After a welcome to 2015 price bump to $120.90 + tax by my current (Internet 25mb / TV Basic / Home phone 1 feature) provider Shaw , I decided to shop around and see what is available. I was looking for no contracts at all, so month to month. As of January 23rd, 2015 you can cancel any service without 30 days notice, so it seemed like a great time to shop around! I also wasn’t going to switch providers every 6 months from one company to another either, so I was looking for a more permanent solution.
The following is what I was able to find for the total of $80.45 . There might be better deals, but I was happy with what I found:
1. Cable internet 25mb down / 2.5mb up, unlimited bandwidth (better than now) – $36.95
2. Digital Home Phone 11 features / 200 North America minutes / ability to transfer number. (better than now) – $9.50
3. Basic TV service – 125 channels / 20 HD / music channels. (similar to now) – $34.00
Old yearly total after tax: $1624.90. New yearly total after tax 1081.25. This ads up to almost $550 in saving per year. I also have 10 additional home phone features, cheaper long distance, unlimited internet, all of which I didn’t have before.
Internet Service Benefits / Downsides
I started my research with Internet and found out what many probably do not know: Shaw / Telus have to, by law, to lease their lines to smaller companies as to keep competition alive and kicking. Those smaller companies do not have big resources to advertise, so most never heard of them. So basically you can have the same quality internet, through same wires for much less. Another benefit is that you would have no cap in many cases on how much you use per month. Telus and Shaw will limit you to 150gb or 250gb etc. for different plans. Do remember that you may need to purchase / rent a modem, however this is no different from getting a service from Shaw / Telus. TIP: If you are looking for great deals on modems, I highly recommend searching for used ones on http://www.amazon.com/ . After a quick search I found modems for under $20.
Benefits for switching: Same quality connection, no bandwidth limits, no downtime, much cheaper.
Potential downside for switching: There might be installation fee involved, and you may need to rent a modem if you do not have your own.
Company I switched to: http://lightspeed.ca/
Home Phone Service Benefits / Downsides
There are many companies that are fighting for Home Phone market. With almost everything on cell phones right now, this might sound very strange to some younger audiences. However, there is a familiarity of using the Home Phone service that many still cling on to, including me. Some companies that I have seen that use Digital Home phone service: Shaw, Fido, Primus, Vonage. I can probably add 20 more companies, but these are the bigger ones. Digital home phone is almost the same as the regular home phone, with few differences. Digital home phone signal travels through your internet connection. You need to have internet connection in order to have Digital Home phone. This technology has evolved so for end user there shouldn’t be much difference. TIP: Only Telus does not use Digital Home phone, they use the old wires – the ones that were on Telephone Poles! Due to some innovations in technology they still use those same wires to deliver not only phone, but also Internet / TV service.
Benefits for switching: 10 additional home phone features, 200 North America minutes, 1.9c Canada and 2.0c USA minutes after you spend 200 free minutes, apps for cell phones to get cheap long distance, keep the same phone number.
Potential downside for switching: Only downsides are when you switching from Telus 1. No service when you have no internet 2. Additional box for connection.
Company I switched to: http://www.yak.ca/
TV Service
About this one I do not have much to say, except that for some reason Telus offers basic channels for much less than Shaw, so I selected them. For many you can just stick with Netflix and Internet streaming and not even pay for TV. Or you can get free over the air channels (CBC , CTV, Omni, PBS etc.) with an antenna. You may need to test what kind of reception you get in your area.
TIP 1: Purchase a refurbished Telus PVR at Future Shop / Best Buy / London Drugs. I got $50 credit and paid the box $50, in other words it was free. The box is like new and carries a full 3 year warranty.
TIP 2: Telus often offers discount pricing if you are new customer. Go to following page for latest offers:
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