HawthorneVillager.com

Hello,
I heard from a friend who is curently living in Milton that calling to some areas in Mississauga for eg: Square One is long distance.....
Any suggestion from any Miltonians???
Trini

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We are in.......

Yeah I knew that. Bell offered a $20 long distance plan, unlimited. They might offer that still. Best bet, is to check the Bell website and get the best plan. Or use your cell phone.

Or, use VOIP. No Bell.

http://www.digitalhomecanada.com/index. ... &Itemid=52 is a great article on VOIP.

Basically its a bit too soon, especially since 911 doesn't work on it yet.

And while we're on the topics of phones, does anybody else have trouble getting a cell phone signal in Hawthorne Village?

It's a little weird. I've been in Milton for a couple of years now, but I rarely use my landline anymore (ironic considering I install these for people).

Most of Mississauga, Oakville, Burlington and Toronto are local. I have one co-worker who lives around Square One and it's long distance to him. Go figure.

VOIP service is becoming more popular. Just be sure to consider the following:

1) It works with LOCAL 911 service.
2) It works with any potential alarm system you have/get
3) You can have multiple hand sets around your house, or they provide a way to tie your POTS phones into it.
4) Quality is not perfect.

Also remember, if the power goes out, you have no internet connection, and therefore no telephone. Unlike a landline where if the power goes out, it can last for a couple of days (see blackout 2003)

Personally I use Vonage. 34.99 plus tax (15%) for unlimited inprovince calls and free 500 minutes in North America (and free incoming calls). Be carefull, VONAGE cheapest plan (free 500 minutes) includes incoming calls.

Quality has been so far so good.

You would need a regular high-speed internet connection (not basic) and might need a router. They are implementing 911 but HV addresses are not in their system yet.

Oh, now they can port numbers too (you keep your existing phone number), they did not when I signed up last year. They also have great international rates.

Check www.vonage.ca.

As for the cell phone signal, my Fido almost dies. In some corners of the house I don't get a signal at all. Since I'm thinking of changing my cellphone, any companies that provide good reception (Bell, Telus?)

I use my Fido/Rogers service all over Milton.

I do a lot of work in Hawthorne Village and there are some spots with minimal coverage, but just go around the block and all is fine. I guess that doesn't help much if you actually live there though

Fidos advantage over Bell/Telus/Rogers is that they offer a $50/month unlimited data plan. The other companies charge a significant premium for any data transferred.

Also note, Bell/Telus is CDMA.. Rogers/Fido is GSM.. GSM is nice if you ever go off continent as CDMA is pretty much non-existant outside of North America.

Just disconnect the landline connection comming in from the internal net and plug in the cable form the adapter into an empty jack.

Yea its really as easy as dakaardian said to get all your jacks working.

Do any of you that use VOip as your main line have a house alarm and if so do they work with VOIP monitoring? Im with VOXCOM

As for porting your phone number, I tried when i moved from Sauga to bring that number and go VOIP. Not available yet. Want to port a Milton number? Not available yet.

So until they allow up to port our number I had to go with Bell for my HV home. Maybe once Cogeco releases their VOIP I will switch over.

Grrreg,

Vonage offers number porting. Check their web site at http://www.vonage.ca/features.php?feature=lnp if your current number can be ported. I don't know about alarm system compatibility. I think Vonage just partnered with Alarm.com but I think that's not available in Canada yet.

However, since you already have bell, I suggest you wait for Cogeco VOIP offer, it's much better when both internet and VOIP are provided by the same company (no bossing around when you have a problem).

My wife's office is just east of Sqaure One. It's long distance. Though it's just $.05/minute.

My office in North Central T.O. is local.

A friend near the Danforth is local.

Yup, it's strange.

Yeah, my office at Hurontario and Britania is long distance too. And there's nothing in the bell.ca to tell you which arecodes/exchanges are local and which are long distance for your number.

Way to go (rip us off) Bell !

They only bring the line to the house right? Then charge more $$ to hook up all your lines right?

Tim

Hey Paul, Do you know your postal code?

That's fine for maybe 1 or 2 phones, but more than that can get into loading problems. Each telephone device has a load rating associated with it. Going over that load can cause problems, especially with the device supplying the talk battery.

Bell charges $55 to activate a line.

A line activation includes your telephone number selection and service up to the grey demarcation box on the side of the house.

Everything inside the house is your problem. Bell will bring the line into the house for $75 and hook up the first jack. Every jack after that is about $45.

I did a Mattamy house tonight. He had 5 jacks. If he had Bell do this it would have cost $75 + $45 + $45 + $45 + $45 for a total of $255.

I did the whole thing for $55 total, including a demarcation point in the basement. I also offer a guarantee.