[Internet] The more things change...10 years later...
Before I begin, I'm not trying to start a flame war. I'm simply sharing my experiences with Bell and felt this was the best place to do that.
The Background Story
I was one of the first to experience Bell DSL services in London, Ontario when it was introduced. I literally called in two to three times a month to make sure I would get the opportunity to jump ship from Rogers at the time, whom I had also been one of the first to test (cable Internet services). Eventually the day came and I immediately had them come out and hook me up. I remember how absolutely ecstatic I was at the time as it was very stable compared to Rogers and I found I was able to maintain the advertised speeds much better with Bell (At the time 1.5 megabit).
For five years I had DSL services with Bell and paid full price for said services. Slowly, Bell started upgrading. Sadly, never my area. Eventually after waiting so long I moved back over to Rogers. This was approximately ten years ago. I made it a point to express my disappointment to Bell and let them know I was leaving because my area was constantly overlooked when it came to upgrades. After five years of paying full price (at the time 3 megabit was the common speed across Bell) while only able to achieve 1.5 megabit, I just couldn't justify it anymore. I moved to Rogers whom at the time offered 7 megabit.
Fast Forward 10 years
Currently with Rogers, I get around 37-40 megabit on the 32 megabit profile I'm on.
Out of curiosity, I decided to check in with Bell. I wanted to see how far they'd come over the last ten years with regards to upgrades and services.
I type in my address and postal code and....to my horror....5 megabit is the highest profile offered for my location. Wow. I don't know what else I can say other than "wow".
For informational purposes, London has approximately 360,000 people. My location is close to the core of the city. There is literally no excuse that I can think of that would justify 10 years of non-upgrades to my area. I went from 7 megabits (at the time with Rogers) to nearly 40 megabit service within the last 6 years, most times the upgrade was free and automatically applied to me.
That 5 megabit profile offered, isn't even what I would get. It's "up to" and I know from my past experience that it won't go anywhere near that. Sad really.
For what it's worth when it comes to any type of internet the only city worst than London is Ottawa.
1) Ottawa 2) London 3) Mississauga 4) Brampton
Correction add Hamilton to list; a new list in alphabetical order
Brampton Hamilton London Mississauga Ottawa
I too on the North side of the street have 5 megs wired to the office. My neighbours on the South side of the street have had Fibe at 16 Megs since the fall of 2010 and now have 25 Megs & TV. A 24 month disparity is absolute bullshit.
Clearly Bell has its head up its ass.
Cogeco is coming soon; the contract expires within 8 weeks.
It's beyond me why in 2012 there are such horrible discrepancies in services with one of the largest players in the country. I just don't understand it. Oh well. Their loss I guess.
The only consolation I can offer would be that the later it gets upgraded (your area) the better the technology will be. If you have to wait another 10 years then my guess would be that your area will have fiber to the home...if you still live there.
. . . the better the technology will be. If you have to wait another 10 years then my guess would be that your area will have fiber to the home...if you still live there.
Correction; if youre still alive.
At 68 years old if I wait for a Bell upgrade, I could be dead.
What Bell's strategists have missed is this. Our area is within 1.5 km of McMaster University. The area is old. Some of our neighbours are single seniors since their spouse has died and some of those homes now have new families when the home was sold as part of an estate. A few of these old 2 1/2 storey homes now have many students and some of my new neighbours work at CANMET (CanmetMATERIALS Lab in Hamilton, Ontario).
The number of homes that have Cogeco around here exist because Bell doesn't install "ahead of time" services that customers might buy.
Bell, who used to be at the leading edge of technology, is now at the trailing edge.
We are in a pocket. The analysists seemed to have crunched the numbers and said the area was crap to upgrade; but they missed tommorrow as we all die off.
Cogeco controls this area on contract, and either Bell buys out Cogecos contracts or waits until the Cogeco contract expires.
They missed this. As a loyal customer since 1966, as compared to those who bolted every time there was a dollar to be saved, we stayed with Bell. If we move we wont be back. We: my wife and I, will be long dead and Bell can go to h***.
Bells profile of Internet users is of bounce. Get a $0.02 (2 cent) saving and move to a new provider. IF 75% of the idiots that buy communication services used their heads a little better, 100% of us would be better off.
I type in my address and postal code and....to my horror....5 megabit is the highest profile offered for my location. Wow. I don't know what else I can say other than "wow".
Welcome to Owen Sound. 5 meg is the best any wireline provider can offer. Rogers offers their usual packages, but you pay through the nose and their usual restrictions and problems apply.
I can't decide whether I'm happy to hear others are in a very similar boat with Bell, or completely disgusted Lol.
I'll be honest. I'm happy with Rogers. Their prices definitely need some work, but service wise I'm extremely happy. I was simply checking in with Bell to see what they were offering now as opposed to so long ago. It really is sad.
Bell has fallen by the wayside and I'm in New Hamburg, Ont and same thing here. Bell can offer us 5mbs and when in the chat asking them they try to make it sound so good lol. Rogers...75mbs and better caps. lol I don't even consider Bell and as valid Internet Provider anymore. Just retire DSL Bell, it's a losing battle.