Additional charges from Ma Bell in Canada

Posts: 2

I am considering subscribing to Vonage. I live in Canada and am on DSL using a Canadian ISP (not Sympatico) on the Bell Telephone system. If I subscribe to Vonage, what additional charges can I expect to receive from Ma Bell?

Posts: 29

railbuff wrote:

I am considering subscribing to Vonage. I live in Canada and am on DSL using a Canadian ISP (not Sympatico) on the Bell Telephone system. If I subscribe to Vonage, what additional charges can I expect to receive from Ma Bell?

additional charges due to your use of Vonage over Bell DSL?

None....

Beware:
Your country is full of regulation fanatics (CRTC).
Vonage will not thrive in Canada.
And it faces a serious legal battle in the USA.

Posts: 2 · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 11:22 am Post subject:

Bell charge me C$50.04 per month under the heading of 'Monthly Services'. This is irrespective of whether I make any chargeable calls or not. Local calls are free, but long distance calls are charged on top of the $50.04.
I have one incoming line which is shared with a fax machine, 911, call answering, and call display.
My question is , 'Will I have to pay Bell the C$50.04 each month if I change over to Vonage?'
I think it is reasonable that Bell should charge something, since I will still be using their lines and exchange equipment. Does any one have any notion as to what that charge would be. I am reluctant to call Ma Bell and ask, since I will then be inundated with marketing calls.

Posts: 104 · Vonage Forum Senior Joined: Jan 31, 2004 Posts: 104

The question is CAN YOU GET DSL WITHOUT HAVING A TRADITIONAL PHONE LINE.

Most telephone operators (with exception of Qwest) will not provision DSL on a non-telephony circuit. This is known as "naked DSL". There is in fact no technical reason, simply the telephone companies don't want to sell DSL to person's who don't have a telephone line.

Thus if you are on DSL circuit you're probably stuck paying for a traditional telephone line whether you like it or not.

Posts: 29 · Posted: Thu May 20, 2004 1:11 pm Post subject:

railbuff wrote:

Bell charge me C$50.04 per month under the heading of 'Monthly Services'. This is irrespective of whether I make any chargeable calls or not. Local calls are free, but long distance calls are charged on top of the $50.04.
I have one incoming line which is shared with a fax machine, 911, call answering, and call display.
My question is , 'Will I have to pay Bell the C$50.04 each month if I change over to Vonage?'
I think it is reasonable that Bell should charge something, since I will still be using their lines and exchange equipment. Does any one have any notion as to what that charge would be. I am reluctant to call Ma Bell and ask, since I will then be inundated with marketing calls.

if you can, dump DSL and go with cable

simple

Posts: 183 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 05, 2004 Posts: 183

railbuff wrote:

Bell charge me C$50.04 per month under the heading of 'Monthly Services'. This is irrespective of whether I make any chargeable calls or not. Local calls are free, but long distance calls are charged on top of the $50.04.
I have one incoming line which is shared with a fax machine, 911, call answering, and call display.
My question is , 'Will I have to pay Bell the C$50.04 each month if I change over to Vonage?'
I think it is reasonable that Bell should charge something, since I will still be using their lines and exchange equipment. Does any one have any notion as to what that charge would be. I am reluctant to call Ma Bell and ask, since I will then be inundated with marketing calls.

You'll get a more definitive answer if you asked them rather than us. The question seems simple: What will it cost me to ONLY have a DSL line, including all taxes and fees?

Posts: 183 · Vonage Forum Master Joined: May 05, 2004 Posts: 183

[quote="garys_2k"]

railbuff wrote:

Bell charge me C$50.04 per month under the heading of 'Monthly Services'. This is irrespective of whether I make any chargeable calls or not. Local calls are free, but long distance calls are charged on top of the $50.04.
I have one incoming line which is shared with a fax machine, 911, call answering, and call display.
My question is , 'Will I have to pay Bell the C$50.04 each month if I change over to Vonage?'
I think it is reasonable that Bell should charge something, since I will still be using their lines and exchange equipment. Does any one have any notion as to what that charge would be. I am reluctant to call Ma Bell and ask, since I will then be inundated with marketing calls.

You'll get a more definitive answer if you asked them rather than us. The question seems simple: What will it cost me to ONLY have a DSL line, including all taxes and fees?

Oh, edit to add, Very Happy

, don't sweat the marketing calls. Call from a payphone and ask from there, or just tell them that you want to be on their Do Not Call list.