[snidely]

I emailed BEV stating that the only signal i could get on my cel phone at our cabin in the 1000 Lakes area was from the U.S. It wouldn't allow me to dial their 800 number for ordering PPV.


The following is their response:

===

Thank you for taking the time to contact us. We hope that you are

enjoying your Bell ExpressVu Satellite system.


If you are interested in ordering Vu! pay-per-view events, you can

always contact our head office via our local number at 416-446-2600.

Our receptionist will be happy to forward your call to one of our

Customer Service Representatives. Please note that this phone number

is only operational Monday through Friday from 9am - 5pm. However, you

can request for an event to be ordered for a later time.


I hope this information will be helpful. If you have any further

questions on this matter or on anything else in regards to your Bell

ExpressVu services, don't hesitate to contact us, either by e-mail at
[email protected] or by phone at 1-888-759-3474, to reach our customer

service representatives. Please note that our call centre is open 24

hours a day, 7 days a week for technical assistance or activations. For

any other kind of inquiries, contact us Monday through Friday from 8AM

to 9PM and from 9AM to 6PM on Saturdays. You can also get more

information on our products and services by visiting our web site at
http://www.bell.ca/satellite

.


Thank you for choosing Bell ExpressVu as your satellite provider.


Beth Cockburn


=========


I have a direct 416 CS number. (Don't have it handy.) I may try this as an experiment if/when anything of interest shows up. The pricing for most PPV is about 35-30% cheaper than the U.S. systems. (It has been over 2 years since i ordered any PPV fm. our other provider, DTV.

 

[Sasha B]

Note: USER BEWARE.


First, lets get a few things clear. Bell Expressvu is owned by BCE; Canada's biggest company. Another company, among the many, under the BCE umbrella is Bell Canada; a telephone company with probably one of the most advanced telephone systems/networks in the world. I'd guess that Expressvu uses Bell Canada's telephone technology in their phone centre. Therefore, even cell phone telephone calls are susceptible to call display. A telephone call placed from any area code other than a recognized Canadian area code (a recognizable land or cell phone area code), especially from a US area code would, I would guess, raise a BIG WAVING RED FLAG to the CSR. Secondly, the CSR would no doubt ask you a few questions to verify who you actually are, where you live, your secret PIN code number, etc before actually asking you finally what PPV movie you want to order.

Saving a dollar or two (don't forget there is a 15% tax charge to your PPV order and I'd suspect another dollar or two service charge for the CSR logging your order into the system) is not worth the risk of permantently having your system turned off for good!


I would not attempt this if I were in your shoes. Use your other method of ordering PPV and continue enjoying your Expressvu system.


Cheers,


Sasha

 

[Newbie]

I couldn't agree more, Sasha. Totally not worth the risk

 

[snidely]

You can block caller ID from being transmitted from cel phones as well as land phones. Over the past 15 months i have called CS about 4 times (from land phones) and, to be safe, blocked the ID when calling the 416 number.

Alll they ask for is the account number and your PIN number. What's so difficult about giving that. I guess they could ask a trick question like "what's the weather right now in Toronto?"


All that said, it probably isn't worth the bother. As mentioned haven't ordered PPV from DTV in a couple years or more, and that was a football game. The only thing i would be tempted to order from BEV is an HDTV PPV - and those aren't cheap, $5.99CDN - $2 more than regular PPV.


...mike (who thanks to BEV, now has U.S. networks available in HDTV - an option not available from either of the U.S. DBS systems)

 

[DP1]

Well I could see where that might work ok if you werent using a broker. If you just had an account set up through a friend or relative's address in Canada for example. Because then you'd actually know your own actual account number and such thats on record with Bev.


But for those that use brokers, I'm not sure those users are even aware of any of those kind of details. So in that case what are you supposed to say when you call the number to order? "Well, I dont know what my account number or anything is, but heres my receivers serial number, smart card ID..etc etc.." ?

 

[snidely]

I have a Canadian address. Turns out that the account number (at least in my case) is the phone number i gave them when i first signed up.

At some point i gave them a password/PIN number.


It should work. Just not might be worth the effort and i'm not sure i would pay $5.99CDN just to watch a movie.

If i remember correctly, i think the movie packages will set aside one channel for HD movie - like HBO and Showtime each have a channel where they show some HD content. I already subscribe to BEV's movie package.


...mike

 

[Newbie]

Your account number isn't your phone number, although I wouldn't put it past a CSR with any company to explain it that way. I've been a customer for years and have always had an account number on my bill. But when I've called them (or previously, Rogers Cable, or previously, Videotron) I've always been asked for my phone number. Since it's a unique identifier for services that are sold on a per-address basis, and since everyone knows their own, most will use it to search for your account.

 

[kagato]

Caller ID blocks mean nothing. Large call centers have their phone lines delivered in large blocks via digital connections. (ISDN, T1, T3, etc). Most of them can order ANI service. The ANI service will transmit your phone number and billing name. This is not caller ID. You cannot block this service. Be assured that your phone number is recorded when your STB calls to log PPV events. Be assured your number is logged when you call customer service. Be assured your number is logged when you dial into the internet. Be assured that you have little to no privacy in this day and age.

 

[snidely]

I know you can't block ID (technically ANI) when calling toll free numbers. That is why one in my position should NEVER connect the sat. receiver to a phone line - because it would try to dial the 800 number.

I am fairly certain, tho, there is no way to get the ID from a phone if the ID is blocked by the caller when calling a regular landline number.

I guess to be extra cautious, one could use a dial up LD service - especially one that uses the internet to carry calls.


...mike

 

[bobby94928]

Call blocking to any 800 number will not block the number. This site (although it's just one phone provider) spells it out clearly.

http://ganadotel.com/notices/callblocking2001.htm