Bell Sympatico Throttles Internet Access

Bell Sympatico Throttles Internet Access

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlMbxosLtaY
Bell Sympatico, Canada's largest Internet Service Provider (ISP) has admitted in November 2007 that it "purposely" slows down its high-speed DSL, especially for torrents. This is despite them not telling customers. This video is a customers story.


While it's true that Bell throttles and it sucks, The contents of that video are still a bit misleading. (Well let's be fair and assume the creator didn't fully understand the technology...)

First, 16Mbps isn't 16 Megabytes per second, it's 16 megabits per second, that's 8 times slower, or about 2 Megabytes per second.

Second, because of overhead and misconfigurations on the average PC, you could never get the full amount for payload. Yes, Bell isn't clear on that, but neither is any other ISP, and it's largely out of their control.

Third, the downloads that he shows at 14Kbps and 309KBps could be caused by slow/full links at the site, or any other ISP along the way, outside of Bell's network.

In other words, although Bell may be dishonest in its advertising, these anecdotal tests don't prove it...

Cancel Bell Sympatico Internet - Toronto, Canada.

Hi Guys,
Thanks for this blog, this is just a quick word to say I got my TEKSAVVY (Thanks to this amazing website and a friend's recommendation) connection today in Toronto and it works great.

I get 7.25 mbits on speed test for 30$ a month.

Previous situation with BELL:
I was getting slower speed with bell for 40 hidden fees, modem rent and ended up paying hundreds of $ in fees for them not telling me my dl limit had been reduced to something in the 20 gigs. + All the stuff I was downloading so slowly not knowing Bell was cheating me of 95% of my torrent speed.

Now Bell keeps calling me back to offer me different deals not even on their website, bunch of corrupted fraudsters.

I could go on an on, about how the Bell payment service wouldn't wait 3 days until I got my student scholarship money and cut my line even if I have been their client for over 10 years. Then they told me they would not charge me fee for reconnecting if I stayed with Bell. Asking them if they would still charge me the extra 25 days even through I'm already with another company they said: yes. I answered: "well then why are wondering why I changed company if you charge me for service I wont even use and do not want? Thieves"

Anyway, this is my TekSavvy review:
Great service so far. They came to install the modem at my apartment - no BS, a technician just called and said he was in my area and could deliver my modem.
Fast speed.

And like I said (kinda the theme of my review): The exact opposite of Bell in what to expect.


William D.
Toronto, Ontario

My advice for Internet in Toronto, Canada.
http://teksavvy.info