OT: Tech thread

[buggs]

I was thinking like the Travel thread, we could use a Technology thread. I thought the thread might be more useful than just our lounge type area where things get lost and fade back in time. Cell phone questions, internet carriers, etc.

Sadly as I age, things that would have come naturally to me seem to be more difficult, so I wanted somewhere to ask those types of questions. I can still program a VCR, for what it's worth though.

My current question, to start us off, is does it even matter who you run your cable through for internet/Wi-Fi/etc. services?

We've been on Shaw for a long time but my modem is quite old and underperforming so I'm finally at the point of having to do something. Not been on a contract for quite some time just paying my old rate. Still have my cable boxes for the televisions circa 2005 so they've done their time (I own them, rather than rent them). One or two of our TV's will still need a box of sorts as they're older but still very functional.

Honestly don't care about cable packages/standard television other than watching sports, mostly hockey, some football. So should I just "cut the cable" and have only an iSP? What are your choices for that? Shaw/Rogers (which seems fated to be just Rogers in no time at all) or Bell. Is Starlink a viable option?

What are folks smarter than me doing?

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[Mortimer Snerd]

I was thinking like the Travel thread, we could use a Technology thread. I thought the thread might be more useful than just our lounge type area where things get lost and fade back in time. Cell phone questions, internet carriers, etc.

Sadly as I age, things that would have come naturally to me seem to be more difficult, so I wanted somewhere to ask those types of questions. I can still program a VCR, for what it's worth though.

My current question, to start us off, is does it even matter who you run your cable through for internet/Wi-Fi/etc. services?

We've been on Shaw for a long time but my modem is quite old and underperforming so I'm finally at the point of having to do something. Not been on a contract for quite some time just paying my old rate. Still have my cable boxes for the televisions circa 2005 so they've done their time (I own them, rather than rent them). One or two of our TV's will still need a box of sorts as they're older but still very functional.

Honestly don't care about cable packages/standard television other than watching sports, mostly hockey, some football. So should I just "cut the cable" and have only an iSP? What are your choices for that? Shaw/Rogers (which seems fated to be just Rogers in no time at all) or Bell. Is Starlink a viable option?

What are folks smarter than me doing?

Some good questions. Answers vary somewhat according to where you live.

I've been thinking about cutting the cable, or maybe just keeping the most basic package for local content and adding the sports package, mostly for hockey. Everything else, I could get by streaming. Could probably get that too with a little research. Content providers are rapidly establishing streaming services.

 

[None]

My current question, to start us off, is does it even matter who you run your cable through for internet/Wi-Fi/etc. services?

Depends on location as mentioned above and other factors like what you're actually doing.

If you're actually in Winnipeg then your only real options are BellMTS and Rogers/Shaw. There's a couple resellers and smaller ISPs that operate in a couple of the condos downtown as well but they're pretty much exclusively downtown. For most people I'd suggest just going with whichever of the two will give you the best discount. With more and more people cord cutting they've begun to offer slightly better deals.
One thing to note: Rogers/Shaw doesn't have a lot of fiber to the home yet. As a result BellMTS is the only option for true symmetrical upload/download speeds. If you do anything that might require faster upload speeds you're probably limited to BellMTS.

Outside of the city the options expand a little bit but the quality and availability varies wildly. The best available in a lot of smaller population centers is probably Valley Fiber, outside of that your options might only be satellite, some variation of cellular dish, or DSL. Starlink isn't a viable option in an urban area like Winnipeg and probably not worth it outside of edge cases rurally.


And more specifically about cord cutting regarding watching Jets games legally:
Because the Jets TV rights are split between TSN/Bell and Sportsnet/Rogers you'll need both TSN Plus and Sportsnet Now (Standard) to watch all 82 games assuming you live in Manitoba. Both of those are ~$20/month with a ~15-20% discount if you pay annually rather than monthly.
Alternatively you could get a VPN and just get Sportsnet Now (Premium) for $35/month and whatever monthly cost for the VPN. That would give you access to all NHL games. It's a bit of a grey area ethically but is legal.

My experience with both SN Now and TSN Plus is that they're both absolute garbage. I honestly don't think they even care about the quality of their streaming product. Both would rather you just subscribe to their more lucrative TV packages where you're likely forced to also pay for channels you rarely or never watch. I'd say that most issues are minor but they're so frequent that I'd guarantee you'll be frustrated at times.

 

[Royale With Cheese]

Does anyone have recommendations how I can legally stream Jets games? I have cable but it's basically never used unless I'm watching the Jets. Pretty much the only hockey I watch is Jets games - no other NHL teams or games.

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

Does anyone have recommendations how I can legally stream Jets games? I have cable but it's basically never used unless I'm watching the Jets. Pretty much the only hockey I watch is Jets games - no other NHL teams or games.

TSN is probably your best option for streaming jets games that I know of, but that wont get you all the games. Would need the Sportnet subscription added to get all games

 

[Royale With Cheese]

TSN is probably your best option for streaming jets games that I know of, but that wont get you all the games. Would need the Sportnet subscription added to get all games

So is it basically signing up for their $20 a month streaming plan (or whatever the cost is)?

I hear friends talking about "almost legal" options but have never really paid attention. Is there something I can do there?

 

[Gm0ney]

I was thinking like the Travel thread, we could use a Technology thread. I thought the thread might be more useful than just our lounge type area where things get lost and fade back in time. Cell phone questions, internet carriers, etc.

Sadly as I age, things that would have come naturally to me seem to be more difficult, so I wanted somewhere to ask those types of questions. I can still program a VCR, for what it's worth though.

My current question, to start us off, is does it even matter who you run your cable through for internet/Wi-Fi/etc. services?

We've been on Shaw for a long time but my modem is quite old and underperforming so I'm finally at the point of having to do something. Not been on a contract for quite some time just paying my old rate. Still have my cable boxes for the televisions circa 2005 so they've done their time (I own them, rather than rent them). One or two of our TV's will still need a box of sorts as they're older but still very functional.

Honestly don't care about cable packages/standard television other than watching sports, mostly hockey, some football. So should I just "cut the cable" and have only an iSP? What are your choices for that? Shaw/Rogers (which seems fated to be just Rogers in no time at all) or Bell. Is Starlink a viable option?

What are folks smarter than me doing?

You can play the switching game with Shaw and Bell for cable/internet...last time I switched to Bell my wife and I couldn't stand their cable box interface. Just dumb compared to the Shaw system. We switched back to Shaw and the Blue Curve or whatever it's called now under Rogers.

My Shaw internet is "Fiber 300+" and the MSRP is $100/month, plus a $10/month modem rental. After discounts the total is $75/month + tax.

Running Google's speed test right now, I get 288 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up, with a 56ms ping - all off a Chicago server.

From Speedtest.net, which uses a Shaw Winnipeg server, I get 332 down and 107 up with an 11ms ping.

Anyway, that's enough speed for me. Service is pretty consistent. You should be able to get at least that deal ($75/mo) for a 2 year commitment.

 

[buggs]

You can play the switching game with Shaw and Bell for cable/internet...last time I switched to Bell my wife and I couldn't stand their cable box interface. Just dumb compared to the Shaw system. We switched back to Shaw and the Blue Curve or whatever it's called now under Rogers.

My Shaw internet is "Fiber 300+" and the MSRP is $100/month, plus a $10/month modem rental. After discounts the total is $75/month + tax.

Running Google's speed test right now, I get 288 Mbps down and 12 Mbps up, with a 56ms ping - all off a Chicago server.

From Speedtest.net, which uses a Shaw Winnipeg server, I get 332 down and 107 up with an 11ms ping.

Anyway, that's enough speed for me. Service is pretty consistent. You should be able to get at least that deal ($75/mo) for a 2 year commitment.

Thanks. The problem is I'm currently with Shaw as a subscriber, but not on a plan. So I fully expect I won't qualify. Meaning the logical, cheap option is to go over to Bell for two years. You didn't sell me on that It looks online like they've (Shaw) changed over to Rogers labeling so the packages are "Ignite"; prices aren't as appealing as what you have.

@None Thanks for the detailed reply. I am in Winnipeg for a couple more years so appreciate you clarifying that my options aren't really options, as I expected. I am in an area where Shaw/Rogers has put in Fiber - my daughter has a friend working on a project for the City mapping all that and she confirmed we have it.
We do have a VPN already so Sportsnet Now may be an option. I've been looking at Shaw/Rogers a bit and they have some minor packages with some TV channels that include sports channels - looks like you can get SportsNet 360, SportsNet One, Sportsnet Regionals plus TSN and TSN2. That might get me enough of the Jets games. Not positive though. Looking at the costs for getting TSN/Sportsnet subscriptions may well add up to more than getting a Shaw/Rogers bundle that allows me 20 flex channels.

 

[Guardian17]

Thanks for all the information.

I have been contemplating cutting the cord for a while now.

 

[Gm0ney]

Thanks. The problem is I'm currently with Shaw as a subscriber, but not on a plan. So I fully expect I won't qualify. Meaning the logical, cheap option is to go over to Bell for two years. You didn't sell me on that It looks online like they've (Shaw) changed over to Rogers labeling so the packages are "Ignite"; prices aren't as appealing as what you have.

@None Thanks for the detailed reply. I am in Winnipeg for a couple more years so appreciate you clarifying that my options aren't really options, as I expected. I am in an area where Shaw/Rogers has put in Fiber - my daughter has a friend working on a project for the City mapping all that and she confirmed we have it.
We do have a VPN already so Sportsnet Now may be an option. I've been looking at Shaw/Rogers a bit and they have some minor packages with some TV channels that include sports channels - looks like you can get SportsNet 360, SportsNet One, Sportsnet Regionals plus TSN and TSN2. That might get me enough of the Jets games. Not positive though. Looking at the costs for getting TSN/Sportsnet subscriptions may well add up to more than getting a Shaw/Rogers bundle that allows me 20 flex channels.

I was on a better deal with Shaw right after switching back from Bell. Then that deal was expiring and I called them up and they said ok, how's this? And I said good enough!

But I guess for max savings, you can jump ship. But I'd call Shaw first, say you've been a customer for X years and don't want to leave but this stuff is costing way too much and what can be done...

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

So is it basically signing up for their $20 a month streaming plan (or whatever the cost is)?

I hear friends talking about "almost legal" options but have never really paid attention. Is there something I can do there?

You can share your account with others, as I would let me nephew use my account to watch Jets games. Could split the purchase between a few people and share the account.

 

[None]

Thanks. The problem is I'm currently with Shaw as a subscriber, but not on a plan. So I fully expect I won't qualify. Meaning the logical, cheap option is to go over to Bell for two years. You didn't sell me on that It looks online like they've (Shaw) changed over to Rogers labeling so the packages are "Ignite"; prices aren't as appealing as what you have.

@None Thanks for the detailed reply. I am in Winnipeg for a couple more years so appreciate you clarifying that my options aren't really options, as I expected. I am in an area where Shaw/Rogers has put in Fiber - my daughter has a friend working on a project for the City mapping all that and she confirmed we have it.
We do have a VPN already so Sportsnet Now may be an option. I've been looking at Shaw/Rogers a bit and they have some minor packages with some TV channels that include sports channels - looks like you can get SportsNet 360, SportsNet One, Sportsnet Regionals plus TSN and TSN2. That might get me enough of the Jets games. Not positive though. Looking at the costs for getting TSN/Sportsnet subscriptions may well add up to more than getting a Shaw/Rogers bundle that allows me 20 flex channels.

For what it's worth if you schedule a cancellation with Rogers/Shaw you should get an automatic retention offer emailed to you. It tends to be the same or better deal as what you have with a decent discount. You'd have to sign a 2 year contract and rent their newer equipment but it should still be a better deal.

Expect something like a monthly discount + $100-300 bill credit and a year of Disney+.
The credit will vary based on how expensive your monthly bill comes in at. So if you're not subscribed to literally everything with a $300/month bill you probably shouldn't expect a $300 credit.

 

[Mortimer Snerd]

TSN is probably your best option for streaming jets games that I know of, but that wont get you all the games. Would need the Sportnet subscription added to get all games

SN does 20(ish) Jets games. Are they not all available on either CBC or CITY, which could be streamed?

 

[MrBoJangelz71]

SN does 20(ish) Jets games. Are they not all available on either CBC or CITY, which could be streamed?

I have cancelled my cable all together. If I want to catch all Jets games legally I would need the TSN and SN accounts. I believe there are a couple of weekday games that SN picks up that are only on SN channels.

 

[buggs]

New Tech Topic: Dashcams.

Tell me what you know, please.

Looking at getting them for all of our vehicles. Driving out there seems to be nuttier and nuttier with each passing day and now that we're into the snowy season, seems like it might be prudent.

 

[abax44]

Another simple solution to watching games is Cast Streams. For free you only get the away stream and it's low quality, but certainly watchable for the few games that aren't aired by TSN and CBC. There's a pay option ($30 US) that opens up home feeds, as well as higher quality and higher bitrate.

 

[Gm0ney]

New Tech Topic: Dashcams.

Tell me what you know, please.

Looking at getting them for all of our vehicles. Driving out there seems to be nuttier and nuttier with each passing day and now that we're into the snowy season, seems like it might be prudent.

I've seen enough people just outright lie to MPI about the details of an accident. If both drivers say the other one ran a stop sign then MPI will rule it 50-50 unless there's a witness (witness has to have seen the accident from outside the vehicles involved, so it can't be a passenger). Dash cams will provide corroborating evidence, if it ever comes to that.

Anyway, I've been looking around recently. There's a subreddit that has a guide and some recommended models: Reddit - Dive into anything

Viofo seems like a popular available-on-Amazon brand. This one's got a $60-off coupon right now and seems pretty full featured: Amazon.ca Something Went Wrong / Quelque chose s'est mal passé

 

[abax44]

I've seen enough people just outright lie to MPI about the details of an accident. If both drivers say the other one ran a stop sign then MPI will rule it 50-50 unless there's a witness (witness has to have seen the accident from outside the vehicles involved, so it can't be a passenger). Dash cams will provide corroborating evidence, if it ever comes to that.

Anyway, I've been looking around recently. There's a subreddit that has a guide and some recommended models: Reddit - Dive into anything

Viofo seems like a popular available-on-Amazon brand. This one's got a $60-off coupon right now and seems pretty full featured: Amazon.ca Something Went Wrong / Quelque chose s'est mal passé

Read up on SD cards, as well. You don't want to get the fancy cam and the wrong card that goes and dies prematurely.

 

[buggs]

I've seen enough people just outright lie to MPI about the details of an accident. If both drivers say the other one ran a stop sign then MPI will rule it 50-50 unless there's a witness (witness has to have seen the accident from outside the vehicles involved, so it can't be a passenger). Dash cams will provide corroborating evidence, if it ever comes to that.

Anyway, I've been looking around recently. There's a subreddit that has a guide and some recommended models: Reddit - Dive into anything

Viofo seems like a popular available-on-Amazon brand. This one's got a $60-off coupon right now and seems pretty full featured: Amazon.ca Something Went Wrong / Quelque chose s'est mal passé

Thanks. Precisely the problem. MPI has always defaulted to 50-50 in the absence of witnesses and the odds of anyone these days stopping as a witness is approaching zero. Dash cam may provide evidence in defence (also a chance it may hang you, but that would be the correct outcome anyway if you're guilty of causing the accident).

Appreciate the links.