Canadian Broadband → A question from someone in the UK

Hi, I just wondered if one of you Canadian guys could answer me a strange question.

When you sign up to broadband in Canada do you have to sign a legally binding contract with your broadband provider? Do credit agreements in Canada have a cooling off period like they do in the UK?

Would I, if I lived in Canada be able to phone up a provider and get switched onto highspeed access the same day as I made the phonecall without a contract?

Whoa, is this how it works in Britain? No, you're going to have to agree to terms of service, and don't expect same day connection.

Some ISPs require a signature on a paper contract, others simply take it for granted that you have accepted the AUP agreement when you provide credit info to open an account.

In Ontario I'm not sure if there is any legal "grace period" after signing a contract, or what exactly it would or would not apply to. I've certainly never heard of any blanket cooling off period here.

As for getting service the same day you signed up, ain't gonna happen. It usually takes between 7 and 10 working days to get a line provisioned and up and running with DSL here.

The telephone company may require you to put down a deposit for a new telephone line if you have no credit or a history of poor credit. In Ontario and Quebec, Bell asks for a $200 deposit which they refund to you after one year of service. No such deposit is required for DSL.

Actually in the UK you would wait typically seven to twelve days for installation. I don't know if this is because of a backlog in hookups in the UK or more lightly a cooling off period as you've signed a credit agreement and a legally binding contract for a minimum of twelve months.

The reason I asked is because someone sent me a link about a young boy dying of cancer. This is on a paintballing forum. This Canadian lad who is only thirteen got an unbelieveable gift off the owner of this paintballing site.

Now it says on the site from this lads mother that a Xbox was delivered plus all the wireless connections and boxes, ten dvd games and a one years paid up subscription to broadband, they were on 56k originally. Now that end part got my suspicious. The lads mother (the lad has a brain tumour)the person who delivered the gifts phoned up the company and a tech came around at 3pm that same afternoon to connect him.

Theres just too many holes in this story to make it anything but a made up heap of rubbish.

Jennifer-S-

I know the story you're talking about,Clicky here sure seems to be getting around in a hurry. And it's entirely possible to do what that story claims. You don't have to sign a contract for DSL in Canada. Most companies don't care who pays the bill, as long as someone does. So prepaid for one whole year would be appealing to most of them. Yes the dates seem a little fuzzy when it comes to connection, 2 days seems a little short. But what we don't know is that maybe the guy who ordered it actually owns or is close to someone who owns a DSL company. Maybe he's even the technician.

Take the story for what it is, a touching story about putting others first, expecially at this time of the year.

With the details from Shaner's link it sounds believable, if this is the story you have heard. There are the responses from people who have dealt with Pdx.Sierra, and a google shows he does do support on the site.

He must be a very nice guy. And probably cancer touched someone close in his life (since he knows the medicines and diagnosis).

at least in Quebec you can have high speed cable the same day u buy the modem, just a phone call

(this if available only if u are already a client of the cable co.)

It's entirely possible to get hooked up in a very short period of time. It all depends on the provider. A couple of months ago I got hooked up for broadband cable. From the phone call to a technician coming over to being up and running was like 24 hours. No contract or credit check either.

quote:

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Installation and setup went smooth. As mentioned, I called them on Thursday morning and the technician came around 0930 the next day. Good service, about 24 hours from calling to installation. The technician added a splitter to my existing co-axial cable, ran and stapled another 25+ feet of cable along the wall to one of my computers, installed the modem and configured the TCP/IP settings, etc.

»Re: VDN in Montreal: Any Info Would Be Appreciated

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Even with Sympatico, I was on-line 48 hours after ordering the service.

In ontario there is a grace period of 48 hours however the onus is on the person taking out the subscription to prove they attempted to cancel the account. In most cases the isp's will lie and say they never got any type of notification so the poor sucker will be on the hook eventhough he or she is in the right. Canada is a sick, sick country and not until all these listed companies on the canadian stock exchanges are investigated and charged and shutdown permanently preferably by a unbiased governing body from another country only then can this process filter down to the crookery by these isp's. I would venture to guess 95 percent of all these listed companies in canada keep false books or records. I have been a part of all of this as i live in canada.

said by TOMMY Tut:

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. I would venture to guess 95 percent of all these listed companies in canada keep false books or records. I have been a part of all of this as i live in canada.

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Are you smoking crack? Do you REALLY think 95% of all Canadian companies keep double books? Spoken like someone who has never run a business in his life. Depending on what industry you're working in, some businesses are impossible to engineer the kind of fraud you are accusing EVERYONE of. Sure if it's a Dollar store and all the money coming in is in cash, I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of people skim off their taxes. BUT if you are dealing with pre authorized payments, or commercial customers who DEMAND RECEIPTS, you can NEVER pull off the type of fraud that you so glibly paint the whole country with. Show a little respect for your fellow man. :P

said by TOMMY Tut:

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In ontario there is a grace period of 48 hours however the onus is on the person taking out the subscription to prove they attempted to cancel the account.

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by law, all sales are final...return and cancellation policies are at a retailers discretion...if you intend on fighting a contract, you must prove that you were incapable of signing a legally binding agreement at that time (drunk, heavily medicated, mentally handicapped, etc).

said by Jennifer-S-:

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Actually in the UK you would wait typically seven to twelve days for installation. I don't know if this is because of a backlog in hookups in the UK or more lightly a cooling off period as you've signed a credit agreement and a legally binding contract for a minimum of twelve months.

The reason I asked is because someone sent me a link about a young boy dying of cancer. This is on a paintballing forum. This Canadian lad who is only thirteen got an unbelieveable gift off the owner of this paintballing site.

Now it says on the site from this lads mother that a Xbox was delivered plus all the wireless connections and boxes, ten dvd games and a one years paid up subscription to broadband, they were on 56k originally. Now that end part got my suspicious. The lads mother (the lad has a brain tumour)the person who delivered the gifts phoned up the company and a tech came around at 3pm that same afternoon to connect him.

Theres just too many holes in this story to make it anything but a made up heap of rubbish.

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»xtremepaintballcanada.co ··· pic=1627

Here is the timeline on everything that was done for this poor kid to make his Christmas better. Apparently, the husband of a good friend is a broadband company executive. That's why this kid got DSL so quick.

The little guy died this week.