Review by PygmySurfer 
Posted: 231 days ago
member for 250 days, 22 visits, last login: 91 days ago
 Windsor,ON
 $47 per month (36 month contract)
 Bell Canada
 "reliable, no usage caps (grandfathered plan - not the case for new customers!)"
 "throttling not only their customers, but the customers of those who purchase their services wholesale and re-sell them"
 "Auditioning Cogeco for a month - if it's better, I'm cancelling ALL of my Bell services (Home Phone, Internet, Satellite TV)"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I used to be a Cogeco customer, from 2001-2004. It was OK, though my service would often go down for an hour or so, and they couldn't explain why. So when I built my new house, I decided to try out Bell. I forget the exact details and pricing of the plan, since I signed up in December of 2004. Installation was relatively painless, though I think they failed to show the first day they were scheduled to. I was supplied a SpeedStream 5242 modem, which I've since replaced with a Netopia 3347NWG-ENT. I forget if the contract term was 24 months or 36 months - it's since expired.
Bell was great for several years - the service was incredibly reliable (went down twice in 4 years, I think), the price was decent, but not great, and it was pretty fast. I even got a free speed upgrade (it was initially 3 or 4mbps, it's now 5). When I signed up, Bell had not yet implemented usage caps. When caps were finally instituted, my plan remained unaffected - this was a nice touch.
Then, the throttling started. It wasn't too bad at first, but lately it's been getting worse. Recently, I've even begun to experience issues with my Vonage VOIP service, and I believe it's related to the throttling. There's also a mandatory modem rental fee, even though I replaced my Bell modem with a Netopia router.
Customer Support has long been a weakness - any time that I've called I've gotten somebody who can do nothing more than read from a script, who has a poor ability to communicate in English. I don't mean to be hard on the people who work in these call centres, it's the companies' fault for moving the work there, not the Support Agents', however, it's very difficult to get assistance from these people when they have a poor grasp of the English language.
I've also tried emailing support on the website a few times - I've never received a reply. The last time I did was for the Vonage problem mentioned above. They sent a tech out to check my line for some reason - even the tech was confused when I explained my problem to him (there was obviously nothing he could do).
Many companies like TekSavvy, Acanac and MNSi rely on Bell's network to reach their customers. Bell has decided to not only throttle their own customers' connections, but also connections of customers of these other small internet providers who's traffic happens to cross Bell's network (which is most people, since Bell is typically the only option to the customers' homes, for DSL). How our government let's them get away with this is beyond me.
Today I phoned Cogeco, I'm going to audition their business internet service for a month (the 60gb cap on the residential service is way too low which is why I'm going with business). If I'm satisfied, I'll be pulling ALL of my Bell services ($157.57/month worth).
I wish there was more competition in Windsor - we really only have two options. If anyone in Windsor is reading this review trying to decide on their own service, I feel your pain. Hopefully my Cogeco experience will be better, so that I can recommend it to anyone shopping for service.
Followup comments:  
hmm
@videotron.ca | other competition To my understanding MNSi has their own equipment in Windsor.
You might want to call and ask about it. | |
|  | PygmySurfer
join:2009-03-04
Windsor, ON
 ·Bell Sympatico
| Re: other competition I emailed MNSi, and they do have their own equipment, but unfortunately, I'm on a remote, so they can't help me out.
MNSi support was really helpful (The owner, Clayton Zekelman was the person who responded to all of my emails), they looked into it for me, and assured me I would still be subject to Bell's throttling. | |
| | |
ewuqroewqdsfa
@cgocable.net | Re: other competition cogeco is pretty good if you can live with the caps ...
you won't be throttled, voip works well, its very stable. | |
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Nogeco
@sil.at
| Cogeco worst then Bell Cogeco is far worst then Bell. Listen to hmm..it would be your best bet.
Cogeco has ridiculously low caps, and cogeco DOES throttle and if your on a share site, you can't keep a ratio with cogeco.
Grass is always greener on the other side, but in this case, it's not 
Cogeco is a rip and costs way to much for what they offer, and they will treat you like a alien if you use over 60gigs, that is crazy to them. I guarantee you will be paying more with cogeco, for a lot less. | |
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