# Bell Sympatico Wireless - works on macs



## solchild (Aug 30, 2005)

Hey guys, first post here....kinda looking for some help/support.
if you've ever been told that sympatico does not support wireless on a mac using their wireless modems/routers its a lie. I have physical proof.....but first a little history in my probs.....

I've been a Sympatico client since I can remember, I even have sympatico Ultra whatever whatever service, when I upgraded my service, they sent me a Speedstream 6520 Wireless Modem....great!, but I never used the wireless part of it until a few months ago, I got an eMac for cheap with an Airport card, so I called to get the airport card to work on the modem wirelessly, and basically told me to try and connect to my network by going to an ip address, but for some reason I couln't connect, after a few tries, they ended up setting it up for me, had me choose a name for my network, password and everything, my eMac was connected no problem, been connected wirelessly since with no problems!
on Friday I buy a new Macbook with a built in Airport Card, I thought cool, I'll connect it to my network as well! so I set up all the EXACT SAME network setting as I have on my eMac and Airport is connected to my network and everything, except I can't get online (in the airport status it says that Im connected to network so and so).....so I call sympatico tech support and they're like "we dont support Macs on wireless" me: "What do you mean, you guys are the ones who set up my network in the first place and got it working" them: "We dont support macs, call Apple"......so I call apple and they tell me that their Bell's wireless modems dont support macs and he doesnt know why not, but its written on their website http://service.sympatico.ca/index.cfm?method=content.view&category_id=336&content_id=2712
I then called sympatico back and told them, if you dont support it then why is it that I have an eMac right in front of me that is connected to the internet using the wirelss modem that they've supplied me? their answer was the same, we dont support wireless on a mac.......I then asked to speak with a supervisor whhich I was told was busy (not surprising) but was promised a call back within 15 minutes. I waited, waited and waited until today after work when I called again and was given the same run around, I asked why the supervisor or level 2 tech didnt call me back, no answer, asked to be transfered to another supervisor and was told" okay but I can't garantee that they will call you"......WHAT??? they will not call me??? why not? does my paying each month not deserve a call back from the a supervisor?? It seems to me that no one wants to touch this situation with a ten foot pole, so I basically managed to get the rep to "take ownership" of the problem, got her name and her supervisor's name, was told that someone would call me back but again cannot garantee anything! anyway, I hung up after 1 hour on the phone repeating myself to a third person.....I then realized that I may have not given her my cell number, so I called back and of course got a different agent on the line, asked him if I could speak with the rep I was talking to before, he said no but he can help me....basically wanted to know the whole situation again and I told him that I did not want to repeat myself a fourth time....he then told me that he can see the notes and that he sees that its a wireless problem on a mac, he then told me this: "WE DONT SUPPORT WIRELESS ON A MAC!"...can you believe it?? c'mon! I told him that all I want is for a supervisor to call me back and that I would like to just make sure that my cell number is on the ticket that the previous rep had opened...he then told me that there is no ticket open!....and then he went ahead and started probing more and told me that he doestnt think someone will call me back.......again. He then told me that he would speak with the supervisor himself and that he would make sure that someone would call me back in one hour, he even told me that he works until 10 and that if no one else called that he would call me back himself.....I still havent heard from him and its after 10pm......

So now I dont know what I should do, the point is that someone at sympatico, set up my network to work with an Airport Card-equipped Mac and all I want is for my Macbook to do the same, not asking for much.....so if you've bought into the whole "we dont support wireless on a mac" story, its not entirely true.
I know I could just buy a router and get my Macbook connected but that is 60-80 dollars that Bell will not credit me.

if there is a workaround this I would be willing to try it out, if you have any suggestions or comments, please feel free to pass them along.....I just hope that bell doesnt disconnect my network  

thanks in advance.

Sol.


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## madgunde (Mar 10, 2006)

When someone says they don't support something, it doesn't necessarily mean it won't work, just that they won't provide any support for it. Basically, any Airport equipped Mac can connect with pretty much any standard Wifi router, provided they are the right standard for the Airport card (ie: 802.11b/802.11g/802.11a). As a Mac user, we are often left to fend for ourselves, which is why it pays to learn a thing or two about how to get stuff working on your own. Eventually you get to a level where you know more than the support staff at most of these companies.

I have a Bell Sympatico Speedstream wireless modem/router as well, but I don't like it's features, so I have a D-Link router plugged into it which I use as my wireless access point, router and firewall. I basically set the Speedstream up to act as just a modem. I could never get iChat video chats to work when using the Bell supplied router.

P.S. some more paragraph breaks would make your post a lot more readable.


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## jedijeremy (Dec 16, 2006)

Hi

I think I am at a similar point. I am just starting to switch over to apple. I have a new macbook and an airport extreme that I am having trouble connecting to sympatico. I hope this is the right place to find some help resolving these issues.

Good luck and I will be monitoring this thread.

Jer.


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## solchild (Aug 30, 2005)

yeah I understand and I've also become acustomed to getting the "mac runaround"

so if I was to get a wireless router, how would I go about setting it up?


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## jedijeremy (Dec 16, 2006)

*sympatico sympathy*

by the way, I can sympathise with your bell experience. I had similar experiences with expressview and mobile (both of which I no longer subscribe to).


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## rondini (Dec 6, 2001)

solchild said:


> yeah I understand and I've also become acustomed to getting the "mac runaround"
> 
> so if I was to get a wireless router, how would I go about setting it up?


first step would be to do a search of these forums, as this topic has been tackled in depth a few times. 

also apple support discussion forums are useful as well
http://discussions.apple.com/category.jspa?categoryID=140
for the Airport section


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## Hank (Feb 17, 2004)

Check this thread, it might help get you going.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,14228062


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## Dr.G. (Aug 4, 2001)

solchild, I have an older iBook, and have Aliant wireless DSL with a Speedstream 6520 Wireless Modem. It works well with my iBook. It did not have quite the range as my Linksys, but it covers my entire house and outside deck, so I am pleased. Once a week, shut off the modem with the button on the back left and let it rest for 30 seconds. Then, turn it back on. The person who came to fix my phone line suggested this technique to avoid slowness online. Just a thought.


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## elzin (Oct 30, 2007)

Hi there solchild and others,

I am new to this forum, but I think I have a solution that might work for some. I recently switched to Bell Sympatico an I hate their customer service. I totally understand your anger since I had to call so many times for the same problem, and the answer was "we don't support macs..." or get someone who doesn't know anything about computers.

So here is my situation: I have the wireless router of Bell and I have my home PC connected to it via ethernet. At first, I tried connecting my mac wirelessly and it worked, then all of a sudden, I am connected, but when I open my system preferences > network, it says that I am connected but can't assign an IP (an orange status for airport). So here is what I did and it worked for me.

Create a new location, and go to your TCP/IP of the airport extreme. Set the configure IPv4 to manually.
enter 192.168.2.10 for IP address
255.255.255.0 for subnet mask
192.168.2.1 for Router
192.168.2.1 for DNS Servers

although this was a solution, when I had to connect to other wireless networks at school, I had to put the location back to Automatic.

Sometimes it works with Automatic at home, some other times it doesn't. If it doesn't, you can still try to reconfigure the wireless settings on the computer connected via ethernet, make a prayer, and hope that it will work 


I hope that helps,

cheers​


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## Leigh (Jul 11, 2009)

*Try this*

All of a sudden, our wireless doesn't work. Ethernet connections are fine however. I've solved the problem a few times in the following way (i hope this helps someone bc finding a Bell person who knew this information was a feat of magnanimous proportions as most of the tech guys want you to reinstall airport and a whole buncha other BS that will never work and might screw up something else)...

Connect via ethernet
type "mymodem" into your browser
when the panel comes up, go to the top nav (that says summary, wireless settings, advance) hit wireless settings
first, rename your wireless network (make it simple all one word with no dashes etc.)
then make sure your authentication for your password is set to WEP-Open
Put a new password (again make it all numbers like a phone number without any dashes etc.)
hit save
disconnect your Ethernet cable and try going to the new network, typing in the new password.

Hope this helps someone else out there!

Leigh


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

Thanks!

Those are cool--and helpful--tips.

Just want to note that WEP 'protection' is easily broken these days, so you're way better off with WPA/WPA2, depending on the devices/computers that are served.

Most of us use a wireless router (e.g., Apple Time Capsule, Airport Extreme, Airport Express, d-link, linksys, etc.) in addition to a DSL/Cable modem, and set protection from there.

You should also hide your SSID so neighbours/wardrivers can't see the network at all.

I added the post to this thread:
http://www.ehmac.ca/mac-ipod-help-t...lp-apple-support-mac-pro-tips.html#post845930
in the "Mac & iPod Help & Troubleshooting" subforum.



Leigh said:


> All of a sudden, our wireless doesn't work. Ethernet connections are fine however. I've solved the problem a few times in the following way (i hope this helps someone bc finding a Bell person who knew this information was a feat of magnanimous proportions as most of the tech guys want you to reinstall airport and a whole buncha other BS that will never work and might screw up something else)...
> 
> Connect via ethernet
> type "mymodem" into your browser
> ...


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