Telus to Bell - worth it? good/bad? your experience?

[Rooster99]

I am a long term (15+ years) Telus customer who is fed up with the lousy service around my Storm.

TeleNav quite on me and required re-installation twice. Finally stopped working again in September and as of mid-Jan they still didn't know when they would get it working again (works on some phones, not others). Storm is still on 4.7.1.122, with most everyone else upgraded to 5.xxx months ago. My phone deletes massive amounts of my Calendar data periodically, and Telus reps have told me (1) Since it still works as a phone it's not a Telus issue so I should call RIM ("here's the phone number" - thanks, Telus!), and (2) Since it's supposed to delete user data when memory is low it's working fine (although I have 20+MB free memory), etc. The only remedy they offer is a refurbished Storm under warranty, although this is my second Storm and still the same problem so not sure why a 3rd will be better. Nineteen Telus/RIM reps and 3 months later I call Telus corporate to complain and they tell me Darren Entwhistle's office won't take calls related to service issues - to me this was the height of arrogance and the last straw.

So the time has come to evaluate moving. There's a $550 buyout on my current contract so it's not an easy decision to make but I've had it with Telus. Being a long term client no longer holds the value it did, obviously.

So my questions are (especially if you've made the switch yourself) :

1) What will be the goods/bads?

2) What will call and messaging coverage be like? (live in Vancouver but travel a lot to Toronto & Montreal on business, and periodically go overseas or to Central America for pleasure)

3) #2 but for Berry vs iPhone? (thinking about dumping Berries completely depending on what Apple brings out this spring)

4) If you did it, would you do it again? What would you do the same/differently?

Thanks - R.

[jgodin03]

1) Bell use the same technology as telus, but dont have any kind of customer service. I was working for telus and I did the service for my sister Bell curve... I was with bell before and the rep never wanted to give me just my bill total amount. When I say NO service...

2) canadian coverage is EXACTLY the same. Note that both have 2 network, HSPA, and CDMA.

3) depend of what you need, Berry for messaging and email, for the ''business side too''. The iPhone for the MP3, gaming... iPhone is only good to that anyway...

4) I was with Bell now with Telus and Berry, was with Rogers too in the past with berry... And I'll never go back with bell just cause they are ''sellers'' not ''sales reps''. Sometime you can get a bad rep but this is in every store in this world...

Take my advice: stay with Telus, and for your iPhone/Berry dilema, it depend what you need!

[RetroAndreas]

In the end they are all the same.

[Matt_25]

Why not Rogers?

[easton022]

Switch to Bell...There is no "good" carrier because they're all thieves but Bell is better than Telus.
And if you travel to different parts of Canada or wherever for business than DEFINITELY blackberry...If you're a 13 year old teenager than iphone...But by the sounds of it you do your fair share of business so definitely stick to BlackBerry.

PS!!! you mentioned you have a 550$ buyout for your contract but before you pay that, look into this alternative..I know a couple people who have done it and it turned out to be much cheaper.
- figure out how many months you have left on your contract
- determine the ABSOLUTE cheapest cell hpone plan available (like no minutes, no texting, no caller ID, NOTHING...well obviously something but as low as possibe)
- figure out how much that will total if you keep your cell phone running (ie if 10 months left on your contract and u find 15$/mth plan, thats only 150$)

Try it!

[Eaglepilot]

I have been a Bell customer for 1 yr, has not been a good experience. I was originally sold on moving over from Telus (in BC) because Bell would offer me a corporate account with 10 phones for $300 less per month. Upon moving over, I had an Awful time, my Bell rep happened to go on holidays in the middle of my installation, and then her assistant went on holidays two days later.

Long and short of it, what was represented was not what I achieved, but I was doing okay on the monthly charges, so I did not think of moving.

In Feb 2010, I went to Florida with the family, taking care before the trip to make sure that text messages and long distance were moved to a reasonable charge plan. I told my daugheter that she could not text while on holidays, as it was $1 per text. When I was in Florida, I signed up for the GPS Nav service that was offered by Bell on my Storm---for $10/month plus data. I had taken care to move to $1 per MB plan before leaving Canada, as I did not know what I would need in Website Browsing etc.

When I got home, I was shocked to see that Bell had charged me $700 for data charges, entirely due to this "$10" Bell GPS. When I questioned the charges, I got a 25% discount but they still want me to pay over $500.

The situation is still ongoing, and I will update this forum with new info as it happens. I am not adverse to paying for services that I have used, but I refuse to overpay for service that was presented deceptively.

I would be interested to hear how much Telus and/or Rogers charges for data plans in the US. Is there a reasonable price for data? I know that if you are a US customer, AT&T has unlimited data plans. Does Telus/Rogers have something similar?

[Eaglepilot]

I asked Bell how much to cancel my account.

Their response $4,000

Here is the response from Bell about the GPS Charges.

Good afternoon,

As per your email, I apologize for the way you feel about the situation and cannot stop you from posting your opinion in an open forum. All I can do is give you accurate information regarding the usage incurred on the line while in the USA.

In your post, you did indicate that the GPS Nav application was “$10/month plus data” (taken directly from your post). This clearly indicates that data usage is applicable when using the GPS service. Based on this, I don’t where the “deception” comes from as you were informed, and acknowledged, that data is applicable. As well, you had purchased the Data Saver feature to reduce your data usage to $1/MB while roaming. At the time, this was the only option available for roaming in the USA and you had taken advantage of the option. The charges you see on your billing are for the data portion of using the GPS service, as well as for any web browsing and email your may have done. As you were already subscribed to the roaming option, there would have been no other way of further reducing your costs based on your usage at the time.

While I cannot speak for what our competitors are offering, I can say with conviction that our roaming rates are competitive in the Canadian market.

I do apologize that you feel deceived but the information was provided. As well, Corporate Client Care is available to answer any questions our clients may have about using their services, whether it be in Canada or the USA. Had Bell given you incorrect information regarding charges while roaming, we would definitely correct the error. As there was no misinformation given, we are not able to provide any further adjustments above the 25% already given.

If you require further assistance, please contact Corporate Client Care.



Thank you and have a great day.



Regards,


Bell

BTW Is it proper Internet protocol to insert the Bell rep's name?

[Eaglepilot]

Sorry, I should have included this in my first post---the use of the GPS Nav system was at most about 2 hours worth--hardly worth $700.00

[howardtheduck]

Originally Posted by Eaglepilot

I have been a Bell customer for 1 yr, has not been a good experience. I was originally sold on moving over from Telus (in BC) because Bell would offer me a corporate account with 10 phones for $300 less per month. Upon moving over, I had an Awful time, my Bell rep happened to go on holidays in the middle of my installation, and then her assistant went on holidays two days later.

Long and short of it, what was represented was not what I achieved, but I was doing okay on the monthly charges, so I did not think of moving.

In Feb 2010, I went to Florida with the family, taking care before the trip to make sure that text messages and long distance were moved to a reasonable charge plan. I told my daugheter that she could not text while on holidays, as it was $1 per text. When I was in Florida, I signed up for the GPS Nav service that was offered by Bell on my Storm---for $10/month plus data. I had taken care to move to $1 per MB plan before leaving Canada, as I did not know what I would need in Website Browsing etc.

When I got home, I was shocked to see that Bell had charged me $700 for data charges, entirely due to this "$10" Bell GPS. When I questioned the charges, I got a 25% discount but they still want me to pay over $500.

The situation is still ongoing, and I will update this forum with new info as it happens. I am not adverse to paying for services that I have used, but I refuse to overpay for service that was presented deceptively.

I would be interested to hear how much Telus and/or Rogers charges for data plans in the US. Is there a reasonable price for data? I know that if you are a US customer, AT&T has unlimited data plans. Does Telus/Rogers have something similar?

Telus is about the same rate. I have heard that Canada just does not have the competitive pricing like Europe or the U.S.

[howardtheduck]

Originally Posted by Eaglepilot

Sorry, I should have included this in my first post---the use of the GPS Nav system was at most about 2 hours worth--hardly worth $700.00

You shoud have done your homework and that wouldn't have happended to you. Consider that a GPS pings a satellite constantly and your data connection is high speed. I never use the GPS unless im in unlimited mode.

[crotalian]

They are all pretty much the same for roaming rates. I've heard about somt of the data horror stories but I kinda have to agree with the rep on this one (though i dont want to), and at least they gave back 25% (i've know people in similar situations who got nothing!). In hind sight you probably should have called and not assumed, or used a map