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zeitgeist
No relation with the movies
Premium Member
join:2009-01-01

zeitgeist

Premium Member

Modem rental fee going up

Seen in bell.ca:

Modem rental extra (now $2/mo.; $3.95/mo. starting March 29, 2009).

hardy harrrrr
@mc.videotron.ca

hardy harrrrr

Anon

LOL
capricorn126
join:2003-03-31
London, ON

1 edit

capricorn126 to zeitgeist

Member

to zeitgeist
Wow... that's twice the price.

Rogers charges $3 but gives you the option to purchase.

Hopefully Bell starts selling modems.

travisc
join:2001-11-09
Uxbridge, ON

travisc

Member

When has Bell ever done anything that would potentially save a customer money?

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt to zeitgeist

Premium Member

to zeitgeist
Nice move, simply hiding a service hike in the modem rental.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook to zeitgeist

Mod

to zeitgeist
Rogers has hiked some of their fees ... so Bell followed suit. The new "competitive"!
JAC70
join:2008-10-20
canada

JAC70

Member

said by sbrook:

Rogers has hiked some of their fees ... so Bell followed suit. The new "competitive"!
Indeed. Sadly, your definition cannot even be called cynical.

One wonders when the saturation point will be reached, if ever, and Canadians will rebel en masse and demand competition from foreign markets.

Mike2009
join:2009-01-13
Ottawa, ON

Mike2009 to zeitgeist

Member

to zeitgeist
That's a serious ripoff especially considering you can buy a brand new DSL modem for as low as $25.
HoboJ
join:2008-03-27
Cornwall, ON

HoboJ

Member

The ripoff comes when you have your own modem and still get charged the rental fee even though you're not renting.

Deadpool0
Go Sens Go
Premium Member
join:2001-03-29
Canada

Deadpool0 to zeitgeist

Premium Member

to zeitgeist
Quick poll: If you owned your own modem, and you had a problem accessing the Internet, would any of you be willing to pay the cost of sending a tech to your place if they proved your bought modem was the root cause of your problem(s)?

And by prove I mean they would plug in a Bell supplied modem and have you try it out.
HoboJ
join:2008-03-27
Cornwall, ON

HoboJ

Member

In the highly unlikely event a bell tech had to enter my house I'd pay the bill. Simple as that.

eye roll
@mc.videotron.ca

eye roll to Deadpool0

Anon

to Deadpool0
said by Deadpool0:

Quick poll: [insert the bell employee garbage here]
Quick poll: what do you think when you look at the Bell direct forum and Bell's own forum in regards to service issues?

All do to the modem?

you made me laugh deadpool. Shall I post examples for you? Or will you hide behind what you said?

Give up the BS, you won't come ahead in this one (again), regardless what you spew.

Deadpool0
Go Sens Go
Premium Member
join:2001-03-29
Canada

Deadpool0

Premium Member

said by eye roll :
said by Deadpool0:

Quick poll: [insert the bell employee garbage here]
Quick poll: what do you think when you look at the Bell direct forum and Bell's own forum in regards to service issues?

All do to the modem?

you made me laugh deadpool. Shall I post examples for you? Or will you hide behind what you said?

Give up the BS, you won't come ahead in this one (again), regardless what you spew.
Ugh, why try to pick a fight?

Seriously, modems die all the time and are replaced all the time and it fixes the problem 95% of the time.

Ask the field techs and test centre folks who lurk here, they'll tell you the same thing.

Troll...

Thane_Bitter
Inquire within
Premium Member
join:2005-01-20

Thane_Bitter to Deadpool0

Premium Member

to Deadpool0
said by Deadpool0:

Quick poll: If you owned your own modem, and you had a problem accessing the Internet, would any of you be willing to pay the cost of sending a tech to your place if they proved your bought modem was the root cause of your problem(s)?

And by prove I mean they would plug in a Bell supplied modem and have you try it out.
My thoughts:
Such a fee should be waived if a customer can borrow a Bell 'blessed' DSL modem from a friend. Also, if the issue is on Bell's end, the fee should also be waived. (Given the cost of a modem it would be cheaper to own several then pay for one 'service' call.)

If either of these conditions were met then I would agree with dropping the rental fee. Bell could also offer the option of selling their customers a modem (preferably one that is not crippled).

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook to zeitgeist

Mod

to zeitgeist
Leave the personal jabs out of this!

The issue of the owned modem is like the owned wire.

We own the wire in our homes ... if we don't pay an insurance premium to Bell called "Wirecare", we get hit with a charge if Bell determines that line problems are "internal" to our house.

Now, Deadpool's question is similar ... if we own the modem and don't pay for a Bell modem (or presumably pay a "Modemcare" fee) and the fault is with the modem, we get hit with a charge if there's a truck roll and Bell determines that the problem is with the modem.

What this fails to address is the fact that while modems DO go bad, lots of modems are exchanged for reasons that are intended to simply "rule out the modem" without satisfactory testing to prove that the modem is at fault.

The question from Deadpool is reasonable ... would you pay for that truckroll? That asked, would you be willing to pay for the phone diagnosis?

Now granted, these sound like more nickel and diming fees that in days gone by were absorbed by the company and they still made money hand over fist, because it was "good customer service" ... something Bell was held up as a yardstick for good service. Now, Bell is going the other way and becoming the measurement for bad customer service and at the same time is attempting to charge more and more for the same thing.

My take would be "If Bell sold the modem and it died within a say 1 year warranty, then it's Bell's responsibility. After a year, then the customer assumes responsibility for the cost of a truck roll. Phone diagnosis can be automated and should be free.

zeitgeist
No relation with the movies
Premium Member
join:2009-01-01

zeitgeist

Premium Member

Re: Deadpool's poll:

Personally, if I owned the modem and had a DSL trouble, I'd know to first make sure the cause isn't the modem. It would be trivial to borrow a modem from a friend or relative for an hour or two.

So, the modem having been ruled out, I wouldn't be concerned about a truck roll.

If there were the possibility of using my own equipment, I'd be inclined to take advantage of it, and assume the risk of having to buy another modem if it should break.
Vinch
join:2007-10-24
Pointe-Claire, QC

Vinch to zeitgeist

Member

to zeitgeist
They wouldn't simply take Videotron's example of making the modem rental free of charge eh? It would just be too convenient for the customer.

Gundam_MX
Stomping Robot
join:2003-06-27

Gundam_MX to zeitgeist

Member

to zeitgeist
said by zeitgeist:

Re: Deadpool's poll:

Personally, if I owned the modem and had a DSL trouble, I'd know to first make sure the cause isn't the modem. It would be trivial to borrow a modem from a friend or relative for an hour or two.
How many people living in remote area or technological illiterate people can locate a spare modem and connect it themselves?

zeitgeist
No relation with the movies
Premium Member
join:2009-01-01

zeitgeist

Premium Member

said by Gundam_MX:

How many people living in remote area or technological illiterate people can locate a spare modem and connect it themselves?
That I agree with. For the garden variety users, the possibility of renting the modem should be maintained, of course.

I'm speaking of adding the possibility of using a user-owned modem for those who are more "tech savvy" (pardon ).

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook to Gundam_MX

Mod

to Gundam_MX
zeitgeist, since the modem wouldn't be an issue, the truck roll is irrelevent.

gundam_mx, as to the less techno people, they would probably be the people renting their modem anyway, so the question is moot.

The question is aimed at those that want to buy their own modem and therefore they need to know there are risks.

zeitgeist
No relation with the movies
Premium Member
join:2009-01-01

2 edits

zeitgeist

Premium Member

said by sbrook:

zeitgeist, since the modem wouldn't be an issue, the truck roll is irrelevent.
Why, I did write, "the modem having been ruled out, I wouldn't be concerned about a truck roll" so I don't really see what the argument is about here.

MacGyver

join:2001-10-14
Vancouver, BC

MacGyver to zeitgeist

to zeitgeist
FYI, in related news, long distance bundles are going up $2 as of March 1. I saw the note in my January bill.

I'm being nickled and dimed to death by Bell.

DKS
Damn Kidney Stones

join:2001-03-22
Owen Sound, ON

1 recommendation

DKS to Deadpool0

to Deadpool0
said by Deadpool0:

Seriously, modems die all the time and are replaced all the time and it fixes the problem 95% of the time.
Let's take this a bit further. Why not have Bell World stores (I know, they aren't owned by Bell) hold a stock of modems for an "exchange basis" swap? Bring in the old modem and give them a new one? And keep the charge at $2/mo? No reason for a truck roll (as Bell Business Internet does) or sn ExpressPost shipping that costs money.

Personally, I have two DSL modems that I own and two supplied by Bell (one is a remnant of the false 911 mess last spring that India insisted on sending me). If I was having problems I would be swapping the Bell modem for my own and asking for a replacement.

Now my next question is "How often do the modems actually need to be replaced?" I know you can't answer that for competitive reasons, but my personal experience is that in eight and a half years of having Bell internet at home and at work, the modem in each has been replaced exactly once in that time. That's about 70,000 hours (35,000 hours per modem). That works out to about 17,500 hours MBTF and going up.

Frankly, I'd rather have a purchase option for the modem.

MacGyver

join:2001-10-14
Vancouver, BC

1 recommendation

MacGyver

No kidding, my Alcatel SpeedTouch Home must be worth over $850 because that's how much I've paid to rent it over the last eight years.

DKS
Damn Kidney Stones

join:2001-03-22
Owen Sound, ON

DKS to zeitgeist

to zeitgeist
said by zeitgeist:

Seen in bell.ca:

Modem rental extra (now $2/mo.; $3.95/mo. starting March 29, 2009).
Got a link for that? I can't find it anywhere on the Bell site nor in my OneBill.

BellLoveFest
@teksavvy.com

BellLoveFest to MacGyver

Anon

to MacGyver
said by MacGyver:

No kidding, my Alcatel SpeedTouch Home must be worth over $850 because that's how much I've paid to rent it over the last eight years.
Guess Bell is only looking for suckers who can right them blank cheques !!

zeitgeist
No relation with the movies
Premium Member
join:2009-01-01

1 recommendation

zeitgeist to DKS

Premium Member

to DKS
»www.bell.ca/shopping/int ··· ewAccess

-> click on "Certain conditions apply"

Or, more directly:

»www.bell.ca/shopping/pop ··· formance

MacGyver

join:2001-10-14
Vancouver, BC
·TELUS
Actiontec T3200M
Arcadyan WE410443-TS
Sipura SPA-2102

MacGyver to BellLoveFest

to BellLoveFest
After discussing the price increases with my wife, it didn't take much for her to agree to dump her @sympatico.ca email addresses for Gmail so we could switch to a cheaper provider that doesn't raise prices every six months.

That (and a contract up in September 2009) was the last thing keeping me as a customer.

wakey wakey
@mc.videotron.ca

wakey wakey

Anon

said by MacGyver:

I'm being nickled and dimed to death by Bell.
said by MacGyver:

No kidding, my Alcatel SpeedTouch Home must be worth over $850 because that's how much I've paid to rent it over the last eight years.
said by MacGyver:

After discussing the price increases with my wife, it didn't take much for her to agree to dump her @sympatico.ca email addresses for Gmail so we could switch to a cheaper provider that doesn't raise prices every six months.

That (and a contract up in September 2009) was the last thing keeping me as a customer.
Some people are waking up (no offense). You could have started saving before taking a contract.

I'm sure more Bell surprises are going to come. Its only a mater of time before they charge more to be on fast path.

and the whole argument about "what if" the modem breaks thing is a scare tactic. By the time the modem dies you would have paid for it (saved on it) enough times to buy 5 modems (like what DKS said).

If you look at Bell own forums and the 14+ pages (~350 complaints) of problem in internet you will find only 2 or 3 were modem related. Which i'm sure is the same in the direct forum. That's less than 1% of the problems being modem related.

But Bell's favorite answer and excuse for everything is, oh you need a new modem. Its not uncommon for Bell to send out 3 modems rather than address the root-cause which is line related (as we have seen many times in this forum). So all deadpool stated was some sort of an attempt at a scare tactic to try and justify a price hike. Nothing else.

Bellundo
@teksavvy.com

Bellundo to zeitgeist

Anon

to zeitgeist
Canada must be the only country in the entire world raising internet prices this year. Most other countries are lowering internet prices as the costs for machinery and bandwidth are sharply lower this year. Canada deserves a write-up worldwide for this.