Bell Mobility users....

[Gundo]

Originally Posted by Playfair's Hairgel

usually people who say they were screwed over is self inflicated. i find anytime we cant pay a bill on time and get cut off "we got screwed" so really lets get over that.

Actually there was an instance about 6 years ago when Bell switched over all their billing and that was a huge pain in the ass for Bell users, they some how managed to take my monthly payment off my credit card 2 times a month for 3 or 4 months, said i never paid my bill, cut me off AND tried to go after my credit rating. Took me about a month and endless calls to sort it out and the buggers still never sent me my money back they just gave me a credit. Yet still I deal with them *slaps head*

[Eric Vail]

In my experience, Rogers is the worst.

I have an account with Bell. The only issue I have is my phone needed servicing while still under warantee. They said I needed to clear it completely of all the data on it, which included all my phone numbers. The only way I could back it up was by getting a pen and paper and copying out all the info by hand.

They then said that while the phone was in the shop, I would still be billed for my account. I said that was crazy because I bought the phone from them and it was still under warantee. They said the warantee was with the manufacturer and it wasn't their problem.

In the end, I didn't get my phone fixed. The problem is the camera doesn't work. I can still phone people and surf the web and keep a calendar of appointments. I decided I just won't have a camera the next two years. I figure when the contract is up, I'll probably wind up getting a deal for a new phone anyway.

So, I've had an issue with Bell, but I am not sure it would be handled any differently by other providers. Any other issue I've had has been handled well by them.

Rogers gave me a littany of issues that I just don't want to get into. I would never deal with that company again.

[C-Life]

Telus is by far worse then Bell.

But its different for everyone.

I know Telus (probably phone companies in general) have their "costumer ranking" type thing. This guy I worked with was bragging about being a "Number Two" or whatever he said, meaning he gets special treatment. People that aren't special and miss payments get put on the "treat like a piece of garbage" list. I was one of those ppl with Telus. They treated me like a bag of ****.

I said F Telus, lucked out and took over a friends Bell contract last year and got a free Blackberry. Her husband works for Bell so I think she was put on the "special list." I'm thinking I'm still on that list cause Bell is good to me. So far.

[drewboy12]

+1 for never having trouble with Bell. Treated me well, gave me a good deal too.

[Sliver]

Rogers is awesome. Best phones, best service, best prices. Plus iPhone pwns all.

[MRCboicgy]

Originally Posted by HotHotHeat

Bell is just a cellphone company. You pay them to use a service and they send you a bill for it. If you've been 'screwed over' you didn't do a good job explaining your problem. It's not that hard to convince a them they did something wrong.

BS.

The magical $1100 bill i had a few years ago when they switched over their billing system and charged me an entire year's worth of service plus late fees and interest and sent it to collections before I even knew.

One month: 48 bucks, next month $1100

They wouldn't admit a mistake and a week later i got a call from collections.

Why am I still with them? well even though they screwed up my billing this year. They gave me a great phone and a great plan to apologize 3 years ago.

[_Q_]

I actually worked for both Bell and Rogers, but have always had a Rogers phone (even when I worked at Bell). This is my observation from both.

Roger's phones cost more up-front than Bell phones. With Bell you can find lot's of phones that are under $50, where-as Roger's phones are all generally above $50 (with a few exceptions of course). Bell's phones are also "cooler", or at least "cooler" looking. Bell also has slightly better consumer rate plans and the corporate rate plans for Bell put Roger's to shame. Almost every company in Canada has a special rate plan for its employees with Bell, Roger's not so much.

For the average consumer though, I would pick Roger's. The major reason is the fact that they are on the GSM network which means that all their phones are world phones. Bell's phones only work in North America. I never understood why anyone would sign up with Bell and limit themselves to service in two countries when they can go spend the same price on a phone with another company that works everywhere. Also with Bell the amount of customers coming in because their phone wasn't working and needed repair was much greater than at Roger's. It was really odd, for every customer I would get that would want to buy a phone, I would get 5 that would come in and complain about their phone not working. My theory was that because all the phone manufacturers designed their phones first for GSM and then CDMA phones were an afterthought. For example the original HTC touch was great with roger's, but was probably one of the worst phones ever made for Bell. Finally, Bell customer service closes on Sundays. It might not seem like a big deal, but if your phone has been disconnected because of some mistake on Bell's part on Saturday night, you are out of a phone until Monday morning. You can't walk into the Bell store and expect them to do anything for you either. Roger's is open I think 24/7.

From what I heard though, Bell is going to be fully GSM in a month. So maybe that will change everything when that happens. I would honestly wait until then before I make any decisions. If you do decide to go with Bell, go into the store on 17th ave and talk to my brother, that store is a separate dealer than the rest of the stores. They have special deals with a lot of companies for rate plans, so chances are, whoever you work for probably has a deal with them.

Let me know if you need anything else.

[CFENT]

Originally Posted by _Q_

From what I heard though, Bell is going to be fully GSM in a month. So maybe that will change everything when that happens. I would honestly wait until then before I make any decisions. If you do decide to go with Bell, go into the store on 17th ave and talk to my brother, that store is a separate dealer than the rest of the stores. They have special deals with a lot of companies for rate plans, so chances are, whoever you work for probably has a deal with them.

Let me know if you need anything else.

I worked for TELUS for 7 years and now own a Bell Store. Bell is upgrading to a HSPA+ network in November. The network works with sim cards and will offer the iphone 3gs.

The HSPA+ (3.5G) network was built as a joint venture with TELUS and the coverage in 3.5G will destroy Rogers right from the beginning (covers 93% of Canadian population in 3.5G where Rogers covers less than 80%). You can also put unlocked phones from any where in the world on the network as long as they are HSPA 850mhz or 1.9ghz.

I've so far been really happy with the Bells CDMA network and never had a coverage problem. The customer service is fine. Calling TELUS was always the most pleasant and Rogers the least. But (OP) if you ever have questions PM me and i'll make sure the service you get from me or my store will be the best possible.

PS. The HSPA network will be released in early November

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by CFENT

I worked for TELUS for 7 years and now own a Bell Store. Bell is upgrading to a HSPA+ network in November. The network works with sim cards and will offer the iphone 3gs.

The HSPA+ (3.5G) network was built as a joint venture with TELUS and the coverage in 3.5G will destroy Rogers right from the beginning (covers 93% of Canadian population in 3.5G where Rogers covers less than 80%). You can also put unlocked phones from any where in the world on the network as long as they are HSPA 850mhz or 1.9ghz.

I've so far been really happy with the Bells CDMA network and never had a coverage problem. The customer service is fine. Calling TELUS was always the most pleasant and Rogers the least. But (OP) if you ever have questions PM me and i'll make sure the service you get from me or my store will be the best possible.

PS. The HSPA network will be released in early November

So is HSPA the new GSM? What are the differences?

How they did get everything up and running so fast? I'm sure it can't be as simple as some software changes...

[CFENT]

Originally Posted by wooohooo

So is HSPA the new GSM? What are the differences?

How they did get everything up and running so fast? I'm sure it can't be as simple as some software changes...

Here is the press release. There is some good info in it.

http://www.bce.ca/en/news/releases/b.../05/75220.html

The new network is going to be fast. The current speed on Bell tops out at 3.2 Mbps and on the new network it will be 21 Mbps. When we are at 4G there are rumors that it will be capable of speed up to 100Mbps .

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

Originally Posted by CFENT

I worked for TELUS for 7 years and now own a Bell Store. Bell is upgrading to a HSPA+ network in November. The network works with sim cards and will offer the iphone 3gs.

The HSPA+ (3.5G) network was built as a joint venture with TELUS and the coverage in 3.5G will destroy Rogers right from the beginning (covers 93% of Canadian population in 3.5G where Rogers covers less than 80%). You can also put unlocked phones from any where in the world on the network as long as they are HSPA 850mhz or 1.9ghz.

I've so far been really happy with the Bells CDMA network and never had a coverage problem. The customer service is fine. Calling TELUS was always the most pleasant and Rogers the least. But (OP) if you ever have questions PM me and i'll make sure the service you get from me or my store will be the best possible.

PS. The HSPA network will be released in early November

So if I'm on TELUS and have a Blackberry Tour, would I need a new phone to take advantage of this network (if and when TELUS joins up)?

Ditto if I'm on Bell and have a Blackberry 8830.

[CFENT]

Originally Posted by Sidney Crosby's Hat

So if I'm on TELUS and have a Blackberry Tour, would I need a new phone to take advantage of this network (if and when TELUS joins up)?

Ditto if I'm on Bell and have a Blackberry 8830.

The HSPA band on the Bell/Telus Tour is 2100Mhz which is the Europe Band there is also some 2G GSM bands that Telus/Bell do not support. The Tour will continue to run on the CDMA network.

TELUS will launch the Same Hspa 850Mhz / 1900Mhz network as Bell. I am guessing they will also launch in November

From my elementry understanding TELUS / Bell will support phones that are UMTS or HSPA or HSPDA on either the 850Mhz or 1900Mhz Bands (this is the North America standard) remember don't quote me on this.

[wooohooo]

Originally Posted by CFENT

The HSPA band on the Bell/Telus Tour is 2100Mhz which is the Europe Band there is also some 2G GSM bands that Telus/Bell do not support. The Tour will continue to run on the CDMA network.

TELUS will launch the Same Hspa 850Mhz / 1900Mhz network as Bell. I am guessing they will also launch in November

From my elementry understanding TELUS / Bell will support phones that are UMTS or HSPA or HSPDA on either the 850Mhz or 1900Mhz Bands (this is the North America standard) remember don't quote me on this.

I just did!

Thanks for the infor!

[Jing]

If you guys are locking in for three years you might as well read the retention threads on howardforums.com.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by 4X4

Total bullsh*t. They're lying thieves that refuse to listen to logic and refuse to look at proof. Bell is the worst company I've ever dealt with. Ever.

And you are probably one of those customer that start off your conversation all freaking our and yelling about how they screwed up.

Bell is just like any other huge company. You can't please all your customers! You will find the same whining about Telus and Rogers as well, it happens when you get into millions of customers.

[flames85]

stroke me up as another person that hates Bell with a passion!.. they don;t accept responsibility for their screw ups.

[4X4]

Originally Posted by HOOT

And you are probably one of those customer that start off your conversation all freaking our and yelling about how they screwed up.

Bell is just like any other huge company. You can't please all your customers! You will find the same whining about Telus and Rogers as well, it happens when you get into millions of customers.

Would you call yelling and screaming if you paid the same bill three times and they kept on reproducing it years after your service was cut and paid for and repeatedly sent it to collection agency? You think that might piss you off? How many times do you pay the same bill before you get mad? How many blemishes on your credit record before you freak out and start screaming? You're still keeping your cool after 3? How many times are you willing to call to get the boxes sent to you so that you can return their hardware? I had to call upward of 5 times, twice from Italy because it was too complex for them to do it with a month and a half notice.
So, HOOT? Are all these things the kind of thing that you find acceptable? Or do you think that you might start to get a little angry if the ordeal goes on for over three years?
Would you be willing to forgive if your credit is still marked up because even though you paid the bill THREE FU**ING TIMES, they still wont admit their mistake?
You're clearly a better man than I.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by flames85

stroke me up as another person that hates Bell with a passion!.. they don;t accept responsibility for their screw ups.

I am not stroking you up anywhere.

[HOOT]

That's why it is your right as the customer to cancel and go somewhere else. But I'm sure none of Rogers, Telus, Fido, Solo, or Koodoo have never had issues like this.

I've dealt with Bell my whole life and I guess I just know how to get my way better than some. I can't think of one time I phoned into Mobility or TV and haven't got what I wanted. From getting 50% off NHLCI, to getting a free HD-PVR to getting a plan that 'didn't exist anymore'.

There is no point in freaking out at someone over the phone it accomplishes NOTHING! My advice to anyone who thinks this is the only way should take a step back and just hang up the phone and call back until you get the answer you want. Easy.

[Boblobla]

Is it a full moon tonight or something? The hate is really flowing today.