If you live in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) you have two options when it comes to you high speed internet access. Either you have Rogers@home or you have Bell Sympatico High Speed Edition.

I have not yet used Bell Sympatico in my home, but I have used it at other homes.

When my friend introduced me to world of Bell Sympatico I was not impressed. The service all of a sudden just didn't work, customer support was abominable and when we did get it working the speeds could not compare to the cable speeds I had previously seen.

Now, I will get into the wonders of Rogers@home the internet on cable.

Installation/Setup:

After way too much time with cheap and unreliable 56k dial-up access, I decided it was time for a change. On a Friday morning I phoned Rogers Communications and placed my order for the Rogers@home service (after witnessing the horror with sympatico, my choice was made clear). The customer representative was extremely polite and to my amazement a technician could be at my house two days later on Sunday to connect the service!!! The technician came at the scheduled time and connected his part of the service in under an hour. Since I chose the self installation option (free) I had to do my part and connect the service to my computer itself. PIECE OF CAKE!!! In under 25 mins I was online and could not believe the way the web pages came up instantly!

Speed:

Using 56k dial up access songs took around 20-40 mins to download at a rate of anywhere between 3 to 4.92kb/sec.
SLOW!!!

Using Rogers@home songs take around 15-60 secs at an astonishing rate of anywhere from 36 to 256kb/sec. (I have had speeds much higher on the occasion. Web pages pop up instantly using Rogers@home.

Other:

Now everyone knows that 56k dial up access forces you to choose between the phone or the internet. In order to solve this problem and keep 56k dial up access you have to order a second phone line. Once you add up the total cost for the dial up access which is around $20 a month and then the additional phone line which is around $30-35 dollars (with no additional features) the price can reach well above the cost for Rogers@home. After all of this you STILL don't get even close to the speeds of Rogers@home. Rogers@home does not tie up the phone line or block your cable line. Which means you can now use the phone, the internet and watch tv all at the same time!!!

Price:

Rogers@home costs $45/mo. It's worth every penny.

Extra:

Includes 7 e mail accounts and 70 megabytes of personal web space!






Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 45/mo.
Version Number or Year: 2001