When we moved, I switched our Bell service completely over as-is to the new place. We're getting a pretty good deal, so I figured what the heck.
Bell didn't show up when they promised, so I wasn't here. The electrician let them in, and Bell's technician decided that our wiring was too old, and he put in a new demarcation box (where the line enters the house). He also wired up one jack only.
In the basement. So we could only hook up our phone, internet, etc downstairs. I called Bell to get the scoop on new jacks, and was told they cost $99 for one, and $55 for each one thereafter. Holy cannoli! While I was trying to schedule the technician to come back, my cordless phone started to beep because the battery was low. I warned the agent that I'd have to call back, and asked what ticket number I should quote. He said "it'll just be another minute." And then I went dead. So I didn't call back, and fumed instead.
Then Vincent reminded me that the various phone/internet/TV companies in Canada are engaged in a huge war right now, since number portability* just started. So I called Rogers, and they got me a great deal that would have saved us almost $100 in the first four months -- primarily due to one thing: Bell charges you through the nose for new jacks, and Rogers charges just $10 a pop. Crazy!
I signed on to the Rogers deal for phone, long distance, and internet. I determined though that we would eventually be paying more, and the savings would be eaten up unless we switched back. So this morning I called Bell and asked if there was some way to fix this situation because "I really like working with Bell and would prefer to stick with our current setup."**
They cut me a new deal that involved a 50% discount on the new jacks (still pricey really) plus a discount on our internet if we sign a 24-month contract. I ran the numbers*** and figured that we will still be saving money -- both in the short term and the long term. As long as Bell doesn't pull any surprises. But sheesh!
So anyway, we should have more than one phone jack next week. Finally!
* Number Portability means that Canadians can now change phone companies but keep their phone number. This was seen as a barrier to competition, since people like to keep their phone number.
** Not entirely a lie: Rogers blocks unencrypted BitTorrent traffic, while Bell doesn't. Woo!
*** Can I just say how royally fucked it is that I needed to create a big spreadsheet just to figure out which deal is better for us? I mean, I understand why they make it complicated, but for ![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
petele's sake! (teehee)
