[rural orphan]

Got the Bell Turbo Hub last week.
No DSL or cable in my area.
I'm getting HSPA+ reception probably because I'm high up on a hill and looking at one tower and two more off to the sides within 10-12 miles.
Previously paid $135 (tax incl) for home phone, phone features, and dial up internet.
Also had a Turbo Stick (1Mbps) and kept below 1Gb to control costs.
No I'm paying $75 (tax excl) for voice, unlimited LD in Canada, phone features, internet access, and 3 GB of data.
Typical performance is;

I was able to have my home phone number ported to the voice on the Turbo-Hub and the quality is quite acceptable for VOIP.
Talk deliberately but naturally and don't jump in or interrupt the discusion and you're fine.
So I'm saving about $50 per month with better data, and a great LD plan.
So far it's a good experience, specially for we rural types.
I will cancel my Sympatico services and have established a new Hotmail address for mail.
So I'm completely wireless now.
Turbo Hub has a large number of connectivity features and seems to pass data at a blistering rate.
So I'm no longer holding my breath for DSL, Idon't think it would compete with my new plan, either.

 

[pinemeadows]

I have had a Turbo Hub for over a week and am very pleased. Our location again is rural. We have lived in rural properties since 1984 and I despaired of ever having good, and fairly reasonable ($) internet.

The speeds I see vary from ~2 - ~4+ mbps. Reliability is excellent. Installation was nothing.

One issue I have is signal strength, even though only 4.1 miles from nearest Bell Tower. (But I don't know if they have HSPA on that tower).

From the Hub's setup screen I see mostly three, but sometimes two bars. To get that I must have the Hub right at a window at waist height. It's not a convenient place for the hub.

I am curious about the strength of your signal.

 

[rural orphan]

Signal strength

Network Information gives me mostly 3 or 4 and rarely 5 out of 5 on the onboard meter.
Anyone else?

 

[guitarmaniak]

Bell Turbo hub is a massive rip off

I moved to the country and had the usual problems of getting decent internet service. I came across the Bell Turbo Hub and thought it was worth a try. I have 3 computers and 2 kids. (The Hub apparently takes up to 15 computers). Bottom line...watch your usage like a hawk. I came back from a business trip and found that my kids had blown away the 10 Gig limit and the extra charges per MB added up to over $1,100. for ONE MONTH. This rate plan is insane. If you or your family members are used to surfing the net, watching Ytube videos, games or downloading movies......do not bother with this service unless you are rich. To make matters worse, I called Bell to cancel and I had to give 30 days notice + pay $400 early cancellation fee. I had no idea. I must be an idiot or this whole rate plan is a massive scam or both.

 

[BGY11]

Downloading movies would be the likely culprit here. These kinds of services are not meant for that kind of bandwidth (especially if they were HD movies). A quick look at the file sizes of such files and it's not hard to see how you could go well over 10GB a month.

As for the massive overage fees, welcome to the world of wireless data in Canada. Using over 70GB more bandwidth than allocated is going to rack up the fees no matter what.

 

[Sieg]

I got the Turbo Station yesterday. Great improvement compared to the dial up. Uploads varies from 1,6 to 4,8, downloads 1,4 to 2,1. Signal is 1 or 2 bars. Some drops but works great. Is there a software that allows to check the amount of bandwidth used on 4 computers ?

 

[dgtek]

Large files slowdowns

Anyone has the Turbo Hub and experienceing slowdowns on large files or long YouTube Videos?

The download seems to start fine but jams after 4 MB or so... tried on different systems with same results. Speedtest is reporting 5Mbps download speed... However I cant seem to be able to complete large downloads.

Thanks!

 

[smilingyeti]

Well I've been using the TurboHub for about a month and a half now, was very happy with it until recently.

- I have a steady 3 bars signal (I had to use a Wilson antenna on top of my roof)
- Now for the past week or so, almost everytime I try to access the web, there is a 20 to 30 sec delay until the page begins to load, no matter which web site I visit

- Aboout every 20 min, the hub completely stops working and after a minute or so goes through a reset on its own (which takes a minute or so). If this happens while I'm downloading a file, or transfering files between computers on my LAN it forces me to wait and start over.

This is very annoying... I'm wondering if the device is overheating or something. I just put a fan next to it...

 

[CollieGuy]

I've put in a Turbo Hub up at the lake. I'm on the edge of coverage and get 1-2 bars of signal (looking at the unit's internet status page). I have an external yagi with a booster to get it working, but it gives me 2.0 - 2.5 Mbps down, 0.4 to 0.5 Mbps up (sometimes better), and phone service. So I'm am fan, mostly.

I do have a problem that my PC (Dell laptop) drops internet connection from time to time. The drop lasts up to a minute, and occurs a handful of times per hour (say 5 on average). There are periods where it can happen repeatedly in a short time (say 15 minutes) and other times when I can go up to an hour without a drop. It's not obviously signal strength related because I get them as much when the signal is stronger as when it's weaker (my signal does have higher and lower points during the day). It doesn't seem to be wireless to the unit because I can bring up the unit's status pages during a drop. And the status pages don't show anything obvious - the connection to the Bell network does not go down on the unit itself. But my laptop can't get out past the hub unit itself.

Given that it would cost me $4500+ to bring in a phone line, I'm keeping this solution until something better comes along.

 

[bmurdock]

Hello,

I just wanted to say that I purchased a Turbo Hub for $150 on Sept 9 and used it until Sept 14. I signed a contract and the service was for 3gb per month for $35mo..
The signal was poor and I tried placing the hub in various places in the house but the speeds were not good. The first things I downloaded were some updates for my macOS and these were aprox 80mb per update with some at 300mb.
I was told by the store (The Source) that I had a trial period of 14 days and I could return it within that time if not satisfied.
Today on Oct 21 I received a bill for $400 plus $2 for a paper bill.
The $400 is a Cancellation fee. I have paid already a $35 activation and for my usage in Sept.
The CSR and supervisor say that in my service agreement it stipulates that if I used more than 50mb of data within the 14 days then I must pay the $400.

This does not make sense to me as I was sold the pkg based on the 14 day trial and 3gb per month.

I then tried the Rogers Hub and the signal was worse and I only kept that for 1 day and still paid the $35 activation and for the data that I used in that 1 day.
Both these companies do not know how to treat customers and they make the large Canadian Banks look good.

Sorry for ranting on but we really get screwed in Canada by these providers of service.

Barrie from Belwood

 

[kiwi150]

am using bell mobility Ericsson w35 and i live in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield country side without any other internet system available.And for me this service is the worse system in my whole life.
I am disconnected without ceremony at least 3 to 10 time a day and the speed for download is less than 3 mbps,with external antenna and my signal very strong almost full with all the time. I already phone technical service 3 times and they said they working on that problem with Ericsson and i am using this service Turbo station w35 since august 10 2010 almost 3 month. And i think after that time not fix yet and i think that problem will be permanent.
Is anyone having this problem similar to mine.
Or anyone find a solution.

 

[mlafont]

Wifi Connection Problems with Turbo Hub

I have had the Bell Ericson Turbo hub for about 5 weeks and did not detect a big problem until we disconnected our old system.

In the last week I have been on the phone with tech support because the damn Wifi connection keeps dropping and sometimes you cannot even get a signal even though you can connect via an ethenet cable.

I was forced to buy a new hub because my hub had the cover knocked off when it fell and it turned out the new hub has the same connection problem. We then changed the SIM card and bell did some tweaking at their end and finally it worked wonderful for 2 days and then back to the same problem again.

Bell now tells me that there have been many connection issues with some of these units and that they have put me on the list to get a call when they get this figured out. Meanwhile they expect me to continue paying for a service that they seem to not be able to provide or I can paying the $600 to break the contract. Seems to me that is just a little bit unfair when it seems they know the problem is at their end!!!

 

[MARSTG]

for Turbo hub users

Hi guys, just to let you know, maybe the trial period might be 14 days but I think the data limit is only 50MB is not unlimited for the period you have it for trial, so watch out! No streaming, no downloading and definitely no Windows/Mac OS updates. Just light emails, instant messaging and some facebook. No Youtube or torrents. Because if you want heavy use just move to city where you can get DSL or cable.

 

[eileenann]

Ok Kiddies

I purchased the Internet Hub in September. I have had intermittent dropping since it was installed. Strangely enough it seems to be worse in the morning, better in the afternoon, and then goes back to dropping in the evening. The problem is definitely with the data transmission at the tower. I also have my home phone through this service, but it seems to work better than the internet.

Rogers has its signal coming through only 1 cable to its rocket stick and hub service, while Bell has two cables, 1 for phone and 1 for internet. This explains why the phone works better than the internet. They are aware of the problem and the story I've been given is there is a fix in the works but no answer as to when this will occur. Frightening really, when what they've done is launch a service that they can't support.

We have Bell services in our home as we live in the country and do not have a choice of another provider. The contract for the internet hub is 2 years and I am hoping at that time that there will be more competition for us out here. I have complained so much that my account is flagged and I must admit I know get superior service and very few Bell chats that end up in India.

The Commissioner for Complaints for Telecommunications Services (CCTS) is an independent organization that works to resolve complaints relating to telecommunications services. I submitted a complaint two years ago due to irregular charges on my Cell bill. I was getting charges for Porn and dating sites. They managed to facilitate me getting those charges off my bill. I have since switched to a pay as you go phone from Rogers and to date have not had one irregular charge. In addition, I only pay $100 a year for the service, so I've saved a lot of money.

If you want to get things changed, you have to find a way to reach the Big Boys at Bell and get their attention. I was able to find the President of Bell Canada's email as well as several other executives at their head office. I am now sending my complaints directly to them. Will it help? God knows, because I sure don't.

 

[eileenann]

Just watch out for charges..they tried to bill me a cancellation fee for my home phone as well as cancelling the dial up internet. Got those charges off though

 

[DMielke]

Turbo Hub Less Than Advertised Speeds

I am testing the W35 (Bell) for a client who is complaining about their internet. My tests results are typically showing 2.25 Mbps down at best (usually between 1 and 2) and below 1 up (typically between 0.16 - 0.95) from the client location. Tests conducted from multiple machines at this location while getting at least 13 bars signal strength on the Turbo Hub. Tests conducted from 10:00 - 15:00 Talked to Bell about the results as they are far less than advertised. Brought a second Turbo Hub into this location and results were no better. Bell suggested I run tests from other locations (as they had no explanation).

Tests conducted from Toronto location the next day fared no better during business hours. The only time I have seen download results near 5 Mbps were from Caledon after business hours around 20:00 however the upload was still no better. (So far I'm less than impressed) This is certainly better than dial-up for those in rural areas (if this service works) however the "up to" 7.5 GB Down and 5.75 up... are nowhere near realistic here.

And similar to what has been posted here - watch your usage. While the limits are far higher than the Turbo sticks (@ .5 GB/mo.) you can go through 3 - 5 & 10 GB/mo. quick enough to get your bill into the hundreds $. You can monitor usage via the hub or download one of many free programs to monitor usage for you.

 

[Micheal.C]

Hi all.

Just spent my first week with the hub.I have a gig of use, with and average 0f 3.5 Mb/s downs and 1.2 Mb/s up.I live between Windsor and Halifax in the trees.
I might try an outdoor ant,later on

Easy set up and a very steady connection.

I have 1 PC hard wired,ps3 hard wired and 2 laptops WiFi.A little paranoid about WiFi sharing with the neighbours so I have disabled SSID broadcast and shrank the broadcast from a setting of 20 to 10 .
I will be using my full 10 gigs a month allotment ,thats for sure.I have a grand fathered 9.95 a month dial up that I will keep for back up

It will be interesting to see how it works travelling across Canada this summer.

I give it a 9 out of 10

Micheal

 

[Sieg]

" You can monitor usage via the hub or download one of many free programs to monitor usage for you. "
Can you suggest some of these free programs ? All I find on the Internet was limited time free evaluation programs. Thanks you.

 

[DMielke]

Data Usage Monitoring Program

Sieg,

To monitor data usage I find BitMeter does what I need it to and is free to download and use. (It may have its shortcomings however it suits my needs just fine) Note: BitMeter reportedly does not work on Win7 platforms.

It is available through CNet at http://download.cnet.com/BitMeter-2/3000-2381_4-10398686.html

You can look at this web-site for others if BitMeter doesn't suit you.

Cheers,

David

 

[Sieg]

Thank you DMielke. I downloaded and installed BitMeter, and it works fine on Win 7....