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Review by Terrific 
Posted: 63 days ago
member for 1.4 years, 3 visits, last login: 64 days ago
 Cobourg,ON
 Contract price not specified.
 "Steady Infrastructure and Reliable Service"
 "Customer Service Answered off -Continent"
 "Over Priced for BAsic Service, but heavily advertised."
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Ordered the Basic DSL service of 2Mbps/ Only was ever able to get Download speeds of 64 Kilo-Bytes Per Second, until I called Customer Service. It should have been installed at the higher rate when I subscribed.
Customer Service is always Not in Ontario or Quebec. Usually in India or Philipenes.
Initailly ordered Wireless Option but was only delivered Wire-Only Modem.
WIll see if the service improves (2 Months using service)
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Review by graniterock
UPDATED: 66 days ago
member for 6.7 years, 382 visits, last login: a few hours ago
London,ON
$48 per month (12 month contract)
 about 30 days
 Bell Canada
"Reliable and stable"
"installation was significantly late"
"Average ISP... but you could do better."
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Overall happy with the service but with some serious thorns in my side:
When I first got the service moved to my house it was significantly late (by about a month) from the date they said it would be activated. The account was in my wife's name who had the account for many years before it came to my house. Initially 12 month contract but then month to month.
I have found using the Broad Band Report direct support forum and the chat suport very useful in solving my problems. I wouldn't recommend telephone support due to hold times and their inability to give me solutions to my problems.
I had an unlimited package but was forced out of it due to raising the cost of it. I was also very annoyed becuase they promised me a 7 meg sync rate if I changed to a capped package. I specifically said I know you guys say up to, but what will the actual rate at my house be. The guy on the phone said after clicking a few buttons it would be 7. After getting changed to the 60 gigs per month package, I found it was slower and the direct support guys on the forum confimed I would only be getting 6 (5015 actual speed).
I have now changed over to a different ISP. I would have been willing to take a retentions offer. However the offer was one of the packagees listed on the homepage. No special deals. The kicker was this new package they offered me had a 25 gig cap. My usage the previous month was also right around 25. I wasn't going to risk overages. So instead I cancelled the service and went to a new ISP.
Followup comments:  graniterock
join:2003-03-14
London, ON | re: rare case There would have been a time I would have agreed with Jakob. But those days are long gone. | |
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 Review by rizzler
Posted: 68 days ago
member for 5.4 years, 1620 visits, last login: 1 days ago
canada
$39 per month
about 3 days
Bell Canada
"reliable"
"tech support"
"ok now with speed upgrades"
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happy
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 Review by quanta
UPDATED: 72 days ago
member for 7.6 years, 2891 visits, last login: 1 days ago
Toronto,ON
$45 per month (month by month)
about 15 days
Bell Canada
"Rock-solid reliability, consistent speeds, low waiting time for tech support (5-10min)"
"Low retention rate for newsgroups"
"You get what you pay for. I like it."
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This is the Sympatico HSE Standard, at 1.5Mbps, dynamic IP via PPPoE. For the record, I work for Bell Nexxia, but my job is not related in any way to Sympatico or Bell Canada operations.
First off, my only beef was getting it set up. My new number wasn't in the database, and it took a while to get all their ducks lined up in a row. After that, no problems. I got a Nortel 1MM modem, a free D-Link NIC, and four filters. Activation was free.
When I moved, I just filled out the online form, and everything was up and ready for me when I arrived at my new place. I just had to replug in the modem and my PC, and everything was good.
I plugged it in, and it works. It may have gone down a total of 60 minutes for the past year I've been using it. I am always getting top speeds (~93KB/s).
I can always get a tech support guy within 5-10 minutes of calling.
As for the bandwidth cap, well, I don't go over it, so it isn't relevant to my decision.
UPDATE (Sep '03): A lot of positive changes to Sympatico this year, partly because of Bell's new "Keeping it simple" marketing initiative. First, the bandwidth caps were dropped. Secondly, One Bill was introduced, so you can have your phone and Sympatico charges on a single bill. Thirdly, HSE was upgraded to a full 1.5Mbps down/320K up. I had my Nortel modem was exchanged for an Efficient 5200 with one phone call. The new modem and filters arrived in three days, and the my line was transferred to the Alcatel platform four days later. They included a prepaid envelope to return your Nortel modem and filters in. Now I enjoy ~173KB/s.
My only pet peeve is that the new modem did not come with a wallmount filter for my kitchen phone.
UPDATE 2 (Mar '04): In Bell's drive to their Next Generation Network, HSE subscribers were upgraded from 1.5Mbps to 3Mbps! I received my upgrade sometime in late February. Now I enjoy 280KB/s download, and 80KB/s upload. Jolly good.
UPDATE 3 (Sep '09) After buying a home I switched to CondoTV. Lots of changes to "Bell Internet" in the past 5 years, not all positive. Service remains reliable, but price has gone up. Have decided to cancel my grandfathered no-cap plan and switch to Teksavvy.
Followup comments: snorlax14
join:2007-11-20
Thornhill, ON | Why the same smooth ride rating? If you have cancelled service for "lots of changes not all positive" you might want to rethink the smooth ride rating. | |
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Snore master
@videotron.ca
| Re: Why the same smooth ride rating? Bell employee, and a recent (apparently) ex-bell employee posting who's ex-bosses frequent this forum. So that says something.
besides the comment where he states, "Low retention rate for newsgroups" is also a give away since bell hasn't has news groups in about 3 years or so.
So no, it isn't reflective. Easy to see. | |
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 Review by Talon88
UPDATED: 76 days ago
member for 6.3 years, 2741 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Toronto
$30 per month (12 month contract)
"Speed Is Stable 5Mb Service"
"Except BT Throttling From 6pm-1am ET, Price Error, Need to call every month to Fix."
"If they charge me more than $30, I will Leave Bell right the way."
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Before BT Speed is good. But now they have
BT Throttling From 6pm-1am ET. Sad, But at least
not the Whole Day like Rogers. I am still have
unlimited. If you sign new contract, you will have
60GB Cap. Bottom line is, Internet service at Canada
is stepping back. Other country in the world is moving
Forward. It's Sad!
Renew the Contract after the first year. Still can get
$30 a month with unlimited cap.
Disconnect Bell at 2009 Sept. It's Because they want to
charge me ~$5x with 25GB Cap. They don't want to
keep good old customer.
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Review by jwillisbarri
UPDATED: 80 days ago
member for 4.7 years, 221 visits, last login: a few hours ago
Barrie,ON
$50 per month
about 7 days
Bell Canada
"Up 99% of time"
"Support - not in Canada and do not listen to customer"
"Good if you never have to call support"
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I have had no problems with my sympatico with the hardware.
I use a D-link Router so there is no Sympatico software on the computer.
Support has no clue and does not listen to your concerns and follows a script. - I only found this out when I had to help a friend. Being Deaf and using my friend to relay what was said was hard, the relay person had to keep asking the support to repeat as they could not understand the accent.
If you have a simple request like a password reset they can do that fast. But try to debug something more technical -that does not work too well.
I am still on the grandfathered unlimited plan. It still works well for me. $5 more a month as I am not on contract.
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Review by khatchika
UPDATED: 83 days ago
member for 3.8 years, 714 visits, last login: a few hours ago
canada
$50 per month
Bell Canada
"Never down - But voip doesn't work properly."
"customer service staff are cluelss or don't speak english properly. Better to get help online from forums."
"don't fall for the bundle crap - they scam you and increases prices left right and centre"
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Bell screws you over at every turn. When I first signed up - they put me on a contract without notifying me. After that so called contract was done they increased the prices. When I first started my monthly internet charge was $34.95/month. It then went to $39.95 and then it went to $44.95 plus modem rental fee.
Also my VOIP service from Primus wasn't working properly because they apparently slow traffic down at certain times of the day and this includes VOIP traffic. Sounds like they don't want you to get phone service from other companies.
Although Bell's internet is one of the fastest around and they seem never to be down. The fact that they control and reduce traffic/speeds during the day is not worth the price. They also force you to rent a second class modem from them. Even if you have/use your own modem you are forced to pay for the rental they give you.
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 Review by JHeuer
Posted: 84 days ago
member for 6.7 years, 361 visits, last login: 84 days ago
Brampton,ON
Contract price not specified. (6 month contract)
about 3 days
Bell Canada
"Good documentation for basic use"
"Horrible customer service, in India. Replacement modem takes days."
"Good enough for Ma & Pa, but if you're anywhere near a power user, forget it."
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HEAVY throttling of Torrent.
Modem died, took 3 business days to replace. Shipped from 3km away from me.
Phone support is horrible. Call scripts are frustratingly condescending.
Hardware is all-in-one Modem/Router/Wireless. One fails, they all fail.
No idea what brand... Heavily customized by Bell.
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Review by Noname
Posted: 86 days ago
member for 97 days, 79 visits, last login: 2 days ago
Etobicoke,ON
Contract price not specified.
"There isn't any!"
"Rude customer service, lying employees"
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When I left Bell for Primus, Bell decided to charge an extra month when I already gave my 30 days notice. The cancellation number didn't do anything for proof. When I asked to credit the charge they confirmed 3 times yet I still got the bill. Bell employee was rude to me when I was trying to figure out why I couldn't connect to Primus.
Constant lies, rude employees, trying to rip me off, have made me think twice deal with this company.
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Review by ma
Posted: 88 days ago
(review was emailed from domain delaronde.ca)
Saint-Louis-De-Gonzague,QC
$25 per month (3 month contract)
Bell Canada
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Bell Sympatico
(124)
(30)
Enjoy your throttled connection