Review by mattb9432 
UPDATED: 111 days ago
member for 118 days, 2 visits, last login: 96 days ago
 Etobicoke,ON
 $43 per month (12 month contract)
 Bell Canada
 "I have a connection."
 "Not much faster than dial-up; connection took much longer than expected; Bell managed to cut off my telephone service while tryi"
 "Bell's usage caps don't matter because service is so slow that I'll never download 25gb in a month."
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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I ordered a $29.95 Performance package; according to Bell's website, I'm going to be charged $43.95 per month.
My DSL modem arrived on time with a letter stating that I'd have Internet service by 5:00pm on July 31. At 9:30pm on the 31st I didn't have Internet service. Tech support told me to power down system until next morning because connections are often not established until midnight of the day on which the connections are supposed to be established. I powered down and began picking up the packaging in which the modem had been shipped. I found quite a bit of useful information in an instruction booklet that I'd previously ignored because it was titled, "Wirless Home Networking Reference Guide." I hadn't ordered wirless networking and so hadn't bothered with this booklet. On the inside cover of the Wireless Home Networking Reference Guide I found the information that by installing Bell's system I had agreed to be bound by a Sevice Agreement, a copy of which was included in my installation kit. I looked carefully and found a copy of the service agreement inside a cardboard sleeve that had been wrapped around the box in which the modem was shipped. I had slid the box out of the sleeve and so had not seen the service agreement. I had found all other documentation inside the box with the modem, and had been surprised that there seemed to be no service agreement. It appears that the service agreement is carefully packed so that the customer won't see it until after setting up the system. The service agreement basically requires me to pay Bell whatever Bell feels like charging me whether Bell delivers the service or not.
On the morning of August 01 I not only didn't have Internet service but found that Bell had managed to cut off my telephone service, too. The only number I could call on my home telephone line was 310-BELL.
Bell said on August 01 that they'd send a technician to my home on August 05 to check the connections in my home. I told Bell that there was nothing wrong with connections in my home and I had ordered Bell service because I didn't have time to wait around for a technician to show up and would they please just disconnect all Bell services and I'd find another provider. I was told that the person to who I was speaking couldn't arrange a disconnection and I'd be connected to someone else and I was then kept on hold until I had to hang up because I'd been on the phone for nearly 45 minutes and had to leave to attend to other business.
On Tuesday August 04 I arrived home and found that my security system had recorded a Bell technician knocking at my door and getting no answer because no one was home. I plugged in a telephone and found that Bell had reconnected my telephone line.
At 6:30am on the morning of Wednesday, August 05, I reconnected Bell's DSL modem and reinstalled the phone line filters and found that I had an internet connection. I went through the setup process and then logged off to attend to other business. At about 10:00am I tried to log on and found that the usernames and passwords I'd set up earlier were no longer recognized. At 12:00 noon I found that I once again didn't have an Internet connection. I then got another runaround from Bell, asked to have service terminated and was left on hold until I had to hang up.
On Friday, August 07, I found that my telephone line was still working. Phoned Bell and was told that I had telephone and Internet service. I again plugged in Bell's modem and found that I had an internet connection but could not access most of Bell's website and could not use the e-mail account I had previously established. I later found that it seemed that Bell's system had remembered some of the setup information I'd given it on the morning of August 05, but had "forgotten" other bits of information.
On August 12 more of Bell's website became available to me. I downloaded and installed the Bell deluxe security package that was included with the Bell Performance package. Internet Explorer suddenly became unable to find a connection. A third-party two-way firewall told me that Bell's software was constantly trying to call home. I found that I couldn't turn off Bell's security programs. I had to use Task Manager to stop Bell's programs. Control Panel couldn't remove Bell's software, so I did a system restore.
I tested the download speed of my connection and got a maximum of 2.3 megabits per second, which was faster than dialup but a long was short of Bell's claim that I'd be able to download at "up to" 6 megabits per second. Actual download speeds are seldom above 200 kilbits per second, and usually a lot less.
Bell tech support briefly took control of my computer and could find no reason for the slow downloads.
On Thursday, August 20, I'd done everything possible to speed up downloads, but speeds hadn't improved noticeably. I phoned Bell and asked to have the service disconnected, and was switched from department to department and was offered discounts to keep Bell service and was finally told that I'd have to speak to another department to arrange a disconndect and was again left on hold untill I finally guessed that I must have been forgotten and I hung up.
Today I find that I still have a very slow Bell Internet connection. I'll have to phone again and try to get disconnected, and I'll try to get connected by Acanac or Telcom.
I don't intend to pay Bell for Internet service. I just don't see why I should pay pay full price for a service of which I've received only a small fraction.
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