Help me find a no-nonsense, legit FTA installer in Toronto.

April 4, 2009 9:59 AM

Help me find a no-nonsense, legit FTA installer in Toronto.

I'd like to stop paying Rogers for cable. I just want local FTA channels. I don't care about satellite TV, have no interest in piracy, don't want to do extensive homework or futzing about, and am willing to pay maybe up to $500 for equipment and installation. At the same time, I want something that's decent quality (not a $25 indoor antenna). Any advice about who to call would be appreciated.

posted by stonerose to Technology (2 answers total)

I am about as far away from Toronto as possible, but would urge you to consider doing it yourself. In my case, in a marginal reception area, I was able to get an antenna and signal booster for about $100, probably a third of what an installer would charge.
It really is straight forward - just bolt a pole to the side of the roof (a couple of screws) and run some coax down the side of the house, under the floor then through the crawl space to the TV room. A hole drilled in the floor or skirting board to bring the cable inside and you are good to go.
The sockets don't even need to be soldered, just a screw driver.
If you know where the transmitter towers are, just point the antenna that way, otherwise, spend 5mins with google maps and your phone book.
I got my antenna off ebay.
It is probably the easiest home DIY job I've had, took under an hour.
posted by bystander at 5:09 AM on April 5, 2009

Here is where to get the antenna location information for the Toronto/Buffalo area. And you'll need to get a converter box/HDTV for when they take down all the Standard Definition over-the-air channels (June 12 2009 for US channels, Aug 31 2011 for Canada), so be sure to include that in your budget.

We get nearly everything on this list in the western GTA region with a not-too-cheap UFO-shaped antenna in the attic we installed ourselves. We just went to Best Buy and grabbed something that looked OK. Never can find Global HD (but get Global SD) and Fox HD depends on the weather.
posted by cathoo at 2:07 AM on April 6, 2009