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Review by tarekali See Profile

  • Location: Nepean, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $50 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 5 days
  • No Cap
fast install
kept dropping speed daily; outages weekly; charged after cancellation
not worth it at all
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I registered for Primus via Costco expecting stellar service. Instead I got daily speed drops and weekly outages. After 1 year 3 months of bad service I finally cancelled. Even after cancellation they billed my account! Now waiting for refund.

member for 6.1 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 6.1 years ago







Review by DownhillDude See Profile

  • Location: Edmonton, AB, Canada
  • Cost: $65 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
  • Telco party Telus
Service, speed is actually slightly faster than advertised
Ping rate is slower than with TELUS. Used to get 8ms, now it's 37ms.
Paying less money for a faster service. Paying about the same for faster internet, and VoIP phone, as for 30MB Internet w/TELUS

Costco Internet+Phone bundle. $80/month, including modem rental, Canadian LD, etc. Order and install were easy. Customer service is quick on the phone (compared to most call centres I call...about 3-5 minutes to get a rep). Miss the extremely low ping rate/latency of TELUS (about 8ms), compared to the 35-40ms rate on Primus. TELUS is putting fibre in to my house within the next couple of weeks. Supposedly I will be able to get 100MB service from Primus, sometime after that. TELUS will actually offer 150MB service, though.

member for 6.6 years, driveby review (so far)
updated 6.6 years ago


Review by makuribu See Profile

  • Location: Kingston, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $87 per month (24 month contract)
  • No Cap
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Good price
Low speed
Getting kinda pokey

I have internet, home phone, and LD.
It's a good price but the 16 mbps is rarely acheived and isn't considered high speed anymore.
Primus should be able to piggyback on Bell's recently installed fibre, but they have not announced any plans to do so.
At this point, a cable based solution is the only alternative.

member for 18 years, 24 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
lodged 6.7 years ago







Review by VTECMAN See Profile

  • Location: L9T
  • Cost: $65 per month (24 month contract)
Consistent service, low to minimal downtime, decent price through Costco membership
IP address changes to cities throughout Canada, had to change to google dns due to slow page load times..
Still worth it for the speeds
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I went with the Costco Primus deal for a VOIP line and FTTN DSL internet package. It was a great deal at the time. Consistent speeds. The only thing i noticed was that my IP address would change to different parts of Canada. The only way i noticed was when I lost You tube kids for a day due to "not available in your geographic area". They moved my IP to Quebec. A simple reset fixed the issue though so no complaints. The only issue i experienced really was slow page load times. It took me a bit to figure it out since my download speeds were good. It was the dns they were using. Once i switched it to Google's dns everything was fine.

member for 6.9 years, 3 visits, last login: 6.7 years ago
updated 6.8 years ago


Review by lapedrera1 See Profile

  • Location: North York, ON, Canada
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Nothing, yet
Pretty much everything - communication, knowledge,
Avoid at all possible costs.
Pre Sales information:
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I ordered 16/1 service (DSL)
Price is 56$/month (after promotional months)

No modem provided, initially, as was using my own TP-Link modem which I confirmed with multiple people about it being compatible

Currently, the connection is still awful.

1. SLOW SPEEDS - When I attempt to perform a speed test from the primus test page, it times out with a latency error. When a test completes, it is nowhere near the 16/1 service lever, but rather closer to 2. (every speed test result is emailed to support, as well as now, managers)

2. The internet consistently drops and reconnects (I have logs showing it happening, which I have emailed them)

3. Multiple times, I have had to request only electronic communication, as anything that gets told to me via telephone conversation is completely denied in any future conversation. I now only deal with them via electronic mail, as it seems to be the only way for them to have ANY accountability

4. Multiple times, I have had to attend the residence for the technician to be on site, yet they still have not fixed the issue of slow speed and dropping connections.


member for 10.9 years, 20 visits, last login: 8.1 years ago
updated 8.1 years ago


Review by fjchiou See Profile

  • Location: m5r
  • Cost: $70 per month
Cheap at the start
Service outage was common. Charged for service after cancellation. BEWARE!
Don't go with Primus! Charged after cancelling service 2 months ago and still NO REFUND!
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I had ordered the home phone + unlimited 5mbps internet in 2007. Not once was I offered a retention plan, and the price of my original plan increased every few months. What started to be $50/month ballooned to over $80/month. Internet was buggy at times. The already slow 5mbps sometimes went down to 1mbps.

Called in prior to cancellation and was not offered anything. Was told by retention agent that we were getting "the best deal". Said we were getting 7mbps, but it was really just 5mbps.

Called CS to cancel at the end of September, and was told by CS agent everything was good to go.
I was charged for the month of October and was told by CS agent, my service was still active in the system.

Called a total of 3 times since the initial cancellation, still to this date, NO REFUND on service I never received. Was promised a follow-up 3 times and never got one.

Take my advice and DON'T GO WITH PRIMUS!

member for 8.3 years, 1 visits, last login: 8.3 years ago
updated 8.3 years ago


Review by NormKay See Profile

  • Location: Mississauga, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $87 per month (24 month contract)
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BEWARE!

Primus’ affordable price and unlimited internet usage may be appealing, but poor internet connectivity is a deal breaker.



I was originally subscribed with Rogers’ Internet, Cable and Home Phone. I decided to cut the cable and rely on Netflix and free OTA broadcasts. Primus’ unlimited internet usage and VOIP telephone appear to fit my needs. Enrollment through Costco was quick and installation with a Bell technician went smoothly. I subscribed to Internet 60 and Basic Digital Home Phone Bundle. The initial 2 week period was great. No issues with streaming Netflix. VOIP quality was clear. Then the issues began. The phone stopped working. Cannot make or receive calls as there was no dial tone. Resetting the modem resolved this issue. Furthermore, internet connectivity was frequently poor in the evenings after 10pm. Forget about streaming Netflix or YouTube, surfing the web was slow. I suspected Primus was throttling my bandwidth allowance in the evenings when public usage levels were high. As a result of poor internet connectivity, my VOIP was regularly dropped. I was forced to reset the modem every few days to restore phone service. Several calls to tech support revealed no resolution, although they were friendly. Primus did acknowledge my documented poor connectivity instances, but denied throttling. Instead, I was told the source of my problem could be from my router, my laptop, my phone lines etc or even the absurd possibility of my neighbor’s equipment emitting EMI. My network equipment setup did not pose a problem with Rogers’ internet. The only change in my setup was Primus. I recently went away on vacation for 2 weeks and surprisingly my phone worked for the whole duration and continued for another 2 weeks after I returned. But now, the grace period is over and I’ve resumed resetting the modem every few days.

After 5 months of tolerating Primus, I realize that it won’t get better. I’m reluctantly returning to Rogers’ internet where I’ll be paying more, but it will be reliable.

As a parting gift to Primus, I will give them $200 (cancellation fee) for terminating my 2 year contract. This useful information is hidden within the “Terms & Conditions” link found on the web page where you select either 1 year or 2 year term to order.

I’ve tried to be objective in writing my review. You can decide whether or not to give them your business. Buyer Beware.

member for 8.5 years, 1 visits, last login: 6 years ago
lodged 8.5 years ago


Review by xtreme911 See Profile

  • Location: Canada
  • Cost: $60 per month (month by month)
  • Install: about 10 days
  • No Cap
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Fast and reliable enough ISP at an affordable price
They need to deal with Bell for installations and troubleshooting the DSL signal
A solid wholeseller of Bell xDSL service
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After being will Bell service (phone and internet) for awhile, they eventually starting raising their rates while also implementing usage caps. One day while exiting Costco, I noticed a promotion or bundle for a home phone line including some features and 25/10 internet (which tests at those speeds as well) for ~$60. The bundle had all the same features with Primus that I had with Bell literally half the cost so I went with it.

I'm so happy I did switch. Although I know that Primus is not as well connected to the Internet backbone as Bell was, the transits and peers they do have in the GTA are very sufficient. The DSL service is delivered over a wet line which is a plus to me as well since this is what I had with Bell. Speed tests are usually solid as well despite my potential concerns with their traffic management/throttling policy I read about before switching.

member for 20 years, 42 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
updated 9.2 years ago


a7hfm
@64.229.112.x

a7hfm

Anon

Are you near Mississauga

Hi, i'm also thinking of switching to primus from bell because of the unlimited usage. i read there speed is false and always drooping is it correct. Also i read that there dates are not very good about installation. sorry for my bad english. oh and does the Bell router work on primus network or i have to buy there router ?
cutuzov
join:2007-11-21
Ajax, ON

cutuzov

Member

Re: Are you near Mississauga

I used to be Primus customer and would recommend .....stating away from them. Customer support,Tech support, billing accuracy were all below acceptable limit. There are far better options for unlimited internet in your area. Check Start Communications and Techsavvy on this website.

Art
@primus.ca

Art to a7hfm

Anon

to a7hfm
From 9-10 pm their internet is horrible instead of getting 25 mb /sek you will get 2 with crashes so you cant watch or stream any video, if you call them instead of helping they trying to give lessons so they know and trying to cover up,
Art

Art

Anon

Re: Are you near Mississauga

Sorry from 6pm -10 pm

Review by tedv See Profile

  • Location: Oshawa, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $49 per month
  • Install: about 7 days
  • No Cap
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Reliable

I had Primus for 4+ years and just cancelled my service last week. I was on the 5/1Mbs unlimited package. Speed were about 3.5/.6Mbps, but that was blamed on old copper in out area. Seeing that Bell user in the neighborhood were getting the same, I left it. When Bell came around and cleaned up the copper for the Fibe roll out, my speed went up to the advertised 5Mbs down, but I never got more than .6Mbs up.

Over the 4+ years, we had about 3 outages, with the longest being about 4 hours.

The biggest complaint I have with Primus, is their auto debit payment system. They do not bill on the same day of the month, but on a 30 day cycle. This meant that sometimes the day fell on the last day of the month, when I had my bank setup to transfer the money into the account for the first of the month.

member for 18.8 years, 27 visits, last login: 9.9 years ago
lodged 10.1 years ago


Walidbazzi
@telus.net

Walidbazzi

Anon

Worse Service ever

signed up on October 10 2013 , until now i dont have the phone or the internet working, forgot about contacting me initially , did not send me the modem , i had to phone few times to get someone to deliver the new modem ,,,,,, anyway wrong decision , bad first impression, I am calling in the next 24 hours to cancel , i dont want to deal with a company who doe snot know how ot attract customers and make a first good impression

Review by Bye internet See Profile

  • Location: canada
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Great customer phone service; sincere desire to resolve problems.
Problems unresolved; the problem was old Bell lines, incapable of supporting both phone and High Speed Internet
Ahead of Bell and Acanac, at least they sent a lineman, who gave me a direct report. However, the problems were never resolved.
Pre Sales information:
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I appreciated the honestly of the lineman. The lineman told me that my old homeline was incapable of supporting both Phone and High Speed Internet. (Why hadn't Bell or Acanac told me this?) In their effort, Primus sometimes left me without phone, in order to provide my internet, or vice versa.

At least Primus did not charge me for services they were unable to provide. [But I want those services!] And at least they sent a lineman (unlike Bell or Acanac).

member for 12.1 years, driveby review (so far)
lodged 10.4 years ago