Since moving to the U.S. we've experienced some of the things that most people may not appreciate quite as much. Although I had a horrible experience at the local Nissan dealership, Nissan USA has been pretty good about dealing with the issue. That said, we've had more positive experiences than negative, I wanted to take a moment to talk about some of the companies who have made our lives easier since we got here.
Online Shopping
I cannot believe how easy it is to get things shipped to your home. No dealing with customs, no additional duties or taxes, and way fewer delays. I ordered six garbage cans and a vacuum filter from Amazon.com the other day and our shipment arrived the next day. Obviously if you've lived in the U.S. you're probably wondering why I'm so elated with this... but believe me, ordering stuff online from Canada is nowhere near as seamless.
We have ordered so much from Amazon lately that we decided to join Amazon Prime, where we pay a low yearly membership fee and we get free 2 day shipping on quite a few of their items.
I received a defective IR repeater from Amazon the other day (it started to smoke when I plugged in it). It took me five minutes to go online, report the defect, get a return FREE shipping label and drop it in the mail. In the meantime Amazon sent out a replacement which arrived the next day. How awesome is their service?
I ordered a washer and dryer from a company in New York called Abes of Maine. I received a quote in Canada for this same washer and dryer for a little over $7000. I paid $3500 for this washer & dryer, they delivered and installed them within a week. The service was unbelievable. I would highly recommend anyone buying appliances or TVs to try these guys out.
We can't believe you can order wine online. I joined a service at www.lot18.com. This is such a cool site, it's like Groupon for wine. They charge 1 cent for shipping, you can order limited edition wines at discounted prices delivered to your door. I've ordered a few bottles from them, so far so good. Their service is great, the process is easy, and it arrives at your door within a week.
Direct TV & Comcast
We were paying about $300 a month for cable TV and internet in Canada. The internet was much slower, and we had very few HD channels. It seems every channel on Direct TV is HD. We got "whole home DVR" installed where we have 2 DVRs and a bunch of receivers scattered throughout the house. We can record and watch TV shows & movies from any room in the house. We can also use the DirectTV app for Windows Phone 7 and set shows to record remotely.
For Comcast I had a few problems getting it off the ground, but I believe that was because I was using a modem with too many features. Instead I went out and bought a Motorola Docsys 3 modem, a separate router, and separate wireless access points. Our internet speed is unbelievable, roughly 50 megs down and 3+ megs up using www.speedtest.net.
In total, for DirectTV & Comcast we're paying roughly $170 a month. The service from both companies has been great - although DirectTV service is absolutely awesome.
Cellular
I don't even want to get into the trouble I had trying to cancel my Canadian phone when we moved to the U.S... what's the point? What I will say is we were paying $500/month for my daughter and wife. My phone was roughly $500-$1300 a month depending on what I was doing. Yeah crazy, I know. My daughter is 13, she barely used it - but the data plans are insane in Canada.
Thank goodness for T-Mobile. This company has offered the best service I've ever experienced from a mobile provider. They have great family plans, we pay $250/month for 4 phones with unlimited data. They provided us with four Windows Phone 7 (HD7s) and service even though I don't have a social security number. I was really impressed with these guys, I hope they continue to maintain this level of service as they grow.
FWIW we tried to go on AT&T but they wouldn't let us buy the phones without a $500 deposit on each phone since I don't have an SSN. That's understandable, but odd that T-Mobile would allow us with just a passport. Either way I'm glad we went with T-Mobile, the plans are really good.
So that's it for now. There are lots of other cool things we notice and appreciate around here, like inexpensive groceries, great tax incentives, etc.
We're pretty happy with our decision to move to the U.S. so far, though we still miss our friends, Skype has changed the way we communicate, and in many ways we feel as if we're not that far away.
