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1Canadian
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Joined: 15 Jun 2023
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Location: Thornhill
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 Posted: Thu Jun 30, 2023 7:54 am Post subject: Rogers VOIP Launch |
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| Rogers has announced its VOIP service will launch in the GTA on July 1. The Globe and Mail reports that the service will be priced at $35 for six features with long distance rates consistent with Sprint LD rates. Rogers' acquisition of Sprint also closes July 1 and the rebranding is to start immediately. |
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1Canadian
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Joined: 15 Jun 2023
Posts: 6
Location: Thornhill
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| Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2023 12:52 pm Post subject: |
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| Rogers has announced its VOIP service will launch in the GTA on July 1. The Globe and Mail reports that the service will be priced at $35 for six features with long distance rates consistent with Sprint LD rates. Rogers' acquisition of Sprint also closes July 1 and the rebranding is to start immediately. |
The price is $35.95 for a bundled package with other Rogers services. There is a $5.00 a month package with 1000 minutes of North American long distance (5 cents a minute after 1000).
Rogers empahsizes that its service differs from Internet telephony. While it uses VOIP technology, it operates independently of the users' internet connection (internet service from Rogers or anyone else is not required). It is hardwired to house/apartment telephone system (allowing use of all outlets in the house), has a 6-hour battery backup in case pf power failure and includes 9-1-1 and 4-1-1 services.
I have used Sprint Canada's home phone service for abput 7 years. Now that Rogers has also acquired Sprint, I will be interested to see how long it takes them to ask me to switch to the VOIP system on Rogers' cables so that they can cease paying Bell Canada rent for the copper wire. The FAQ is a bit vague, but I am assuming Rogers will not sign-up any new home phone accounts that rely on Bell's copper wire and will try to ween the existing customers to VOIP as soon as it is available in their region.
One concern I had was about connecting my home alarm. Rogers' FAQ indicates the service is compatible with most home security systems and the way it is wired suggests it should work. The alarm companies will probably caution users about an unproven technology.
The potential 30% savings on a home/long diatance package is attractive so I'll be watching for reports on reliability of the VOIP system.
A recent media interview with one of the Shaw family acknowledged that one of the biggest challenges in offering telephone service was getting its engineers and technicians to think like a phone company rather than a cable company. With TV cable a few minutes outage is not a very serious issue - so the easy way to do upgardes: splice cables, disconnect and reconnect, etc. was the rule. Such outages are not acceptable with telephone service so the engineers now must plan around maintaining 24-7 service. I have noticed that Rogers has had far fewer service interruptions - Internet or TV - in my area since it upgraded the fibre and coax last summer, in anticipation of VOIP so maybe they too are changing the way they think.
With cell phones also available for emergencies, I am not so concerned with a few seconds outage on the telephone and have to gamble on the odds that someone will try to burgle my house during a temporary VOIP outage. |
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mtayeb
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Joined: 01 Aug 2023
Posts: 774
Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2023 3:29 pm Post subject: |
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| One concern I had was about connecting my home alarm. Rogers' FAQ indicates the service is compatible with most home security systems and the way it is wired suggests it should work. The alarm companies will probably caution users about an unproven technology. |
I would argue that, until phone over cable becomes the norm, that using Rogers digital phone service would provide ADDED security over a regular telephone line. Criminals will think to cut your telephone line before breaking into your house, but how many will actually think of cutting your cable TV wire? |
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Admin
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Joined: 20 Dec 2023
Posts: 1773
Location: Lurking in the backwoods of Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2023 7:11 pm Post subject: |
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One concern I had was about connecting my home alarm. Rogers' FAQ indicates the service is compatible with most home security systems and the way it is wired suggests it should work. The alarm companies will probably caution users about an unproven technology.
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Larger alarm companies buy the second unused pair from Bell's drop to tie your alarm into their emergency panel. If people start making largescale movement over to VOIP, you might find that this is the only use you have left for that wire from Bell 
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Analog-X
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Joined: 10 Jan 2023
Posts: 621
Location: Brampton, On, Canada
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| Posted: Mon Jul 04, 2023 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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Cogeco has been testing VOIP with existing customers over a year now and I know of a friend who recently switched to VOIP.
I'm surprised Rogers didnt avertise it more on their 680 news AM Station. |
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lobotiger
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| Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2023 9:38 am Post subject: |
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I don't know if it's been stated yet or not but I found out that Rogers' phone service is not compatible with pulse dialing equipment. This includes some alarm companies which are still installing them as such. I was going to go on the Rogers' phone service but found out that my alarm system was setup as pulse. The bastids from the alarm company want $175+gst to come over and change it to tone. Boooooo.
LoboTiger |
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1Canadian
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Joined: 15 Jun 2023
Posts: 6
Location: Thornhill
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| Posted: Wed Aug 17, 2023 9:40 am Post subject: |
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I don't know if it's been stated yet or not but I found out that Rogers' phone service is not compatible with pulse dialing equipment. This includes some alarm companies which are still installing them as such. I was going to go on the Rogers' phone service but found out that my alarm system was setup as pulse. The bastids from the alarm company want $175+gst to come over and change it to tone. Boooooo.
LoboTiger |
Maybe not - according to this information from Rogers, Rogers will cover the cost:
"Thank you for emailing the Rogers Home Phone Service Electronic Support team.
We would be more that happy to assist you with your concerns.
The Rogers Home Phone (RHP) service is a new service and provided over Rogers secure Cable Network, in contrast to services like Primus, that run on the public internet. For this reason, the RHP service is very secure and supports most home alarm monitoring services.
The systems tested include panels provided by the following Alarm Installation and Monitoring Service companies:
ADT
Alarm Force (With and without line-cut technology) Brinks Chubb Counterforce Protectron VoxCom And many others.
However, please note that if you have an older alarm panel (ie. more than 5-6 years old), your alarm panel may need to adjusted by an alarm company technician, from the older pulse format (used by the panel to communicate to the alarm company's monitoring centre) to the newer touch tone format. In order to provide excellent customer service, please note that Rogers will cover any customer costs related to the alarm company's visit, to adjust the customers panel. However, this will depending on how long it takes for the alarm company to send an alarm technician to the customer's home, after the RHP installation.
Points of interest regarding the Rogers Home Phone service :
1) The Rogers Home Phone service supports two-way voice alarm systems - where the monitoring center can make announcements to the customers home alarm panel.
2) Line Cut technology also operates with Rogers Home Phone service.
With Rogers Home Phone Service the Line Cut technology will send a wireless alarm signal when the alarm is has been tripped, regardless of whether the line (Rogers Cable) into the house is cut or not.
As our service is relatively new, some monitoring companies may not be up to date on the Rogers Home Phone service. They may have the misunderstanding that Rogers Home Phone service is the same telephone services that travel across the public Internet (Voice Over Internet -
VOIP) and are susceptible to the same potential slowdowns and interference as all Internet traffic. However, the Rogers Home Phone service has been designed to be a primary line replacement service which travels across a dedicated, monitored, private cable network which will work with the majority of monitored home alarms.
We continue to work with the Canadian Security Association (CANASA) and individual alarm companies to update them on the benefits of the Rogers Home Phone service and that based on testing in Canada and the US, Rogers Home Phone service will work the majority of monitored alarms.
If you have any further concerns regarding the Rogers Home Phone service, please refer to the URL shown below and refer to the link "Home Phone" on the left-hand column :
http://www.rogers.com
If you have any further questions or comments regarding our service, please email us at the address listed below or contact us by phone at 1-866-377-3771.
Regards,
Anil M.
Rogers Yahoo!Hi-Speed Internet
Electronic Support Group"
I would give Rogers a call and see what they will do for you. |
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