I have been a Rogers internet customer for a long time. For more than one reason I have been thinking of dropping my Rogers Home Phone, TV, and Internet service and moving to an "Internet only" model for TV and Phone. With the introduction of Sling.com in the US I decided that I would make the move now as we head south for the winter. I cancelled everything 3 days ago.
This morning Rogers gave us a rude shot when they let me know that by cancelling our internet service, Carol had lost the email address that she has been using for the past 20 years, and that if she did not move her email to Yahoo.ca today the email in the old account would be lost. My email is OK because years ago I had moved to Apple's mail services with Google's Gmail as my backup.
So . . . my advice would be that you should never include your email service within a larger technology bundle. Keep your email with a free service (Google Gmail is great). Bundling your email with your TV, your phone, your internet connection reduces your ability to take advantage of new hardware technology in your neighbourhood. It also reduces your ability to move to another carrier because of service issues and the like.
For the record my current plan is:
| Service | Estimated Cost |
|---|---|
| Bell Fibe Internet 60GB download, Unlimited Usage | ~$80 per month |
| Apple TV for all TVs | one time purchase |
| Netflix subscription for Movies | $10 per month |
| Sling subscription for News, Sports, HBO and Tennis Channel | $40US per month |
I will need to use a PVN to access Sling from Canada, but I already have this (Avast PVN) and have tested Sling using it. The PVN is a necessity when you are trying to access US content (such as Pandora) from Canada.