We had the Cogeco Digital Home Phone service installed last week, and I thought it worthwhile to document for searchers who might be looking for information on this service.

As we already subscribed to Cogeco's high speed internet,  the installer basically came in and disconnected the Bell copper pair from the internal twisted-pair network at the demarcation, replaced the cable modem in my office with a new, bulky, VoIP-equipped modem (bulky because it includes a small UPS battery at keeps it running for 8 hours of power outage. Of course I could extend duration longer via an external UPS, which I was considering for the office anyways), and then ran a phone line from it to a nearby phone jack, thereby providing phone service in the traditional way on the other jacks in the home.

Installation was absolutely painless and quick, and the internet part of the equation is better than ever (download rates come in at just under 900KB/second. I was super happy when it was 150KB/s, then 300KB/s, then 600KB/s, then 750KB/s, and now this). 

The phone service is absolutely superb: There is "local" calling throughout the continental North America, around the clock, at no addtional charge, which is a huge feature, and the service includes caller display, voice mail, 3-way calling, and so on. Operations are almost identical to Bell (e.g. the voicemail system has largely the same controls), and voice quality is indistinguishable from a normal old phone line -- the quality is perfect, and there is no apparent latency (I was expecting a cell-phone like latency -- which leads to people not accustomed to cell phones talking over each other -- and was surprized that it doesn't seem to have it).

The technical information that I've seen is that Cogeco has dedicated channels specifically for voice, using QoS technologies to ensure that voice always gets priority, and there are no outages or hiccups because you're downloading the new bundle of Windows service packs.

I feel foolish that we've taken this long to sign up for this service. While I worked for Bell Canada for a while, and hugely respect many of the people who work there, I have no love lost for them as a customer. Personally I find their billing practices reprehensible (such as the continually change "First Rate" plan, the rewriting of prime-time, or the fact that they charge you as much as possible, but if you consider switching providers suddenly new discounted rates will appear. I have great distaste for that sort of "as much as the customer will bear" type of billing). We've been very satisfied Cogeco customers for almost five years now, and now they've grown from our internet, television (including digital and movie networks), to also being our phone provider.

Amazing how much service is being shipped down that coaxial cable. I remember the arguments years back, debating ADSL versus cable, when the naysayers were convinced that soon enough every cable modem user would suffer under tremendous overuse on the "shared" medium. I'm still a very happy customer.

[Given that people usually only bother posting negative reviews and impressions, I'll add the following statement: I received no consideration by Cogeco for posting this positive entry, and I'm not biased towards them in any way -- I don't own Cogeco stock, and I'm not friends or family with any of their employees or agents]