dslreports logo

Review by docbill See Profile

  • Location: Stoney Creek, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $75 per month
  • Install: about 5 days
Very fast upload
Rediculous quotas, and constant billing errors
would not recommend, constantly changing terms, billing rates, caps, ...
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

My review originally appeared under Bell Sympatico. I am now adding this review to this new Bell listing.

It is now 2012 and I am back with Bell again. A door to door salesman sold me on a triple play package free for 6 months. It is however a 2 year contract, which will cost me $300 to disconnect early, and there is a $30 activation fee. I don't really need the satellite TV or the bell phone line. After 6 months, I changed my contract so for the internet portion I am now billed $65/month + $10 for 80 GB extra usage - $10 promotion discount - $4 bundled discount + tax. The bundled discounts make computing my total monthly cost difficult. But with tax I am paying $101 for 28/10 internet + the Good internet satellite package. Don't try to find this deal on the web, this is what I ended up after arguing with Bell to fix there almost monthly billing mistakes.

First the good:

The install service was excellent. The Bell tech showed up on time, and rewired my phone line. I hadn't used the line in years, when I had cancelled the regular phone line one of the reasons was phone picked-up radio signals and the DSL was dog slow. However, with the new Fibe connection I am getting the advertised 25/7 without the same speed both to Bell's test sight, and my favourite speed test site in the US. The Bell router has wireless N, two USB ports, and four LAN ports. Overall it seems like fairly solid hardware. Later I cancelled the phone line and upgraded to 25/10. Again the speed is exactly as advertised.

Now the not so good:

The technician could only connect the router within three feet of the phone jack. So I had to run my own 100 ft cable to get the connection to my computer. The wireless service seems fair, but not as good as my Asus RT-16N.

Now the bad:

For the first month of service the bandwidth counter was way off. Eventually that got corrected. The phone line was installed incorrectly. The wired the outlet so the internet line and the phone line were wired together. I fixed that myself. Eventually though I cancelled the phone line, because of constant harassing phone calls (even though I never gave ANYONE the new number) and the obscene monthly price for a line that was lower quality than my VOIP.

When I upgraded my network speed and cancelled the phone line, Bell forgot to process the order to cancel the phone line and to add dry-loop. When I called to check on the cancel order they did the cancel right away, but did not add the dry-loop. So I was without internet for 3 days. They also decided to count changing my internet service as a cancel, and charged me the cancellation fee. They also charged me $65 for what was suppose to be one of my free months.

Billing errors happened on almost a monthly basis. The last two months have finally been without error. I think each time I called and ultimately went through the customer retention process because I said I wanted to cancel, I ultimately ended up ahead as a result. However, saving 1 or 2 dollars a month eventually isn't nearly worth the aggravation.

Because I don't trust Bell, I did not cancel my Cogeco service until I had used Bell for a month. After 5 months I finally ordered service from Start.ca, because one internet service, especially Bell is simply too unreliable. Anytime there is a Bell truck in the neighbourhood, I can count on the internet being down for half a day.

I like the reliability and bandwidth of having two providers. So currently I have both Bell and Start. However, I received a notice a rate increase on January 13th, 2013. I just called and got an additional discount to compensate, but I will wait and see if the discount really shows up on my bill.

- update 2013-02-25 -

The promised discounts showed up in January, then in February they dropped off as well as one of the other discounts I was already receiving. Net effect, my bill went up even higher than it was before. I called Bell, and again they are apply a set of discounts. Not enough really to stick with them, but enough for me to hold my breath a bit and see if TekSavvy does a sign-up special this spring rather than switching right away.

- update 2013-02-26 -

That does I'm dumping Bell. On the 4th of February they sent me a letter my usage limit was being raised 15 GB per month to 140 GB. With my 80 GB per month I was purchasing that brought me up to 220 GB. To day I logged into my account and see on the 13th they dropped me down to a total of 175 GB and again raised my rates. Of course there was no e-mail notifying of the drop in usage limits, or this new raise in rates. All I can say is Bell Canada sucks. They are not trust worthy in any sense of the word. I'm dropping them tomorrow and that is it.



member for 17.4 years, 214 visits, last login: 3.4 years ago
updated 11 years ago

ChrisTaylor
join:2013-05-10

ChrisTaylor

Member

Bell Fibe Support

Bell Fibe support is the worst. I signed up for the service a few weeks ago and, unbeknownst to me, they turned my service off. Whoops! A tech support agent came to my place and was unable to solve the problem. Whoops! He indicated that the service would be up and running once head office opened on Monday.

That was a long shot. The service was not re-instated. Back to square one.

Fast forward to today (which I guess I could do if my TV was working). My service is still not running and I am sitting on the line with call support (… clock ticking by).

Here’s a surprise… call support is unhelpful (not as bad as last time though, when I got hung up on). And, of course there’s the same useless protocols which do not help fix the problem. And I have to explain the problem and my frustrations again and again.

Why am I on the phone this time you ask? Great question! Because another tech support agent was supposed to come today between 8 am and 12 pm. No show. Whoops!

Now I am on the line explaining my situation again and I still don’t have TV or Internet. It’s been over 1 week!

Screw you Bell Fibe. Don't get it. Go with Rogers or any other provider with a clue!
torontohere
join:2013-05-13
North York, ON

torontohere

Member

Bell Fibe

So I got a call about a week ago from a Bell rep. I was offered 1 yr home phone (free - no monthly fees, no contract), 1 yr fibe internet (free - no monthly fees, no contract), and 1 yr fibe tv (free - no monthly fees, 1 year contract after the initial free year). Naturally I didn't turn down a year of free services (specially since they claim they are supplying the highest tier of services they have). After doing very little research to confirm what I already knew (that true fiber optics in the city doesn't really exist, since it's fiber optics to the building, then the standard twisted phone line to my unit). Needless to say, I do plan on keeping my current services from Rogers, since we all know Bell is unreliable. Anyways, I have the installation rep here. Once he's done here, I'm going to run a few speed tests, including a few downloads over a gig (for both my current 25/10 Rogers, and the new 25/10 Bell), and let you guys know whats what.
docbill
join:2006-10-24
Stoney Creek, ON

docbill

Member

Re: Bell Fibe

Really the biggest thing that is unreliable about Bell is the billing. Even a "free" promotion period, won't be free unless you end-up calling them up after they try billing you for misc charges they didn't mention. My suggestion is assuming the connect you correctly, keep them for the free year, then pay the cancellation fee to drop them. Don't let them talk you into keeping service for even one extra month. Unless of course during that year they get their act together...

Review by baby_tux See Profile

  • Location: Quebec, QC, Canada
  • Cost: $45 per month
  • Install: about 15 days
Reliable, 50/50 mbit, real fibre, now unlimited for $10
Billing, triple play needed to keep the price low
Good option if FTTH available, but watch your bills!
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

We subscribed back in April 2012 to the new 50 Mbit FTTH service with FibeTV (migrating from satellite) and the phone service. Install went well and the Internet service is reliable for now (no unplanned outage at all). No slowdowns at all. However, a triple play is necessary if one wants to pay a decent price for the service.

However, the quoted price was ~$10 lower than the real price, and there have been various billing errors at the beginning. It has been easy to correct the billing errors, but a real pain to get the quoted price. But, what do you expect from Bell?

member for 20.6 years, 3896 visits, last login: a few hours ago
lodged 11.1 years ago


Review by TomsReports See Profile

  • Location: Etobicoke, ON, Canada
  • Cost Contract price not specified.
Some of the tech people were helpful and knowledgable
The whole thing was a fiasco and a huge waste of my time.
Run away screaming.
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Bell announced their new Fibe service in my neighbourhood (this was late Fall 2011) and had a good promotion so I signed up for their mid-tier service.

I met a Bell tech person at the house (I didn't live there yet) but he was unable to get the service working. More service calls and trips ensued until I was eventually told that the middle tier service was not possible - that it was not possible where I lived and shouldn't have been sold to me - so they changed my modem and dropped me to the lowest tier of service.

The first problem I had was that I was still in Bell's systems as having the mid-tier service and modem, which caused a variety of problems, including the fact that they never stopped billing me for the mid-tier service. (When I eventually cancelled the service they wanted two modems back!)

The other problem was that the promotional pricing disappeared - so I was being charged full price for a level of service I didn't even have. When I gave them all the information about the call on which I arranged to get the promotion they told me that the call and the deal simply didn't exist. I was greatly relieved when they eventually changed their minds about that - one is pretty powerless when told that the call never happened!

However, I was still paying for a level of service I didn't have and the level of service I did have was inadequate. Speed tests revealed I was getting less then the lowest tier of service - the last tech person had warned me that my house was too far from something, so this wasn't a total surprise in the end - so I gave up and cancelled.

I never got reimbursed for being charged for a higher level service then I had, but at that point my energy was spent.

On their side, to the very end the tech people knew I had been degraded to the lowest level of service and didn't think I should have been sold any service at all, while the billing system/dept continued to believe that I had mid-tier service and everything was fine.

member for 12.1 years, 42 visits, last login: 4 years ago
lodged 11.2 years ago


Review by blakenet See Profile

  • Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
  • Cost: $185 per month
  • Install: about 45 days
la connection est bonne quand elle fonctionne
beaucoup de problemes, support technique LAMENTABLE fausses representations lors de la vente installation sans le matériel ...
cherchez ailleurs, look anywhere but not bell
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

jai prit le forfait bell internet fibe 25, avec un forfait télé , lors de l'abonnement le vendeur nosu a dit que nous aurions droit a 250gb de telechargement, que l'installation aurait lieu 3j plus tard.

le lendemain de la supposée visite qui as eu lieu, je telephone a bell pour savoir pourquoi le technicien n'Est pas passé, on m'informe que la visite a été deplacée 2j plus tard... (trop dur dappeler pour avertir le client)

finalement le technicien finit par venir mais n'a pas le modem haute vitesse necessaire avec lui... me promet quil reviendra le lendemain

le lendemain soir ayant toujours pas eu de visite de technicien jappele bell qui sexcuse et me rescedule un autre rendez vous le lendemain

finalement l'installation finit par se faire, la vitesse est stable super mais ... la ligne n'est pas stable et coupe souvent (bell met la faute sur le filage neuf du bloc) ... jai donc annulé mon abonnement avec eux apres 10 jours et jai maintenant recu la facture ou on me charge 125gb au prorata... je vais encore devoir les appeler

member for 13 years, 3835 visits, last login: 1 day ago
updated 11.3 years ago


Review by jdgodfrey See Profile

  • Location: Windsor, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $48 per month
  • Install: about 45 days
Bell has excellent connection reliability and, when needed, GREAT tech support.
Install co-oridination or repair co-ordination could be the worst in the business.
Excellent delivery of technical services, poor delivery of human services.
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Bell Fibe really is as good as they advertise, particularly on the UPLOAD speeds which few, if any competitors, are actually able to meet or match. Bell's technical solutions are great. The personnel are "nice".

But, Bell, despite all the great technology, great technical support, decent pricing - they are competitive (nothing more nor less), and "nice" personnel; the "nice" personnel simply do NOT get the job done some days! Bell is the backbone for internet and telecommunications services to other providers in Canada so they have to be good. It really is unfortunate that the "nice" personnel are simply not able to deliver on their own human service promises.

Bottom line: great technology and great technical support, some very "nice" personnel, but the human service quality does not match the technical service quality.

member for 15.6 years, 195 visits, last login: 10 years ago
updated 11.6 years ago


Review by Threatco See Profile

  • Location: Moncton, NB, Canada
  • Cost: $80 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 4 days
Fast service, does not seem to throttle
No one at that company has a clue what is going on
Not as bad as rogers, but no saints them selves. Pray you have no tech issues.

Fast service, does not seem to throttle. True unlimited bandwidth cap (grandfathered)

No one at that company has a clue what is going on. Terrible customer service. Random short disconnects every couple of months.

Not as bad as rogers, but no saints them selves. Pray you have no tech issues.

Before bell I had Rogers. Never any disconnects, better customer service, but worse prices for the speed. And had bandwidth caps.

Bell said we could get fiber op in our building, then said we could not and we got 32 mbps DSL instead.

Over all I am satisfied with my ISP. But I have very low expectations.

member for 12.9 years, 257 visits, last login: 9.6 years ago
lodged 11.9 years ago


Review by arshad14 See Profile

  • Location: Scarborough, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $70 per month
  • Install: about 60 days
If you don't have to make any changes on your plan then Bell is good
The monthly cap is waaaaay too low.
Be sure to get the usage insurance because it doesn't take much to go over the cap.
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

If it wasn't for Bell_Darryl I would've left Bell. Bell's site says that I can get Fibe25 in my area, which turned out to be false. I also remember having 7Mbps upload last time I had Bell Fibe on the Fibe16 but this time around I can't. In any case, Bell gives us what we have learned to expect from them, Horrible Customer Service but good Quality of Service when it works. Bell should really consider training more people like Bell_Darryl and give others the same level of dedication as him.

Had to switch over to Start Cable service by Start Communications, a Rogers TPIA because of the 19th century data caps set by Bell.

member for 17 years, 153 visits, last login: 36 days ago
lodged 12 years ago


Review by jbiss_ca See Profile

  • Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
  • Cost: $75 per month
  • Install: about 50 days
Stable connection, excellent speed (25Mbits down / 7Mbits up)
Terrible biling department, very low caps, expensive price
Use Dell Grab & Go kit to get 3 free months and quit
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

I replaced my 5Mbits DSL connection with a Bell Fibe 25 deal. I got the Dell Grab & Go kit for 30$ for the free installation and free 3 months. Installation went well however the work order had the wrong speed profile. It took 3 weeks to have that corrected.

Even though I was signed up on a promotion, I got billed the full price (including the initial installation fee) which came to approx 160$ I was able to get it credited (not reimbursed) but I had the the same problem for all of my 'free' months. I needed to call in every time and have it credited. There was a note in my file to credit since no one seemed to know how to apply the promotion.

I dont like Bell but it was the best deal since the dry loop is free and so in the modem. Using another login account gets arround the bandwidth limitations.

member for 16.4 years, 1351 visits, last login: 1 day ago
lodged 12.1 years ago


Review by mdrejhon See Profile

  • Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
  • Cost Contract price not specified. (36 month contract)
  • Install: about 21 days
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Internet on FibeTV goes 25/7 Mbps when televisions are turned off.
Some Bell CSR's are good, and some Bell CSR's are hellish.
This is the Canadian version of AT&T U-Verse triple-play (TV+Internet+phone)
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

[Original Summer 2011 review; see January 2012 addendum near bottom for improved rating]

This summer, Bell Canada launched the Canadian version of AT&T U-Verse (VDSL Internet connection with IPTV service, utilizing Mediaroom-based PVR boxes). Since Bell Sympatico and Bell Fibe TV are as distinct, and AT&T DSL versus AT&T U-Verse, this warranted a new category.

I was looking for the best triple-play, and I considered TekSavvy -- I really wanted to stay with them as I didn't want to go Bell for Internet. However, I also needed television, and I didn't want either Rogers HDTV or Bell Satellite. Bell FibeTV finally came to my neighborhood.

The worst part of this was several different CSR's gave me conflicting information about whether Fibe TV was available in my building. I had moved to downtown Toronto, and had not ordered my phone line to be installed yet. I went ahead to order TekSavvy Cable Internet, while I set out to order television service, not knowing the limitations of my condo's wiring (in having only one TV service at a time, without ugly hacks). After trying for a week, Bell had finally told me I couldn't get Fibe TV+Internet, and proceeded to set up an appointment to install satellite TV (which they later found out would replace my Teksavvy Cable Internet). We promptly booted the technician out, as we weren't going to sacrifice our Teksavvy Cable Internet. Bell later proved frustrating over the phone, and I was about to swallow the bitter pill and go get Rogers Cable TV in order to keep my TekSavvy Cable Internet connection.

However, I posted a message in the Bell Direct forum on DSLReports, and got a very helpful guy (Bell_Daryl) who finally informed me that my building could get Bell Fibe TV. I had a phone line installed by then, so it was much easier to look up my phone number for availability. I promptly ordered the Bell Fibe TV triple-play package, as it was pretty clear from reading reviews of similiar American-based PVR's, that they were using one of the better PVRs -- and Bell Fibe TV force-bundles a 25 Mbps Internet connection so TekSavvy Cable had to go. Fibe TV comes in only one speed (25 Mbps sync, divided into 6 Mbps for Internet and the rest for television)

I have now had this service for a few months now, the TV portion exceeded my expectation and the Internet has been more than decent for my needs. Officially, this is a 6 Mbps Internet connection. However, with the TV turned off, the Internet goes at a full 25 Mbps download (speedtest of 22,500-ish download), and 4 Mbps upload (speed test of 3,400-ish upload). Everytime the TV is turned on, the Internet slows down a bit, as Fibe TV redirects some of the bandwidth to TV. The Internet only slows to 6 Mbps if 4 channels are being recorded or watched simultaneously (on separate TV's). The VDSL sync is always 25Mbps/4Mbps at all times, with the Cellpipe router automatically redirecting some bandwidth to the TV. Picture quality is better than Rogers (since it's H.264/MPEG4 at with 720p about 6.5 Mbps, roughly six times the quality of YouTube HD).

I use DynDNS to solve a problem with needing a single port for remote access services, and that has proved reliable (I don't think my IP address has changed since I got this service, though)

I had to call Bell fix some Bell billing issue, because Bell promised me free rentals of equipment for 3 years, and I still got charged... For this, I have to go through CSR hell to get it fixed.

I have had a few brief outages that simultaneously blacked out my Internet and TV. Then one outage that that lasted several hours that was chalked up to growing pains. (Given the bleeding edge nature of the system, the TV has actually proved more reliable than I expected it will be). Only the longer outage is worth noting.

I am not a big downloader and I do not use BitTorrent or anything (Bell is known to be a terrible ISP for that!), however the 25 Mbps connection shines when I'm sharing my digital vacation photos and high-definition video recordings via Dropbox with friends -- uploads and downloads go speedily -- and a gigabyte of data is shared with a friend pretty quickly.

If one is concerned only with Internet only (without being concerned about bundles), I would still lean towards TekSavvy Cable 15 Mbps. However, Fibe TV does comes really close if you're forced to go with a major incumbent Internet connection due to factors such as having the best TV service available.

Over the last month, there has been no disconnections. We shall see if it remains that way.

[UPDATE January 2012]

I have since moved to the Riverdale area of Toronto, and the install co-ordiation has been significantly improved. They offered me a Saturday install and showed up almost exactly on time (right at the beginning of the timeslot). They moved my service, reactivating my existing box, with minimal problems -- and a little bit faster (more experienced installers). All my recordings on my original Motorola VIP1232 were all preserved.

Fibe TV receivers recently got a good firmware upgrade; now permitting simultaneous recording of 3 HD streams (and 1 SD, for a total of 4 streams), and the set top box seems to perform a little bit faster, with a few small extra features thrown in.

Reliability is much better now. There's occasional rare glitches (I've only had to reboot the set top box two times in 12 months), but has been far more reliable than the Rogers set top boxes which has had quite a number of hair-pulling moments...

I decided to purchase 2 additional Fibe TV boxes from Best Buy (VIP1200's without hard disks), and self-installed them using Ethernet. All I have to do is call Bell to give MAC address to activate them with my main Fibe TV box. The first Bell CSR I called gave me no problem letting me activate one of the two boxes (second box), but the next Bell CSR gave me a bit of a hassle (essentially scolded me for trying to self-install). I waited a few hours, called Bell back, got a co-operative CSR and spoke more nicely, and with a little supervisor verification, activated my third box. The trick is to pre-install your Ethernet wiring (or HomePlug/Ethernet bridge) between the Cellpipe modem and the extra Fibe TV receiver, power it up, and make sure the free CPAC (Canadian Prliament) channel works as unactivated boxes display two free Fibe TV channels, BEFORE you call Bell to activate the extra Fibe TV box over the phone, to prevent Bell installers from coming to visit you when installing extra boxes...

UPGRADED RATING of "Install Co-ordination". -- As the install experience was much more pleasant (I also got a "Retentions" deal, since I was seriously considering switching to Rogers; Bell's cancel department approximately price-matched a Rogers "steal me back" price). Bracing myself for "bhell" (which I'm used to), most CSR's were more pleasant -- probably because they're still using front-line premium Canadian call centres for Fibe TV support at the moment. The only exception is one Bell CSR (for attempted on-the-phone activation of a third set top box) ... that probably was simply a little bit tired at the end of a long day or grouchy from a previous call... (that docks 20% from the co-ordination rating). On average, the Fibe TV callcentre uses better CSR's than the Sympatico callcentre, so you're at least using Bell's best tech support callcentres when you're a Fibe TV subscriber. At least for now, until Fibe TV market saturation...

At one point, they discontinued free 25 Mbps, so I had to pony up the funds to reup to 25 Mbps (but gained 7 Mbps upload), but my retentions deal now compensates and puts me back to 25 Mbps at promotional pricing. I still wish it wasn't capped, but I'm not a bittorrenter, so I stay well within the download cap. And you can get 7Mbps upload speed for $5 extra per month; very handy for cloud storage/backup use!

member for 20.1 years, 680 visits, last login: 1.7 years ago
updated 12.1 years ago


Review by Zed071 See Profile

  • Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $39 per month
  • Install: about 4 days
Cheap for a year - fast upstream
It's Bell - Don't count on tech support if things go wrong
Not a bad deal on a winback promo, sucks at full price.
Pre Sales Information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Value for money:

Install tech was good - he knew what he was doing and personable. It was done in 20 minutes.

The cap is low, but the speed is good. I've already got it on my calender to call to cancel at the beginning of December before the price goes up.

member for 13.5 years, 1961 visits, last login: 5.5 years ago
lodged 12.1 years ago