What are the best deals for phone, cable and internet?

[Ben]

Inspired by a new thread kissing goodbye to Bell, I thought I'd expand the topic a bit to include all 3 essential services. What are the best deals out there for home phone, internet, and TV?

My story:

1. Home Phone: basic line from Bell, $24.26/month after tax. Long distance through YAK 3.5c/min. Total for an average month is somewhere around $30, after tax.

2. We have Cogeco Lite internet, for $34.95/month, or $36.70 after tax. I've thought about calling them for a reduction in rates - anyone have a success story on that topic?

3. Until recently we had basic cable from Cogeco. We've cancelled it, and are now spending much more time at the gym! A lot of popular shows are available to stream on the internet (The Office and Til Debt Do Us Part come to mind). So, $0 for TV.

4. And may as well add cell phone for discussion too!

We therefore spend $66.70/month for 2 services. What's your deal?

[FrugalTrader]

Inspired by a new thread kissing goodbye to Bell, I thought I'd expand the topic a bit to include all 3 essential services. What are the best deals out there for home phone, internet, and TV?

My story:

1. Home Phone: basic line from Bell, $24.26/month after tax. Long distance through YAK 3.5c/min. Total for an average month is somewhere around $30, after tax.

2. We have Cogeco Lite internet, for $34.95/month, or $36.70 after tax. I've thought about calling them for a reduction in rates - anyone have a success story on that topic?

3. Until recently we had basic cable from Cogeco. We've cancelled it, and are now spending much more time at the gym! A lot of popular shows are available to stream on the internet (The Office and Til Debt Do Us Part come to mind). So, $0 for TV.

We therefore spend $66.70/month for 2 out of 3 services. What's your deal?

Great idea for a thread! We bundle 4 services with Rogers which gives us a 15% discount on the total price.

We have:

1. Home telephone with caller ID
2. High Speed Internet Extreme
3. Basic Cable with HD PVR box (HD channels included)
4. Basic emergency cell phone (40 min / month)

$126 included tax for 4 services!

[CanadianCapitalist]

Home Phone: Basic phone from Bell ($25) without any bells and whistles. Long distance with Yak and G3 Telecom (we make a lot of overseas calls to family).

Internet: Currently Bell (around $50). I'm planning on switching to National Capital Freenet ($30 for DSL service in the Ottawa area).

Cable: Basic cable from Rogers. We hardly watch but I'm keeping it as I'm waiting for a sale on a HD box.

Cell phones: Two pre-paid phones from Speakout Wireless.

Ben, I wrote about squeezing Bell for a discount here:

Money Tip: Just ask for a discount

It worked until recently, when we got suckered into upgrading to a higher speed ("for the exact same price", said the sales rep and I stupidly agreed).

[MGL]

We've got our services bundled with Aliant. We pay $115 (taxes in) for internet access, basic TV + 1 specialty package, basic cell phone, and home phone.

[Bullseye]

Bell home phone - $30
Bell mid-speed Internet - $25
Cogeco cable - $50
One shared prepaid cell - $8 ($100/year)

I'm a service jumper with my internet. In 2007 I was on a Cogeco promo, then with Acanac last year ($18 taxes in for high speed for first year), and now with Bell for a one year promo.

I was actually happy with Acanac, and would have paid their regular monthly rate, but to get it, you had to prepay a whole year. I refused on principle, and cancelled.

[Sampson]

Out West....

Home phone: $0 (we'll probably add one with Shaw - $19)
Cable: $0 (come on guys - internet tv)
Internet: $40 (-$2 off if we bundle)
Cell phone: $20 - phenomenal Corp. plan

If we had full services, I'd certainly get the bundled packages from Shaw instead of the poor and expensive service we used to get through Telus.

Sounds like the same thing is happening out East, the cable companies are really bringing it to the traditional phone companies.

[archanfel]

Toronto

Cell phone: $75 after tax.
Home phone: $0
Cable: $0
Internet: $18.95 + $8 (dry loop) from acanac, tax included.

[canabiz]

We are with Rogers for home/cable and Internet and we are paying $105/month for all 3 services, taxes and discounts in. We also subscribe to 3 different magazines: Maclean's, Canadian Business and Money Sense as part of Rogers Readers' Advantage Program.

I find Rogers services adequate, nothing to complain about. I put the monthly bill on my credit card to earn points so that's another bonus.

P.S: I had bad experience with Ma Bell before so I am glad I am not the only, judging by articles and comments on Ellen Roseman's site and elsewhere. In addition, I found out today (from an Aeroplan rep) that Bell subscribers no longer earn Aeroplan points. Hope you folks don't have a lot of holdings in BCE ;-)

[FrugalTrader]

Out West....

Home phone: $0 (we'll probably add one with Shaw - $19)
Cable: $0 (come on guys - internet tv)
Internet: $40 (-$2 off if we bundle)
Cell phone: $20 - phenomenal Corp. plan

If we had full services, I'd certainly get the bundled packages from Shaw instead of the poor and expensive service we used to get through Telus.

Sounds like the same thing is happening out East, the cable companies are really bringing it to the traditional phone companies.

I don't mean to thread jack, but what sites do you recommend for internet tv?

[Sampson]

I'm mainly just watching the major networks. The Canadian networks have made strides to bring this stuff to the internet (in the US, all major networks have been streaming their programs for a long time).

CBC - http://www.cbc.ca/television/
CTV - http://watch.ctv.ca
Global - http://www.globaltv.com/entertainment/index.html
BNN - http://watch.bnn.ca/
Comedy - http://watch.thecomedynetwork.ca/

These are all clips, but same day. Once you start watching online, its very liberating, since you can watch in batches, and on your own timeline.