with Rogers is much better in my neighbourhood.
I would expect that the TV programming is comparable --- but it's the services that are the defining factor. The channel guide on Bell is superior, but Bell doesn't do the *Rogers on Demand* service.....

Good luck!!