vB Easy Archive - Bell Mobility: Whats really wrong with 'em?

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Bell Mobility: Whats really wrong with 'em?
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Posted by: 416VS647

Hey All, Im new to this forum, and have noticed that most of the members on this board love to hate Bell Mobility for various reasons. I am seriously thinking of switching from TELUS to Bell simply because of Bell's corporate rate plans (EPPs) which seem very good considering all the extras you are given. However, having browsed everyones comments, I am now having doubts. I have some simple questions for those willing to give an answer: How good is Bell's reception (in the Toronto area) and overall service like dropping calls, dead spots, etc. Also, is it just me or are the EPP plans too good to seem real? Do I lose a whole bunch of features after 2 yrs, and will my bill become twice what it used to be? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

Posted by: rip

For corp plans in the east it's either Bell or Rogers, Bell has great reception in the GTA, but as we all know there are pockets of dead zones for every carrier.I've been with Bell since it's birth and i've only had noe MAJOR issue and that was that billing fiasco awhile back, somehow my dealer and others on here have managed to quell my anger/fustrations at the time plus my dealer helped me out and corrected the situation with Bell and me. This all said, the service is dare i say stable where you may have issues though would be with hardware but as i browse the forums that seems to be an issue with all the carriers at any given time with any given phone

As for plans, what you see/read is what you get no hidden fees...just make sure you're told what you're going to be paying for every month.

Posted by: CDL

Hello,

I've been with Bell for 5 months now. So I'm still within my 6 months unlimited. I have to say I'm impressed too. Specifically with;

My A920 Samsung. I love the "Say a command" and then you just speak what you want it to do. I didn't even have to train it. Closest thing on Rogers is the T609 but it's just not as good (specifically the external screen). It's my preferred MP3 player and I catch myself on too many occations using the TV to catch the evening news stories. Just the volume is too friggin loud!!

The call quality. For the most part it's clear I'd argue as clear as Rogers claims but I guess it depends on the phone. No echoing though like I always had with Rogers.

Customer service has been great. They've answered my questions. Fixed my phone when I couldn't send picture messages or download a ringtune. Very friendly anytime I've called.

Only concern;

I use online billing and I notice a discrepancy between the minutes on my total for the month and when I manually go through the details in the call log. So far no one has been able to answer me as to why there is a discrepancy. Usually my minutes totals online each month are higher than my details show. I monitored my usage for a month and the monthly minutes totals were right it's the detailed billing that appears to be missing entries. Weird.

Oh yeah and I'm also on a corporate plan. True certain things do expire in 36 months but I figure by then there will be number portability in place and Bell would be suicidal to tell me I can't have what I had for three years.

Maybe just my optimism speaking

Posted by: jase88

Much of the "grumbling" comes from the change in corporate culture and customer service at Bell over the last few years.

Bell used to bend over backwards to satisfy their customers. Then came the billing system fiasco, and then major cutbacks.

Staff are now poorly trained, the company no longer waives fees, new fees have been introduced, and morale amongst staff (from what I've been told) is very low. Obviously this propagates down to the customer....and those of us who've been with Bell for many years are very aware of the changes.

The network remains solid and uncompromised.

Posted by: TelecomZombie

The Executives & many Managers are lieing $acks of **** !

Their New website is outdated & not to be trusted !

Posted by: SuperCM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 416VS647

Hey All, Im new to this forum, and have noticed that most of the members on this board love to hate Bell Mobility for various reasons. I am seriously thinking of switching from TELUS to Bell simply because of Bell's corporate rate plans (EPPs) which seem very good considering all the extras you are given. However, having browsed everyones comments, I am now having doubts. I have some simple questions for those willing to give an answer: How good is Bell's reception (in the Toronto area) and overall service like dropping calls, dead spots, etc. Also, is it just me or are the EPP plans too good to seem real? Do I lose a whole bunch of features after 2 yrs, and will my bill become twice what it used to be? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!!

There are a variety of reasons why people hate Bell Mobility and there are a variety of reasons why people hate TELUS Mobility, Rogers Wireless, and Fido. Some people have had bad experiences perhaps with Bell's other services such as Sympatico Internet, ExpressVu Satellite TV, or Bell Canada Home Phone and by extension simply thinks Bell Mobility sucks. Or perhaps because Bell is the juggernaut of the East, similar to how TELUS rules the West, they don't like it's size.

Considering that Toronto is Bell's home turf for most of their services and competition with Rogers on all fronts is fierce there, you better believe they have Toronto suffciently covered. Heck, all providers have Toronto properly covered as it'd suicidal not to. As with all carriers, the placement of the towers and with only so much tweaking that can be done to them, you will fine isolate dead zones with all nets. Question is whether or not wherever you happen to be most is one for who you're with.

Fortunately, Bell Mobility has it's 14 or is it 15 day Worry-Free Wireless Policy which will give you enough time to ensure Bell Mobility in it's current state meets your needs.

Some EPP plans do seem too good to be true, but then again that's why they're EPPs. These are large commitments negotiated with the companies/organisations you work for. Basically, on your end they've told Bell Mobility we have x number of workers that could potentially all jump to you as we'd promote you exclusively. Bell's end goes, that's great, we can offer your members this sort of plan in exchange for your loyalty. Now they're not indefinite since if your company decides to pull out or not renew, the plan just fades away.

If the plan fades away and you are either forced to change or unable to renew on it, then yes, whatever the plan offered becomes void. Some features are offered as a bonus based on the fact you sign up for a term. Those features are automatically dropped once your term is over, as those are the conditions. It's good to ask what is contingent on the term and what is not. For example, the EP-1 from half a year ago had some nice extras if you signed up for a term. Something like free Call Display and 100 bonus minutes. Those would drop off once the term ended.

At that point, you have a choice to make. Either stay with whatever changes happen or change plans. Usually EPP plans come with ~200 day minutes and kind of fills in that middle area of usage, since most consumer plans either low-end at 150 minutes or next level up is 350, so if you're in between then EPP is the only way to get the 200 minute level.

Posted by: rip

Quote:

Originally Posted by TelecomZombie

The Executives & many Managers are lieing $acks of **** !

Their New website is outdated & not to be trusted !

hey aren't the new heads coming from Telus?

Posted by: cash_money

Telus has better reception in the GTA. Bell screwed up every one of my bills so far. Telus has not. Most Bell CSR are not very helpful (in my experience). Bell's website has much to be desired. The only reason why I am still with Bell, is because I made the mistake of accepting what seemed to be a very attractive corporate plan.

In my opinion, if you dont mind giving up the little bit of savings, stay with Telus!

Posted by: cedee

Never mind their perceived better reception.
Their CS sucks. Every representative has a different view of what's the truth.
I have a printed contract that says I have get unlimited minutes followed by the word "Promo" Two different CS representatives said that "promo" meant I was getting this under a CAA special. I have been LIED to by Bell before so I was very careful to read everything asnd get it explained to me. Even the sales representative at BAKA told me unlimited was included.
Six months later, charges for usage start to appear. I phone CS and they say "Promo means only for the for the first six months only"

What do you think a judge would take "Promo" to mean?

How stupid do they think we are? I had been a BM sucker for 4 years prior to that and they can't understand why I just stopped paying one day.

Now I have to deal with a collection agency hounding me daily. The collection agent agrees that most of his accounts from BM are a result of "Disputes"

BM is a company that survives on deceit. Stay away

Posted by: Dreaderus

cedee,

never heard of CAA offering unlimited calling forever, sorry sounds like you are either not reading your s/a correctly, or after the fact are using a in store discussion as something legally binding, then dumping it all into the "bad cs" btw "promo" is not forever, its a promotion that would end at some point, which should be indicated on the s/a. also if the agency is debacling the company paying it to work, that seems a bit weird.

Dreaderus

Posted by: rip

I find most disputes are misunderstanding mostly on the buyers end...and i can be accused of this as i too have sometimes misunderstood what i was being told or have not read my contract in detail.

I'm not sure what's on your original contract but most promos are clearly label as this shown pulled off their website,

Quote:

Bonus: up to 3 months of unlimited local talking1

1 The 3 months unlimited local talking is available with new activations. Subscribers will receive 1 month free on a 1-year agreement or 3 months free on a 2 or 3-year agreement. Long distance, roaming charges and taxes extra. Offer ends June 29, 2006.

Posted by: lcohen999

I have been with Bell since....well since the beginning (literally)

I still remember their test digital star tac phones. I always thought it was cool when you turned it on and it said "Digital"

That being said, their network is very solid. The only time I could ever not make a call was during Sarstock. I guess their network couldn't handle half a million people at once. :-D

Billing issues aside, they are still the most stable network, imho.

Anyone who 'hates' a big corporation because they did not get a $1000 free, or 100% free bill like they were 'promised' I don't know how seriously I would take their critism.

Posted by: wireless-wizz

While I like to bash Bell Mobility I must admit that I have been with them for about 7 years.

The service is reliable and I have not had any problems with billing or customer service.

My complaints are with the fact that prices are still high and that Bell Mobility is not very innovative in giving us cool handsets and they are slooooowwww in bringing to market data apps. Think of this -there are about 20 people in Services Development, about 20 people in Hardware Develpment, about 20 people in Business Development and about 45 people in marketing. What are these people doing? Over the last 3 or 4 months I have seen nothing interesting come out from Bell Mobility. Think of this - with an average salary of about $65,000 - BCE is spending almost $7M on a group of people that really are not doing much.

Posted by: lcohen999

I would agree, but only up to a point.

Example, the Audiovox 6700, the Bell version has the latest and greatest firmware on it.

Sprint, VW, and Telus who had it to market early had tones of problems, missing features, crashing, you name it. Could you imaging the support time spent on trying to help people flash their ROM, replaced bricked devices. Bell waited, they released their 6700 with the latest ROM, actually .1 later than even Sprint's newest one.

It has been rock solid, and I am sure much less stress to release a less buggy device off the bat.

That being said, there are devices which it really shouldn't matter, but I guess if you look @ their history (Nokia 6185 for example) sometimes to rush to market will hurt you more than playing conservative.

Posted by: rip

Quote:

Originally Posted by wireless-wizz

While I like to bash Bell Mobility I must admit that I have been with them for about 7 years.

The service is reliable and I have not had any problems with billing or customer service.

My complaints are with the fact that prices are still high and that Bell Mobility is not very innovative in giving us cool handsets and they are slooooowwww in bringing to market data apps. Think of this -there are about 20 people in Services Development, about 20 people in Hardware Develpment, about 20 people in Business Development and about 45 people in marketing. What are these people doing? Over the last 3 or 4 months I have seen nothing interesting come out from Bell Mobility. Think of this - with an average salary of about $65,000 - BCE is spending almost $7M on a group of people that really are not doing much.

They have to save up to pay Cope huge $$$$

and for those of you that don't know, i too am lobbying against carriers not bashing

for pretty much the same reasons. Please don't confuse my support for Bell as contradicting my lobbying against the carriers for certain changes

Posted by: jase88

I was there as well. In fact, I lived within walking distance from the event. Phones from any network didn't work. Even Rogers (who had set up a COW) customers couldn't get out. Although I found that if I was patient and kept trying for about 5 minutes, my call would eventually go through...

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcohen999

That being said, their network is very solid. The only time I could ever not make a call was during Sarstock. I guess their network couldn't handle half a million people at once. :-D

Posted by: wireless-wizz

This is interesting

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bell . . . . Rogers . . .Telus
2005 Revenue (CAD): . $19.11B . . $7.48B . . $8.14B
Net Profit Margin: . . . . 10.96% . . . 0.20% . . 8.20%
Operating Margin: . . . . 20.36% . . . 9.36% . . 20.33%
Return on Avg Assets: . .5.30% . . . .0.12% . . 3.96%
Return on Avg Equity: . . 14.10% . . 0.56% . . 9.60%
2005 Employees: . . . . . 60,000 . . . 21,000 . . 29,290
Stock Price . . . . . . . . . . $26.40 . . $45.04 . . . $45.98

Why does BCE still have the lowest stock price?

Posted by: SuperCM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wireless-wizz

This is interesting

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Bell . . . . Rogers . . .Telus
2005 Revenue (CAD): . $19.11B . . $7.48B . . $8.14B
Net Profit Margin: . . . . 10.96% . . . 0.20% . . 8.20%
Operating Margin: . . . . 20.36% . . . 9.36% . . 20.33%
Return on Avg Assets: . .5.30% . . . .0.12% . . 3.96%
Return on Avg Equity: . . 14.10% . . 0.56% . . 9.60%
2005 Employees: . . . . . 60,000 . . . 21,000 . . 29,290
Stock Price . . . . . . . . . . $26.40 . . $45.04 . . . $45.98

Why does BCE still have the lowest stock price?

Is that the respective companies as a whole or just their wireless division? All the numbers show Bell should be pwning the other two.

Posted by: gjs

Quote:

Originally Posted by 416VS647

...are the EPP plans too good to seem real? Do I lose a whole bunch of features after 2 yrs, and will my bill become twice what it used to be?

My first EPP ended last month and I immediately received a bill that was more than twice what it used to be. After a week-and-a-half of frustrating negotiating, I am now back on my EPP for another extended period, and all should be well again.

However, I have my fingers crossed, hoping that the switchover to the new contract won't involve the billing fiasco I had two years ago when I switched from Pay-as-you-go to the corporate EPP plan.

Posted by: jase88

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperCM

Is that the respective companies as a whole or just their wireless division? All the numbers show Bell should be pwning the other two.

Yeah...looks to me like that's not a proper comparison....

Posted by: newdad

I have seen alot of major disputes at the company, but I think they stem from bad sales reps. In the whole time I worked for the company i never had a customer come back with any major issues (billing system fiasco aside), you just have to make sure that everything is well explained to you and don't rush the rep. Get them to write down all of the features of the plan you choose, what promotional items you have and when they expire, what extra fees you will incur (ld,saf,911) and what your bill should be per month. Every company that pays commision will have reps that just want to get you out the door and move on to the next sale. Service and coverage wise, I rarely have any dead spots with my cell, I am very happy with the coverage I receive

Posted by: wireless-wizz

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperCM

Is that the respective companies as a whole or just their wireless division? All the numbers show Bell should be pwning the other two.

These number are for the publically traded entities.
BCE as a whole, ROgers as a whoe and Telus as a whole.
You can't break out the wireless numbers anymore from public info.

Posted by: SuperCM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wireless-wizz

These number are for the publically traded entities.
BCE as a whole, ROgers as a whoe and Telus as a whole.
You can't break out the wireless numbers anymore from public info.

Whoa... When TELUS states that they're the #2 Communications Company in Canada, they're like REALLY #2.

Posted by: CDL

Take care with the 15 days exchange/return with Bell.

No concerns if you want to keep the service, just my wife signed up last month and it's now 15 days or 15 minutes of usage. Whichever comes first. Plus the Cancellation fees are up to $400 now.

Make sure of your decision that's all I'm suggesting.

Posted by: Deckster

Yes, it is too bad that they had to revert back to the 15 minutes of use policy.

You cannot begin to understand how angry I would get when someone would come in 14 days after activating to return a phone with hundreds (the highest I've seen was just under 1600) of minutes of use. You just know that these abusers are ruining it for the honest user.

Posted by: eal15

been with bell for 16 years. From my Star tac elite until now. Besides the obvious handset stuff, I love Bell with all my heart (tears faling down my face). I was with Rogers and Fido For about a year ending six months ago. I just had to have some new @#$%. Rogers was okay, some dropped calls a few echos and what not. Fido was great for the unlimited minutes but more dropped calls, quite annoying actually. Now I'm back with Bell. I truely missed Bell now that I'm back. No making calls three of four times in a row before they go through. Anyway, Great job Bell. Just test handsets quicker and bring newer stuff quicker. By the way, the Moto Q should be with Bell in Sept. Telus bought 3 months of excluesivity and Bell is looking at bringing it out with Blackberry software. Now the best of both worlds!

Posted by: 416VS647

thank you all for replying to me!!

I ended up going with what I felt I was confortable with and choose to activate a new plan with TELUS on their EPPs which are somewhat similar to Bells, maybe paying 5 extra dollars per month, but Ill take it for peace of mind. At least this way I know what CS is like and I know what to expect of their network and signal quality, which I am quite happy with it!! Not saying Bell may have been of poor quality, but after having read a few reviews and having noticed the quality on my friends Bell cell, I felt TELUS was the way to go, even if 5$ more expensive.

Posted by: cedee

Quote:

Originally Posted by wireless-wizz

Because you have to consider how many shares are outstanding

You better stick with mutual funds

Posted by: chuck232

In terms of wireless subscribers, Rogers has the most at around 6 million, Bell Mo has a little over 5 million, and Telus has 4 million. I have no idea what the ARPU though so I can't really comment on the revenues those divisions pull in.

Posted by: newdad

no offense, but do you have any documentation to back that up? It's a pretty bold statement...

Posted by: wireless-wizz

Quote:

Originally Posted by newdad

no offense, but do you have any documentation to back that up? It's a pretty bold statement...

Which statement?

Posted by: newdad

Quote:

Originally Posted by chuck232

In terms of wireless subscribers, Rogers has the most at around 6 million, Bell Mo has a little over 5 million, and Telus has 4 million. I have no idea what the ARPU though so I can't really comment on the revenues those divisions pull in.

Sorry, this statement

Posted by: wireless-wizz

Those subscriber number stats are fairly accurate
Get stats at
http://www.cwta.ca/CWTASite/english...s_2005-2006.pdf