PVR in Hamilton Area

[SMcMillan]

I was just wondering if any one has recently activated a used (brought from another Shaw/Rogers) PVR?

I'm getting conflicting info from every Rogers person I talk to.

Firstly, I went into the Rogers store and was told that purchasing a used PVR would not work and that  I couldn't purchase a PVR from them outright (like I did with my Shaw one). That my only option would be to rent a PVR at $16/month for 36 months and then to purchase the box at the end of the term for $1. I left since there was no way that I was paying over $500 for the same box I own and paid $225 for.

Then I contacted Rogers TV tech support with the serial number for the box that I want to purchase and they told me that yes this box would work but only in the Hamilton area but they needed to transfer me to customer service who then told me that the box would not work and that I could rent one.

I feel like this is all about the sale (or rental) of equipment.

When I explained to the customer service rep that this unit was being purchased from a neighbour who live 5 doors down and changed providers (to Bell) - he told me "I would advise you not to". Seriously, this is ridiculous.

Although he kindly told me that if I did purchase the PVR they would try their best to authorize it on my account.

Has anyone else had this experience??

***Edited labels***

[RogersShaun]

Hi @SMcMillan 

I don't see why you wouldn't be able to add a purchased PVR to your account.

I do know that the box models and codes we use are different for Hamilton, so there might've been some confusion.

Can I ask what box model number you were thinking of buying?

[Gdkitty]

As long as the previous peron has removed them from their account.. you should be able to add them to yours. 
(assuming they were with rogers).

MOST of the hamilton based units were able to be carried over to with rogers, but not all of them were.

Hamilton is still using the MOTEROLA units, which differ from the rest of Ontario... so you cant get a rest of ontario box and put it in hamilton at the moment.

The problem is that most of the phone reps, are likely used to the REST of ontario, and are not aware of the differences in the hamilton takover.

As well, some stores may NOT cary purchasable units, only rental.. but generally, yes you can buy a box no issues, you dont have to rent.

[OLDYELLR]

What Gdkitty said. Hamilton is transitioning from the Shaw system, which uses Motorola hardware, to Rogers, which uses Cisco. Right now the hardware is still Motorola, but I expect down the road it will be Cisco, the same as the rest of Ontario. For that reason, a purchased Cisco PVR won't work and there's no guarantee that a Motorola one will work forever. At this time renting is the only safe option.

[SMcMillan]

It's a Motorola DCX3400.

Tech support confirmed that the particular box (via serial number) will work in the Hamilton area, I just don't want an issue when customer support activates/authorizes it.

[OLDYELLR]

Just make sure you have documentation from the previous owner and the serial number. You then need to check with Rogers that it's no longer in the system or a stolen rental.

[jkgmb]

Nextbox 3.0

When is Rogers planning on making the Nextbox PVR available in Hamilton Ontario? I was recently told they are not available here yet. I find this hard to believe since it’s been almost 4 years since Rogers purchased Shaw.

[57]

@jkgmb:

I assume you're in an area that was previously serviced by Shaw, which utilizes Motorola equipment.  The NB3 (Cisco 9865) is not compatible with the head end that Shaw used.

So, the Cisco 9865 cannot be utilized in your area and likely will never be available there as Rogers will likely not change out the head end "Motorola-compatible" equipment.  It would cost millions to do so.

Rather they will likely be introducing IPTV to "everyone" in the coming years.  IPTV being similar to what Bell Fibe utilizes.  I'm not sure what the latest Motorola PVR is that could be used, but you could inquire about that in the meantime if you wish.

[jkgmb]

That makes sense on some levels but then doesn’t make sense on other levels. I understand that Shaw used a completely different system than Rogers with Motorola equipment instead of Cisco but it doesn’t make sense that they have no plans to change the system in Hamilton. Rogers spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire the Hamilton area from Shaw. Why would they not spend “millions “ of dollars to change the system in Hamilton to streamline it to the rest of Rogers system? So the bottom line is that Hamilton gets the short end of the stick with our cable. We have no choice but to use Rogers, (Bell is not a reasonable option) as our cable provider but we get substandard service compared to the rest of Rogers customers. This sounds to me that they bought the Hamilton area from Shaw just so Shaw didn’t have it, but didn’t really want it or have any plans to improve it. Similar to a child who wants a toy that another child is playing with but never plays with it once he has it. It really is time the cable monopoly is broken and we customers get a choice of providers.

[57]

@jkgmb :

I believe you misunderstood.  Rogers is simply going to skip one step, saving them a lot of money. They will likely provide IPTV to "everyone" (all of the Rogers cable TV customers), as I stated in my previous post.    This is scheduled for sometime in 2018, however, no promises.