how-to block ads
|
»next review in page
Review by CanEpia 
Posted: 243 days ago
member for 243 days, 1 visits, last login: 241 days ago
 l6a4l5
 $35 per month (month by month)
 about 5 days
 "uncapped downloads, compatible with mlppp"
 "Service never worked properly. Poor support. Poor customer Service."
 "Would NOT recommend to anyone."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I tried their service as I was woo'ed by the thought of unlimited downloading. Line never worked properly, they could not resolve the issue even though many chances were given. Line cancelled and no refund offered on faulty services, and no resolution possible through CC as it's a "quality of service issue".
I wouldn't recommend anyone risk it. I'm going to Teksavvy or back to Bell. The additional costs seem worth it for a connection that actually works!
Basic Timeline:
3/13/09 - I switched my dsl connection from Bell whom I had been using for 2 months flawlessly (line set up with new home) at a steady 7mb down/800k up. Since I don't have cable I wanted more bandwidth for downloading so I swapped over with promises of unlimited data caps. I got a dry loop dsl connection from Velcom.ca.
This is the day all my problems started. Immediately after getting the email notice on my blackberry that my new line was set-up, my speedtests showed I was now only getting 2mb down/200k up.
I called in immeidately to have the speeds checked. They assured me this would improve in 2-3 days and to be patient.
3/16/09 - Speeds improved to 5mb/200k. Uploads still sucky but downloading was okay. Unfortunately once it hit 2am my internet connection died.
3/17/09 - I called in about the internet connection problem. They checked my line and said it was fine. I was asked to monitor the line and check if I had anymore problems.
Later that day I had problems and called in. Technician said there were issues on line and the would open service ticket with Bell.
3/18/09 - Internet was working again but my speeds dropped down to 2mb/200k AGIAN. I called in to have it upped again.
Problems struck again on the line.
3/19/09 - Line speed was up to 5mb/200k up. From hereon in each day I had intermittent line problems ranging from 30mins-2hours. I called in when I had problems... they said they see problem on the line and will contact bell.
3/20/09 - 3/24/09 They say line is fixed and to monitor it... etc... we go round and round every day.
I finally called to cancel service on 3/24/09. They told me they could cancel, but for a refund I would need to speak to supervisor Adnan who wasn't in, and also they would send a technician to my house to check the line.
3/26/09 Bell techinician just finished testing the line. Perfect line which can handle much higher profiles. No glitches what so ever. He tests into the house all the way to my modem. Everything is working great. As we are signing the work order, connection dies. He retests and line is perfect.
So in the end, it's not a line problem. During this time I've been through 4 modems, all of which experience the same problem. One of the modems is the Bell provided modem which worked flawlessly for 2 months up until the day I switched.
I spoke with the supervisor Adnan, and he said he could cancel the line but they could provide no refund. He said he was the final word and no one else in the company could help me anymore than him. He said they showed I was connected and everything was working, but I had no internet connection. He blamed it on my computer.
Line was cancelled immediately, and 5 minutes later I'm currently surfing fine on my neighbour's line with the exact same computer they claim is causing the problems.
I called my CC company but they said they cannot help since this is a service quality issue.
So in the end I'm stuck paying for a month of service which has been flaky as heck, never got proper upload speeds on, and was cancelled well before the 1 month I was charged for!
Althought it's not a huge amount of money, I'm now without a proper connection and I've paid for a crappy service which cost me hours of time calling and complaining about. It's really the principle of it more than anything now as I don't think as consumers we should be treated this way.
Followup comments:  
ricky
@oitc.ca | Velcom highly Recommended I have never heard such insolence complain, having Velcom service was the best thing I've have had no problems at all maybe once or twice but it goes away. so i think velcom is the best isp. | |
| | hickins
join:2009-05-27
Burlington, ON | Re: Velcom highly Recommended hey! the guy is being honest, and he gave facts and if that happened to you, you would have said the same thing!!
Are you working for them? | |
|
hmmm
@oitc.ca
| hmmm 3/26/09 Bell techinician just finished testing the line. Perfect line which can handle much higher profiles. No glitches what so ever. He tests into the house all the way to my modem. Everything is working great. As we are signing the work order, connection dies. He retests and line is perfect. line is ok???? and you have problem???
buddy problem is on your side! | |
| | CanEpia
join:2009-03-26
l6a4l5
1 edit | Re: hmmm It was the technician who told me it was definately NOT on my side.
Line was perfect as it could handle my profile and connections were good. | |
| velcomrob
Premium
join:2006-11-28
Brampton, ON
| profiles If your profile is getting reduced, then bell is reducing it. if you want to see If I can help you with it please email me at rob(@)velcom.com. I would like to see if your profile is being adjusted. When technician is dispatched, all they do is test the line at its current profile and thats why they said its fine. Of course the line is fine. What you need is full speeds. Let me know if I can help, send me an email.
thanks. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Velcom |
 | »next review in page (previous review)
Review by Pwnstar
Posted: 1.1 years ago
member for 1.1 years, 3 visits, last login: 1 year ago
Brampton,ON
$31 per month (4 month contract)
about 2 days
 Bell Canada
"Good speeds at times"
"Bad Tech Support , Bad Connectivity , Always saying it's bell's fault"
"It's horrible"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Well a few months ago i had Velcom and i was liking the price because for 31.85 and u get "5mb" download/upload and i was liking it then when they brought me my modem i was so happy! =DD but to freaking install it was horrible . the disc i could understand but when it came time to ask tech support... hold on to ur hats. the tech support sounded like she just got off a boat. no offense and all but really. it sounded like " you put the yellow cable into the modem , then u put the DSL line in the modem and the wall and it should work" and i told her i already did that she put me on hold and told me she has to ask for help. whilst i was waiting *5 minutes* she finally gets back to me but this time she has people who will help me. SO i get redirected to a different person who finally gets the job done. I was finally able to get my internet working but then all of a sudden my internet went down. The dsl light turned off and the internet one turned off. now that surprised me but when i called them again to ask "where's my internet" they said it's a minor problem . this went on for like 3 hours. then FINALLY i get my internet back and i browse everything..so fun. but here comes the kick...I was downloading torrents cuz i likez to . now it says on the website...it doesn't filter torrents or throttle bandwidth when it comes to DLing....but when i started my downloads the next day i realized i had made a BIG mistake. i had 300 seeds and 10 leechers. Now my normal DL rate / UL rate = 250kB/s and 60kB/s but today was a different story...80kB/s and only 30kB/s ??? wtf and i called them and said that "it's bell's fault" and we can't fix it. so now I'm stuck with a crappy service. Anyone wanna get me like internet that doesn't throttle ur torrents or downloadz? thanks guys.
Followup comments: 
Quake110
join:2003-12-20
Ottawa, ON
 ·Velcom
1 edit | All the DSL ISPs are throttled by bell. Unfortunately, all the ISPs are throttled by Bell (Velcom, Teksavvy, Acanac, ebox...) because they use Bell's DSL network to distribute the internet.
One of the ways to circumvent the throttling is to use MLPPP.
If you have a compatible router:
- Linksys WRT54G v1-v4, WRT54GS v1-v4, WRT54GL v1.x, WRTSL54GS (no USB support)
- Buffalo WHR-G54S, WHR-HP-G54, WZR-G54, WBR2-G54
- Asus WL500G Premium (no USB support)
You'll be able to flash the router with the Tomato/MLPPP firmware »fixppp.org/, that way, you can say good bye to the throttling. | |
| | Pwnstar
join:2008-10-18
Brampton, ON | Re: All the DSL ISPs are throttled by bell. Any OTHER way to getting NOT to throttle my internetz? | |
| | | koreyb
join:2005-01-08
Etobicoke, ON
 ·Primus Talkbroadband
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| Re: All the DSL ISPs are throttled by bell. said by Pwnstar :Any OTHER way to getting NOT to throttle my internetz? Contact your MP and make this an issue with them to fight for.
That's about all you can do other than installing the MLPPP solution. | |
| | | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Velcom |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by Thedudemjp
UPDATED: 1.2 years ago
member for 1.2 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.2 years ago
Belleville,ON
$38 per month
about 5 days
Bell Canada
"Cheap internet with decent speeds when reliable."
"A very unreliable service with awful tech support."
"I hate to trash a smaller ISP especially one that's battling against throttling but the quality of their service is suspect."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
A couple of months ago I was happy to jump ship from Bell to another ISP specifically one that had had good ratings here on DSLreports and that had been suggested to me from a few friends. I'm not necessarily regretting this move but I'm regretting not having done the proper amount of research before making my decision.
Hooking up the modem and signing on was easy enough. At first things seemed to be decent, I was pleased with the speeds and was content with my decision. As the next few days went by everything regarding the internet was smooth. About a week passed and then the disconnects began. They were sporadic throughout each and every day but the general idea of being disconnected multiple times a day has been consistent through the course of my whole tenure with Velcom. Contacting tech support led me to agents that I could barely understand, they've passed the blame to Bell every time which has led their workers to come to my apartment twice now to look at my line where in they changed it and shrugged at what Velcom was accusing, it was suggested that it could potentially be the modem and in order for their mistakes of potentially sending me a broken modem I had to pay for a new one(It turned out that the modem wasn't the problem because even with the new one the disconnection trends still continued.).
During the weekend that I'm writing this the service was down for a couple of hours on a Saturday at 4:00pm and since it has come back up my ping has been fluctuating between 600ms and 1700ms. Tech support says it'll be like this till Monday, maybe longer. This is not acceptable, I'm sorry.
Switching to Teksavvy I guess.
Followup comments: velcomrob
Premium
join:2006-11-28
Brampton, ON
| reply We've run into some unforseen problems due to the migration.
I know it's not your problem, however we would be willing to compensate you some how. Our migration to this new facility is to improve performance. Once it has been completed on Monday everything will begin improving drastically.
Please send me an email to rob (@) velcom.com and i'm sure we can work something out.
| |
| |
WOW VELCOM WOW
@velcomdsl.ca
| Re: reply Well Ive been having connection problems using velcom. Evry weekend like clockwork, my internet would go down.
They keep telling me my modem or my computer must be the problem. Yep my modem/computer wants weekend off so they must be right!
My speed right now is probably lower than rogers super extra light connection. | |
| | |
UserMe
@gblx.net
| Re: reply Yeah the speed right now is horrible, and sometimes it just refuses to work. I always thought it was my router or my other flatmates dling too much stuff slowing down the network but now that I unplugged the router and hooked the modem directly to my computer, I found out it's velcom. This speed is horrible. | |
| cutuzov
join:2007-11-21
Mississauga, ON
·Velcom
| Still happy with provider 
After half year with Velcom I feel good about using their service. It is not like they have the best tech support, but all I need is reliable fast internet. I had it so far.
Speaking of TecSavvy I was with them when they had their share of support/connection issues. Any small provider comes through this stage in my opinion. | |
| | velcomrob
Premium
join:2006-11-28
Brampton, ON
| Re: Still happy with provider With two usernames such as WOW VELCOM WOW and UserMe I wonder of those replies actually have merit.
thanks Cutuzov for your great reply.
If a customer gets slow speeds everywhere then its a profile problem, speed problem with bell. Not a connection problem. if your getting speed problems to isolated areas then it can be certain paths to that point are congested.
In the end of the day Bell Canada owns/controlers all the circuits. We can only do so much to giving you optimal speeds and connectivity.
First off I would put some sort of small UPS system to prevent power spikes to your modem as this could cause damage to it and might fix constant connection resets.
I was having connections resets myself until Bell connected me to a new bell line outside our home and those connection problems are long gone.
Third Party ISPs merely provide Bandwidth and Authentication, anything beyond that is controlled by Bell. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Velcom |
| »next review in page (previous review)
Review by cheungr168
UPDATED: 1.4 years ago
member for 1.4 years, 4 visits, last login: 83 days ago
Scarborough,ON
$34 per month
"Well, they are OK when you have no problem!"
"Always problem with installation !"
"Choose other ISP!"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
I am Velcom users for about a yr. It tooks me almost a month to setup my internet with them a yr ago. I didn't feel that bad at that time because I still have my Rogers account running before Velcom was running fine.
About half a month ago, I would like to change my DSL line to Dry DSL because I would like to use VOIP instead of regular phone line. I wrote to tech support and asked them if I would like to change from dsl to dry dsl. Would I have the internet service down. The tech support wrote me back and told me as long as my phone line is active, it won't affect my internet service. I can disconnect my phone line after the dry loop run smoothly. So I told them to change from dsl to dry dsl.
Velcom charged me in a light speed! They charged me at the end of May. My DSL service disconnected on June 2. Right now is June 18. My internet service is still down! Velcom kept telling me it is Bell 's problem and they cannot do anything!
Velcom told me Bell visited my apartment 3 times! Someone did show up on the first time. He told me as long as the switch turned on at Bell main site, my internet would be working. Of course not. So I arranged with Velcom to let Bell visited me the 2nd time. I told them I would be available after 5:30pm. So Velcom tech support told me Bell guy would come to visit me to check the problem after 5:30pm. That bell guy actually came b4 5:00pm and of course no one at home. The Bell guy left a paper and told me that everything was running fine. Of course, it was not! The Bell guys suppose to come yesterday! Even worst, no show no call! Call the Velcom tech support and ask them what was going on! They told me they will check with Bell and get back to me. Well, the "Velcom tech support" did n't call me back!
Well, I know it is Bell's problem but Velcom is also a mess too! The time is totally mess up! The tech support told me wrong info! The tech support would not help to push the bell. Every visit of Bell need to wait for a week even it is bell 's fault.
I appreciate the way they talk! They are very good to explain things. But when there are problems, they only say they will fix it! Problem still not fix!!
Ricky
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Velcom |
| »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by inscrip
UPDATED: 1.8 years ago
member for 1.8 years, 119 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Canada
$24 per month
Bell Canada
"No Caps"
"Bad Support/Sales"
"Good Service If They Could Get Their Act Together"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
|
Sales person misinformed family member at purchase, saying that Velcom could co-exist with Sympatico on the same line. Which I was fishy about, but figured the guys knew what they were talking about. Modem comes, setup, only Sympatico will run... hrmm... I wonder why!?! I called the tech support, explained my situation, which was absolutely NO HELP at all. Finally they said that they are going to call Bell.
Bell calls explains that only one DSL service can be on one line, knew it!
Velcom calls back, "So everything is working fine now?"
Well no, and I would like to cancel, and would like a refund because you sold this service under a false pretense. She said that everything would be fine and that I would be refunded the service cost. I don't think she knew what she was doing and at this point the lady hung up on me.
I called and spoke to sales. Explained my story to them, he said no problem, the service is now canceled, I would be refunded, and all I would have to pay for is the modem, which I had no problem with. Seemed like this was the easiest part of the whole ordeal, and I was disappointed but happy it was over.
Wrong, after 2 emails, 4 phone calls and 1 month later, I'm still being billed, and they have not refunded me for my service charges.
I hope the call today is the last one that I will have to make to this company.
Followup comments: VelcomMatt
Premium
join:2006-01-26
Brampton, ON
| Reply to your review Hello,
I can understand your frustrations and any inconvenience you may have experienced however I find your review is more out of anger than a legitimate review. Our support actually did a great job in trying to resolve this issue and the day they were able to get it resolved is the day you decided and wanted to cancel so I’m not sure why you would rank our support a 20 when the issue was physically from Bell Canada’s end. In addition, how could you rate our connection reliability and service a 20 if you never used it? The only thing I could see being legit about your review is the pre-sales information. The sales rep you spoke with may have not informed you but I am pretty sure he did as they all know about this and that there is a possibility that there will be an interruption with service.
The sales person did not misinform you in anyway. We have hundreds of people every month who place their order with us while switching from Bell, Primus and other DSL providers. This is probably one of the best ways to go about a switch to avoid interruption with service. Once the order is showing as Completed on our end which is usually 4-5 business days the customers then cancel with their current provider this way Bell sees that the customer already has an active service with Velcom and usually 98% of the time they leave the card and service in place.
Nevertheless, another way to go about this is place your cancellation with Bell first and request for a cancellation number and then let us know your disconnection date and cancellation number so we can try to coordinate with help to have your service set active for this date and usually the switch is seamless.
Both of the methods mentioned above work well when switching from one DSL provider to the next. Of course, since Bell is responsible for the provisioning of all DSL circuits we cannot and do not guarantee that there will not be any interruption with service.
The issue for your line was from Bells end it was not an inside wiring issue, hardware issue such as equipment but from Bells end. We had a few tickets opened up for you and even escalated to upper management, however, it appears you did not want to allow any reasonable time frame for us to resolve the issue with Bell for you and decided to cancel immediately.
We keep a log of all the tickets we open for all of our customers issue and it looks like our support did a pretty good job on working with Bell to resolve this issue, however, after the 13th you decided to cancel.
2008-01-09 18:48:15 Need to open a ticket for sync with no conn Verified login, pass 3 times, tried dialer - doesn't work. Error 691.Test@test works. Tried to change the login to velcom.ca - didn't help. Need to open a ticket for sync with no conn.
2008-01-09 22:45:01 Ticket opened for sync with no connectivity#: 3##### Ticket opened for sync with no connectivity#: 3#####
2008-01-11 09:50:54 DONE al1_d3008-3008-256_u512-512-256 , LAST STATE 01/10 05:15:46 DONE al1_d3008-3008-256_u512-512-256 , LAST STATE 01/10 05:15:46
2008-01-11 11:02:49 reopened for SYNC WITH NO CONN 3##### Bell says the ticket has been opened not for sync with no conn but just for lantern test... I reopened it for SYNC WITH NO CONN 3#####
2008-01-13 16:36:00 Line tested ok, 2 way traffic, 3.8 km from CO, customer confirmed sync ok. Need to verify. Line tested ok, 2 way traffic, 3.8 km from CO, customer confirmed sync ok. Need to verify.
As for issuing you a credit on the hardware which you agreed to a rent-to-own we cannot issue a refund for this and any owing balance will be due.
“Wrong, after 2 emails, 4 phone calls and 1 month later, I'm still being billed, and they have not refunded me for my service charges.”
You’ve only billed once for the first month and for the rent-to-own for the modem you have never been billed additionally. | |
| | | | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Velcom |
|
|
Re: Reply to your review