 Review by Sean 
UPDATED: 1.6 years ago
member for 5.7 years, 1848 visits, last login: 26 days ago
 Ottawa
 $44 per month
 about 12 days
 Bell Canada
 "None, really."
 "False speed advertising, bandwidth limits, traffic shaping, violation of principles of net neutrality."
 "If I had a choice, I would not be with them."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings below consensus)
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UPDATE
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In light of recent things happening with Bell Sympatico, namely Bit Torrent throttling, they are along the worse ISPs in Canada, along with Rogers. Not only that, but they've started throttling third party ISPs that use their copper, so they've made sure there is absolutely no way to escape throttling in most of Central Ontario. Anti-competitive, much?
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1 Year Update
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Since things have changed, here's another update.
First off, the problem I was having with my connetion sowing down to like 90/640 has dissapeared.
Secondly, tech support has gone downhill. With all the outsourcing it's hard to get someone who knows what they're doing. Often times it takes multiple calls to get things done.
At the time of my last update, they had the modems synced at 3008/800, and since then they've upgraded to 5056/800. Granted, I didn't get this update without crawling up someones ass and biting. First, I got upgraded to 4032/800 Interleave since the idiot tech didn't think my line could go further. Then I called in again a few months later and got the upgrade to 5056/800.
Other than that, things have stayed the same pretty much.
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6 Month Update
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Well, DSLR told me to update my review, and update it I will.
Lots of stuff has actually changed since last time. For one, I've had the most unpleasant experience with their billing. We were originally sold this serice through a telemarketer, and they hadn't made it clear that we actually had to call in to cancel the free promo services we were getting.
So for months and months (we don't usually check the bill) we were being billed for these services. What also made it hard to track was every month, the bill would be different! Some months they'd charge us something ridiculous like $72 and then the next month they'd charge us something like $34.
To make things worse, we called in to get this fixed, and we were assured it would be when we got off the phone. Two bills down the road we realize it wasn't fixed. To make things even worse yet again, when I try to call in to get it fixed, their business office hours have changed to 8 - 5 PM! What happens to customers who work during those hours or customers who go to school during those hours?
Long story short, I finally got them to call me by sending an angry e-mail off via www.bell.ca. One thing I do appreciate is the fairness that came out of all of this. They put us on this non contract 12 month offer of $0/m for 2 months, $24.95/m for 3 months, and $34.95/m for 7 months.
Connection reliability has also gone down because for some reason, periodically my connection will speed down to something like 94/640 down/up. To fix it I have to unplug the modem, which can be a pain to do every other night.
Since it's started to get colder I haven't noticed these slowdowns, which may show some sort of physical line trouble. It's interesting because there shouldn't be any, it's a new area and theres a remote DSLAM in close proximity. It's a new area and they're still finishing it up so I'm hoping it has something to do with that. We'll see.
Hope this helps.
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Original Review
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This is my second time being with Sympatico, and as you can tell from my rating, the install didn't go so smoothly. I ordered, then 6 days later I received the kit in the mail. The DSL modem wouldn't sync, so I called, and it took about 6 days and 3 calls to get it straightened out.
While I understand it's a new area, it still doesn't change the fact that the install was a mess. I still don't blame them too much, though.
In short, the issue happened to be be connection to the remote DSLAM. Since it was a new area it's understandble that my hookup to the remote wasn't right.
For my full experience with the sync issue, please see »My story.
I ordered the High Speed Edition which is advertised at 3 Mbps down and 800 Kbps up, at $24.95/m for the first three months, then $44.95/m thereafter. They actually advertise the sync rate, and due to the nature of the DSL technology, we only end up getting 2.5 Mbps down and 640 Kbps up. It's damn stable though, never fluctuates.
The kit contains a modem (almost always an Efficient Networks SpeedStream 5200), the power adaptor, four voice/data filters, an ethernet cable, and a USB cable.
The service comes with a PPPoE IP, which means the IP changes at almost every connect.
Overall, I'm happy with the service. After the initial install hitch, everything's back to normal. Stable speeds, no bandwidth caps, good BitTorrent performance, and just an overall good internet experience.
Hope my review helps!
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