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Review by cs982005 
UPDATED: 88 days ago
member for 90 days, 9 visits, last login: 66 days ago
 Brampton,ON
 $37 per month (month by month)
 Bell Canada
 "good value, short wait for techsupport line, occasionally helpful staff"
 "they have not yet successfully enabled my service"
 "remains to be seen - but so far a very painful experience"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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UPDATE: after giving up on Velcom ever calling me back, I decided to get my hands dirty and do some experimentation on my own. I found that the connection works outside at the demarc (modem connects right away). I then went to the basement and examined the wiring work the tech they sent made and found that one of the wires was broken and barely making contact with the wire coming from outside. I re-spliced it and hooked them together and now it connects. I have updated the scores I gave to reflect their failure to ever call me back and the poor job the tech they sent did (I realize that he is Bell's, but I am a customer of Velcom and thus from my perspective it is their responsibility to provide proper service as they are the ones receiving my money every month).
I write this review while being extremely disappointed and hoping that someone from Velcom might read it and decide to do something about it. I have been a customer of Rogers for several years (in a rental apartment first, and for 18 months now in my house).
I never had issues with Rogers except perhaps a single outage every 6 months or so when they are performing maintenance and only for a couple of hours each. However, once they began using traffic shaping, port blocking, and bandwidth capping I decided that it is time to be freed from their clutches.
Based on the reports I saw here, I was final on either Velcom or Teksavvy. However I chose Velcom due to their good dry loop service offering. I called them about a 3 or 4 weeks ago and made the order. They said they'll have a tech come over and wire me up (as I did not have a land line whatsoever initially). I emphasize this because it was VELCOM who wired my house, not me.
The tech showed up no earlier than one day before the actual activation day, he made a phone jack for me to use with my modem and proceeded to wire it down to the basement (and out to the demarcation). He made no attempt to even unpack the modem they sent me and thus never showed me that I have service. He packed up and left.
This was the beginning of my pain:
1. First, the modem would not connect. So I called and they claimed that Bell has not activated the line yet.
2. Next day they said that line was activated already 2 days ago (i.e. prior to when they claimed that it was NOT YET activated - proof that whomever I spoke to that day was simply providing bogus info)
3. Then they claimed that the line IS active BUT admitted that they can see massive sync issues and will send a tech the next day to investigate.
4. Tech never showed up or called at all (there were people at home at all times)
5. Upon ME calling, they checked with Bell and Bell claimed that they were not informed of any need to send a tech beforehand!!!!
6. Then they gave me another appointment that was never met!
7. They then sent a tech yet another day later, who showed up, never even came into the house (and downright refused to do so), simply said that there is only a max of 3Mb sync at the demarc, and then claimed that he is HE IS NOT EVEN A TECH AND HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. That was yesterday July 9th.
8. I thus called Velcom to complain about that, and after trying to pass the buck, they promised to call me back and NEVER DID.
9. I then called them for the last time prior to writing this review, explained the whole situation, was informed that they are not responsible for the wiring in my house (even though THEY installed it) and that I should call Bell to complain (which I find ridiculous, given that I am a VELCOM customer, not Bell, and should only be contacting Velcom for support). I asked to speak to a supervisor, a request they downright REFUSED to fulfill until I made it clear that this is the only way to proceed, they then handed me to someone who simply reiterated what the agent said and provided no further insight. At which point I ran out of patience, gave him the option of either getting things right, or provide me with a full refund and cancel the service, and asked to call me back with their decision.
In light of all this, it is difficult for me to recommend Velcom's service to anyone, knowing that at the first sign of trouble they will attempt to pass the buck. I work in tech support myself and I know that when there is an issue with a service I provide (even if I am simply selling it, and in reality getting it from a 3rd party) then supporting it is MY responsibility - as the client has no direct contact with the 3rd party.
I hope that someone from Velcom (possibly the gentleman everyone has been praising so far, Matthew) will read this and attempt to get things right. I am surrounded by a very large group of techies at my workplace who would love to move to a tech-friendly service that doesn't block ports or throttle traffic and I assure you, they will all hear about the outcome of this experience. So far, Teksavvy appears to be the superior option.
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Velcom
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