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