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SGM
@bell.ca

SGM

Anon

[Internet] Bell Internet

So exactly how does one get any quality DSL service out of Bell?

Last year Bell solicited, yes solicited, me to upgrade. New service wasn't blazing fast but better than I had. After a tech installed a new modem my service speed actually dropped by 33%. After more than a month of being on hold off-shore I escalated my complaint. Finally talked to a French lady who advised that there were no ports in my area (so why solicit me in the first place) and there was no waiting list for a port. Also, no plan to add new ports in my area. Letters to the Prez of Bell went unanswered.

While she did get my speed back to where it was she then tried to trap me into a one year plan at that level.

Now, my service has dropped back by 33% again, clearly a software adjustment.

I have been a Bell customer since a kid but I am starting to think it is time to move all of my services and those of my companies to Cogeco.

Hard to believe that despite living in one of the most affluent areas of Canada that the best Bell can do is a speed 3. Seriously, 3 in 2014 is quite sad.

Any advise would be welcomed. TIA.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Well, there are places doing even worse than that. I can't get DSL at all but reasonable cable service. My neighbour about 300' away can't get anything but dialup. Not even wireless service.
ings
Premium Member
join:2004-12-22
Toronto, ON

ings to SGM

Premium Member

to SGM
I get 13 down .6 up in the middle of Toronto with no better service in sight. I got a real eye opener over the holidays - my brother in law gets 40/40 with Shaw in Edmonton. Then last week in California the Holiday Inn I was staying in provided 20/20 WiFi and the local office I was in had 120/120.

I too have been with Bell a long time, but am getting frustrated with the poor (by global standards) speeds Bell offers (unless you are lucky enough to have FTTH).

Dave Ings

JC_
Premium Member
join:2010-10-19
Nepean, ON

JC_ to SGM

Premium Member

to SGM
Usually in areas that have run out of ports there are plans to add more ports however none of the front line agents would have that information.

What area/city do you live in?
Darkshadow24
join:2010-10-10

Darkshadow24 to SGM

Member

to SGM
I been with bell less then a week they sold 15 / 10, I'm getting 15 / 1 for 71 dollars, I found tech savvy offering 15 / 1 for 49 dollars. I'm switching the service in 3 months I been asking about upgrades so I can get half way decent upload speeds no reply or sorry we don't know. The bell techs on this forum have been more helpful to me then any support call in number they can provide. In this case they sold me a lemon and called it an apple. »www.speedtest.net/result ··· 3628.png
ings
Premium Member
join:2004-12-22
Toronto, ON

ings

Premium Member

said by Darkshadow24:

I'm getting 15 / 1 for 71 dollars,

As I said, my upload speed is only .6 - so Bell, with very little prompting, gave me a ~25% discount. Suggest you call them and ask for one.

Dave Ings
hogtownhog
join:2013-08-23
Toronto, ON

hogtownhog to ings

Member

to ings
said by ings:

I get 13 down .6 up in the middle of Toronto with no better service in sight. I got a real eye opener over the holidays - my brother in law gets 40/40 with Shaw in Edmonton. Then last week in California the Holiday Inn I was staying in provided 20/20 WiFi and the local office I was in had 120/120.

I too have been with Bell a long time, but am getting frustrated with the poor (by global standards) speeds Bell offers (unless you are lucky enough to have FTTH).

Dave Ings

This all depends on how your building is fed. If there is nowhere nearby to place a stinger/7330, you'll be stuck with crappy CO fed services and the only person you can blame is the Bell engineer who laid out the network when your building/subdivision was first built.

SGM
@bell.ca

SGM to JC_

Anon

to JC_
I'm in Ancaster (Hamilton).

For years I was getting 3.7 D an .6 U. Now, it is clear I have been metered back to around 2.6 D and .4 U which are the same speeds I dropped to when they first installed the new modem.

Kinda sad in 2014.
SGM

SGM to JC_

Anon

to JC_
Further to the above, even had they found a port it appears that 7 D was the best I was going to get. To be honest, I could live with that at this point in time.
what07
join:2013-07-18
Toronto, ON

what07 to SGM

Member

to SGM
Bell really needs to focus on upgrading places a lot quicker, I'm getting frustrated with the slow speeds when new developments have first chances to get FTTH. One would think neighbourhoods that been around longer get first pick for upgrades guess not.

ATM 6 / 0.6 but split between 3 people its unbearable now and no upgrades in sight.
Darkshadow24
join:2010-10-10

Darkshadow24 to SGM

Member

to SGM
I'm 3k - 3.5k for the CO I'm in Niagara Falls Ontario downtown core, We only have ADSL because the CO on Victoria Ave is all ADSL no VDSL.
hogtownhog
join:2013-08-23
Toronto, ON

hogtownhog to what07

Member

to what07
said by what07:

Bell really needs to focus on upgrading places a lot quicker, I'm getting frustrated with the slow speeds when new developments have first chances to get FTTH. One would think neighbourhoods that been around longer get first pick for upgrades guess not.

ATM 6 / 0.6 but split between 3 people its unbearable now and no upgrades in sight.

Well, perceived fairness aside, it makes absolutely no sense whatsoever to run copper to a new development when FTTH is an alternative.

As for retrofitting (brown field), they seem to prioritize areas where the copper network doesn't qualify for Fibe TV.

SGM
@bell.ca

SGM to Darkshadow24

Anon

to Darkshadow24
So it seems that a lot of us are in the same boat with little recourse.

I guess next week I will have to start switching my accounts over to Cogeco.
ings
Premium Member
join:2004-12-22
Toronto, ON

ings

Premium Member

said by SGM :

So it seems that a lot of us are in the same boat with little recourse.

Yup. I am a big Bell customer (multiple services) and all other things being equal I'd prefer to stick with Bell for my wired Internet service. However their lack of investment in last mile upgrades, at least where I live, is forcing me to look at alternatives.

Bell actually has a very fast alternative - my Bell LTE modem gets well over 25 up and down where I live - but of course the small data allowance doesn't make it a practical alternative to wired service.

A couple of Bell techs have reached out to me recently via this forum. I really appreciate that and it's indicative of why I like the company. However personal effort can't always make up for lack of capital investment in the network.

Dave Ings

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Sadly the people in this forum are not indicative of the corporate structure that has now developed in Bell.
btech805
join:2013-08-01
Canada

1 edit

btech805

Member

Yup. All about risk vs reward and ROI for the investors & shareholders. You cant spend $200,000 per card installing 7330s in a 100 pair cabinet. Simple as that, it won't be paid for by the potential subscribers in a short enough period of time

SGM
@bell.ca

SGM to ings

Anon

to ings
said by ings:

Yup. I am a big Bell customer (multiple services) and all other things being equal I'd prefer to stick with Bell for my wired Internet service. However their lack of investment in last mile upgrades, at least where I live, is forcing me to look at alternatives.

Dave Ings

Given my druthers I would prefer to stay with Bell. For me, it is the once or twice a year that my existing service gets metered back (as it is now) that really bothers me. When this happens I always waste hours finding someone who can help and then get told "it was a software change that shouldn't have been made".
btech805
join:2013-08-01
Canada

btech805

Member

Pm me your number I can boost you back up (provided there isn't some other line issue that has caused the slow down) it'll save you an hour on the phone
ings
Premium Member
join:2004-12-22
Toronto, ON

1 edit

ings to SGM

Premium Member

to SGM
said by SGM :

Given my druthers I would prefer to stay with Bell.

Me too. I have been with Sympatico since it was launched, 1996ish, which means it's going to be a *lot* of work to switch my primary email address from @sympatico to @gmail or @outlook. However if I take the hit now then in future switching Internet providers won't be so painful.

My next door neighbour gets much faster speeds with Rogers compared to what Bell can deliver to me. Also, Rogers upload speed is good - which will allow me to replace my Bell landline with a VOIP phone - something that isn't possible with my current upload speeds.

Dave Ings
ings

3 edits

ings to sbrook

Premium Member

to sbrook
said by sbrook:

Sadly the people in this forum are not indicative of the corporate structure that has now developed in Bell.

That's for sure. I find most individual Bell employees excellent, but the (management) structure they work within leaves much to be desired.

However .... out of curiosity, I phoned Bell Internet tech support today to see if they could tell me anything about planned (my) neighbourhood network upgrades beyond what btech805 and jcohen previously told me (the net of which was no firm upgrade plans).

I literally got transferred from tech support to the business office then back to tech support then back to the business office and then finally back to tech support. (I'm not making this up.) Everyone claimed only the other department had upgrade plan information.

But the final person I spoke to took the cake - he claimed only the government (!) could tell me when a Bell networking upgrade was planned as Bell had to share common infrastructure with other providers. He seemed quite sincere in his belief that only the government, not Bell, could tell me this. He offered to help me find the government department's 1-800 number on the Web. I was dumbfounded, and declined his offer.

Oh well. I am beginning the painful process of transferring my Sympatico email addresses to gmail or outlook.com. If Bell FTTN shows up in the meantime, great, I'll stay, otherwise Rogers (ugh) here I come.

Dave Ings
Crzyrio
join:2007-02-01
Mississauga, ON

Crzyrio to SGM

Member

to SGM
said by SGM :

So exactly how does one get any quality DSL service out of Bell?

Last year Bell solicited, yes solicited, me to upgrade. New service wasn't blazing fast but better than I had. After a tech installed a new modem my service speed actually dropped by 33%. After more than a month of being on hold off-shore I escalated my complaint. Finally talked to a French lady who advised that there were no ports in my area (so why solicit me in the first place) and there was no waiting list for a port. Also, no plan to add new ports in my area. Letters to the Prez of Bell went unanswered.

While she did get my speed back to where it was she then tried to trap me into a one year plan at that level.

Now, my service has dropped back by 33% again, clearly a software adjustment.

I have been a Bell customer since a kid but I am starting to think it is time to move all of my services and those of my companies to Cogeco.

Hard to believe that despite living in one of the most affluent areas of Canada that the best Bell can do is a speed 3. Seriously, 3 in 2014 is quite sad.

Any advise would be welcomed. TIA.

Hey Dave,

I was in a very similar position as you, I am stuck with 5/0.6 and was tempted to switch. I so much prefer Bell over Rogers for customer service and overall satisfaction.

The only way to find out exactly when it will be coming to your area is to write an angry email to Bell's Office of the President. I did this a little over a year ago and they gave me an estimate date that was somewhat right.

Here is what happen:

I sent an email about the poor speeds and how rogers offers speed soo much better then Bell. Got a phone call the very next day telling me he is looking into it and going to the department head in charge of it.

Get another call a day later notifying me that Fibe Internet will be available in my area in June of 2013 with Fibe TV following later. June came along and nothing, sent another email to office of the president.

Got a simple explanation that they decided to bring Fibe Internet & TV Together in March 2014. And finally, as per their website and the tech's on here, confirmed that Fibe Internet & TV will be coming to me by the end of this month

So take a few mins and send a quick e-mail to them, and they will give you estimate. Customer service only has access to information with Fibe coming to areas soon.

-Rio

MeNon
@69.158.77.x

MeNon

Anon

Really? Must be nice living is a serviced area where Bell actually answers emails.

Living in a rural area literally surrounded by high speed, dial up was the only option until 3 years ago when bell introduced cell towers. Living with 3 kids (15 - 10 years old at the time) was just a dream trying to stay under 5 gigs at $85 per month using a turbo hub.

Present day, we have dsl. For dsl it's shitty at less than 1 Mbps but reliable and UNLIMITED at $60 per month - woopee.

In response to your comments, during my dial up days I asked, begged and pleaded Bell to give some sort of estimate as to when an alternative to dial up would be available but of course this all went unanswered. I did not want to go the explornet route but could have and glad I did not - lots of horror stories to this day.

Bell reps told me to register on the website to be informed when high speed would become available in my area. I was never informed. Constant (using dial up)checking of the bell website only informed me when the turbo hub became an option. But, it was in fact a year before the hub actually worked at my house but the website indicated otherwise.

When dsl became available as per the website, I called and laughed at the rep when the install appointment was made because I simply did not believe it would work - and no, I didn't talk to India or overseas. The call center was in London, ON.

So, yes customer service is only as good as what the csr knows. But, in a top heavy management structure, the csr department pretty much only knows the shit they need to know to sign you up.

Sorry and no offense Crzyrio but you were simply in the right place at the right time - or your email was.
Crzyrio
join:2007-02-01
Mississauga, ON

Crzyrio

Member

said by MeNon :

Really? Must be nice living is a serviced area where Bell actually answers emails.

Living in a rural area literally surrounded by high speed, dial up was the only option until 3 years ago when bell introduced cell towers. Living with 3 kids (15 - 10 years old at the time) was just a dream trying to stay under 5 gigs at $85 per month using a turbo hub.

Present day, we have dsl. For dsl it's shitty at less than 1 Mbps but reliable and UNLIMITED at $60 per month - woopee.

In response to your comments, during my dial up days I asked, begged and pleaded Bell to give some sort of estimate as to when an alternative to dial up would be available but of course this all went unanswered. I did not want to go the explornet route but could have and glad I did not - lots of horror stories to this day.

Bell reps told me to register on the website to be informed when high speed would become available in my area. I was never informed. Constant (using dial up)checking of the bell website only informed me when the turbo hub became an option. But, it was in fact a year before the hub actually worked at my house but the website indicated otherwise.

When dsl became available as per the website, I called and laughed at the rep when the install appointment was made because I simply did not believe it would work - and no, I didn't talk to India or overseas. The call center was in London, ON.

So, yes customer service is only as good as what the csr knows. But, in a top heavy management structure, the csr department pretty much only knows the shit they need to know to sign you up.

Sorry and no offense Crzyrio but you were simply in the right place at the right time - or your email was.

Hey MeNon,

Like I said, the regular customer service reps (The ones you talked too) have no information on those kinds of things and have absolutely no power to find out this information

I can guarantee you if you send an e-mail to the office of the president you will get a reply within 48hrs. It is not about right place or time, it is about sending it to the right person/department
ings
Premium Member
join:2004-12-22
Toronto, ON

ings

Premium Member

said by Crzyrio:

I can guarantee you if you send an e-mail to the office of the president you will get a reply within 48hrs.

Sometime in the next week or two I'll give this a try and will report back.
btech805
join:2013-08-01
Canada

btech805

Member

Definitely do this if you need a response. When someone does this and a technician is dispatch ive received numerous calls from them now before and after the fact for information on the job, what ive seen, what I did and how the service is working. They do relay as much to you as possible, and ive even received a call from their office 8 months after the fact because I was the last technician there because someone asked of it was possible to have the whole neighborhood rewired for ftth because "the lines were shit", and they asked my opinion on the matter and I told them i live just down the street from the guy and there is nothing wrong with the line, dial tone simply sounds different through a load coil and we've had an influx of "city folk" moving here who aren't used to how it sounds. I also told the lady these are the same people who are constantly calling bylaw services and the police every time wildlife appears in their rural backyard.

So in short they will answer you no matter how outrageous the request is.
ings
Premium Member
join:2004-12-22
Toronto, ON

1 edit

ings

Premium Member

said by ings:

I get 13 down .6 up in the middle of Toronto with no better service in sight.

FWIW I'm a bit happier this week than last. I was dropped from (I think) a 16M profile to (I think) a 14M profile. My connection seems more stable, and my upload increased from an inconsistent and "stall-y" .6 to a rock solid .9. The trade off is that my download speed dropped from almost 14 to 12, but the increased stability is definitely worth it.

Dave Ings

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook to SGM

Mod

to SGM
i sent an emait to the exec office a couple weeks ago. It bounced. I forwarded it to the ombudsman and asked him to forward it. He replied with a " not Bell's fault"
GoRaptors
join:2011-07-22
London, ON

GoRaptors

Member

Sorry, I'm being dense, I don't follow?

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

mail to executive.office@bell.ca bounces with "No such user" . How's that for caring for your customers?
GoRaptors
join:2011-07-22
London, ON

GoRaptors

Member

Oh wow! Jeez! LOLZ! Can't say I'm surprised! Hah! O_O!