Apropos the article:
The fact that Bell cheats people left, right and centre and steals money from people’s bank accounts should be enough to convince anyone not to have anything to do with them. (They insist on having access to a bank account if they provide internet service. However, they add charges and do not notify people that they are taking out extra sums. A number of my friends had extremely nasty surprises and it was almost impossible to get their money back when it was Bell’s mistake!)

BTW once you change they have no right to contact you for 3 months. However, I am still getting mail from Bell even though they don’t come close to my current package deal and my experience with their customer service was only worsted by Roger’s customer service.
GOOD RIDDANCE to them both!

Virgin is a Bell brand.

I will never use Virgin because of this fact.

I will wait for the new start-ups this year instead, or go Rogers.

I can see they are scared to death with the new competition around the corner but they might try something new for a change like decent service. The January issue of Consumer Report (with Canadian supplement) rates Bell as the worst cell phone provider in Canada. Way up at the top, Virgin Mobile is the clear winner. The irony here is that Virgin runs on Bell’s infrastructure. The only difference is the way the company deals with the public. VM spends more time training their staff and provides them with the right attitude: the customer is always right. Well, almost. Bell customers are victimized by endless extortion fees (SAF, 911, outrageous SMS charges etc) that go straight into Bell’s pocket. Enough is enough.

Have you tried to cancel services vs contact a sales dept? When I switched carries I was very happy I only had to call the people I wanted to switch to and not stay on hold for 30 minutes to fight with Bell. You say that people might be able to hagle a lower price well they still have that option if they so choose. The point here is Bell is trying to make that our ONLY option.

Screw Bell and all the cronies that keep it propped up. Can’t wait to see that ship sink.

Whether CHRoNoSS actually did these things or not, is irrelelvent here.
If Bell has a problem with him, I’m sure they can take it up with him – in a more appropriate venue.

You want to troll here for Bell?
Fine with me, really, but if you’re going to participate, I suggest you stick to the topic. If you have something constructive to say in Bell’s defense (though I highly doubt that), you would be doing them more of a service by presenting that, instead of what you’re doing.

As for the type of customers Bell does want, I would say the definition for that is getting narrower all the time, judging by how many its hemorraging. I can tell you, they certainly don’t want people like me as customers either. Not only do I continue to actually use the bandwidth I’ve paid for, but I don’t let them scam me with illegal contract revisions.

Bell only wants “good corporate consumers”. Those who will continue to pay for a premium connection while only checking e-mail one a week (and not engaging in file sharing), and blindly accepting every illegal concession Bell arbitrarily decides to make on their accounts without a peep.

That was a turning point for me.

The next day, I managed to sneak across the DMZ and I settled in Seoul.

Rofl ! I went from Bell to ElectronicBox.net for Cable and Phone + i switched my number too. You have no idea how much trouble bell gave me before being able to switch my phone number. If this one pass with the CRTC this is a real JOKE ! I am glad i made the move before. Customer service of small isp is amazing and dedicated !

However, about 20$ of what you pay TekSavvy goes direct in Bell’s pocket, since they are a Bell wholesaler. I don’t like that part. So I would personally tell you to go cable.

But if you don’t want to go cable (say because throttled Rogers is your only other choice), then yes, TekSavvy would be your best bet to by pass the throttle and they have amazing service and very low cost long distance. Worth changing everything over to them to see a nice cost savings + have reliable support that doesn’t dick you around.

Screw you Bell Canada, I don’t even want my phone line with you but all I can do now is go to dry loop DSL so that I don’t feed you my money any more. I encourage everyone reading these comments to dump Bell Canada right now, don’t wait. We’re likely a few steps away from being forced to keep Bell since they seem to ass-kiss the CRTC, always get their way with the CRTC, and find a new way to screw their customers.

If anybody has suggestions for a great ISP in northern Ontario that has dry loop/VOIP I’ll check it out and dump Bell Canada as permanently as possible, ASAP. I’m checking into my ISP but I don’t think they do dry loop yet. Since I’ve switched long distance calling and internet away from Bell all there’s left to switch is basic phone service.

DO NOT LISTEN DO NOT SPEAK DO NOT DEAL WITH BELL CANADA

Yes it is, as if I should jump through anyone’s hoops to cancel an existing service when the new company will take care of it for me. The idea of having to contact Bell to cancel their services is utter crap.

*** How about Bell offers the lowest prices and changes every customers’ service to a lower price without even having to contact them? Why should I check with Bell to see if they’ll lower their own prices? Why not just lower them right now, automatically? Show some goodwill to their loyal customers?

Why would someone like me cancel Bell’s services?

- They attempt to add another roadblock to their consumers (ie the above article)
- They lied about NOT throttling bandwidth even when they were doing so for months
- They still throttle bittorrent even when independent companies have determined the Bell network doesn’t get congested enough to warrant ANY throttling in the first place
- The customer service is appalling (Bell Sympatico has the worst customer service I’ve encountered, Bell telephone is second worst)
- Bell telemarketing continues even after I’ve politely asked them to remove me from the list. I receive 4 calls per day from Bell Canada AIC – according to my call display
- When I switched from Bell Sympatico to a local ISP about 5 years ago Bell stopped my phone service cold, no dial-tone for 4 days. I lost business income because I couldn’t receive MY customers’ calls. After repeated phone calls to Bell they stated there was no problem with my phone line, then they had the balls to tell me they’re recording me after I demanded my service be restored toute suite.

I could go on and on…

People spend waaaay too much time, energy, and sanity battling it out with Bell over just the basics, before deciding to switch. And, Bell coming in with a sweeter offer at that time (never sooner!) only serves as the final insult.

Bell’s hemorraging, indeed.
May it bleed to death, and shock the CRTC into a fatal heart attack as well.

But that’s not what will happen. You will probably have to phone them in an attempt to cancel, be put on hold, be relayed to a whole bunch of professional bullshitters who will try and convince you not to go (while not taking “no” for an answer until THEY are done talking), then be forced to respond to a 10-minute “customer satisfaction exit survey”, get delayed cancellations, etc. until you get so fed up with wasting your time that you just decide to stay with Bell. I bet dollars to donuts they have something like that up their sleeve. After all, they don’t want you to get a better rate, they just want to keep the priviledge of being able to gouge you.