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Review by Bingham7847 See Profile

  • Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $124 per month
  • No Cap
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Reliability, speed
POP3 download does not work; Bell teck refuse to help diagnose the problem
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

As longtime Bell Canada (BCE) customers, we upgraded to FTTH March 2023. The installation was smooth given deep winter snow in backyard with a single installer running fiber from telephone pole to pole. (common city utility right-of-way between 2 streets). The whole process took over 4 hours.

Our package includes internet, and bell home phone (Fudged through the Gigahub so no longer dialup service when we lose power).

I checked a few things after the installer left and noticed we were no longer receiving POP3 email (pophm.sympatico on any of our Wintel devices including our laptop using Thunderbird). Sending messages still works. Bell refuses to help even though we use their mail server (sympatico.ca & bell.net). A local copy of our complete email history is important to for good reason so we remain very frustrated. We get around the problem by connecting our laptop to our relatives router using wi-fi.

To reduce the rate of frequent unannounced rate increases we need to call their help line every 6-12 months and threaten to cancel in order to connect to a "Bell loyalty" rep who finds a way to reduce the monthly increase. It's a time consuming, painful, but necessary process if one wishes to stay with Bell.

member for 41 days, driveby review (so far)
lodged 41 days ago


Anonf2998
@142.113.227.x

Anonf2998

Anon

Your Post

Did you check if you can resolve sympatico and bell names? maybe your DNS is not working correctly?

Review by dickeyf See Profile

  • Location: Gatineau, QC, Canada
  • Cost: $207 per month
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Fiber to the home. Symetric Up/Down speed for 3Gbps subscription. They offer excellent support via their community forums.
L1 service support, no IPV6
Good ISP, best speed and latency in the region.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I have the 3Gbps package, with TV included.
The install process was very smooth and quick.
They provided the Giga hub modem.

I get 3.25Gbps up and down over speedtest.net from my 10GE PC.

What I like:
They are the only fiber ISP supplier, and they have good Fiber to the home coverage. They done great work extending areas offering fiber to the house. Also, awesome latency, and they have fast plans.

They do not block any inbound ports. PPPoE passthrough their modem is possible.

What I don't like:
There is no ipv6, and absolutely no communication about it. While I understand typical customer won't care, I think it that good ISPs will still provide it, and help internet move toward it. (I use Hurricane electric. And the reason I need it myself, is to have an easy way to test ipv6 solutions as I WFH).

You are forced to use their modem which also bundles a router. I'd rather just connect the fiber straight to my equipment using my own SFP+. However, they allow PPPoE passthrough and, their Giga Hub is also good even with double-nat. But that's just mitigating factors, I'd really like the freedom to directly fiber up to my equipment. This is my smallest dislike. If they had native IPv6 with prefix delegation, then I wouldn't care about direct fiber to my equipment and I wouldn't need PPPoE passthrough either (Which I need only for that HE tunnel).



member for 158 days, 9 visits, last login: 144 days ago
updated 153 days ago

frank225
Premium Member
join:2018-01-25
9970-320

1 edit

1 recommendation

frank225

Premium Member

Bell Canada

Congratulations for 3Gbps.
Keep your modem cool.
Take care
jarin
join:2023-11-13
Baie-D'Urfe, QC

jarin

Member

Re: Bell Canada

I Was watching TV using Bell's dish. Switch to Fibe TV and see that BECAUSE I live in Quebec that I CAN'T get channel 1651 YES TV. THANK YOU CRTC for doing this.

Review by drizzt See Profile

  • Location: Candiac, QC, Canada
  • Cost: $100 per month
Good speed, solid uptime
SO EXPENSIVE
Canada has the worst prices for ISP and Bell is not going to help there
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

Bell is de-facto the only provider in my region to have 1Gbps service as Videotron was until recently limited to 400Mbps with their Helix (now 960/50). For me the 50Mbps up is a no go whatever the down speed they provide.

I have had this service with Bell for a long time and it is reliable. Speeds are as advertised and uptime is nearly 99.999%. However there are a few drawbacks....

1) Getting a good deal if you are an already existing client is reduced to basically cancel your account and get a call back from the retention team.
2) Prices are akin to selling your organs on the black market. Everywhere in the world has better prices for close or better service
3) Canada USED to have the best telecom infra in the world... 30 years ago.
4) The router (HH3000, HH4000, GIGA) are dumbed-down and locked into what Bell calls a "supportable" config. Problem is that there is absolutely 0 options for advanced management. One of the WIFI radios will always remain on even if you are not using their TV service.
5) AVOID the L1 support and the invoicing dept ... you will pull your hair out.

member for 11.4 years, 7 visits, last login: 160 days ago
lodged 209 days ago


Review by mugurd See Profile

  • Location: Ottawa, ON
  • Cost: $80 per month (24 month contract)
  • Install: about 7 days
Fast speed, decent new customer price, Bell Direct forum is a blessing
Installation was a mess, I now have a fiber hanging in the backyard trees
The only decent symmetrical offering until Robbers gets their acts together
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·Fido
I will start by saying that if I had to deal with regular support I'd be gone..or dead.
Having access to high tier engineers through the direct forum here has made solving traffic profile issues easy and quick.
I will say though that the fiber plant installation has been a horrible experience, instill have bare patches on my lawn from digging randomly to "bury" cables 10cm deep...they have been cut multiple times - actually EVERY TIME when either Bhell or Robbers had layer 0 problems. Here we go again: cut the driveway, cut all the cables..rinse and repeat.
My fiber connection to the splitter is now hanging in the trees...I better see it than risk getting it cut again.
I didn't appreciate the installer REFUSING to provide the PPPoE credentials ( had to go reset the pwd online so I can configure my pfSense firewall) and in general being hard to deal with.
The Hh4000 is a hot mess but more stable now than when I started, I refused the "upgrade" to GH4000.

Speeds are fast, but I'm routed through Toronto at 400km from here, so I'm getting 6-7ms latency instead of 1-2ms that others enjoy. No biggie, I'm not a gamer.

Will I stay after the promotion expires? Not sure... depends on the alternatives.

member for 22.8 years, 2622 visits, last login: 15 days ago
updated 264 days ago


Review by dbarron See Profile

  • Location: Sudbury, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $68 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
Fast 50/10, good price
Soft cap: speed drops from 50/10 to 20/4 at 450 GB
Good value
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

My Other Reviews

·StarLink
Current review:

Bell has a new product out Bell Wireless Internet and we have switched from Starlink. Bell Wireless Internet is just as fast as Starlink (about 50 mbps) and about half the price, so it was a no-brainer. Also, no rain fade. There is a soft cap - speed drops from 50/10 to 20/4 at 450 GB. But we only usually use at most 400 GB, and 20 mbps is still good enough for streaming and games.

I contacted Bell Canada Direct tech support on this site about the pods that came with our router and they fixed my issue remotely the same day! Outstanding support.

Old review:

Our slow 10 Mbps Bell DSL service is terribly overpriced at $106 + $13 taxes per month. The price seems to go up twice every year, and the reliability seems to go down, and the speed never rises. We've asked Bell for a substantial discount, and if it doesn't appear on our next bill we will be cancelling all Bell services (Internet, TV and phone) and moving to a third party DSL provider. Bell does some sneaky things to prevent third party providers from offering more than 6 Mbps but that will hold us until Starlink satellite internet goes live and hopefully they will offer a faster alternative to Bell. We switched to Starlink for 2 years starting Feb 2021.

member for 24.2 years, 3497 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 275 days ago

ahuj99
join:2013-07-28

ahuj99

Member

pricing

Yeah, it's clear DSL is dead. They're just milking it now

Review by aglyons See Profile

  • Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $153 per month (12 month contract)
Fiber
*Don't get what you pay for.
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I eventually found a solution to achieve full speeds with Bell Fibe +3Gbps and Unifi

It involves allowing the HH4000 to perform the PPPOE connection yet pass the external IP to a DMZ device. That is close to how it has been done in the past however the DMZ device normally had the PPPOE credentials. This approach changes that.

»community.ui.com/questio ··· 8721f1a2

I have updated the ranking I provided on pertinent areas. I will update the "Connection Reliability" stat as I gain more historical stats.

*******************************************************************

I had Bell install 1.5Gb service after Rogers cable kept failing and they couldn't fix it.

Stuck with the 1.5 for a while but then upgraded the home network to 10Gb so I upgraded our Bell services to the new 3Gb level.

At the start, things were not too bad. Still off the mark regarding the regular speed tests that my Unifi router was reporting (2.1Gbps/1.9Gbps). But now, after reporting them to the CTCS for investigation, my internet service sucks so bad it's not funny.

The HomeHub4000 has a built-in speed test function that ALWAYS (I repeat ALWAYS) reports back a perfect score of 3Gbps/3Gbps. But using any other speed test tool never comes close. I happened across Bell's online speed test tool (which they don't promote at all anymore). Running that test was again, shit. It also supports my position that I am not getting the speeds that I am paying for.

»i.imgur.com/a30LJ11.png

It clearly states that it knows my service level is 3Gbps/3Gbps. The test results show that it managed 1003Mbps/788.97Mbps. This is in line with my own Unifi speed test data I've tracked. That's a long way off from the service level I am paying for. The icing on the cake, I'm located in downtown Toronto, not 1.5 blocks from a Bell infrastructure building.

I had an investigation done by CTCS, which is a laugh as they are an industry-funded (which means Bell, Rogers and Telus pay) organization that handles customer complaints as if it were a neutral third party. My complaint was that all the support people at Bell do is the internal speed test. If that matches the service level, the call ends there. But my argument is that the built-in speed test was created by Bell and managed by Bell on Bell-owned hardware. They can make it say whatever they want it to say as there is zero accountability. All the third part tests don't support Bell's position. CTCS eventually gave up and closed the case, as Bell was not interested in delving any further into figuring out what is going on.

I have now written a report and presented that to my local Federal representative. I had a Zoom call with one of his assistants about this and presented my findings and my complaints. He is a member of the Standing Committee on Industry and Technology, which governs telecommunications policies. I have hopes, but I'm not betting the farm that anything will change. The whole Canadian telecommunications industry needs a massive shakeup; it needs someone in government with some balls that will hold them to account. You can't advertise a service, charge 100% for that service but only deliver 20%.

member for 1.2 years, 1 visits, last login: 1.1 years ago
updated 1.1 years ago

HCKev
join:2017-11-28

3 recommendations

HCKev

Member

Some things to try

Isn't Ubiquiti notoriously bad for handling fast internet speeds with PPPoE? I've seen several posts about that on DSL Reports in the past at least.

The speedtest in the modem isn't made by Bell, it's made by Samknows. It is testing the speed between Bell and the modem, essentially eliminating bottlenecks that aren't Bell's fault, such as Wifi limitations, limitations of your devices, limitation of the remote sever, etc. It is not always showing the right speed, I have seen it not getting the speed in different occasions.

The screenshot you have posted shows the speed to your device. Was the device on Wifi or wired? Was this with your Ubiquity setup? Did you try with it connected on the Giga hub itself? What are the specs of the computer used for the test? Is the NIC really capable of multi-gigabit speeds? Did you run a speedtest on several devices at the same time?(If they add to to more, then it's probably the device that's not capable of handling the full speed) Also, in-browser speed tests are typically very unreliable for gigabit speeds and beyond, and Bell's online speed test is no exception. Try downloading the Windows store Ookla Speedtestapp and see what you get.
tbrummell2
join:2002-02-09
Ottawa, ON

tbrummell2

Member

Maybe it's not the provider(s)...

Hmmm, your set up didn't work on Rogers, and now doesn't work on Bell. Did you ever stop and think that you may be the problem?
rexbron6
join:2012-01-02
Toronto, ON

rexbron6

Member

It's a UI thing

Current UI gear and PPPoE won't hit 3gbps, there is a long thread about it in the Bell forum.
aglyons
join:2022-12-30
Toronto, ON
·Bell Fibe Internet

aglyons

Member

Re: It's a UI thing

PPPOE Unifi +3GBps solution

»community.ui.com/questio ··· 8721f1a2
rexbron6
join:2012-01-02
Toronto, ON

rexbron6

Member

Re: It's a UI thing

"For now I'm using advance DMZ setup on HH4000 BELL FIBE 1.5Gb/s. I never get PPPoE working properly."

The post you linked to is not using PPPoE on the UDM.

Review by dmd See Profile

  • Location: Kitchener, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $75 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
Under 24 hours from order to activated. Full GB speeds up and down, 1ms ping. Guaranteed discount for life of service.
None that I can think of.
Waited for a good promo and got it - not looking back.

I've been supporting TPIA and independents since 2004.
Magma Communications. Teksavvy. Start Communications.

Fiber was pulled into my apartment last year, and I've been checking for promos since then. Finally, one came in the form of a fully-addressed flyer in my mailbox offering full GB service for $74.95 a month, a guaranteed discount for the life of my service. No hesitation at all. Did it all over chat online on a Friday afternoon, Saturday morning the modem was delivered, and hookup took all of 5 minutes - self-install.

Service is stable as all getup. Latency is usually 1-2ms, not even kidding.
I have the 1.5/940 service, but my router limits it to 940/940 and I'm good with that for now.
Install fee and modem rental waived.
Service received was exactly the service that was advertised and offered.
No surprises. No gotchas. 100% uptime since activation 2 months ago.
Solid as a rock.

Added the Bell TV App + Crave to my package.
Now, I'm paying Bell for unlimited GB internet plus OTT TV and Crave for less than what I was paying for 50/10 VDSL + 30/5 Cable backup.

I'm a bit sad that I had to abandon TPIA, but as a senior living on a pension I need to start doing what's right for me and my wallet.

Right now, this is it.

FWIW, I'll go back to TPIA when they start offering reasonably priced access to GB service.
Until then, zoom zoom.

Update Dec 18 2022: Upgraded to the 3G/3G service, getting 3.3G/3.3G solid as a rock.
Swapped out to the new GigaHub4000, acting as a modem only, using my own router via PPPoE passthrough, works like a charm.
No change in price.

My setup is very simple.
I have an Asus GT-AX6000 with Merlin firmware, and I'm using PPPoE passthrough only.
All the DMZ stuff is off.
WAN port on router is connected to 10G port on the Gigahub.
I left the Gigahub alone, 100% stock, have not even logged into its admin, not once.
Whatever it's doing, I don't care - as long as it's showing me 3.3G/3.3G symmetrical, and it does 100% of the time.

The WAN port on the Asus GT-AX6000 is only 2.5G, so that's all I can get.
But I can saturate that port at 2.5G for hours and not have a single issue- full speed at all times.



member for 3.5 years, 1113 visits, last login: 158 days ago
updated 1.2 years ago

Max
join:2023-01-24
Kitchener, ON

Max

Member

Wanting Fibe Internet

I too live in Kitchener, two blocks from the Kitchener Farmers' Market, but have not received any promo flyers. Was it addressed specifically to you? Does it have a Promo Code that is not personalized? I'm currently stuck on DSL - The phone lines in this part of town are old, and noisy what it rains. I looked at cable, but you have a much better deal!

dmd
join:2020-09-02
Kitchener, ON
·Bell Fibe Internet
(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

1 recommendation

dmd

Member

Re: Wanting Fibe Internet

It was addressed to my unit, yes. It had my name on it.
When I sent the code to the CSR he confirmed the deal and I jumped all over it.

I must've checked my address on their website twice a week for over a year.
I called in once when an unaddressed promo flyer showed up, and even had the service ready to order, name address and everything, then backed out because the CSR wouldn't budge on the install fee and woudn't let me do a self-install.

About a month later the addressed promo came - couldn't believe my luck.

Review by BliZZardX See Profile

  • Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $79 per month
  • Install: about 2 days
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Fast, reliable
Hard to bypass router
Great value
Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:

I tried many ISPs in my short life but keep going back to Bell. It's hard to beat their reliability, low pings and throughput performance.

Attachments:
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member for 21.5 years, 7482 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 1.4 years ago


djkjpro
@sympatico.ca

1 recommendation

djkjpro

Anon

Rogers is CRAP

I fully agree with you, I'm with Bell Sympatico now and I love it, Personally I think Rogers is sh*t, they got cr*p customer service and their service is fully cra*, I would not recommend Rogers to anyone at all.

Clapper
@qc.sympatico.ca

1 recommendation

Clapper

Anon

Great Tech Support

Errors at start up - got directory and login name mixed up - one week of constant phone calls and they fixed it - gave me one month free service.

Newsreader went down - 7 days until up

BUT - Tech support is EXCELLENT - from the simple to the complicated - THEY KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING AND DO IT WELL!!!
somanychoice
join:2002-02-21
Kitchener, ON

somanychoice

Member

even my basic hs pack is still at 960 dl

a while back i downgraded to their basic high speed service,
and the only thing that changed was the bill...
still getting 940-965 dl and good upload 80+ all on a the usb speedstream modem...
very happy with service, still hate the 2 gb combined cap tho.

Welsh
@sympatico.ca

Welsh

Anon

Re: even my basic hs pack is still at 960 dl

I like sympatico but find that I lose connection for a couple of seconds, I have a USB SpeedTouch modem (Alcatel) does anyone know if there are better modems that they offer know?

BliZZardX
Premium Member
join:2002-08-18
Toronto, ON

BliZZardX

Premium Member

Re: even my basic hs pack is still at 960 dl

I would personally avoid USB... I'm using an Efficient Networks SpeedStream 5200 via ethernet and it's flawless.

AshteQ
@sympatico.ca

AshteQ

Anon

Bellnexia Blows

i've noticed how on my sympatico high speed connection, when i ping servers with it i ping some servers exteremly high. above 200. A friend of mine who runs my server said Bellnexia is retarded and having problems. i even ping 200 for servers in the neighborhood of me. when i ping other servers in the US 50 and under. routing is probably gay. who knows. but paying all this money a month for high speed service from Bell isnt worth it. i dont get the high speed i want. Rogers here i come.

EveryName
Premium Member
join:2001-12-05
Montreal

EveryName

Premium Member

Re: Bellnexia Blows

NO! Not rogers... gah, do what you want.

no rogers
@cpe.net.cable.rogers

no rogers to AshteQ

Anon

to AshteQ
Trust me, I just cancelled my Rogers High Speed (High priced low Speed).

The techies (clowns I mean) do not know anything. Better yet, half of them can't even speak English. You expect them to understand what you are trying to explain to them?!

Their customer services reps, well, some are nice, most of them not.

Just got my Bell DSL modem, will find out tonight or tomorrow.

The Flash
Premium Member
join:2002-10-17
Toronto, ON

The Flash

Premium Member

Funny..

how you came from Rogers now you're back with them.






Review by jnorton See Profile

  • Location: Toronto, ON, Canada
  • Cost: $45 per month
  • Install: about 1 days
  • No Cap
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Fantastic service, fantastic speed, stable.
honestly? nothing.
BellFibe is leaps and bounds better then rogers for internet.

I get a 60 percent discount on account of my buildings bulk BellTV package. As part of that deal Bell ran Fiber to each apartment. The install was quick, and no real headaches. for the TV there were some issues with dropped connections. But when i decided to add internet they were able to enable the service over the phone.

member for 7.3 years, 12 visits, last login: 1.5 years ago
lodged 1.7 years ago







Review by ych See Profile

  • Location: Montreal, QC, Canada
  • Cost: $57 per month (12 month contract)
  • Install: about 2 days
  • No Cap
  • Telco party Bell Canada
Install Co-ordination:
Connection reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:

See ratings above.

member for 2 years, 9 visits, last login: 1.4 years ago
updated 2 years ago