LG p500h Optimus One smartphone, circa 2010, unlocked from Koodo for use on the Bell network, Canada.
Somehow I have an LG p500h smartphone, which was locked to Koodo. As Canadian law has changed, forcing mobile service providers to unlock phones free of charge, I went on Koodo’s Facebook page and requested an unlock code. They gave it to me and I was able to unlock the phone. I put my Bell sim card in and it worked! Yay, I have a 2011 phone, but it works!
A year ago Bell decided to install fiber optic on our street. For some reason they had cut squares into the sidewalk, which was filled in with asphalt. This year city contractors broke up and completely removed and replaced the complete sidewalk.
Bell Fibe install in Ontario. 2017 Sept 15, a year after, contracted city workers replace the sidewalk. photo by Don Tai
Bell Fibe install in Ontario. 2017 Sept 15, a year after, contracted city workers replace the sidewalk. photo by Don Tai
Bell Fibe install in Ontario. 2017 Sept 15, a year after, contracted city workers replace the sidewalk. photo 3 by Don Tai
Bell Fibe 50, wired connection to the Home Hub 3000, gave me 52mbps download and 52mbps upload using the the Ookla speed test. Toronto, Canada
Two months ago Bell called me up and set up an install date for my Bell Fibe 50 installation, Bell fiber optic to my house. I have waited to do a review to ensure that the install was stable and reliable. In summary, Bell was correct in that their Bell Fibe 50 is much more reliable than their twisted pair copper wire, and a whole lot faster. We are getting speeds of 51mbps download as well as upload. This compares to our Bell Fibe 15/10, which was twisted pair copper wire to the Bell node (~1km away), and from there it was fiber optic, which gave us 15mbps dwonload and .7mbps, or 700bps upload.
I have Bell Fibe 15/10 on twisted pair into my house, Toronto, Ontario, but the upload speed is .67mbps of the advertised 10mbps. This summer Bell trenched my street to install fiber optic cable. They left the fiber optic cable zip tied to the side of my house. After 2 months wait I am trying to find out when Bell will install fiber optic into my house so I can get 10mbps upload, but they cannot give me an answer. photo by Don Tai
I gave Rogers the heave ho, for both cable and internet, and feel better for it. Scummy, predatory, their service was. Over the air TV has replaced cable. It is not what we are used to, but saves us over $70 each month. Overall I would say that we are much better off without Rogers cable.
Over the air (OTA) TV is not all fantastic, though I did not know all the disadvantages and underestimated the advantages. I will discuss all I learned. With OTA we get 17 channels, which includes a couple of duplicate HD and SD channels, a French channel, though it comes in stunning HD, and a religious channel, also in stunning HD.
After 11 years with Rogers we pulled the internet plug and are trying Bell. Yes, there have been problems with the Bell installation, but if you know Toronto, Rogers and Bell you should have expected problems, and I did. In summary Bell Fibe does work, sort of, but my upload speed is no more than .7 MBps, 7% of what they told me I would get. There is also nothing I can do increase the upload speed. Apparently because I live 1.2 km from the central office the upload speed cannot increase, yet they did not tell me this when I signed up. I have been a Bell landline phone customer for 15 years, so they should be fully aware of my location.
