# rogers home phone - anyone buying it?



## thatcomputerguy (Jan 13, 2005)

we had a rogers rep around our door last night pushing the virtues of the new rogers home phone service. sounds good in some ways, because hey - a little friendly competition for ma bell would be a good thing. but i'm not digging the 2 year contract crap, and the need for a "phone box" (not sure what they are calling it) on my line that requires hydro to work. great when the power goes out. sure it's got a battery in it, but after 6 hours when that dies you're screwed. and if anyone is lucky enough to only have power outages less than 6 hours in this country i'd be amazed.

so the question is - anyone going for it?

me
fence


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## RicktheChemist (Jul 18, 2001)

.


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## thatcomputerguy (Jan 13, 2005)

i think we're talking about a different service. this one doesn't need the router/cable modem nor a high speed connection. it comes in over the tv cable from my understanding, and is then put through the little bos and connected to your regular phone jacks and wiring in the house. it's not supposed to VoIP, according to rogers.com


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

thatcomputerguy said:


> i think we're talking about a different service. this one doesn't need the router/cable modem nor a high speed connection. it comes in over the tv cable from my understanding, and is then put through the little bos and connected to your regular phone jacks and wiring in the house. it's not supposed to VoIP, according to rogers.com


It would be interesting to know how they transmit the voice over the tv cable. as far as I know tha's still VoIP, just not over the public internet.
There a lot of pretty good VoIP services using private networks - Rogers, on their webpage equate VoIP with public internet services which is not correct.

In my mind, the issue is reliability, quality and price.
My cable for instance goes out a lot more than my phone line. I lose cable service at least three or four times a year, my phone line only went out once in the last 45 years. reliability is also the reason I went with DSL rather than cable for the high speed internet connection so I won't miss that super deal on ebay  

And assuming reliability is not an issue and the quality of the voice connection equals what you get with Bell, I would expect to see at least a 10% or better saving before I would consider switching.
Bell's bundle with the $5.00 essentially unlimited (for my use at least) long distance to Canada and the US makes their service a lot cheaper than any competitive prices I have seen.


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

We have Vonage here and from a price savings perspective, it is worth any minor web or cable related annoyances. I think Rogers, Shaw and Cogeco have missed the boat here. They should have saved the infrastructure costs and gone the same route as AT&T, Vonage and Yak.

As it stands now, they are offering a slightly less reliable product for around the same price.

We have every feature known to telephony and no limit on NA Long distance. We have a 416 area code, even though we are 905, which saves most of our freinds and Family a toll.
$40 a month. With Bell or Rogers, in this house it would cost more than $100.


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## depmode101 (Sep 4, 2002)

> great when the power goes out. sure it's got a battery in it, but after 6 hours when that dies you're screwed.


the phone box that has the battery back up is good for 6 hours - this would be long enough for the rogers techs to get out to the local hubs and start up generators that would power the cable line including your phone connection so you shouldnt have any phone line loss.

the reason they settled on the 6 hour battery back up as being sufficent was because the hydro companies said that 99% of power outages are restored within 4 hours.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

iPetie said:


> We have Vonage here and from a price savings perspective, it is worth any minor web or cable related annoyances. I think Rogers, Shaw and Cogeco have missed the boat here. They should have saved the infrastructure costs and gone the same route as AT&T, Vonage and Yak.
> 
> As it stands now, they are offering a slightly less reliable product for around the same price.
> 
> ...


I looked at Vonage a few weeks ago but it seemed more expensive than what I have now with Bell.
This certainly depends on your calling pattern, but perhaps their website is a bit confusing as well. The way I read it is that you require a high speed internet connection. the cheapest I can think of is naked DSL at around $10 per month which you would have to add to the Vonage bill or is that DSL connection included in their package?
What I never realized before (until your post) is that one can pick a different area code than the one where you're located. That sounds intriguing, so if I live in Toronto, I could pick 514, Montreal. Would that mean all my calls to and from Montreal are now local but my calls to and from Toronto are long distance?


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

krs said:


> I looked at Vonage a few weeks ago but it seemed more expensive than what I have now with Bell.
> This certainly depends on your calling pattern, but perhaps their website is a bit confusing as well. The way I read it is that you require a high speed internet connection. the cheapest I can think of is naked DSL at around $10 per month which you would have to add to the Vonage bill or is that DSL connection included in their package?
> What I never realized before (until your post) is that one can pick a different area code than the one where you're located. That sounds intriguing, so if I live in Toronto, I could pick 514, Montreal. Would that mean all my calls to and from Montreal are now local but my calls to and from Toronto are long distance?


Yes, but you can also add a virtual number for Montreal for $7.99 a month and have 2 numbers. Or one in Calgary, Mtl, Van and Toronto. See Virtual Numbers Here 
We already had high speed, so the net for us was to cancel Bell and our LD plan. Bell with 2 services was $42 a month and our LD was running $30 a month minimum.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

iPetie said:


> Yes, but you can also add a virtual number for Montreal for $7.99 a month and have 2 numbers.


is this with Bell or Vonage?


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

I edited my post above and added a link!


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

Her is a good summary of Vonage and it's capabilities.
From CBS news two years ago, so ignore the rates.


> (CBS) "Internet telephony" has been around for several years but, thanks to companies like Vonage, it's finally ready for prime time. Vonage offers a service that lets people with high-speed cable modems or DSL lines to make and receive local and long-distance calls using a regular phone pretty much as they do now. Instead of using traditional phone companies like SBC, Verizon and other "Baby Bells," Vonage is routing the calls through the Internet.
> 
> There is nothing new about Internet telephony. What's different about Vonage is that it's easy to use, requires virtually no change in calling habits and the call quality is as good as or better than a regular phone line. There is a single monthly cost, with no charge for any calls placed in the United States or Canada, and lower-than-usual costs for calls overseas. Most Internet phone services require you to make or even receive calls from a PC. Vonage allows you to use your existing telephone.
> 
> ...


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## Ohenri (Nov 7, 2002)

It all depend what you're looking for. I love the fact that by using vonage, I immediately cut my bill to much less than what it used to be with Bell. And the list of features is extensive. Being able to track all dialed/received calls (kinda CSISish, but oh well...), getting a email alert of voicemail, being able to listen to the v.mail online... Anyhow, seemed like the Rogers one required some additional h/w on top modem/router set-up. 

I have yet to hear some feedback from anyone using the rogers lines...

H!


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

iPetie said:


> I edited my post above and added a link!


I think I'll call and get a bit more information on this.
Typically an existing area code is much larger than the free calling area. For instance, Ottawa and Kingston are both in area code 613, but calls from Ottawa to Kingston and vice versa are certainly not local. Local calling areas are determined by area code and office codes.
Now Vonage makes it sound as if calls from anywhere in an area code that I designate as a virtual number are local calls...I want to find out if that is really true.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I was reading more and more on the Vonage website and things sounded better and better, but then I came across this garbage on their website and now their credibility has just gone down the tubes again.


> Calls to the US
> 
> A Great Deal Just Got Better
> 
> ...


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Not sure what you mean. Nothing in what you posted hurts their credibility. If you are on the unlimited plan, it is unlimited. If you're not, you pay LD. The unlimited plan is $40 CAD. That also includes all services which with Bell would add up another $30-$40 a month.

Calls from Kingston to an Ottawa virtual # would be LD for the caller. Nothing changes there from traditional telephony.

However, I just noticed you live in Belleville. If they don't have a local exchange for you, then Vonage won't work for you at this point. Largely because a local call would wind up being LD for the caller, due to the fact that it is routing through Ottawa.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I overreacted somewhat, sorry.

What got me when I read this was the story of how calls from Canada to the US (and vice versa) were 'international' and how you, as a Vonage customer, now benefit because they have made them normal long distance calls.
The fact is Canada and the US (and also a good chunk of the Caribbean) were always part of the same North-American numbering plan - calls from Canada to the US were never ever international calls.
Anyway, not a big issue - I just get upset when some company that is trying to run a telephone service doesn't have an understanding of some of the basics.

On your other comment, I was looking at this service for my house in Montreal which should be available, but even there it depends exactly where Vonage taps into the telephone network to determine if the Vonage calls are local. I assume it's downtown to give them the maximum local coverage.

Anyway, still sounds like a great service.


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## iPetie (Nov 25, 2003)

Oh, I understand. I would suggest this is the product of a "Marketing Department".


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## thatcomputerguy (Jan 13, 2005)

*but what about the contract?*

i guess the one big question for me is whether or not you have to sign a 2 year contract as is says on the back of the customer information form. the people at the door neglected to mention that when they were around peddling the new rogers service. i hate being locked into a contract. what if the service sucks and is full of problems?

and to respond to an earlier post about the battery - huh. i must live in that area covered by the 1% because our hydro outages are usually longer than 6 hours. sure i could use a ups to give me extra time but that defeats the purpose of switching to save money, because i believe the service won't be any better than bell, so the only real reason to switch is for the savings.


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## psycosis (Mar 29, 2005)

*Vonage Clarification*

For $20/month, I get 500 minutes to call anywhere in North America. 5 cents per call after

For $35/month, unlimited calling within the province, 500 minutes in the rest of North America

For $40/month, unlimited calling within North America

Calls outside of North America available at various rates.

Call Display, Call Waiting, Voice Mail, 3 Way Call and more all included.

You can only get a phone number for certain cities (check Vonage site) no matter where you live. Charges for people calling you are based on the number that you have, not your physical location.

You require high-speed Internet. In case of power/Internet outage Vonage will forward all calls to another number (cell phone).

I am moving into a new place and decided not to get a Bell line since Vonage meets all my needs. I pay $20 per month, all my calls are included since I call over North America, phone extras are included (costs a fortune from Bell) and I already need high speed Internet. Same service as Bell, much lower cost. Not a hard choice for me.


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## thatcomputerguy (Jan 13, 2005)

*update*

so, i finally got ahold of a rogers customer service agent that knew all the answers, and the service around here is actually just the taking over of the bell lines. it's not the same as the "home phone" service they are offering. the service i am getting is all done externally, they don't come into the house at all. no "little box" installed or anything. interesting. maybe they are using us as a test market, this area is famous for that so it wouldn't surprise me.


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## brucemcl (Sep 25, 2005)

*rogers Home phone - only if you like being cheated*

I switched 2 months ago. Technically the service is fine. Enhanced call forwarding is better than Bell.

That said they won't honor their contract, or their promised discounts. They make you sign up for a two year contract and then want a $100 to $200 penalty if you want out of a contract they won't honor. And they charge a $4.25 a month system access fee (pronounced extra profit) which bell dosen't charge which negates any suppoosed saving.

This is a rant but not an ad. If you are considering Rogers home phone I suggest you read about my experience at www.thesqueakywheel.com/complaints/2005/sep/complaint7330.cfm

By the way I was a Rogers shareholder as well for over 20 years until this week. I sold their stock and will never deal with any Rogers product again once my present abuse ends.


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## martman (May 5, 2005)

I always found Rogers to be liars as well. I can't think of how many times they told me that cable intdernet would be available in my area "in 6 months". Took 3 years.


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## martman (May 5, 2005)

iPetie said:


> We have Vonage here ....
> 
> We have every feature known to telephony and no limit on NA Long distance.


I investigated Vonage and there is one featurre they do not offer (unfortunatly). With bell we (my GF and I ) each have a different ring. Same line but two numbers. Bell calles this ident a call. Unfortunatly Vonage doesn't offer this service.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

brucemcl said:


> I switched 2 months ago. Technically the service is fine. Enhanced call forwarding is better than Bell.
> 
> That said they won't honor their contract, or their promised discounts. They make you sign up for a two year contract and then want a $100 to $200 penalty if you want out of a contract they won't honor. And they charge a $4.25 a month system access fee (pronounced extra profit) which bell dosen't charge which negates any suppoosed saving.
> 
> ...


Safari can't find the server www.thesqueakywheel.com. Is there something wrong with the URL.
I would like to understand how Rogers gets out of their contract commitments legally.


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

i've had vonage for about 3 months. no problems at all. it took me about 5 minutes to set it up, compared to 5 or 6 Bell "techs" and a month to get my last Bell line.

i have the $20 per month plan which should be sufficient for everyone who can keep their monthly yakking to 500 minutes. for me that's not a problem.

there is no such thing as long distance if you keep your calls within Canada and the United States. there is only plan minutes, in my case 500 minutes, or with the plan iPete has the number of minutes is unlimited.

i call England occasionally and the rate is something like 3 or 4 cents a minute.

i always resented paying Bell $80 a month for a phone i barely used, not too mentioned the absolute horror Bell has been to deal with (theft and fraud). i won't detail it in this thread because i've already done that elsewhere, but suffice it to say i'm glad to be rid of them, hopefully forever, and i sincerely wish Bell all the worst going forward.


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## martman (May 5, 2005)

krs said:


> Safari can't find the server www.thesqueakywheel.com. Is there something wrong with the URL.
> I would like to understand how Rogers gets out of their contract commitments legally.


I got there ok useing Firefox.


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## TroutMaskReplica (Feb 28, 2003)

brucemcl,

file a complaint with Consumer and Corporate Affairs (ie., the federal government).

all it takes is one complaint and Consumer and Corporate Affairs will come down on Rogers like a ton of bricks.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

martman said:


> I got there ok useing Firefox.


Thanks - yeah, Firefox works fine; I wonder why Safari decides it can't find that website.
Actually an interesting website in general - I need to bookmark it for my complaints.


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

TroutMaskReplica said:


> i've had vonage for about 3 months. no problems at all. it took me about 5 minutes to set it up, compared to 5 or 6 Bell "techs" and a month to get my last Bell line.
> 
> i have the $20 per month plan which should be sufficient for everyone who can keep their monthly yakking to 500 minutes. for me that's not a problem.
> 
> ...


I wonder if anyone has actually read Vonage's Terms of Service. They're rather lengthy with a few surprises like the '911 service' and Vonage's option to unilaterally cancel the service anytime.
I assume Vonage being an internet type service does not fall under CRTC jurisdiction.
As to savings...YMMV seems to apply big time.
My last month's total bill with Bell was $31.61 (tax included) which includes 1000 minutes of US and Canada long distance; in addition to that I pay $10 for basic DSL charged directly to my credit card. I would incur the $10 DSL charge with Vonage as well to get naked DSL to allow Vonage to work and 500 LD minutes per month doesn't quite cut it for me.
What also bothered me about Vonage was the $110.- bill if you subscribe to the service and then cancel (or be terminated by them) within the first year.
I guess everyone has to figure out if Vonage makes sense for their individual situation - it's certainly not a slam dunk.


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## CanadaRAM (Jul 24, 2005)

depmode101 said:


> the phone box that has the battery back up is good for 6 hours - this would be long enough for the rogers techs to get out to the local hubs and start up generators that would power the cable line including your phone connection so you shouldnt have any phone line loss.
> 
> the reason they settled on the 6 hour battery back up as being sufficent was because the hydro companies said that 99% of power outages are restored within 4 hours.


No power is transmitted down the TV cable...this is not a copper phone line...


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

CanadaRAM said:


> No power is transmitted down the TV cable...this is not a copper phone line...


I thought Rogers service actually uses the phone line (tip and ring) from Bell whereas Vonage uses whatever high speed internet service you have - DSL or cable.
In any case, before switching to anything one really has to do their homework to make sure you actually do save money and some basic service you take for granted (like E911 for instance) does not disappear.


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## brucemcl (Sep 25, 2005)

krs said:


> Safari can't find the server www.thesqueakywheel.com. Is there something wrong with the URL.
> I would like to understand how Rogers gets out of their contract commitments legally.


 Krs:
Re Rogers getting out of there contracts legally. If you take them to court on it, you're quite right they won't. But they will not be able to find the recordings they made of the phone conversations and they'll say something like the representative of theirs who came wasn't authorized something like that.

That said I've been to small claims court 3 times with Scarborough Nissan and Nissan Motors Canada, IPC computers and Honda Canada. I've won every time and collected the money every time. Honda Canada was smart enough and gracious enough to admit their (unintentional) mistake and settle the dispute on a friendly basis. I still deal with them and will again. The other companies did not and I will never deal with them again. Scarborough Nissan still wouldn't pay even with a court order. I had to force their bank to release the money to the court. 

So I have no doubt whatsoever I will win. But its a long emotionally draining process and highly questionable for the sake of the $100 penalty. Still if you let them away with it they will just keep doing it won't they?


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## krs (Mar 18, 2005)

I wasn't thinking of small claims court......more along the lines of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.

I think (and I could be totally wrong here) that Small Claims is more appropriate in a situation that is unique to you; this problem with Rogers sounds a lot more generic possibly affecting many consumers and in that case, Consumer and Corporate Affairs needs to address it.


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## brucemcl (Sep 25, 2005)

krs said:


> I wasn't thinking of small claims court......more along the lines of Consumer and Corporate Affairs.
> 
> I think (and I could be totally wrong here) that Small Claims is more appropriate in a situation that is unique to you; this problem with Rogers sounds a lot more generic possibly affecting many consumers and in that case, Consumer and Corporate Affairs needs to address it.


 Yes Krs I intend to write Consumer and Corporate Affairs if Rogers does not do something by the end of this week. I've already written Ted Rogers CEO and Don Moffatt the Senior Vice President of Customer Care ( if anyone else wants their address and fax numbers I can post them if you also have a problem.)
I also intend to write the Ontario Ministry of Consumer and Business Services Competition Bureau re Misleading Representations and Deceptive Marketing practices, also the Fair Business Practices Branch. Their fax numbers are in the blue pages of the Toronto phone book under Consumer Information.
I may or may not take Rogers to court but I absoulutely guarantee this is going to cause them a lot more trouble and expense than it was ever worth in answering these charges and the bad publicity caused by these posts. When someone cheats me I am not a forgiving person and I never ever forget.


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## zeeg (May 27, 2008)

*Roger's Home Phone: DANGEROUS*

911 and other emergency services (ambulance, fire, police) DO NOT WORK when Rogers Home Phone experiences technical problems. And that is every few weeks. We switched to Rogers a few months ago and the phone has been out of service 3 or 4 times, without warning. Recently it has been out for 5 DAYS! In that time, no incoming calls or outgoing calls could be made. (We have two young children, and only one cell phone, which I have while away on business. If there were an emergency or accident at home, we could not reach Rogers.) Additionally, as the phone is connected to the buzzer intercom, no visitors/clients can be buzzed in. When Rogers customer service is reached (from a pay phone) they are unhelpful-- at least two full days of waiting, only to be informed that 'the service guy couldn't get in to the customer' even though instructed to call a neighbor BECAUSE THE ROGERS HOME PHONE WASN'T WORKING.) Then customer service (head office) would not take any responsibility, stating that they had provided good service. So in summary:
*EMERGENCY SERIVICES (911, police, ambulance, fire department) DO NOT WORK WITH ROGERS HOME PHONE when they have techinical problems.
*IF YOU LIVE IN AN APARTMENT/CONDO WITH A BUZZER YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LET PEOPLE IN while Rogers experiences technical problems... we have experienced 8 hour, 16 hour, 24 hour, and recently 80 hour Rogers Home Phone techinical problems (this time attributed to an outside box).
*ROGERS CUSTOMER SERVICE IS VERY VERY POOR. They take two days (that is, waiting between 9 and 5pm) to come, and then didn't follow instructions to get in, and the another 3 days to sort-of fix the problem. When head office is called, there is no admittance of poor services, no attempt to assuage the customer (in fact, I was initially made to feel the problem was my fault), no solutions or customer services provided, such as "We'll provide you with you an interim cell phone, while not admitting liablility", or "We'll correct the problem and credit you for a month". You will be stonewalled-- you will get no higher than middle-management (if that). When I said to customer service "If I was at a restaurant that I went to all the time and I got food with worms in it delivered by an indifferent waiter and I complained, management would say 'Sorry for the bad service and food, and we know you're a long-time customer' and take steps to rectify the situation. Rogers says 'We've provided good service. We have no reason to improve," despite the horrible technical and customer support. But most importantly, here's what Rogers says re: bad service and inability to access 911: "We are not liable."


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## thatcomputerguy (Jan 13, 2005)

*is this thread still going?!?!?*

the difference here, as i said earlier when i started this thread, is that rogers is marketing two services under seemingly the same name. around here the Home Phone is just a reselling of the Bell phone lines, so the service remains the same, but costs slightly less. The other Home Phone service is VOIP which IMHO is never a good idea simply because a power outage will kill the service, or, as Zeeg found out, a problem with your incoming internet means no phone either.


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