I am going to give Bell a try.
I've had it with Rogers.
Rogers is way too unreliable and often very slow.
I've had it with Rogers.
Rogers is way too unreliable and often very slow.
Anybody use Bell Sympatico?
- Thread starter Malibook
- Start date
Bell Sympatico - My 2 cents worth
I was with Bell Sympatico for something over a year. Not that I had many issues but I found that the service and technical support were very good. Other DSL providers may charge a lower rate but that would involve you in buying a DSL modem and maybe accepting a lower level of technical support.
vvv
I was with Bell Sympatico for something over a year. Not that I had many issues but I found that the service and technical support were very good. Other DSL providers may charge a lower rate but that would involve you in buying a DSL modem and maybe accepting a lower level of technical support.
vvv
Signed up for Bell Sympatico High-Speed about 6 months ago.
Chose the self-install package which arrived on time as promised within a week of placing the order.
Straight forward setup and configuration - good step-by-step tutorial and documenation.
Was up and running at high-speed within about 25 minutes of opening the package.
Since then, no problems whatsoever....Had to place a call into technical support about 2 months ago when my PC went tits-up and the rep was quite patient and helpful...spent about 45 minutes trouble-shooting the problems with me only to finally determine it was my MS-Window's setup, not the Sympatico service.
Would I recommend....yes, definitely.
I would suggest waiting to sign up until they have a decent promotion on...they may well have one on now...I don't know. When I signed up, the install package was free, including the DSL modem, the first month's service was free, and the next 6 months service was priced at $24.95, versus the normal full price of $44.95, which I'm just about to start getting billed at.
Is the extra $20 per month worth it for the high-speed? Absolultely....I can't imagine going back to a regular 56k dial-up modem.
later,
h4p
Chose the self-install package which arrived on time as promised within a week of placing the order.
Straight forward setup and configuration - good step-by-step tutorial and documenation.
Was up and running at high-speed within about 25 minutes of opening the package.
Since then, no problems whatsoever....Had to place a call into technical support about 2 months ago when my PC went tits-up and the rep was quite patient and helpful...spent about 45 minutes trouble-shooting the problems with me only to finally determine it was my MS-Window's setup, not the Sympatico service.
Would I recommend....yes, definitely.
I would suggest waiting to sign up until they have a decent promotion on...they may well have one on now...I don't know. When I signed up, the install package was free, including the DSL modem, the first month's service was free, and the next 6 months service was priced at $24.95, versus the normal full price of $44.95, which I'm just about to start getting billed at.
Is the extra $20 per month worth it for the high-speed? Absolultely....I can't imagine going back to a regular 56k dial-up modem.
later,
h4p
Bell Great
I have had bell sympatico's service for almost 2 years now and all I can say is that it is the greatest service I've ever had. I was in Ottawa for a short period of time 2 years ago and we had rogers@home, it was the worst service.. It was down way too often and if you ran a home based webserver they had you take it down. I finally gave up on it when it was down for a week when the fiber optic line in St. Catharines was cut.. I currently live in London, Ontario and have Bell Sympatico HSE and it is great.. I have recently upgraded to there ultra service which surprisingly is alot faster then there normal high speed service however it is $70/month but if you are a computer freak like me then it is well worth it.. Plus I run a webserver off my home computer which Bell doesn't care about.. I wish I could give you guys the URL and you can tell me what you think however that would give away my true identity..
One thing that sympatico has done that I do not approve of is they have established bit caps on their high speed service. On there normal service you can only upload 5GB of data and download 5GB of data. If you go over these limits they are going to charge $7.95/1GB I believe.. I really don't like this but I have to live with it.. Rogers are planning on implementing the same system.. With the ultra service that I now have, I get 10GB up and 10GB down which is just about enough for me, I use 4GB up and 9GB down on a regular basis..
There's my 2 cents.. Use bell, not rogers..
epw
I have had bell sympatico's service for almost 2 years now and all I can say is that it is the greatest service I've ever had. I was in Ottawa for a short period of time 2 years ago and we had rogers@home, it was the worst service.. It was down way too often and if you ran a home based webserver they had you take it down. I finally gave up on it when it was down for a week when the fiber optic line in St. Catharines was cut.. I currently live in London, Ontario and have Bell Sympatico HSE and it is great.. I have recently upgraded to there ultra service which surprisingly is alot faster then there normal high speed service however it is $70/month but if you are a computer freak like me then it is well worth it.. Plus I run a webserver off my home computer which Bell doesn't care about.. I wish I could give you guys the URL and you can tell me what you think however that would give away my true identity..
One thing that sympatico has done that I do not approve of is they have established bit caps on their high speed service. On there normal service you can only upload 5GB of data and download 5GB of data. If you go over these limits they are going to charge $7.95/1GB I believe.. I really don't like this but I have to live with it.. Rogers are planning on implementing the same system.. With the ultra service that I now have, I get 10GB up and 10GB down which is just about enough for me, I use 4GB up and 9GB down on a regular basis..
There's my 2 cents.. Use bell, not rogers..
epw
Thanks for all of the positive reviews.
It's nice to hear from some happy customers.
I should have my installation package on Monday.
First 3 months are $25 then $45 after that.
My Rogers connection goes down often.
It was down Monday and Tuesday.
They told me they will send someone over on Sunday.
I told them I will be on Bell Sympatico by then.
It's nice to hear from some happy customers.
I should have my installation package on Monday.
First 3 months are $25 then $45 after that.
My Rogers connection goes down often.
It was down Monday and Tuesday.
They told me they will send someone over on Sunday.
I told them I will be on Bell Sympatico by then.
G
GlavaMan
Bell Sympatico
If you are running Windows XP, Sympatico HSE really rocks!
You don't even need the set up CD because all drivers are already in XP.
If you are running Windows XP, Sympatico HSE really rocks!
You don't even need the set up CD because all drivers are already in XP.
This from a happy rogers customer....
Plus on rogers you don't even have to use any additonal software as with DSL.
All settings are maintained through windows networking. No ppoe software or any other software for that matter is needed for cable.
I agree about 2-3 years ago rogers sucked, I have had minimal trouble in the past 2 years and you couldn't pay me to switch.
As far as bit caps my understanding is that the implementation on rogers is just a rumor. I went lookingfor info on the implementation of bit caps on rogers a couple of weeks ago and found nothing, but speculation.
Plus on rogers you don't even have to use any additonal software as with DSL.
All settings are maintained through windows networking. No ppoe software or any other software for that matter is needed for cable.
I agree about 2-3 years ago rogers sucked, I have had minimal trouble in the past 2 years and you couldn't pay me to switch.
As far as bit caps my understanding is that the implementation on rogers is just a rumor. I went lookingfor info on the implementation of bit caps on rogers a couple of weeks ago and found nothing, but speculation.
count me in on the bell side too
i've had both rogers and bell over the last 8 months, and i find bell to be much more stable...there is a "however" though...they still aren't supporting outlook (only express), and their software causes some hiccups on windows 98 that disappear with nt or higher...
i've had both rogers and bell over the last 8 months, and i find bell to be much more stable...there is a "however" though...they still aren't supporting outlook (only express), and their software causes some hiccups on windows 98 that disappear with nt or higher...
I'm just in the process of deciding which one to get, Rogers or Bell. Though I've heard far more positive things about Bell than Rogers, (both on this thread and from people at work), I think I'm going to give Rogers a try, just because their bundle deal - Hi-Speed, digital and cable t.v. appeals to me more. But I'll admit that I hate giving Rogers the business. They are SUCH a lousy company to do business with, and their web site is a piece of shit.
Re: High Speed Internet
LJ,
If you are a high bandwidth user, you might want to consider Roger since Bell has a 5GB limit. Anything over 5GB, the user will be charge based on every 100 MB they used. In theory, cable should be much faster than DSL. I might switch over to Roger and take their current special offer.
LJ,
If you are a high bandwidth user, you might want to consider Roger since Bell has a 5GB limit. Anything over 5GB, the user will be charge based on every 100 MB they used. In theory, cable should be much faster than DSL. I might switch over to Roger and take their current special offer.
I had sympatico last year,but now use rogers.After I cancelled with sympatico,unknown to me (until 5 months latr),they were still taking the pre-authorized payment from my bank account.When I called them,they told me to notify my bank>>bank said it wasn't their problem(the bank wanted me to put stop-payment,but said that sympatico would still be able to get payments out)!
The only way to stop this was get my bank account closed.
I will stay with rogers.
The only way to stop this was get my bank account closed.
I will stay with rogers.
I do find cable faster than DSL, although the average user migth not find a difference.
I have cable and my mom has DSL and mine is definitely faster.
Not to mention I have up to 3 people using my connection at once! And at least 4 computers connected all the time.
I have cable and my mom has DSL and mine is definitely faster.
Not to mention I have up to 3 people using my connection at once! And at least 4 computers connected all the time.
So the consensus seems to be that Rogers is faster, when it works - and both companies are bad to deal with, though the edge on customer service goes to Bell.
Shaw was best
I'm also a Rogers user but I don't like them very much. I originally signed with Shaw and believe me, service, support and performance were much better. I noticed an immediate drop in speed when Rogers took over and when I called them they advised that they use bandwidth limiting to 'ensure a more balanced load' on the network. What a crock!
I was all set to switch to sympatico when I read the fine print and saw the 5G/month transfer cap. I can and do download that in < week (mostly MP3s).
So that's out. Is anyone aware of any other DSL providers that cost about the same as Rogers or Sympatico but have no bit caps ?
I'm also a Rogers user but I don't like them very much. I originally signed with Shaw and believe me, service, support and performance were much better. I noticed an immediate drop in speed when Rogers took over and when I called them they advised that they use bandwidth limiting to 'ensure a more balanced load' on the network. What a crock!
I was all set to switch to sympatico when I read the fine print and saw the 5G/month transfer cap. I can and do download that in < week (mostly MP3s).
So that's out. Is anyone aware of any other DSL providers that cost about the same as Rogers or Sympatico but have no bit caps ?
Rogers vs Sympatico
Hello,
I called Ted to find out about my billing and he told me that
my download speed is capped at 1.5MBPS.
My friend has Sympatico and his download speed is double mine at average 3.5MBPS.
The other difference is that he pays almost twice as much as me for his 10GB per month download, whereas I am unlimited.
So it's up to you to decide what service is better.
SP
Hello,
I called Ted to find out about my billing and he told me that
my download speed is capped at 1.5MBPS.
My friend has Sympatico and his download speed is double mine at average 3.5MBPS.
The other difference is that he pays almost twice as much as me for his 10GB per month download, whereas I am unlimited.
So it's up to you to decide what service is better.
SP
Bell Sympatico will have you believe that there's no variance in time of day service. From experience, I'd have to say that's not really that true. There are times that I find Sympatico to be much slower.
Nonetheless, I have to admit that I'm quite happy with Sympatico and have been ever since I signed up 2 years ago. There is a new Sympatico Ultra High Speed service which I haven't and probably won't try ($60+ per month!). But for speed demons, this may be a consideration.
Bell also offers bundles for roughly $40 per month - high speed + 120 min (I think) long distance calling.
A fellow Sympatico friend told me that the Alcatel modems are faster than the Nortel modems. I haven't been able to verify this for myself though.
Nonetheless, I have to admit that I'm quite happy with Sympatico and have been ever since I signed up 2 years ago. There is a new Sympatico Ultra High Speed service which I haven't and probably won't try ($60+ per month!). But for speed demons, this may be a consideration.
Bell also offers bundles for roughly $40 per month - high speed + 120 min (I think) long distance calling.
A fellow Sympatico friend told me that the Alcatel modems are faster than the Nortel modems. I haven't been able to verify this for myself though.
For those that are concerned with Sympatico limiting the bandwidth, well later this year so is Rogers and if they are concerned with the speed differance, well Rogers is cutting there speed speed in half or already has. This info was in a newspaper article earlier this month shortly after Bell made their anouncement about limiting the bandwidth to 5 mb's. According to the article all cable poroviders were going to slow down and limit the amount of use per subsciber because of costs. I personally think it is a load of crap and there appears to be some collusion on this issue in my opinion.
