We got an interesting question from a viewer in Toronto about Bell's new advertising campaign - their billboards claim that Bell satellite TV is 99.99% reliable.
Dunstan Morey got in touch to tell us that his signal frequently goes out whenever there's a storm.
"Last year, there were at least two, possibly more, snowstorms during which I couldn't get any TV for several hours. In addition, during the World Cup, there was a rainstorm so strong that watching was impossible again for several hours."
What a bummer! The middle of a game has to be the worst time for your TV to conk out. Or, maybe the second worst - the worst time would probably be during the climax of a Marketplace episode, right? Anyway, Dunstan did the math on Bell's claim - and figures that 99.99% of an entire year would mean that you should get reliable TV for all but about 7.5 minutes per year.
Dunstan says "I estimate that there were at least 10 - 20 hours during the year that I got no service, or more than ten times as much as the ad claims (somewhat less than 99.9% reliable)"
We asked Bell about it and they stand by their ad claims despite the television blackouts that folks like Dunstan experience. They say that the ad is actually referring to "the reliability of uplink transmissions measured at Bell TV's central satellite facility".
Bell chalks up any signal outages to installation problems. "While this figure (99.99%) indicates the exceptional reliability of the Bell TV signal, reception at a specific customer location could vary based on their specific installation."
Bell invites Dunstan and anyone else who has concerns about the quality of their signal to get in touch with them. "If any customer has concerns about their signal, we would be happy to send a technician to ensure their installation is optimized for the best possible signal."
Dunstan says "I'll believe it when I see it" and promises to keep in touch. We want you to get in touch with us too! What do you think? Does your satellite signal ever go out? Is Bell satellite 99.99% reliable in your house?
Statistics: Posted by Prodigy — Wed Jul 21, 2010 6:40 pm
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