 Review by Cebolinha 
UPDATED: 194 days ago
member for 4.1 years, 1588 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 undisclosed location
 Contract price not specified.
 about 8 days
 Bell Canada
 "reliability"
 "Throttling"
 "Throttling has ruined Sympatico. Stay AWAY."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
|
==UPDATE== 2008/02/25
Throttling. Period.
==UPDATE== 2007/11/11
I have found the source of the interference that affected my DSL line. It was due to an electrical problem in a light switch inside my house. Reliability has come back to normal. No more sync issues.
==UPDATE== 2007/09/28
My connection has gone down the drain, even after turning interleave on. The same disconnections are still happening in the evening until early in the morning.
I am fed up.
I am already looking at alternatives.
==UPDATE==
Tech turned interleave on to correct the errors and bumped my line to 1728 / 384.
Good speed at 6.3 km away from the CO.
Good thing I don't play online games anymore though.
==UPDATE==
My connection is crapping out every single night between 10 PM until early in the morning. Technicians are useless, they cannot find the source of the problem.
I'm back at the old 1 meg sync. (sigh)
==UPDATE==
I bought a new 2Wire modem and my line has been upgraded to 1728/640 fastpath; which is a great improvement from what I had before.
==UPDATE==
I recently tweaked my inside wiring and was able to change my upload profile to 640 kbps from 384 kbps. I was also put on FastPath. My connection is now snappier when browsing and my ping times are great, especially when it comes to gaming !
==UPDATE==
On September 8th, a technician fixed some parts of my internal wiring. My modem no longer loses sync when the phones rings and the line stability has greatly increased. My upload has also been increased to 384 kbps from 160 kbps.
==UPDATE==
As of June 28, my connection speed is still at 1184/160 despite Sympatico upgrading once again its high-speed users to 5056/800.
On the good side, the connection is still rock-solid and haven't experienced any slowdowns for months.
Still waiting for Bell to upgrade my neighbourhood so that I can get the advertised speeds.
[ORIGINAL REVIEW]
I subscribed to Sympatico's HSE back in 2001, back then the service was very good. I ordered the standard service with no hassle at all. A quick and simple phone call ! Got the kit a few days later, followed the instructions and I got online in no time. I've had very consistent speeds and reliability since.
The problems started when they announced the speed upgrades (up to 3000 kbps downstream / 800 kbps upstream) in by march 2004. Everyone was getting their upgrade and I didn't. Called many times the technical support to know what was happening and they always said I was too far from the CO.
Time went by, and I started to notice consistent speed drops and high latencies. Called back the tech support to know what was happening, they couldn't see anything wrong on their side and said that the problem was with my inside wiring. They even lowered my profile to 672 kbps downstream from 1184 kbps, saying that my line can't properly handle the sync.
I did my own tests at home and noticed that my wiring wasn't the problem. So I called them back, AGAIN ! After many calls, I finally convinced them to upgrade my profile back to 1184 kbps and I specifically requested a new modem because mine was overheating and kept losing sync.
Since then, my internet experience has come back to normal. Consistent speeds and reliability. Although I'm still waiting for my area to be upgraded so I can fully benefit from the service.
One thing that you have to remember, is that you have to make yourself clear when speaking to those technicians and insist a lot, or else you won't get heard. But always remain polite.
Followup comments:  gpmc
join:2006-05-23
Saint-Eustache, QC
| Sympatico troubles I am going through the same nightmare situation. Our speed has been getting progressively lower as Bell advertises higher and higher speeds. I've talked to tech support, done all the tests a gazillion times all to be told in the end that that's what's available in my area as I'm too far from the CO.
My issue with Bell is why all of a sudden our speed crawls down to 600kbps and then magically goes up to 980kbps after power off the modem for a minute or two. (By the way, are these supposed to get that hot?)
We use Vonage which was fine up until recently when Bell downgraded our bandwidth to 900 from 1200kbps. We run a home based business and are willing to pay more if needed to get decent service. | |
| squall78
join:2005-11-12
| questions i am having the same problem you had! is your sympatico service running on dry loop? because i am, and since i changed to dry loop (changed to rogers home phone), i disconenct for a few seconds when i get a call sometimes, and when i download files, i get disconnected a lot of the times and end up not being able to complete the file (normal downloads, not torrents).
hope to hear from you soon. i am planning to call bell this week =D. (and when i ran speed test, my download is 50% lower than average sympatico user, and my upload is 80% below average sympatico user --__--) | |
| 
pressman
Premium
join:2007-05-16
North York, ON | inside wiring what did you do to tweak your inside wiring ?? | |
| | 
Luv
@videotron.ca
 from:
Cebolinha
| Smart cookie Cigar said:
My connection has gone down the drain, even after turning interleave on. The same disconnections are still happening in the evening until early in the morning.
I am fed up.
I am already looking at alternatives.
==========================================
You know, I was in your shoes. It drove me f'n nuts.
One day I was 1.7-meg, next day whatever the modem would train at, then next day no connection, the next day no connection in the evening till the morning, rinse repeat.
Its all line related and I think you know this. It got to the point where it affect my phone. 611 said there way no problem, sympatico kept telling me to speak louder cuz they can't hear me over the static.
What did I do?
I bitched at billing.
Called them up and said I just can't take their lousey support anymore. Told them I was at witts end with the whole lot at bell.
The techs that came to my place actually told me to change to videotron (bell techs also work for videotron here in QC, Double jobs).
Bell techs kept telling me to frig them since they won't listen. Techs said problems are with the cable, they couldn't find the issue and thats that.
While i told billing this, I asked to speak to someone in the Cable dept (this took 3-4 calls to billing and referencing about 10 tracking ticket numbers). Finally one billing agent put me through to the Cable dept.
A truck was sent out (not their stupid little vans with the morons with the laptops who try to BS you). I told the guy the problem and and the techs saying the problem is 1.5 km away but can't locate it.
Truck came back to my place and said it was a box on a pole in a persons yard open to the elements and fixed it up.
I then got a call by a great manager from the Cable dept and he told me never to call 611 or sympatico again and gave me his personal number for any issues. I would give you this number but the kids colored on the paper I wrote it on and well.... its gone :/ sorry.
I know the area you are in... spring garden area and its the shits with Bell and internet, and friends I know there agree and in the same shoes as you.
You've done everything possible on your end inside (you gave great info with your setup inside that I refer to many times. You should get a year free just for that info you provided.).
But at one point you have to say to yourself, enough is enough.
You need to get in contact with the cable dept, or get bell to send their best tech in the area to check your apt (I think your in an apt because spring garden area is a lot of apt's). If its not an apartment problem with the wiring, the only thing I can tell you is fight to get the cabling dept on the phone with you.
They fixed me up (the cabling dept, that is), and I was satisfied. But after the phones failing while the hubby had heart issues... well he told bell where to go after he recovered. I hope you and anyone in your apt never has to go through what we did with bell in an emergencey issue. He cancelled all bell services months ago.
We got a call 3 days ago from Bell telling us they improved and want us back.
Hubby said, when he called initially and threatened to start a petition with the neighbours who also had problems with phone problems with bell, only then did bell react. and they fixed up the addresses he gave except for the two ladies across the street (bell tech agreed to fix only the guy next door to us because they said no ticket was initiated (but the guy next door was there yelling, hehe), but i was there when all neighbours called, so thats was a lie from them. They all call 611 for help and no help came).
So this guy who called 3 days ago who said Bell improved your area and wants us back. Hubby said, well I don't believe you, he gave addresses across the street of the 80 year old's who are also "Bell-Abused" and said Bell-vans are on our street 4x per month always at the same places. How is that improved (and filled him in a bit on the whole thing).
They guy on the phone said "ummm ok i understand, bye". Guy never said what improved... :/
So I won't tell you what to do, but i know there is good competition in your area worth changing over too. Bell always lied to us and only fixed us up when the hubby got all neigbours together.
You are on your own buddy, and I know you asked in the bell direct forum...
We have been "Bell-Abused" (though i was happy with what-ever i had and thought a bit static was normal back then).
You have avenues, and you know this.
1) Bell billing for a discount and free months till fixed and let them know everything (call to speak to them more than once, Billing helped us more than anyone, but took a few calls). They dropped my cost to 30/month, when hubby called after he recovered from the heart thing to tell them off, they offered him under $24/month and he told them where to shove it and got videotron.
2) Try your best to get billing to get you the cable dept
3) exec office
4) kevin crull
5) the competition.
You're a smart cookie... you know what to do. Youv'e been around. So no need to play their game. Your're getting a run-around and you know this Cigar.
 wow I wrote a long post... sorry! Lots to say in your type of situation  | |
|  |
Cebolinha
Premium
join:2004-08-24
 ·Bell Sympatico
| Re: Smart cookie My problem is not new to Bell. I already contacted Kevin Crull's office. They sent a senior field technician and a manager of field techs, to only tell me that my line is in good shape and that I'm 6.3-6.6 km away from the CO, 1 km more than last year. 
Posted at the Sympatico direct forum, got a response 2 days after, they said they were monitoring my line. After the completion of the numerous tests, the tech suggested putting me on interleave and bumping my profile to 1728/384.
Oddly enough, the connection works fine during the day, and poof, like magic, it starts crapping out and my modem reports a loss of sync every 1-2 minutes for 2-6 hours straight.
Obviously, interleave was a quick fix and I am starting to feel like they're playing me.
I intend to call up billing and I will do what you suggested; asking for a credit for the numerous hours of no connectivity until they fix my issue.
If they refuse, they won't be hearing from me personally, but I'll make sure to give sympatico a bad image, even though it already has one. It's in their interest to fix my issue.
Videotron is becoming the best alternative at the moment.
Thanks for the input. Greatly appreciated. | |
| | |
Luv
@videotron.ca
| Re: Smart cookie The problem is line period.
These problems (same as you) crept up on us during the months of May and October (we went through this same routine for 3 years as the hubby bitched about to Billing).
This is when there are weather differences, humidity differences and so forth. These are the times of the year when line problems will creep up and make things unstable (as you are seeing).
Only thing I can tell you is that its line related, a short and/or humidity problem.
You deserve MANY thanks for the info shared on this board that helped many people.
In my opinion Bell owes you for saving customers such as this:
»www.supportcommunity.sympatico.c···10131137
Which was solved through your input, set-up, that I referred to.
(this is just *ONE* example, there are many you helped, though you may not realize).
Bell would have tossed this guy away, lets be honest.
If no one from Bell helps you, I would be pissed. You provided the Bell-Sympatico community a great wealth of information through your experience and setup and saved many of their customers.
Feel free to Email this to Kevin Crull and let them know you are the one who saved more than one that I try to help with in their own forum.
Or maybe they will tell you (as they told me), I am just a outlier statistic.
Fight. | |
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