Poor quality of Sympatico internet service

 The similar bad experience of others too..

 
1: Poor quality of Sympatico internet service

“Poor quality of Sympatico internet service -I have been a Sympatico customer for about 10 months now and haven’t had any problems up until the beginning of December.
Up until that point I was able to access any web pages I wished with no lag or problems and I was also able to download files with no problems at a good speed.
I then started noticing that my web pages were taking a long time to load and that files were taking a long time to download so I decided to to a speed test. The results of the speed test revealed that my download rate was below 200 kbps and my upload speeds were double my download speed. I tried this on my second computer and got the same results.
I knew right away that there was a problem after seeing this so I called the Sympatico tech support. They had me do all sorts of different things on my computer to see if they could get it back to speed and nothing helped.

 
After over an hour of doing everything they asked of me they told me that there must be a problem with my computer.

 
As a computer technician myself I told them that nothing was wrong and that I had already checked the computer for any possible viruses, adware, spyware, etc.

 
The tech put me on hold for about 15 minutes and came back and said that they tested my line and they have a crystal clear connection so I should be getting around 2.4 Mbps download speeds and since I’m not it has to be a problem with my computer. I told them that that is unlikely since I have 2 computers and the results are the same on both. The tech told me that there was nothing else they could do and insisted that nothing was wrong on their end. I was extremely frustrated since I spent about an hour and a half on the phone with them and got no where . Frustrated with their answer I decided to get a laptop from work and did the speed test on it, and I was not surprised to see the same results. A friend of mine also had a spare DSL modem so I borrowed it to see if it was a problem with my modem and his modem didn’t change anything either. I called tech support a second time and explained that I have tried 3 different computers and and a different modem I get the same results with all of them. They put me on hold again and said that everything tests out ok and that I am getting a connection speed of 2.4 Mbps. No matter what I told the tech on the phone he insisted that I was getting that speed and that there was something wrong on my end. I was getting more and more frustrated the more I spoke to the tech so I asked to speak to the supervisor. The supervisor told me that he was going to run some tests on my line and call me back the next business day. The supervisor called me back later that day and left me a message that he made some changes to the line and that he would still call me back to see if it helped. I did the speed test again and nothing was changed. I called them back a few days later since the supervisor didn’t call and when I called again I got the same story again about there being nothing wrong from their side. They had me do the same tests for the 3rd time and in the end they once again said there was nothing wrong. Frustrated again I asked to talk to a supervisor and after spending about a half hour talking to this supervisor he decided to send me a new modem even after I told him I tried that. When the new modem arrived I tried it out and did the speed test and just as I suspected got the same results. I called tech support again and explained that it has been 3 weeks now and I’ve tried everything I can so it has to be something to do with them. They told me there was nothing wrong so for a 3rd time I spoke to a supervisor and he said everything was fine and that there was nothing they could do (sounds like a broke record doesn’t it?) . A friend of a mine upon speaking to one his friends that owns an ISP in our city, he found out that he has been fighting with Bell to fix the exact same problem in my area which had something to do with Bell’s equipment. By this point after calling Bell 6 times and getting nowhere I have had enough and called to cancel my account with them. They told me I was in a contract and that I would have to pay a $200 penalty to get out of the contract. I explained the whole situation and why I wanted to cancel and they told me that I had to exhaust one last before they can waive the $200 fee. They said I had to call the “Get connected” team and that a group of experts would have to look at it and if they couldn’t fix it then they would waive the fee. I called this so called team of experts and found out that they are the same people I have been calling all along so they deemed my problem unrepairable and that they would put that in the ticket but since the business office was closed that I would have to call back the next day to cancel my account. The next day I called and the person I spoke to said that I can’t cancel since I was in a contract. I explained to them what the person said the previous day and they told me that that person shouldn’t have said that. I told him that I would have no problems staying in the contract if they would offer the service they said they would when I signed it. They told me that they don’t guarantee any download speeds all they guarantee is that I have a connection which I did. Steaming mad at this point I told them to send out a technician to my house because there was something wrong that they needed to fix. After putting me on hold again for 15 minutes they told me they were going to send out a tech. That night just to be sure I took my computer over to a friends house that also has sympatico and I was able to get full download speeds on his connection so I was sure it wasn’t my computer. I again tried it on my connection when I got my computer back home and had slow speeds as usual. The next morning I tried it again and surprisingly it was fixed!!!! I spoke to my friend and he informed me that his friend that owned the ISP said that Bell had fixed a problem with one of their switches and in turn that fixed my problem. I wasn’t surprised to hear that something that Bell fixed with their equipment fixed my problem since that is what I had been telling them all along. I spent well over 8 hours calling Bell, working on my computer, checking cables, and testing and 4 weeks of poor quality internet service to find out what I had been telling them all along, that it was a problem they had to fix.

 
 All I can say that when my contract is over I’m done with Bell, they have not respect for their customers and until they do I don’t want to do business with them.
If you only read one line of this I hope that its this: DON’T DO ANY BUSINESS WITH BELL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY!!! THEY DON’T VALUE THEIR CUSTOMERS WHAT SO EVER.

 
Unhappy Bell customer ”
http://www.complaints.com/2006/january/8/Poor_quality_of_Sympatico_internet_service_3625.htm
 
   
2:  Original Complaint
 
“Bell Sympatico High Speed Internet
Bell Sympatico
CA
I have been with Sympatico for about 7 years, and I went up the line from dial up to high speed and up until Aug. 07, everything was great! I was billed as High Speed (not Ultra) with Unlimited up and download, well, they fixed that, prime time, I was only getting a max of 30 Kbs/per sec. But for those that are up nights the service would be great because about midnight you would get the speed you paid for. I understand that one day there is going to be a back log in service, but don’t have innocent people lie to their customers saying its the customers computer and have them spend hours unplugging this and that, try this and that! Don’t call tech support! The only thing they support is the Author of the instruction manual they are reading from! I have paid since Aug. 07 for a service I was promised and never received and if I had the nerve…I’d take them to Small Claims Court to get my money back!
For those of you looking for a service, choose wisely (I now have cable high speed)! For those of you that ONLY HAVE ONE CHOICE…GOOD LUCK WITH IT! Don’t be shy, complaining WILL get you SOME satisfaction.”
http://www.complaints.com/2008/february/14/Alexander_Would_Roll_Over_In_His_Grave__161456.htm
 

3  My experiences
   
Bell Sympatico’s false breaches of my ISP contract with them
    
… about 6 hours on the phone with him and we discuss all kind of related things, such as the future of Bell Sympatico internet services … February 2008 Bell decides …
www.complaints.com/2008/may/21/Bell_Sympatico_s_false_breaches_of_my_ISP_contrac_171387.htm