Hi! I am warning you about Bell's latest trick in getting new clients: I've been a client of Rogers High Speed for 4-5 years until a few days ago when a Bell representative called me. He gave me an incredible offer: High Speed Internet (5 MB/s download) -free the first month, then $25 for the next 2-3 mnths. At the end of that period, if I'm happy with the service, I can keep it for the same price, as long as I stay with them. Also, no down/up cap. Too good to be true hmmm?

Indeed, it was just a lie! 5 days after activation I'm getting my first bill! In the amount of $48! no way I said! Guess what..now there is a 30 gig limit/month! no way I said! Also, their real download speed is 2.5MB/sec. So I called them, told them about all the wonderful features they promised they will give me and this is what I hear now: they overcharged me on my "first free month" by $25. It appears that I still had to pay for the s&h of the modem, 5 days of prorate (?!) charge (whatever that means), GST/PST blah blah. So in the end, my "first free month" will cost $25. What happens after the first "free month"? Well, the price would be $25 for the next 2 months, then the cost will spike up to $46 something! I think I'll switch back to Rogers at the end of those 2 months. Be careful when you get a call like this: ask them to give you in writing everything they've said. If you don't get it, ship the installation kit back to them!

I have several friends and acquaintances that have Bell 5Mb/s Sympatico and none of them get near those speeds. They are a bunch of fuuckin liars. It amazes me that they are allowed to get away with this crap. I love their commercial with the beavers showing video on cable internet is jerky and unwatchable which is a total lie. My cable internet displays video streaming just fine. They were obviously referring to Rogers but didnt mention their name.

I had similar deception issues with their Mobility service, upgrading from a single user account to their family share plan that was supposed to only cost an additional 15 dollars a month. I'm paying double my previous bill for 2 phones now to keep the same features I had on my single account.:mad:

I actually never had a problem with Sympatico. I got pretty much what I paid for ~5mbps and I never had any capped useage. But I think the useage cap is pretty recent.

I really miss Sympatico considering what I have now...

The cap is only for customers who don't sign a contract.
I have the 5mbps service and I constantly get that speed.

Also, you should be getting the first month free and $25 for the next 5 months.

Prorated means your billing period start on day x and your service started on day y. if there is a difference, you pay, but you still get a month free.
Newdc if you're going to swear, take it elsewhere or use symbols please.

Hurricane, feel free to contact me if you have questions about your bill or need some info on what you're actually being charged.

In most cases you are given the deal promised, it's just that your first bill will look a bit ... odd.

Nem, who is here to help

I have 5 mbps service and consistently get 1 mbps. When it was 3 mbps service, I got .7

Sympatico is well aware that only a small % of residences that their lines pass are actually capable of receiving the advertised speeds for technical reasons.

Yet, they and their subcontracted telemarketers continue to misrepresent the service to potential new customers. Calls to my local BBB were of little use.

I am now paying less than posted prices.

Be careful when you get a call like this: ask them to give you in writing everything they've said.

I don't know if it was Bell that called you or a firm that was outsourced but the rule for any promised offering is "get it in writing"

Get in an email or a web page that can be printed but never believe it when its only verbal.

Telephone solicitors get paid to bring in sales so frankly they'll often "lie and deny"

THIS TRUE FOR ALL SOLICITATIONS OVER THE PHONE

***DEAL!!*** or NO DEAL??

Right now they (Bell and Stympatico) have a PRIORITY offer for targeted customers in the Cogeco area, it is the first 3 months FREE, then 12 dollars a month off/ month for the rest of the 2 year contract. And there is a one time activation fee of 35 bucks.(high speed 5 meg)

The regular deal is 5 dollars off if you are in the Rogers area, and 7 dollars off if you are in the Cogeco area, the regular price, on a two year contract on the HS 5 meg.

I have been with Sympatico for a number of years. Last year they approached me with the offer to not raise my DSL basic price from $30 a month if I locked in for 2 years. Recently, they capped the DSL basic at 2 GB download and now my extra bandwidth costs are approaching the month fee for high speed. They certainly know how to corner their old customers.

I was all set to switch from Cogeco to Sympatico while they had the deal on at FS for a $250 GC. Went in, signed up for the deal and got the GC.

Started talking to the techs at work and other people that had Sympatico - nothing but problems. The techs said it would fine for "casual" use, but the downloading cap was not good for their high useage.

Anyway, I never ended up activating the modem and the "deal" could be canceled without obligation anytime before activation, so it was canceled. They asked why and I said that everyone we talked to had very poor experiences with either customer service or the service itself. The CSR just said OK and proceeded with the cancelation.

There is something wrong with a service that must offer you money to join up. I should have thought of that before I wasted my time.

By the way, my CC was charged the amount of the GC by Bell, but it took about 2 months. I thought we were going to get away with it, but they caught up with us!

It is possible to get unlimited bandwidth on a contract. You just have to ask the right rep.

I recently received an email renewal of my contract but I was aware of the cap after reading up on dslreports. I called and spoke to a regular rep, the best she could offer me was $45 per month but no cap. Told her I would think about it, called back 2 hour later and spoke to the terminations department, $29.99 per month with no cap for one year.

There is a long thread on price matching Bell on RFDs.

This is an example of the exact reason I cancelled all of my services with Bell. I had issues with my Internet speeds and pricing as well.

called back 2 hour later and spoke to the terminations department, $29.99 per month with no cap for one year.


I just got the exact same deal.

With 5 M service I only hit 3.

They know anyone can get 5Mb DSL and no cap from resellers for $30/mo. I can get 100GB or "true unlimited" DSL for the same price. The difference is that the 100GB limited service is using a more reliable backbone. I haven't hit anywhere near 100GB yet.

Bell just loves to suck people in by pretending they are giving them a bargain, when in reality they are ripping them off royally. Just add up what those 2 year contracts with Bell will cost, especially if you want to terminate. Then compare that to what the service will cost from a reseller. The result may surprise you. :eek:

Resellers are not always the way to go. I had 3web cable (worked off rogers Systems). Service was awsome until a problem occourd. Then it took Weeks of calling, naggin, etc.. to get them to adress the issue. i dumped them a week later. resellers are cheaper, but god help you if your service has problems.. because then it will be hell to fix!!

Wow, working at Bell is one thing, but after doing further tests on my speed, I realized I was getting screwed BIG TIME. They advertise "up to 5 meg" after speed test, upon speed test the best I could get at ANY time of day was 2520 down/640 up. So just gave Cogeco a call, had the tech come out, been doing test steady for the last two days, my speeds from 8400-9380 down and up stays around 610-626. LOL!! Wow do I feel like a fool.

You should have run a speed test as soon as you signed up with Bell and you should periodically run speed tests to ensure you're getting what is advertised, or at least something close to it. Bear in mind you never get exactly 5 mbits or whatever. There's always overhead to take into account. If you see that your connection is slower than advertised, talk to Bell. Odds are you're a bit far from the central office and you can only receive a fraction of the performance. If you're not happy with what you're getting, switch service providers if you can.

You guys do know that with DSL, the further you are away from the Central Office (CO) the slower the speed will be, yes? (You also know of the speed implications of the Rogers cable network, yes?)

I've been with Sympatico DSL starting back in 1998 (I think) when it became available in my neighbourhood starting with 1Mbps then 3Mbps and then 5Mbps. I was lucky as I lived near the CO then and now and always got the top speed available unless there was technical issues somewhere at Bell (which have been few and far between.)

Overall I've been quite happy. My only two complaints are 1) I'd like to pay less and 2) I'd like to upgrade to the higher speeds 12/16Mbps but there is a bandwidth cap in place which is stupid and just plain too low.

Check out independent DSL resellers. I pay $30/mo for 5Mb DSL with a 100GB cap. There is also a true unlimited service available.

Distance to CO is becoming less of an issue with DSL. Bell is rolling out field equipment that essentially places the CO on the street. My area recently went from 5Mb being unavailable to 5Mb being the standard service. I also get the full advertised 5Mb bandwidth with no slowdown for overhead or time of day.

I had quite some problem with sympatico too. I was with them without contract for 12 months and paying 34.99$/month. I call them before my last month to get a contract because it was 44.99$ after that. They made me an offer : 0$ for the 1rst month, 19.95$ for the next five months and 32.95$ for the following months on a 2 year contract.

I was billed the 26th of each month before having a contract. The first RP told me that my contract would start after my last month with the same billing date. Guess how much was my invoice for the first month ?

They charged me 44.95$ for the first subscription for 4 days. July 26th to July 31rst.
32.95$ for the first month of my new contract starting August 1rst.
35$ for having change service's.

Where is the first free month in this?

I called them back and I was able to make them cancel the 44.95$, the 32.95$ for my first free month but I never succeed making cancelled the 35$ for the service change.

Hopefully I was lucky, I did'nt get the 30Go limit.