# Is Bell Sympatico slow lately? (jan 14, 2008)



## macmac (Oct 22, 2006)

Hey folks, just wondering if anyone else is experiencing an ever so slow and slowing internet lately. Web pages take forever to load...i have to click the address bar twice for it to actually load the page... links have to be clicked a few times before pages load up...at first I didn't think much about it, but it is getting on my nerves, here I am paying for high speed and it's like i'm on dial-up. The only thing i've done to my comp. is install leopard..but I can't see that as being the problem. 

Anyone else have problems with Bell?


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## zarquon (May 24, 2005)

Yep, painfully slow here.

Z.




macmac said:


> Hey folks, just wondering if anyone else is experiencing an ever so slow and slowing internet lately. Web pages take forever to load...i have to click the address bar twice for it to actually load the page... links have to be clicked a few times before pages load up...at first I didn't think much about it, but it is getting on my nerves, here I am paying for high speed and it's like i'm on dial-up. The only thing i've done to my comp. is install leopard..but I can't see that as being the problem.
> 
> Anyone else have problems with Bell?


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## titans88 (Oct 3, 2007)

I'm having similar issues.

However, I have been known to download a torrent here or there, so it may be throttling.


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## Flipstar (Nov 7, 2004)

I have been having some problems surfing the web (similar to your issues), but the overall direct downloading and all that is fine. I'm guessing it's a problem with Sympatico's DNS servers. After changing them, I've had no problems surfing.

If you know how to set your primary and secondary DNS servers on your computer or router, you should try using any of the following (i like to use a combo):

Bell Canada (not Sympatico): 198.235.216.130 / 198.235.216.131 / 198.235.216.134
Level3 Communications: 4.2.2.1 / 4.2.2.2
CIRA: 192.228.22.70 / 192.228.22.71

Good luck.


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

I ditched Sympatico for their high prices and poor service... joined TekSavvy and haven't looked back. Better prices, no throttling and MUCH better customer support and service. Unlike Sympatico, they actually care about customers.


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## nowlive (Jan 11, 2008)

Yes!!! And Its A Pain!!!!!!!!!


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## Malco (Apr 18, 2003)

Sympatico High Speed members in Toronto may be experiencing service interruptions. We are working to restore service and apologize for any inconvenience. Thank you for your patience.

From:
http://service.sympatico.ca/index.cfm?method=home.serviceStatus


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

Sign up with OpenDNS its free.

I have an old Asante router that wont let me change the DNS, so I just change it in the System Prefs/Network/Ethernet/Advanced panel.
Just add 208.67.222.222 and 208.67.220.220
to the list of existing DNS servers and then hit APPLY in the network panel.
Voila! Faster internet on Sympatico.
OpenDNS, I think has the fastest DNS servers going, but Flipstars numbers may also work.


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

yes BIG TIME!

and it's 'coincidentally' been since they fired off some emails last week saying they upgraded the email package to send/receive up to 20 MB attachments.

everything was honky dory until that point... now it's all FUBAR 

this is going to make reading the macworld updates very, very painful tptptptp


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

Mail and HTTP use different protocols. However, I have noticed the mail sending has been wonky lately.


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## Guest (Jan 15, 2008)

I saw Sympatico DNS problems yesterday at my GF's place. I changed her over to OpenDNS and things were smooth after that.


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

We're having slow speeds again.

I've come to expect this from Sympaticrap. They've been implementing new software and hardware installations to shape/throttle bandwidth, it's been causing problems for many customers for months and months.

Good luck getting them to admit to this though....


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## RKM (Jun 23, 2005)

Anyone catch Market place a few weeks back regarding ISP's? Sympatico came in dead last on their test for speed!

I also use opendns!


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## rhrechka (Jan 6, 2008)

LOL Bell!!! yuck I dumped those idiots long time ago phone and all. A big company that doesn't know what customer service is.


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

I guess some people dont read the responses/solutions to the original post.


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## kloan (Feb 22, 2002)

I already have OpenDNS settings, so I know it's not that.


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## rhrechka (Jan 6, 2008)

Carl said:


> I guess some people dont read the responses/solutions to the original post.


yes - solution = DUMP Bell/Sympatico


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## mrjimmy (Nov 8, 2003)

mguertin said:


> I saw Sympatico DNS problems yesterday at my GF's place. I changed her over to OpenDNS and things were smooth after that.


What does this do and how does one do it?


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## keebler27 (Jan 5, 2007)

i called Sympatico today and they have been upgrading hardware so it's periodic.

my connection's been really wonky, but of course, when I was on the phone with them...no problems.


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## Redboxa (Aug 2, 2007)

*umm*

Umm, how about this. I checked on an internet speed site for my area ( Hamilton Area) and Symbatico/Bell is actually the slowest. My family used to have it, and we had so many problems with it, it was un-believable. We switched to cogeco and I would never dream of going back to Sympatico. We actually haven't had a problem since, It's always up, and they care about us alot more than Sloweveryonedown-ico. I suggest everyone makes the switch  :clap:


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## googlefish (Jun 21, 2005)

Is anyone still experiencing this? I'm on 3Web's DSL service and service has been really patchy the last couple of days. Hope it's not the new MacBook that has problems.


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## 5andman (Oct 15, 2006)

John Clay said:


> I ditched Sympatico for their high prices and poor service... joined TekSavvy and haven't looked back. Better prices, no throttling and MUCH better customer support and service. Unlike Sympatico, they actually care about customers.


Can you give us more details about TekSavvy?


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## MACFIG (Jul 2, 2003)

Here is the video that RKM was referring to. I found on the cbc website, quite interesting, CBC.ca - Marketplace - Speed Bumps
But can someone tell me why it wont run on my G5 but I can view it on a pc?


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## mojoprofilms (Nov 17, 2002)

I've had no outgoing mail for 12 hours now. Everything else works fine, if you call maxing out at 1.2 Mb/s fine. Darn those contracts...


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## JCCanuck (Apr 17, 2005)

*Plus page loading really slow....*



mojoprofilms said:


> I've had no outgoing mail for 12 hours now. Everything else works fine, if you call maxing out at 1.2 Mb/s fine. Darn those contracts...


...and this reminds me of the old dial up days. Spinning beach ball too!


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## John Clay (Jun 25, 2006)

5andman said:


> Can you give us more details about TekSavvy?


TekSavvy.com is a small DSL ISP run out of Chatham, ON. They've got equipment at Peer1 in Toronto, and a few other places. Good routing, no throttling of any sort. Once Bell sorts out the DSL part of the connection (to the Tek servers), you're good to go. The one caveat is this: if you're far away from a DSLAM (where your DSL connects to), you won't get great speeds. This would apply to Sympatico connections as well. If you're getting good speeds (not torrents etc, but speedtest.net) on Bell, you can expect the same on Tek.



HowEver said:


> Here's one detail: if you left Bell because they throttled your torrent downloading, expect the same to happen with Teksavvy, since they are using Bell lines and Bell will 'download' throttling to you once they find you are on the system again.


Wrong. Bell has no authority to throttle DSL connections that they wholesale. They have no reason to, either. Bell only passes the data to TekSavvy - they don't supply the actual internet connection.


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

For those suggesting we dump Bell and go get cable, maybe you fail to realize that cable isn't everywhere. I live in a rural area that just happens to have a DSL switch at the end of the road. I get decent speed. 2.8 on a 3MB line. 
Seems to be bunch of resistance to changing DNS servers though and I don't know why.
For those interested, when you type in a web address, the name has to be resolved to an IP address and your request is then routed. DNS or Domain Server Service, does this. Many DNS servers are overloaded, and so when you type in cnn.com, it takes 30 seconds for CNN to show up. Use a faster DNS service, and it only takes a second.


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## yeeeha (Feb 16, 2007)

I am a bit fed up with the performance of Sympatico lately. I have been getting a lot of timeouts. But when I checked the throughput with Speakeasy, I was getting was my typical speed.

Email is another issue too. I use Sympatico's webmail often to check mail. This way after reading my mail, I only keep the messages that I want to save and load it over to Thunderbird. Lately when I access the webmail, on many occasions I get a page with a runtime error.



mguertin said:


> I saw Sympatico DNS problems yesterday at my GF's place. I changed her over to OpenDNS and things were smooth after that.


Do you need to open an account with OpenDNS in order to use the two server addresses?

I have a router set up for my Internet access. Do I enter these two OpenDNS server addresses in BOTH the router and System Preferences in Tiger?


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

I'm a Symbadico customer and according to "Speakeasy"
My speed is:
4263 download 666 upload

I'm fairly happy with the performance,
However it took me 2.5 hours to download a 563 mb file the other day,
Although I blame that on 16,000 other users trying to download at the same time.

Dave


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

No account needed, but it is free and gives you options to block phishing sites, etc.
Just insert the two numbers into your router OR your network prefs. If you do the router all computers are taken care of. You can just do it in your own computer if you wish.
My router doesn't let me change DNS settings, so I had to change a couple of computers.
Sympatico mail is still weird, but I am getting file downloads at 270 kB/sec, which is not bad.


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## torontoman (Jan 23, 2008)

*I have problems with Sympatico*

I am also having problems. I hate this.

I am actually looking into changing right now. I've been on the phone with customer service a lot lately. Any suggestions? I live in High Park in Toronto


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## ron_g (Jan 5, 2003)

*To*

Our Bell in Toronto (Broadview area) has been fine. Was able to download a 1.5GB torrent at a sustained 500k. Service was flaky for a while during the summer fall - disconnecting for prolonged periods 1-2 times per month. That has since been resolved.


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## J2X (Feb 6, 2008)

*Sympatico, anything but sympathetic !*

For a couple of months now, Sympatico has slowed to a crawl. Very frustrating when you're trying to run a business. Dial up is just as fast, yet I'm close to the centre of town. Can't watch any video, as it takes forever. Receiving mail takes hours sometimes. 

Unfortunately, they throttle down anticipating the customer moves up to their Ultra-Ultra high speed.

Unfortunately, when you have been using as long as I have, changing e-mail addresses is very difficult.

Did a little speed check last night:
• download 123 kb/sec
• upload 15.03 kb/sec

What should the standard be?

Thanks


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## Malco (Apr 18, 2003)

From:
Bell: Service status

Customers in the Montreal area may have issues connecting to the internet.

I got 4281 kb/s and 665 kb/s just now in Toronto


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Try using OpenDNS
It seems to make my connection a lot faster using Bell Hi-Speed.

Dave


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## J2X (Feb 6, 2008)

*Sympatico, anything but sympathetic !*

I'm down to 60 - 70 kp/s.
Just a shade next to the dial-up league. Sure makes me feel good when I pay my bill every month, and when I watch others operating at rocket speed!


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## uMac (Jun 14, 2007)

I'm here in Ottawa, I got 4279 kb/s download and 647kb/s upload.


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## mojoprofilms (Nov 17, 2002)

15 k upload and 140 k download is about all I've ever gotten from Sympatico in Toronto. Here's some highlights from my beyond frustrating dealings with their customer service to solve the problem which in about the 8th dealing they finally admitted was their fault...

Dec 03/07
You have reached Bell Internet Services, my name is Santhana L and I 
appreciate the opportunity to respond.... you are on High Speed with good attainable rate of 5MB speed

_(they go on to give some windows-only solutions to which I respond I am on a mac and that they sold me a rate of up to 7MB, not 5)_

Dec 07/07
You have reached Bell Internet Services, my name is Rinuta and I 
appreciate the opportunity to respond.... We will be implementing additional measures to ensure that this type of situation does not reoccur.

_after inquiry as to their success in "implementing additional measures".._
Jan 09/08
You have reached Bell Internet Services, my name is Siva.... I have 
verified your account details. It shows that your line is perfect. 
However, please try the steps below to resolve your issue..._(back to a list of Windows-only solutions)_

Jan 18/08
Thank you for your reply. My name is Premnath G from Bell Internet 
Services and I am happy to assist you on Siva's behalf...._(some Mac solutions, but clearly for Safari 1.0, then a speed test)_

Jan 20/08
Thank you for your reply. My name is Jaya Prakash from Bell Internet 
Services and I am happy to assist you on Premnath's behalf...*.there is a technical glitch* in your account. So that I have escalated your issue to your Test 
Center, so that they will check the line and fix the error.* It will take maximum 48 hours. *

_So I'm thinking okay, finally a solution... then no response/change for 2 weeks until:_

Feb 03/08
You have reached Bell Internet Services, my name is Hemlatha G and I 
appreciate the opportunity to respond....A Senior Support Agent will 
thoroughly review this case in order to quickly resolve your current 
issue. You should receive an answer shortly. 

_And no answer yet..._


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## allanyong (Jan 22, 2006)

I had same experience as u did. So I called Bell, and my phone was answered by someone in India, and they refreshed the line(As I was told). 

Then my connection went to faster now.


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## jwhiz (Dec 27, 2007)

*While we're at it...*

Yeah, I just switched from a solid dial-up (which I kept because it's cheap and many registrations have that email address!) to Sympatico. My sister, who did installs for them when they were new, still hates them. I chose them for hi, speed! because I canceled my Rogers cable, but still have Bell for phone...
So far, I've discovered, over the first 5 months of service:  
-they screwed up my billing for the first 4 months
-one of the things they screwed up billing for was the 'included' security suite, which doesn't run on a mac
-their web site doesn't support Safari (but I can get some functionality on Opera and Camino)
-and, oh yeah, the signal strength seems to be ebbing lately, and I'm getting frequent slow downs with simple, no-downloading browsing! - I don't live in T.O either. 
I may check out the OpenDNS thing...


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## avmf8 (Mar 4, 2008)

I can say for sure the issue with sympattic has nothing to do with a mac. I have sympattico and slow speeds. I have a mac I have a PC running vista a PC running XP and a computer running lenux all of which have lag on sympattico. I am agetting a download speed of 200 kb a sec and upload of 600 kb a sec. After pounding there tech support I finnally got them to admitt to me there was an issue and that they need to send a tech over to fix it. Was told they would fix it in 2 days it has now been the end of 3 no tech support came. My issue is still not fixxed. I have called them and told them they have to the end of this month if they do not fix it and pay me for my wasted time I am finding a new ISP.


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

Refreshed the line.

Funny.


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## ScanMan (Sep 11, 2007)

To all disgruntled Sympatico customers...I can feel your pain. 

After a completely frustrating experience a couple of years back I decided to give Ted a bit more of my money and haven't looked back. Here in central T.O., Rogers rocks. My typical speakeasy speeds are 9850 kbps down and 980 kbps up.

Unfortunately DSL performance has A LOT to do with location. More than 5 km from a central station or a relay, and your speed suffers geatly. The guy's DSL across the street may be wailing, but if you're on a different line, it could be a completely different story. 

And I agree with the statement that "Bell knows nothing about customer service". Their front line service is a joke. They just keep throwing people at you who are what one might politely refer to as "ill informed".

Nuff said. I don't work for Ted so do what you like.


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## RKM (Jun 23, 2005)

I just used my sisters Bell in Uxbridge and wow is it slow! I suggested she either tell Bell to charge her for the lite package only or take it out totally!

They have given her every excuse in the book for the slow speeds and now they are saying it's the wiring in the house. All I say is BS!



How do I spell slow..B...E...L...L


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## Mississauga (Oct 27, 2001)

ScanMan said:


> To all disgruntled Sympatico customers...I can feel your pain.
> 
> After a completely frustrating experience a couple of years back I decided to give Ted a bit more of my money and haven't looked back. Here in central T.O., Rogers rocks. My typical speakeasy speeds are 9850 kbps down and 980 kbps up.
> 
> ...


My experiences are the exact opposite.


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## staples57 (Nov 19, 2007)

It's so slow... My upload speed is faster than my download speed!

It's so slow... I'm dog paddling, not surfing!

It's so slow... Bell decided to go back to Canada Post and scrap Online Billing!

It's so slow... Snail-mail doesn't seem that slow anymore!

It's so slow... People are starting to go to TekSavvy!


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## Malco (Apr 18, 2003)

I'm bored with all the complaining.
Start your own ISP and do what you think is so simple or shut up.
I'm amazed with how fast the net is now, but I've been on it for longer than most of you. I believe some of you think what they provide is an easy task, a flip a switch, a turn a dial sort of thing. Tech is complicated and fails occasionally for all of us. If you are unhappy, switch, and spare us the rhetoric but be prepared to be disappointed again.


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## Mississauga (Oct 27, 2001)

Malco said:


> I'm bored with all the complaining.
> Start your own ISP and do what you think is so simple or shut up.
> I'm amazed with how fast the net is now, but I've been on it for longer than most of you. I believe some of you think what they provide is an easy task, a flip a switch, a turn a dial sort of thing. Tech is complicated and fails occasionally for all of us. If you are unhappy, switch, and spare us the rhetoric but be prepared to be disappointed again.


Well stated, Malco!


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## coyoteblue (May 26, 2007)

One of worst parts of Sympatico is that they will never take blame for problems. Whenever I've had a problem it's like I have to prove that the problem is not at my end, and this, even when they must know that the problem is at their end. I would change if I could find a service with a less ugly name than acanac or teksavvy for my email addresses.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## Puccasaurus (Dec 28, 2003)

HowEver said:


> Here's one detail: if you left Bell because they throttled your torrent downloading, expect the same to happen with Teksavvy, since they are using Bell lines and Bell will 'download' throttling to you once they find you are on the system again.


Absolutely not true. I regularly use torrents and they easily max out my 5meg Teksavvy line.

Teksavvy is awesome. I don't regret switching from Rogers at all!


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## coyoteblue (May 26, 2007)

> Sympatico is routinely fast for me, when there is a problem they usually say it is somewhere in between their CO and my house, they fix it, things go back to normal/QUOTE]
> 
> Seems like we're on a different planet when it comes to customer service. I've had Sympatico High Speed for about 7 years and not once when I've called them about disrupted service have they acknowledged a problem at their end. I've had to go through every part of my setup to see that it's ok, and it always is, and so they say escalate the issue and the next day things are fine. I should get a few weeks' refund for all the time it's been down, or the email server doesn't work. I've had to go to OpenDNS to a get reliable connection, which is ok, though I'm paying for Sympatico and still, in the last few weeks especially, my line is dropped, or the email server is down. Ooops, must be my problem. As for email, I don't want to use a web-based email program, and if I were [forced] to, I shouldn't be charged for that service.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## Chas3 (Jul 14, 2007)

ITs very slow here in London, Ontario. I just tweaked the prefrences so my internet and downloafding programs can use all of the open ports, (whenever they can come up in my router)


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## Gene B (Jul 2, 2001)

Maybe you need this;

Dear valued customer,

We thought you might find the information below on Internet Check-up useful.

We recommend that you save this email as you may find it a useful reference in the future.


Click on the image to download Internet Check-up now!

Need technical assistance? Internet Check-up can help you, 24/7!

As a valued customer of SympaticoTM Internet service from Bell, we would like your online experience to be enjoyable. That's why we've introduced Internet Check-up, our FREE and latest all-in-one support tool. Internet Check-up is the fast and easy way to fix your online problems, right from home, 24/7. It can diagnose and resolve common connectivity problems, email issues, security or software problems. It also enables you to communicate with a Technical Support Agent in real time via the online chat feature. This way, you don't have to wait in a queue when calling for assistance. To learn more and take advantage of the Internet Check-up features, please click on the following link and download Internet Check-up now: Bell: Internet Check-up


We thank you for choosing Bell.

Sincerely,

Sympatico Customer Services

For service bulletins, technical, billing or general inquiries related to your Sympatico service, Bell: Internet - customer support centre

Please do not reply to this email, as we are not able to respond to messages sent to this address. If you have any questions or comments regarding this message or your Sympatico service, please visit: Contact us- bell.ca

Sympatico is a trade-mark of Bell Canada.


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## iMouse (Mar 1, 2008)

Will do, just as soon as I finish hitting my thumb with this hammer.


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