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Review by onlyrh40 
Posted: a few hours ago
member for 205 days, 20 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 North York,ON
 $35 per month
 about 14 days
 Bell Canada
 "Very good company until 18 months ago"
 "Lied to by sales staff. Game over at that point."
 "Company has a lot to do on the honesty front."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Have been on Bell High Speed DSL since 2001. About 18 months ago they switched me to $35 month for unlimited. A couple of months later usage charges show up on the bill, I call and again I am assured they will revert to previous contract. Next bill also shows usage, I call again and am told that the billing cycle is few months behind but refunds will be applied. To cut a long story short they have no record or notations on my account to support my position, this is after contacting what stands for management in Bell. I then migrated my legacy phone service to Vonage and when I was satisfied that it was stable I then migrated my HS DSL to Teksavvy, I will report on the move in a month or so, so far all is well.
Don't get upset, shift to alternative suppliers. I feel sorry for Bell employees who are saddled with a lack lustre executive to say the least.
Followup comments: | Forums » comments on review of Bell Sympatico |
 | »next review in page (previous review)
 Review by Kringle
UPDATED: a few hours ago
member for 4.4 years, 1406 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Pierrefonds,QC
$33 per month
about 4 days
Bell Canada
"It's an Internet connection"
"Throttling, daily resets"
"Continually diminishing value for the money"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I have been a subscriber to Bell Sympatico HSE for a very long time. Here's a bit of history and my relative satisfaction along the way.
The saga - part I
We started with Sympatico when Bell offered an employee promotion that entitled us to HSE for $19.95/mo and a NORTEL DSL modem (back in the stone ages). It was cheaper than the dialup that I was using so it was a no-brainer. The self-install kit was promptly delivered (3 business days from order date) and the line was set up at the CO the day after I received the kit.
The installation went flawlessly as the documentation was clear and concise. I found that I needed extra filters so I ordered them online (painless) and they were in my mailbox the next day! That's service.
After setting up DSL access on a single computer using Access Manager as a trial, I then connected the DSL to my network switches through a DLink DI-701 (retired) hardware firewall for shared access on the numerous computers that we have. This too went really well.
The speed, however, left something to be desired as the ADSL was really "A" at approx. 920/20 kbps.
The saga - part II
Over time I became more and more frustrated with the pathetic upload performance and was looking into switching to Videotron cable Internet service who offered an order of magnitude more upload speed (verified with colleagues that had Videotron) for about the same price. Then I stumbled upon the link to the speedtests on the Sympatico Web Site. Imagine my joy when I found the DSLReports forum describing an available FREE upgrade from the NORTEL modem to increase the ADSL speed to 1500/320. (However, Sympatico really should have advised their customers about the problem with getting the upgrade while using the NORTEL modem. They knew who we were!)
I called 310-SURF and I had a new SpeedStream 5200 delivered, again, in 3 business days. I picked up a DLink DI-604 router/firewall to replace my antique DI-701 and plugged everything in. It didn't work! A quick call to 310-SURF and I was advised that they had to change the card at the CO. The solution was to put back the NORTEL modem and wait until it lost sync and then replace it with the 5200. Total call time: 5 minutes. It lost sync almost precisely on schedule and the changeover was seamless. This is what you get when an ISP supports very specific communications hardware!
A little tweaking and I was getting 1435/318 quite consistently. So much for the experimental run with Videotron cable.
The saga - part III
Word on the street (read DSLReports forums) was that there would be another FREE upgrade from 1500/320 to 2500/640. What pain would there be associated with this??? Absolutely none. The modem lost sync and the DI-604 automatically re-established the PPPoE connection and I had the new sync rates! There have been no problems whatsoever with this completely transparent upgrade!
[update] Now my speeds aren't as good as some Videotron subscribers that I know but still far better than others. It really depends on the time of day and what cable node you're on. On the other side of the coin, there are geographic pockets where Sympatico (all DSL) really stinks.
The saga - Misc.
[update] I finally redid my POTS installation starting at the demarc point. There are still too many devices on the line, but everything is now centrally double-filtered and still my connection is rock solid with constant speeds of 2485/665 kbps. I guess that the work on the demarc was quite unnecessary given the quality of my signal. At least I'll be ready for the next round of upgrades.
Back at the beginning of "The saga - part II" I spent a lot of my broadband conversations ragging on Sympatico. The ragging has been replaced with something akin to electronic pride. Where else can you get this kind of service for even twice the 20 bucks a month I'm paying???
UPDATE: 2005/JUNE/03
Nothing new - still great although it could be faster. I really would like a faster upload speed. Still solid as a rock so who cares about STATIC IP? I've had the same IP address for over four months. I'm still very satisfied.
UPDATE: 2005/DECEMBER/18
Nothing new - I'm still very satisfied. Like I said before, this could pass for a STATIC IP address. Constant 310KByte/sec on a decent source (symantec.com). I STILL want a faster upload but I don't want to pay for ULTRA.
UPDATE: 2006/DECEMBER/18
Nothing new - I'm still satisfied (but less so). Like I said before, this could pass for a STATIC IP address. Constant 310KByte/sec on a decent source (symantec.com). I SHOULD be getting faster speeds but I don't seem to be eligible for the time being. Every now and then the word Videotron passes through my mind...
UPDATE: 2007/MAY/12
Still can't get full speed and I'm less satisfied with support now. Even with my discounts, I can save about $120/yr with Videotron. Not quite at the level where I'd put up with the hassle of changing everything over but it's sure getting there.
UPDATE: 2008/MAR/26
Now I'm getting the full speed that I'm paying for (they must have switched my line for another one). Support isn't an issue - I don't call them. I'm also pleased that they've grandfathered in my UNLIMITED bandwidth usage (as long as I behave). Still no contract and still cheap.
UPDATE 2008/AUG/21
This is starting to suck more. Every time they turn off the throttling (daily) I have to reset my modem. I still have sync but no Internet access - back to normal after a modem reset. This occurs whether or not I'm actually using the connection! I haven't used P2P for over 2 months either! I've tried another modem with no change to the symptoms. Also, they've just hit me with a $5/mo. price increase for the "improved" service which coincides nicely with having to reset my modem daily. On the plus side, I still have my grandfathered unlimited HSE plan. I think that they REALLY want to push me away from being a customer.
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Review by Arghoslent
UPDATED: 6 days ago
member for 240 days, 245 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Scarborough,ON
$82 per month
about 14 days
Bell Canada
"Highly reliable, Student plan was great while it lasted."
"EXTREMELY EXPENSIVE, throttling torrents, caps and dishonest telemarketers"
"look elsewhere unless ur looking for a 3/10 service"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
I used to live in LA and had my Dad's office internet at home and it was ultra fast when i moved to Toronto i saw an ad at the airport for BELL and subscribed to their phone service on 31th Aug 06 and some Indian lady told me it will be connected by 5th Sept and gave me my own phone number. However on 5th it wasn't connected and when I called back they told me that they had NO ORDER FOR A LINE TO MY ADDRESS. So i had to go through the whole process again and got connected on 8th Sept. Then I subscribed to their internet and got it on 18th Sept. I would like to point out here that I am a university student and was charged around 42$ including TAX and modem rental for a supposed 5MBPS connection and was on a 8 month contract meant especially for students.
In the first 3 months I used to get disconnected every 15-20 minutes and the tech guys didn't know how to solve it.. Finally an Indian guy got it fixed from me towards the end of Dec 2006 and since then i've had 3-4 disconnection of which 2 were due to my idiot brother tripping the phone lines. Therefore on connection reliability I'd easily say it gets an A+.
Although I was told I would get a 5MBPS connection I received around 2.8MBPS. It took over 8 months and 40+ calls to learn that I have been limited to a 3MBPS connection to provide” uninterrupted" service. After the 8 month contract was over my internet bill jumped to 60$ including TAX and modem rentals. I still didn't mind it thinking if I moved to Rogers I'd have to deal with torrent throttling.
Around mid September 2007, I got a call from bell by an Indian bloke who offered me a promotion and told me my bill would be reduced to 52$ a month with TAX and modem rental. I accepted and was put on the 7MBPS plan, however I got a massive shock the next month when my bill included a bandwidth charge of 30$ bringing my total to approx 82$ in total. Though I have called and reported that I was told that I will be on unlimited bandwidth the first customer service guy agrees and pushes me to his supervisor who refuses my claim and denies me credit. Bell telemarketers call me and offer me internet occasionally and even they say unlimited bandwidth to unsuspecting buyers, Sometimes I ask myself if they know that they are lying to the people. Also they started to severely throttle torrents beginning November.
I have canceled my service and am moving to another ISP where my bill only comes to around 35$ in total in a few weeks and even though I was told by Bell that I am not on a contract I suspect they they will “magically” find my contract and charge me 100$ for disconnecting. My neighbor also pays 82$ a month and he has 8 months left on his contract and he said that even though he will have to pay the cancellation he he won’t mind as in the long term he will save more money .
Therefore my honest advice is move if you can. Bell does have some advantages such as amazing reliability but they are extremely expensive and therefore not worth. If there was no caps or throttling, I’d give it a 8/10 but due to these 2 drawback I only give them an overall 3/10.
UPDATE.:- I have got my latest bill and i don't see a cancellation charge on it......At least they did one thing right for me. Also Over the last 3 days I've been disconnected at least 15 times over a 3 hour period.
UPDATE 2:- I finally got rid of Bell Telephone for Teksavvy and they charged me a small cancellation fee even though I wasn't on any contract,. On the upside the cancellation fee was nothing as high as I had feared.
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Review by tiger9
UPDATED: 9 days ago
member for 3 years, 365 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Ont,Canada
$29 per month (12 month contract)
about 3 days
Bell Canada
"Reliable Connection, Good Customer Service"
"CAPS [20GB], Messed up billing service, Far from DSLAM, at 1/2Meg Possible [1M ok/Unstable]"
"OK to keep, OK to sign on - if one does not download much, otherwise, go Teksavvy."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings above consensus)
|
Only Broadband ISP I have had yet. Great Service, but far from CO/RDSLAM, can ony get 512/512 Interleaved. It's still better than DSL Basic (caps and the ratio of price to speed). Not switching to cable because of caps, and also because of BitTorrent throttling.
EDIT - 05-August-08. Still good service and fairly good CS ( thanks Sympatico Direct )
However, I do not recommend anybody sign up with this service. Services are better at other companies - More value for the dollar. However, the loss of my e-mail account is not worth the trouble switching. Plus I have a 12-mth contract. The Bittorrent benefit is gone too, now that Bell throttles. Go with Bell only if you do not download much, and do not torrent much. There are much less headaches with CS/Tickets. Otherwise, go with Teksavvy. The trouble with CS/Tickets is outweighed by the savings.
EDIT - 12-August-08. Turns out nobody at Bell knows when upgrades will come to my area. However, Kevin Crull's Executive Department were friendly when answering this question.
Service Currently On -> 2mbps TIE+, $29/mth on a 12-mth contract.
Followup comments:  
Bellundo
@bell.ca | Reduced rate Looks like they reduced your rates because your service is so bad. I don't see much value for the money here certainly not 60 percent. | |
| | tiger9
join:2005-08-01
Ont,Canada
 ·Bell Sympatico
| Re: Reduced rate Eh, well, to my standards, it's OK (Not good, mind you)
STANDARDS
--------------------------------------------------------
Teksavvy - Good Stuff, Too inconvenient to switch - 100% Value for $.
Bell Canada - Good, except some CS reps, Good Executive Response to a non-urgent question, 60% value for money.
Cable - Overpriced [640/160 costs the same as 2496/800 from Bell], Oversubscribed [everyone in my area uses cable], and Throttled worse than Bell [Cogeco], 30% Value for money.
In the end, Bell earns the 60% compared to local competition, in my biased point of view. However, I sure wish that Bell would bring a DSLAM into my area, or do FTTH. Either that, or somebody brings a better ISP into my area. It's sad, eh? Bell is better than ~60% of the competition in my area. | |
| | | |
| Forums » comments on review of Bell Sympatico |
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Review by Bell_Abused
UPDATED: 10 days ago
member for 1.8 years, 122 visits, last login: 6 days ago
undisclosed location
Contract price not specified.
Bell Canada
"They almost always thank you for calling and chosing Bell. Nice and polite."
"everything related to Bell as a whole"
"Not worth spending your hard-earned money on"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
|
3rd update (Aug 10, 2008)
Been over a year now without a single Bell product or Bell service in my home. With all the nickel and diming they are doing with Cell & Inet I am 100% glad I got rid of Bell completely.
Had a sales call on my 1-year anniversary of leaving them telling me how much their quality improved since I left. I asked them to tell me what changed and how, they couldn't.
Figured if they can call me and tell me how good their quality is without being able to justifying it, then I can review them once again.
-Throttling
-Lower B/W usage
-Inherent problems with phone lines causing DSL to be totally unreliable compared to cable.
-Price gouging people who use text messaging on their cells by charging per incoming txt.
-Phone reps still unable to answer the most basic questions (like the sales call I had).
-All they are doing and trying to do to the little bit of wholesale competition to get your money.
-the list goes on...
They would have to pay me to use their services ever again.
A note for the Brainiac Residential Executive at Bell:
If you are going to get your sales force to call people on their 1-year anniversary on leaving Bell, you might want to consider calling 1-month prior to the 1-year date so you can maybe try and lure them away PRIOR to them signing another contract with the competition. Duh.
2nd update (May 30th):
Upon cancellation, I did not get the 100$ early termination fee I was told to expect.
The Associate to the president of residential services must have taken care of it (thanks).
On a Bell parting note (I cancelled all Bell services), the only positive I can give on Bell is that their Executive Office/Associates do the job. But there is no rating on Executive's. But if there were, I'd rate them a 4 out of 5.
I was also given a contact for line issues direct with the Bell cable dept and told never to contact 611 again due to their lack of knowledge and support (too late for that now). A TY goes to the guy/gal/boss in the cable dept (again not a DSLR ratable item, but a 5 out of 5), and it took many a bitching to get through to the cable division trust me.
Trying videotron for a year to see what the other side is like... and so far so good, aside from an echo on the phone line though, but 100% cleared up with Bell DSL filters... go figure :/ [sigh]
The presidents associate came to the conclusion that the experience I had was "rare" (I don't see it as rare as others here and elsewhere have the same experiences). So I took offence to that cop-out excuse. More should write to kevin.crull-AT-bell.ca with their real issues (not my speed is slow whaaa).
Maybe I will be back with Bell in a year (or not), Or if I see they improve upon real customer issues and non-compliance issues, within this forum and their own forum.
Ah yeah upon cancellation a month ago, I was told a modem return kit would be shipped, was given a confirmation number... needless to say it never came. I called they said they never sent it (guy on the line giggled) and I was given yet again another confirmation #. I told the Business office rep i was tired of all their BS and lies told him to send it or don't, Your last chance. Got it 2 days later.
The end, finally.
Update 1:
Figured I would update this since the "fan-boys" tend to update 100% across the board on a regular basis:
-New 30-gig Bandwidth policies
-When you call to cancel, EVEN WHEN YOUR CONTRACT IS UP, they try telling you that you will get a 100$ termination fee anyhow.
-When you call to give the 30-day notice of contract termination, they say you will get the 100$ termination fee.
-They have errors in customer contract start dates which will lead to a 100$ early cancellation fee. I am one of these unfortunates. Now since the exec office knows and Billing knows, why can't they fix it before i get my bill?? I was warned to expect it :/
-same run-arounds, nothing changed, even when following policy to cancel.
-MSN Email is getting worse with MSN telling new domains (who get blocked) to pay 1400$-US to be put on a safe list... Anyone remember the AOL pay for Email scandel?? Sympatico is now the new AOL of Canada with Email (Due to MSN policy, not sympatico's, but why does sympatico put up with this?).
-Intermitant MSN problems still to this day. Some days an email from the same domain will get through, other days it won't. MSN says its their overly-agressive spam filter. Live with it (even if you pay 1400$ to be on their "safe list").
-Bell Corporate BCE web site says 2007 is the year of customer service and share-holder pay-back. I was called a "valued customer". Gee, thanks!
-Trouble tickets still closed off as fixed when they are not and added to their BCE site to improve good stats (those who are treated like this i was told are "rare"). How many "Rare" people out there who had to call for weeks or months on the same trouble-ticket issue?
-New sales tactic when calling in to get your profile or line fixed, they now tell you to pay to upgrade.
-High-speed Ultra, which basically is the same as regular High-speed increased again, this year an additional 5$.
-Hushmail completely blocked by Sympatico. Guess They don't like what they can't read??
Value for your money before was a big zero. Now its getting sub-zero and kind of dumb
Going to try a different telco and ISP for a year and compare. Will post another update if I get an early termination fee to complain some more.
=======
1. Pre-sales info:
-Pre-sales Bell lies are very much viewable in the sympatico forum and Sympatico own user forum.
-Bell tells everyone they are eligible for full 5-meg service even if you call from china.
2. Connection reliability:
-Connections drops are normal.
-Ping rates are in the 100-200 range.
-Email servers down regularly.
-Email spam filters go down and you get flooded with spam.
-Sympatico hardware regularly goes down (their routers) leading to bad game play or web pages not loading.
-RBC Banking issues due to them
-Some SSL site issues due to them
-They block their own hosts (*.bell.ca) in users personal web-space effectively blocking access for users.
-Hidden list of issues related to bells services and only viewable by their techs.
-When you call and one of those issues are on their list as a sympatico/Bell problem, they tell you its your computer the problem.
-They are not honest about connection issues and problem items.
3. Tech Support:
-If you call in for a problem, you get a very big run-around.
-Almost impossible to have good service. techs admit this themselves.
-If you call in for a line issue, they will auto-degrade your speed and tell you its fixed while the underlying issue(s) continues.
-If they actually fix the issue, its a fight to get your speed profile back up.
-If you call with static on your phone and connectivity issues they will ask you to speak louder over the static so they can properly hear you and say, there is no problem.
-They close off trouble-tickets at their discretion when problems arise effectively forcing the customer to make another 100-calls or forcing the customer to give up.
4. Services:
-Bell lies to you saying wire-care will give you trouble-free service should line problems arise.
When my line problems arose Bell Canada (611) told me to play with the wires at the demarc and try and fix it myself.
-DO NOT TAKE AND PAY FOR ADDITIONAL SERVICES. Word of the wise.
-Their Value Added Security service is a beta.
-Visually impaired people cannot see it due to the 96dpi font size only.
-It works sometimes, and sometimes not.
-The security package has parts that don't work
-If you call for support on their product that you pay for, Bell will tell you, sorry we don't support that (as seen in their own forum).
5. Value for your hard-earned money:
-a big zero. Better service/reliability/value can be obtained through resellers or cable.
Followup comments: 
andrewhaji
Andrew
Premium
join:2002-03-02
Toronto, ON | You Got It! Sounds very similar to the experience I just had with Bell... | |
| | |
pez66
@bell.ca
| Thieves About Sums It I called for tech support, was offered a laptop computer and refused it. No help from tech support 2 weeks later I still get disconnected every 1/2 hour and after 4 calls to confirm my laptop oder and telling them I dont want it. Its sitting here beside me. Bell needs to be brought to justice........ they have become the largest thieving corporation in N. America! @#*%-youBELL CANADA! | |
| |
know the feeling
@videotron.ca
| Re: Thieves About Sums It bring your complaint to the president of residential services as I did. Email kevin.crull-AT-bell.ca and explain the issues you have, support not being helpfull, the number of calls, a laptop you didn't want and so forth. They should try and fix you up.
I gave up... couldn't take the run-arounds any more.. but its only been 2 weeks for you, not 3 months of the same run-around or 6 weeks of the same run-around and trouble tickets closed off as fixed, no show techs and so forth.
but i know the frustration factor.... use that Email above and get it sorted out. Also demand a credit for the amount of time your DSL service has been off and on (or non-functional) and getting no support. | |
|
Vrmeer_1
@bell.ca
| Bell Sympatico Crooks I have been with SYMPATICO for nine years. I don't have plastic so I can't leave and they will not let me cancel my account.
1, I changed my phone number and reported it to Sympatico as instructed.
2 8 months later (2 weeks ago, I all of a sudden lost my phone line and my highspeed access - (and they have been withdrawing thier fee regularly btw.)
3. I call Bell Telephone to report the loss of my phone line. They send a technician in two days.
4. The technician has to go to the sub station to figure out what is wrong
5. The technician comes back and tells me Sympatico cut my phone line
(the technician is very very pissed off)
6. The technician calls SYMPATICO, he give SYMPATICO SHIT, he passes the phone over to me and tells me not to talk to him.
7 Sympatico tells me I need a new modem and to take my old one back to Teleboutique.
8. Sympatico sends me a new 2Wire modem, but with no cables or filters, The packing slip says there are 3 filters, spliter, 4 conducter tel cable, ethernet wire in the box which there are not. I call and complain
9. They mail me two cd pouches by mail each with 1 filter, 1 splitter, 1 ethernet cable, not 4 conducter tel cable. So I scrounge up my own
9 Sympatico tells me that my service will be restored after midnight on the 17th of Oct after midnight.
10 Nothing happens on the 18th of October.
11. SYMPATICO tells me it is going to working by Sunday, 21st
12 I still don't have any service on the 22nd, Monday
13. Yesterday I call and complain, they tell me that my service will be working after midnight Monday, 22.
14 It is now Tuesday morning the 23 and my DSL light is still blinking. My phones are all filtered now.
15 there is no answer at Sympatico tech support 310 surf.
I am still paying for service I don't have, plus for 8 months they were charging me for service on a telephone line that didn't exist.  | |
| | Bell_Abused
join:2006-10-07
·Bell Sympatico
| Re: Bell Sympatico Crooks If I were you, I would make the issues known in either of these two places so as to get it all sorted out once and for all:
1. Sympatico's forum:
»www.supportcommunity.sympatico.c···list.jsp
2. DSLR's Sympatico Direct forum (you need to reg on DSLR):
»/forum/sympatdirect
They should fix you up once and for all via any of these two escalation routes.
Also, make sure to get a ticket number and also make sure to state that you do not want to pay for their frig up's. Insist on a month credit or more till they fix it. You should get it. But you have to be vocal about it.
But yup... been through this as well.... | |
| | | Vrmeer_1
join:2007-10-31
Longueuil, QC
| Re: Bell Sympatico Crooks thanks,
well, on the 24th my phone went dead again!! I had to call Bell Telephone that night to send over a repair technician again on the 25th again they had to go to the substation.
The second Bell technician, (after asking me how my DSL service was working LOL) not Sympatico, got my dsl working and then I got a call from Kevin Crull's office, Sympatico telling me they were working on it.
thanks for the references! | |
| | | | Vrmeer_1
join:2007-10-31
Longueuil, QC
edit:
November 7th, @01:02PM
|  Re: Bell Sympatico Crooks
Sympatico sent me two new modems, not just one, then they quadrupled my billing and the billing office told me that I had upgraded my service. They withdrew 4 times my original bill from my checking accunt and now have they not just screwed up my high speed service they have totally ukedfaed my checking account as well.
I DID NOT want an UPGRADE to MY SERVICE, I DID NOT ORDER AN UPGRADE MY SERVICE, Sympatico did not tell me they were upgrading my service, SYMPATICO ARBITRARILY UPGRADED MY SERVICE WITHOUT TELLING ME OR ASKING ME or informing me there was going to be a quadroupled service fee.
I wanted only that they restored the ruptured service they already caused. (see above)  Off to Quebec Consumer protection again.
You are looking for ISP provider? STAY AWAY FROM BELL SYMPATICO MSN you will save yourself a ton of service cuts, phone line cuts, headaches, passive aggression to keep you in service and unauthorized withdrawls | |
| | | | | Vrmeer_1
join:2007-10-31
Longueuil, QC
| Re: Bell Sympatico Crooks My phone service and my Sympatico service was cut off again on November the 14th and again I had to call Bell Canada to come in to restore my phone. If I hadn't called myself they would have done nothing about it.
I have forwarded a CC of my latest letter to Mr. Crull to CBC's Market Place and Quebec Consumer Protection as well as to a Quebec MNA. I am living on a disability and I believe that Bell Canada is using this scenerio to force me to have my service upgrades as now the Bell Business office have deceptivly forced me to upgrade to wireless at 3 times the price that I was originally paying. | |
| | | Vrmeer_1
join:2007-10-31
Longueuil, QC
| Re: Bell Sympatico Crooks | 3rd Service Rupture Bell and Sympatico cut off my telephone service and Sympatico service a 3rd time on November the 14th. I had to call in Bell Repair service again. If I hadn't Bell would again just ignored my service rupture.
I sent Mr. Crull's office another email to this end. I got called back by three different people in his office and then another a Mr. Ouimet or a Mr. Ouimar who told me that he was sorry and that the money would be put back in my chequing account. But he never did. I have his phone number.
What the business office has done has forced me into a higher charged internet service with this scenario that I can neither afford or use. I am pre-retired living on a rudimentary restricted disability.
I have forwarded an email to Mr. Crull's office to this effect, I have also sent a cabon copy to CBC's Market Place and Government of Quebec MNA. If there is anyone that is filing a Civil Class Action suit against Bell Sympatico MSN count me in. | |
| | | | Bell_Abused
join:2006-10-07
·Bell Sympatico
| Re: Bell Sympatico Crooks | 3rd Service Rupture Wow!
You are really getting jerked around here.
Yes, do contact Crulls Office again on Monday.
In the mean time, make a post in the forum:
»/forum/sympatdirect
Maybe someone there can help you sort all this out.
...and good for you for Emailing and calling them and sticking to your guns on the issues. Many would have given up.
 | |
| | | | | | | | | Vrmeer_1
join:2007-10-31
Longueuil, QC | Re: Bell Sympatico Crooks | 3rd Service Rupture thanks 'Bell Abused'. I filed a complaint with the CRTC and posted same as suggested. Vrmeer_1  | |
| | | | | | Bell_Abused
join:2006-10-07 | Re: Bell Sympatico Crooks | 3rd Service Rupture you got a reply in the direct forum in case you are not aware... | |
| | | | | | | Vrmeer_1
join:2007-10-31
Longueuil, QC | Re: Bell Sympatico Crooks | 3rd Service Rupture thanks! Yes, I saw it. I received another phone call from Bell yesterday and this woman said she was going to take care of it. So, I just made sure I was polite. Thanks. Vrmeer_1 | |
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 Review by MarkAW
UPDATED: 10 days ago
member for 6.9 years, 2048 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Canada
$44 per month
about 4 days
"Customer service was ok."
"The time it took to get my Modem they said next day and i never got it until 4 days later."
"There was no need for them to lie or give me the run around when i called wanting to know where my modem was."
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All i will say is Bell Sympatico is better than what i had before speeds are around 3332 kbps down 395 kbps up . Better than dialup.
Would of went with Rogers since i just went with their phone service but DSL wasn't available in my area from them.
Cogeco was my third choice but i made myself a promise i would never use them ever again (long story).
At a 60GB cap and the price since no other package was available to me in my area i guess one can say i am happy with what i have.
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Review by bimsC
Posted: 12 days ago
Fair warning: reviewer joined this month
Ottawa,ON
$100 per month
about 2 days
Bell Canada
"Excellent QoS and Prices"
"Accent issues with offshore call centres"
"Fantastic ISP considering"
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I've had Bell Internet (Sympatico) for several years now, upgrading from Dial-up through Basic to HSE and now Max 16 (FTTN Optimax). I use the internet frequently for gaming, streaming and downloading and I share teh connection wirelessly with 3 others. I can't recall the last time the service went down. I get consistent speeds over 13Mbs and 100 gigs of usage which is more than a enough to suit my needs.
The price is fair when compared to other ISPs in Ontario and with my bundle, I save a few bucks extra.
My only challenge is dealing with the offshore helpdesks to reset passwords, answer billing questions, etc. I often don't understand what they're saying - that said; I do understand the need to offshore and I'm sure its a two way street.
All up, I'm more than satisfied with the service Bell has provided thus far and I commonly recommend it to friends.
Followup comments: PCcertified
join:2008-08-04
canada
| Bells service is great? have you tried P2P lately? As of aproximately last november, Bell has be throttling (slowing down) ALL their customers speeds to approximately 40KBs, according to Bell, if a P2P application is detected in operation.
In my case I was unable to download using P2P at higher than 25KBs.
I was on a 5Mbs connection and decided to change providers after 11 years with Bell. After changing, I discovered BELL still controls my speed and is still able to throttle my downloads. To make matters worse, they also reduced my speed profile to 3Mbs and set it incorrectly. My present max speed, under normal conditions without p2p, is only a mere 1.6Mbs. According to other reports on DLSreports and elsewhere, Bell routinely changes peoples profiles that are connected to competitors without warning or justification. I'm trying to get to the bottom of that issue, and I will.
I hardly consider this fair on Bells part. I'm also furious they can throttle my P2P traffic, I'm paying for 5Mbs and get only 25kbs with P2P. I only download 2 or 3 times a year, so I hardly ever use my speed. Thats just one of the many reasons I switched.
Presently Bells competitors are fighting bell at the CRTC over the throttling issue. You should read the news, it's really interesting how many stories there are about Bell. | |
| bimsC
join:2008-08-09
Ottawa, ON
·Bell Sympatico
| Throttling isnt necessarily a bad thing Bell is the prime national telecommunications company. The amount of conversation revolving around their practices is hardly surprising.
In my opinion, throttling is a necessity towards providing all customers with consistent service. A good comparison is the common practice of electricity providers to enact brown-outs during periods of high (overage) use. Their network (like Bell's) simply can't support the load.
Its unfortunate you suffered as you did however I for one have had no challenges to speak of.
As I dont use P2P software, I'm simply not impacted by the throttling. Incidentally, the throttling occurs only during peak-usage periods; most good P2P software will allow you to set the download time for off-peak periods. | |
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oh LOOK
@videotron.net | Re: Throttling isnt necessarily a bad thing you don't use p2p, yet u know how the "good p2p software" works and how you can DL off hours with them.
Damn I smell a shill. | |
| | | bimsC
join:2008-08-09
Ottawa, ON | Re: Throttling isnt necessarily a bad thing If you say so, it must be. | |
| | ultrasroma
join:2008-07-16
Waterloo, ON
| P2P is not throttled only in peak hours I can assure you. And in my case Internet browsing is working like hell.
I'm sorry Bell's quality has plummeted considerably since I live in Canada (2005). I think it is time to switch for me. But I'm sad I have too. As until 6 months ago I had no complains whatsoever. | |
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Review by sophie97ca
UPDATED: 15 days ago
member for 7.7 years, 359 visits, last login: a few hours ago
London Ont
$29 per month (12 month contract)
Bell Canada
"usually reliable speeds, always helpful tech advice here in this forum, but not to India call centre"
"service techs in India call centr are a waste of time and won't listen to your complaint without going thru their 'script' first"
"leaving when contract is up"
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After going through a billing fiasco on an 'unlimited' plan, where I was charged $30 on overage, the following month my 'unlimited' plan was changed to 60 GB, all while my contract was still in effect.
At first I was told that there was no more 'unlimited' allowance, but then again if I paid an extra $25/mo I could have my 'unlimited' capacity restored. When I balked, it was then dropped to a 'special price' of $12.50/mo by an outbound retention agent.
When I called to cancel, eventually they came up with the goods. I'm back at $34.95/mo, unlimited usage restored through an 'internal consideration'.
The only thing is that there is no 'contract' as such, (I've had the billing determinants confirmed by one of the Bell insiders here), but on the first instance of Sympatico not honoring the terms of this 12-month 'gentleman's agreement', I'm leaving, enough is enough.
*** update: after reviewing my bill it appears that after all applicable credits and considerations are applied, I'
I'm running a 5MB service, unlimited cap and net charges are $29.95/mo.
Tech service by phone to Indian call centre is still frustrating, level one techs are advising me to uninstall my antivirus and firewall programs, which should be beyond their purview and usually takes 30-45 mins to get them to accept my request to have my issue escalated to a Tier 2 tech. And even then to be left on hold for another 20 mins or so.
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Review by JMJimmy
Posted: 15 days ago
member for 29 days, 4 visits, last login: 16 days ago
Kingston,ON
$64 per month (20 month contract)
about 300 days
Bell Canada
"Umm... the technician they sent out was really nice!"
"Everything, price, hassles, speed, responsiveness, support"
"They repeatedly lied, and I had to teach them about their own technology"
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