Wednesday, January 21, 2009

switched to Eastlink

I now have a new Internet provider. I've left Aliant and joined Eastlink.

I had wanted to get cable tv for a while now. I was stuck in a stupid Aliant cell phone plan until last December. After that misery was finally over with it freed up some money. I already have cell coverage anyway from Rogers. So based on what I was paying Aliant anyway for internet and an unused cell phone; for only about $10 a month more than I was paying anyway I now have internet, a cell phone number and cable tv with Eastlink. I got the regular cable plus the Super Pak so I get the sports entertainment I like plus the kids channels the kids like.

The Eastlink service was pretty good. When I ordered it the person was knowledgeable and got the order down quickly and properly. They said they would be by between 8-10 AM and the tech did arrive at 9 AM. The technician was good. He had it all set up properly in half an hour. He was pretty friendly. So far everything is working fine with the tv and the internet. A good start so far.

I should get a better tv though; maybe this year I'll get some basic HD tv. The tv I have is a very small giveaway. It's about 20 years old. But it works well enough for my purposes. I'm really not much of a tv watcher. Most of tv is so painfully boring. And the stuff I'm interested in like some sports, football, the economy, etc. the tv [and newspapers] always just skim over and never get into good in depth discussions like it is on the internet.

As for Aliant. When I verified the Eastlink was working properly I called to cancel my Aliant high speed. They said I need to take the old DSL modem back to the dealer I got it from in Bayers Lake. I don't know why they would want that Siemens modem that the power switch doesn't stay down on back but they can have it.

Plus of course there was an Aliant billing scam. The rep informed me that the internet service would be cancelled the next day. However they will continue to bill my account for an additional 30 days of service because I didn't give them "notice" that I was cancelling. If they wanted to round it up to the end of January that's one thing. But I don't see why they need an extra 30 days of pay when it took zero time and effort on their part to cancel my service. Typical of Aliant gouging their customers. I guess they get to loot one more $56 payment out of me. Enjoy the $56 you stole Aliant. It may well be the last money you ever take off me.

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