 Review by jeffster1970 
UPDATED: 200 days ago
member for 4.5 years, 1096 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 Kitchener,ON
 $37 per month (12 month contract)
 about 2 days
 Bell Canada
 "Better then dial-up."
 "Where do I start??"
 "Might as well as go for a less expensive 3rd party since you're going to have issues anyway."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
When I first got this service almost two years ago, I was pulling downloads at about 126 KB/sec...the advertised speeds. About 6 months later, I noticed my downloads had increased to about 180 KB/sec...now I get about 310 KB/sec downloads, my upload is around 80 KB/sec. Nice thing is, unlike some cable connections, this is a constant speed. So you can download a 30 MB program in about a minute in a half....sweet. I have heard that they have some issues with the e-mail...that doesn't bother me, I don't bother using it. Anyway, if you want a good high-speed internet connection, this could very well be best bet.
Still no problems as of Oct/2004. Connection remain with 0.5% at all times. Also, if you bug, they will keep you on at $34.95 forever, including modem rental, if you are a polite person...Nov 2004. They got me on a better CO, the one a couple blocks from my place. Speed overall hasn't increased, but newsgroups (giganews) has went from 1100kbs to 2500kbs. I also now qualify for the 4 meg if I want it.
Update: June/2005
Okay, so I moved, but still have the service. I still have the same price, $34.95 per month, which includes rental. This area I am in HASN'T been upgraded to the full 3 meg profile, so I am stuck with the 1.5 meg. However, like always, reliability hasn't been a problem at all. So, I am not going to move over to cable, but I did remove 1 point because my service is not as fast as it could be. Sympatico should hurry up and upgrade everyone.
Update for February 16, 2006:
Tech support for Bell has degraded even further. These guys are totally clueless in admitting that their equipment or line can ever be to blame for problems. They do not know how to diagnose problems...it is quite pathetic. It's like, 'we don't support Linux, boot into Windows, and if we get your one machine running, you're lucky' Whatever. After I was done with my computer, it couldn't even reach the modem..let alone the internet. Good thing I know a thing or two about Windows and know how to get back to the original settings..no matter, I'm back on Linux. The modem I had was crapped out. Called billing to ask for an exchange, no problem. Got a new modem in less the 24 hours. Why does billing have better support then tech? Oh yeah, because they need your money! haha, my bad.
Update:: May, 2007
Bell used to be good at one time..they'd upgrade regularly...none of that now. I am still stuck on a old profile, and it won't be changing until sometime after I die, so, about 50 years, give or take a decade. Customer service has improved..at bit. Also thought internet should improve over a period of time..these guys going in wrong direction. I'd go with Rogers, but..well..right.
Update:: March, 2008
Finally got rid of Bell completely...they continued to bill past their contract agreement. Had clicked the "Accept" button back in January 2006 - 2 year contract. Had issues with billing for 13 months from January 2006 - February 2007, got in sorted, then when I went online to cancel service in February 2008. The script monkey said that I had accepted the contract in February 2007, and, well, that was incorrect, they said fine, and that I would still be charged for February for the months notice. March comes around and they are still charging, so I called up billing and they said I would continued being charged for not giving a 1 month notice. Service is apparently cancelled, but have yet to receive modem return package. I dare not sign in on that modem in fear they charge me another month.
Overall, customer service has really gone down. Technical support is friendly but not knowledgeable. Billing is so clueless that it's not even remotely funny. Customer retention is worse then those used cars salesmen (sorry - no offence to any cars salespeople). To top it up, after cancelling the service they tried to sell me satellite TV..good God no!!!
Followup comments:  jsmith12
join:2006-03-01
Whitby, ON
| Hey, try working there Trust me. The horror stories I could tell you. The crap they put their tech employees though, frankly I'm not surprised. And if you got the Quebec center, that explains EVERYTHING!
But frankly, since I've quit I've noticed they tend to think ALL their customers are idiots.
Tech support cares about 2 things, and I am being honest.
1) Selling VAS (Value added services)
2) Getting rid of you in 15 mins or less.
I took the time to make sure everything was working right ALL the time, and I was yelled at because I was over the 15 min threshold, and not selling enough. Never mind that people thanked me for taking it slowly for them, and they liked the way I did it. | |
|  | 
wayne57
@sympatico.ca
| Re: Hey, try working there Well, sorry to hear you were having a bad experience, but I do work for one of their call center I none of us have any sales to push to our customer! We are there to solely offer Tech Support.
I will admit that not all have the same level of expertise as the other, sorry man some of us are not perfect. Ultimately, we do have to be able to offer support to our customers within a time frame that works for all. But I have never been told or forced to push a call in such a way to get the customer off the line.
We always try hard to ensure that we can resolve issues effectively. This implies that we have to work the call in a certain manner (following some scripts and the like), but what is more important is that the issue gets resolved and the customer is satisfied.
As for not supporting all platforms, well unfortunately that I dont have input into. Sympatico clearly states that they support Windows 98SE/ME/2000/XP/VISTA MAC 9.x, 10.x. Any other platform (OS) is not officially supported. What Sympatico offers is DSL service with Modem and if you read the promos and all, they do not GUARANTEE the speeds but that the speeds can reach up to ... Kbps.
If you run a non-Mac / non-Windows platform, what Sympatico offers you is a working Ethernet connection to the DSL modem/service... Good luck with other providers to see if than can offer you more while hand holding you for 1.5 hours in setting up your stuff. | |
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