Bell luring me back..

[Song]

Got a call from a Bell rep today and this is what he's offering:

Home Phone:
$26.78 for the first month and then $39.73 for every month after. This is with their features package that includes call answer, display and waiting. With that I get 2 months of free Long Distance calculated by averaging out the first 4 months of LD so means that I have to be with them for at least 6 months to get this.

Internet:
$20/3 months with high-speed DSL service and then $46.95 every month after.

LD:
The 2 months that I mentioned and the plan that I'm on is the 5cents North America calling one.

So the only thing that really makes me want to switch? He's offered me a total of $250 in credit on my bill (though it's actually only $180 after the $55 reconnection fee and the $15 they charge to send you the internet package).

Right now I'm with primus on their $69.95 DSL internet/home phone/unlimited NA bundle. I figure that if I switch I'll actually save $173.42 over the next 6 months since I've found that I don't really need the unlimited NA calling feature that much.

Anyone have better luck with striking a better bargain with ma bell?? This deal looks very good to me but wondering if others found other negotiating points. This seemed to be the best that the rep could do for me..
Appreciate your comments!

[Jman]

The rubber worm of lures.

[Inno]

Got a call from a Bell rep today and this is what he's offering:

Home Phone:
$26.78 for the first month and then $39.73 for every month after. This is with their features package that includes call answer, display and waiting. With that I get 2 months of free Long Distance calculated by averaging out the first 4 months of LD so means that I have to be with them for at least 6 months to get this.

Internet:
$20/3 months with high-speed DSL service and then $46.95 every month after.

LD:
The 2 months that I mentioned and the plan that I'm on is the 5cents North America calling one.

So the only thing that really makes me want to switch? He's offered me a total of $250 in credit on my bill (though it's actually only $180 after the $55 reconnection fee and the $15 they charge to send you the internet package).

Right now I'm with primus on their $69.95 DSL internet/home phone/unlimited NA bundle. I figure that if I switch I'll actually save $173.42 over the next 6 months since I've found that I don't really need the unlimited NA calling feature that much.

Anyone have better luck with striking a better bargain with ma bell?? This deal looks very good to me but wondering if others found other negotiating points. This seemed to be the best that the rep could do for me..
Appreciate your comments!

Interesting offer. What do you have to give them in return? Sign a contract? If not, switch over for the six months or so, then let Primus talk you into switching back.

I'm not sure, but you might be able to push them to drop the re-connect fee since that doesn't directly benefit you but them. Seems high since all they do is flip a central switch AFAIK. Tell them that is the deal-breaker and see what they say...

P.S. I spent half an hour on the phone with a CS Supervisor at Bell Sympatico complaining about my slow "high-speed" connection. When he tested the line he confirmed that it was 1Meg not 3 to 5! They are rebating me for the difference between HS and Lite for the past six months, sending me a new modem and giving me a break on the fees for the next six months. I am still thinking of switching to your Primus plan since all the extra charges that Bell has for VM, CW, etc. are a rip-off. Will use up my discounts with Bell first though.

[MooNDawG]

Got a call from a Bell rep today and this is what he's offering:

Home Phone:
$26.78 for the first month and then $39.73 for every month after. This is with their features package that includes call answer, display and waiting. With that I get 2 months of free Long Distance calculated by averaging out the first 4 months of LD so means that I have to be with them for at least 6 months to get this.

Internet:
$20/3 months with high-speed DSL service and then $46.95 every month after.

LD:
The 2 months that I mentioned and the plan that I'm on is the 5cents North America calling one.

So the only thing that really makes me want to switch? He's offered me a total of $250 in credit on my bill (though it's actually only $180 after the $55 reconnection fee and the $15 they charge to send you the internet package).

Right now I'm with primus on their $69.95 DSL internet/home phone/unlimited NA bundle. I figure that if I switch I'll actually save $173.42 over the next 6 months since I've found that I don't really need the unlimited NA calling feature that much.

Anyone have better luck with striking a better bargain with ma bell?? This deal looks very good to me but wondering if others found other negotiating points. This seemed to be the best that the rep could do for me..
Appreciate your comments!

If you decide to switch go with Bell Digital Voice rather that regular bell services. I have it and works great, actually no different than a regular bell line.

http://www.bell.ca/shopping/PrsShpVoip_Dv.page


Look at what you get for $35.00 per month.

Standard features:


Voicemail
Call Display
Visual Call Waiting
Three-way Calling
Per-Call Blocking
Enhanced 911 *



Enhanced features:
Voicemail to E-mail
Call Forwarding Plus
Do Not Disturb
Call Screening
Online Account Manager

As for internet access, I would pay more that $34.99 per month.

[ipxxx]

Let's not forget the new bandwidth cap that Bell is implementing on new users. Since you will be techinically a new user this cap applies to you. So how much do you use your internet? That should be one factor that makes/breaks the deal.

[doublejack]

They just reversed a CRTC decision that was preventing them from lowering their prices, so you can expect Bell will start offering some sweet incentives to continue winning back customers. Recently we used to switch about 600 a day in the GTA from Rogers back to Bell, in relation to roughly three times that amount that say goodbye to Bell in the gta daily. With the handcuffs off they will try to stabilize that negative balance.

[bubble.tea]

WOW a LOT of people reading this info.

TELEPHONE:

I wouldn't be so glad about the Landline....I personally have been wireless for THREE YEARS. Cancelling our landline the MINUTE dry-loop was offered., and just got wifey a cellphone.

With unlimited incoming and Rogers2Rogers you can't exactly go wrong. PLUS the price is exactly the same IF NOT cheaper...so WHY??? not have a cellphone for the same price than JUST a landline.

If you REALLY want a landline (per se)., go VOIP., and get the unlimited NA LD calling pkgs if not even the international ones.

INTERNET:

Well nothing wrong with 3 months at 20., but anything over $30 is hwy robbery. 46.xx is GARBAGE.

RETENTION DEALS are where it's at.

[jeeva86]

We've been with bell since day 1, back in '92. I've tried to get deals on the home phone just recently too, (2-3 weeks back), they said they can't do anything and I've already got the best ($40 Digital Voice Pkg), which is bull, because any Joe who is in the coverage area can get that.

[bubble.tea]

We've been with bell since day 1, back in '92. I've tried to get deals on the home phone just recently too, (2-3 weeks back), they said they can't do anything and I've already got the best ($40 Digital Voice Pkg), which is bull, because any Joe who is in the coverage area can get that.

Time-in means nothing. You need to be speaking with the right dept ;). 8months ago (after 3 years in) I got $265 credited over 6 months for EV & HSE.

[Hybrid88]

Just a reminder that when signing up with services do not give away your SIN #.

[Ceylonboy]

be very careful with bell, make sure you read back all the offeres they are promising over the phone. they screwed me over three times. spent countless hours on the phone!

[zander]

Time-in means nothing. You need to be speaking with the right dept ;). 8months ago (after 3 years in) I got $265 credited over 6 months for EV & HSE.
What does EV stand for please? Thanks.

[kochi1984]

did you also know that you can also have another 50 dollars in credit with a SPC card, they dotn' confirm with your student id or anything so practically anyone can just punch in thecard number and not get noticed

[ZeroCoolZ]

What does EV stand for please? Thanks.

Express Vu I guess

[zander]

^
D'oh! Thanks Zero.

[LeafsRbest]

Just a reminder that when signing up with services do not give away your SIN #.

Why not? What about credit card?

[NG]

Let's not forget the new bandwidth cap that Bell is implementing on new users. l.

Have any further readings on this?

It's the first I heard of Bell adding caps outside of Quebec but I wouldn't be suprised.

[bubble.tea]

be very careful with bell, make sure you read back all the offeres they are promising over the phone. they screwed me over three times. spent countless hours on the phone!

well...as with ALL verbal contracts., a recording is your insurance. make sure you record the call...or all subsequent contract pertinent ones for future reference.

Nothing is as precious as playing back an unkept promise made by a rep to a supervisor and that stupidvisor acceding and giving you an early Christmass present...for your troubles :cheesygri.

[whyz]

How do you record your phone calls?

[bubble.tea]

How do you record your phone calls?

sonyericssons can do it for one.

[noodlehed]

For those interested in switching, FS has a reasonable offer:

High Speed Internet:

$250 off you purchase
$25/mth for 6 months
$48/mth for 6 months
1 year contract
$15 modem delivery fee
no other fees

If you are going to buy whatever it is you are getting at FS anyway, you are looking at about $21/mth inc. tax for Sympatico....that is hot, Ananac style ;)

From what I ascertain, both ultra and regular services are currently 5Mb. As well, I was told that bandwidth caps ONLY apply to those on month to month: 25GB for regular and 45GB for ultra. Those on contracts, like the above deal, do not have to worry about bandwidth.

I, unfortunately, cannot take advantage of this deal as I cannot seem to figure out if I am able to have multiple IP addresses on one account, and this is essential for me. Does anyone happen to know if this is possible? They tell me it is 'not supported', but I don't know if that means it is impossible ;) To clarify, I need to be able to hook up the modem to a switch which allocates a few different IPs to about 5 NICs with different MAC addys. They need to be running concurrently at times, so it would involve logging in through PPPoE concurrently, and I'm not even sure that is possible. Thanks in advance for any help...can't stand paying Rogers $70+ for this service (multiple IPs) :mad:

[auto-m8]

Bell internet .....

I told them that I was only interested in this deal..

6 months at 24.95 per month and then remaining 6 months at 34.95 per month.
Averaged cost is 29.95 per month !!

They agreed for a 1 year contract.

YMMV

[Steeve Urkel]

be very careful with bell, make sure you read back all the offeres they are promising over the phone. they screwed me over three times. spent countless hours on the phone!

I was actually told that the $250 credit is not credited all at once but over a period of 6 months depending on how ling u stay with sucky Bell.

I'm with Primus right now and happy overall,

Signing up was a pain and they forgot to send me my moden 2 times and kept on transfering me to some idiots at the Indian call centre.

once i dealt w head office in Toronto, ended up getting a credit and my moden in less than 1 week...this was after 2 months of headaches...:mad:

[Hugh Jass]

I got 5Mb DSL for $29.99 no contract. All I did was call them and say I was switching to Rogers. Use the word 'Rogers' a few times and you'll get a better deal.

[brunes]

Got a call from a Bell rep today and this is what he's offering:

Home Phone:
$26.78 for the first month and then $39.73 for every month after. This is with their features package that includes call answer, display and waiting. With that I get 2 months of free Long Distance calculated by averaging out the first 4 months of LD so means that I have to be with them for at least 6 months to get this.

Internet:
$20/3 months with high-speed DSL service and then $46.95 every month after.

LD:
The 2 months that I mentioned and the plan that I'm on is the 5cents North America calling one.

So the only thing that really makes me want to switch? He's offered me a total of $250 in credit on my bill (though it's actually only $180 after the $55 reconnection fee and the $15 they charge to send you the internet package).

Right now I'm with primus on their $69.95 DSL internet/home phone/unlimited NA bundle. I figure that if I switch I'll actually save $173.42 over the next 6 months since I've found that I don't really need the unlimited NA calling feature that much.

Anyone have better luck with striking a better bargain with ma bell?? This deal looks very good to me but wondering if others found other negotiating points. This seemed to be the best that the rep could do for me..
Appreciate your comments!

Well, I have Rogers high speed @ 44.95 / month and Vonage for phone @ $19.95 / month, which gives us all the long distance we need, and voicemail, call display, forwarding, email access to voicemail, etc etc etc.... and I'm only paying $64.90 / month.

[mark001]

Saying Rogers is like giving them a kick in the groin. That's what I did a long time ago and they offered $29 no contract. Then I complained some more cause my line even now can only support upto 2.5mbps and it's not like I live in the middle of nowhere and I don't see an upgrade coming anytime soon so they knocked it down to $24/m.

[MileHighDef]

Why do you need multiple external IP addresses? Why not just get a router, that would provide multiple internal IPs, with only one external IP? This would allow you to run all your computers simultaneously.

The only reason for multiple external IPs usually is if you are running some kind of web application for a business, or a hosting service, and hence is priced higher.

For those interested in switching, FS has a reasonable offer:

High Speed Internet:

$250 off you purchase
$25/mth for 6 months
$48/mth for 6 months
1 year contract
$15 modem delivery fee
no other fees

If you are going to buy whatever it is you are getting at FS anyway, you are looking at about $21/mth inc. tax for Sympatico....that is hot, Ananac style ;)

From what I ascertain, both ultra and regular services are currently 5Mb. As well, I was told that bandwidth caps ONLY apply to those on month to month: 25GB for regular and 45GB for ultra. Those on contracts, like the above deal, do not have to worry about bandwidth.

I, unfortunately, cannot take advantage of this deal as I cannot seem to figure out if I am able to have multiple IP addresses on one account, and this is essential for me. Does anyone happen to know if this is possible? They tell me it is 'not supported', but I don't know if that means it is impossible ;) To clarify, I need to be able to hook up the modem to a switch which allocates a few different IPs to about 5 NICs with different MAC addys. They need to be running concurrently at times, so it would involve logging in through PPPoE concurrently, and I'm not even sure that is possible. Thanks in advance for any help...can't stand paying Rogers $70+ for this service (multiple IPs) :mad:

[Harkonnen]

Rogers has me by the balls as I can't get DSL serivce where I live. It's available just about everywhere else in and around my neighbourhood, but just to a small patch where I happen to live. I keep bugging Bell to see if it's been installed, but i've given up.

Stupid Bell. I want to be their customer, but they don't want me :(

[edsy2k]

Time-in means nothing. You need to be speaking with the right dept ;). 8months ago (after 3 years in) I got $265 credited over 6 months for EV & HSE.

How do we insure that we are talking with the right dept?

[roblombardi]

just be very careful... bell is full of tricks

ppl are trained to get you with, let's not call them lies but, incomplete truths; a friend of mine who works there told me that... when offering you things on the phone, they leave a lot of clauses up in the air intentionally, and make you agree to them without you having knoledge of it

once you're in a contract, they make their own rules, and they don't care about you anymore

so i would advise not to go to them, at least unless you have something in writing

[RedSoxFan]

Caps ? Quebec ? What's that all about ?

I live in Quebec, been with HS Sympatico since 99 and I thought they dropped the capping after a couple of months of doing it in 2003.

Is it back ?

[bubble.tea]

Caps ? Quebec ? What's that all about ?

I live in Quebec, been with HS Sympatico since 99 and I thought they dropped the capping after a couple of months of doing it in 2003.

Is it back ?

It's Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack :lol:.

[coney]

Bell internet .....

I told them that I was only interested in this deal..

6 months at 24.95 per month and then remaining 6 months at 34.95 per month.
Averaged cost is 29.95 per month !!

They agreed for a 1 year contract.

YMMV
I called them yesterday...groin-kicked them with Rogers. THey offered me a 1 or 2 year deal, $24.95 first 6 months, $29.95 thereafter, 30G cap. 30G is HUGE for me. This is DSL, not basic.
I'm happy with it.

[mgazer]

just spoke with "Branca" in retentions... I am currently on a month-2-month plan at $46.95 with no bandwidth limits. I told her that I WAS NOT interested in a contract (as I may be moving) and she didn't offer me any options. The best that she could do was a 1-yr term for $29.95, no bandwidth limits.

She told me that all new customers have a bandwidth limit but since I have an old plan, she would waive it. I use approx 80 gigs/month so limits would kill me.

From what I have read in this thread, people seem to have had success negotiating deals with Bell for no contracts and no limits... Any tips on how to remove the contract condition?

Do 3web and Acanac have limits? Even if I take the offer and cancel early, I am still saving $104 after paying the $100 cancellation fee from my current deal.

Thanks

[Kat]

just be very careful... bell is full of tricks

ppl are trained to get you with, let's not call them lies but, incomplete truths; a friend of mine who works there told me that... when offering you things on the phone, they leave a lot of clauses up in the air intentionally, and make you agree to them without you having knoledge of it

once you're in a contract, they make their own rules, and they don't care about you anymore

so i would advise not to go to them, at least unless you have something in writing

Sorry about the below rant, but I had to say this. I don't want to turn this into a flame war, so after this, I won't say anything:

That's the biggest bunch of BS I have heard in quite a while. Who is this 'friend' who seems to be lured by the evil beings at Bell to do these evil deeds? Bell does NOT train people to do anything like this. You want to know why? Because they would be both: sued out of their pants by the general public, as well as hugely fined by the government. Their stock prices would plummet because of such an act, and people would go to prison for this. You want to know why? Because Bell stocks are the most commonly held stock in Canada. And such behaviour would make that income trust tax rule change by the government seem like a blip on the TSX compared to what would happen...

Please don't spread utter untruths 'because a friend....' I don't know what's worst? The fact that you posted that, or that you might actually think it's the truth.

[mgazer]

Just wanted to post a follow-up to refute "Branca from Bell's" comment that EVERYONE has bandwidth caps nowadays. Just spoke to teksavvy.com and they offer a 5 Mb unlimited DSL service for $29.95/month, NO CONTRACT. You can use your speedstream modem or buy one from them for $120.

I am planning on calling Bell back and giving them these specific details to see if they will waive the 1-yr contract condition.

[RedSoxFan]

It's Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack :lol:.

Would i be informed of this by them ? when will it start to be applied ?

[HDawg]

Called Bell and got my fees reduced from $45 to $30. No caps on downloading or uploading since the CSR saw I make heavy usage. I did agree with a 1-year contract, but I don't really care. $30 was what I wanted anyhow. Lower would have been nicer, but at least it's $15 off.

[exnihilio]

I don't think they'd be able to start implementing bandwidth limitations if you're currently under contract. Once that contract expires then any new one they offer will have a cap on it.

However I price matched 3web (through pain in the butt of faxing in stuff and speaking with several people I managed to get a non-capped deal (can't recall exact details but essentially it was $20 for the first 3 months, then $29.95 for the next 9 months, 1 year term, no caps)

I believe non-cap can still be negotiated if you send them an offer indicating you can get uncapped. But you'll likely need to agree to a term.

Would i be informed of this by them ? when will it start to be applied ?

[mtbfay]

Just a reminder that when signing up with services do not give away your SIN #.

why is this?
I gave them before...what so bad about it??

[HowEver]

First post, and I'm betting you don't make many more. Why? I suspect a current but perhaps anonymised user.

You can't agree to conditions you haven't heard of.

Not only that, but it doesn't explain why so many people are offered these deals with NO contract at all.

I'm one of them, every 6 months I get them down to $30 - $35 per month for high speed. No contract, no caps.


just be very careful... bell is full of tricks

ppl are trained to get you with, let's not call them lies but, incomplete truths; a friend of mine who works there told me that... when offering you things on the phone, they leave a lot of clauses up in the air intentionally, and make you agree to them without you having knoledge of it

once you're in a contract, they make their own rules, and they don't care about you anymore

so i would advise not to go to them, at least unless you have something in writing

[noodlehed]

Why do you need multiple external IP addresses? Why not just get a router, that would provide multiple internal IPs, with only one external IP? This would allow you to run all your computers simultaneously.

The only reason for multiple external IPs usually is if you are running some kind of web application for a business, or a hosting service, and hence is priced higher.

Well, it has to do with the work that I do, yes...but I am not running a business from the line. Long story...I do also have a couple of routers directing traffic to my LAN...but I still need the multiple external IPs. So I guess no one is sure if this is possible?

[just_For_ipod]

Well, it has to do with the work that I do, yes...but I am not running a business from the line. Long story...I do also have a couple of routers directing traffic to my LAN...but I still need the multiple external IPs. So I guess no one is sure if this is possible?

Sounds like a hacker ;) What is your "business"?
:D