# Safari users: Surfed to bell.ca lately?



## shoe (Apr 6, 2005)

I went over to the bell.ca web site using safari and I got a we dont suport your browser error page.

WOW!

I rememeber back in school when they were telling us when you design a web page and it wont work or take too long for someone to view they will not wait around long.

If the bell people think I have the time to click on my firefox icon and retype their www they are mistaken I dont have that sort of time, I mean I need to go and complain about it 1st!

shoe


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

.


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## guytoronto (Jun 25, 2005)

I noticed this too the other day. It took me a moment to, but then I realized you can just skip this warning.

Really poor programming on Bell's part.


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## Jeepdude (Mar 3, 2005)

"Of course you can enter the site but be aware that your experience may be less than optimal."

Great quote. Not only does this describe what you'll experience on their site, but the experience of dealing with them as well...


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## Pelao (Oct 2, 2003)

> "Of course you can enter the site but be aware that your experience may be less than optimal."
> 
> Great quote. Not only does this describe what you'll experience on their site, but the experience of dealing with them as well...


Good one. :clap: 
Sadly, so true.


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## bryanc (Jan 16, 2004)

I just wrote them a nastygram on the subject of standards compliance.

The more people who complain, the more likely they are to change their policies.

Cheers


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## DR Hannon (Jan 21, 2007)

I did not have a problem. Is anyone else using an intel mac?


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## pmoyniha (Dec 13, 2004)

I've had tremendous problems with the bell.ca website. A while back, I was set up to view my bills online, and I switched to mac, and suddenly none of them would load. A bunch of their forms don't work even if you skip past the warning as was mentioned above (or at least they didnt last time I tried). The bell people told me they were working on it, we exchanged emails for about 2 months, and finally they said they would not be supporting Safari any time soon. For this and many, many other reasons, I avoid Bell at all costs. They have run the show in this country for too long (as far as communications are concerned anyway).


EDIT: fixed a couple spelling errors


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

DR Hannon said:


> I did not have a problem. Is anyone else using an intel mac?



intel based black book and i get the very same bell error message
less money on beavers and more money on web programming


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## Oakbridge (Mar 8, 2005)

When are these companies going to release that what they are doing is the same as having someone stand at their front doors and count the potential customers walking in the door.

Then stopping the 20th in line and telling them that they don't want their business.


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## yeeeha (Feb 16, 2007)

Bell and the Canadian government treat Mac users as second-class citizens.

Using Safari doesn't get you anywhere to view your Sympatico bills. It only goes as far as "My Bell - bills & services" and the arrow keeps spinning in a circle.

The same with Camino. It gets you to the same webpage where Safari reaches. I had to alter the identity of Camino as Firefox to see my Sympatico bills.

Another website that does not give Mac users the same treatment as PC users is the Passport Office.

By the way, why does Bell Sympatico bills me different amount in the last three months? I have been a Sympatico subscriber for many years, so I don't have the monthly download limit.


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## RunTheWorldOnMac (Apr 23, 2006)

Intel McBook; got error. Found this before emailing them and telling them they are idiots!


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Question:

I'm a Mac user and want to be able to use all the features on bell.ca. Why am I having problems?
print this page
e-mail me this page
Answer:

Unfortunately, bell.ca does not officially support the Mac browser and operating system combination. Currently, the overwhelming majority of bell.ca customers and visitors use Internet Explorer 7.0, Internet Explorer 6.0, Firefox 1.5 and Firefox 2.0 on a Windows XP operating system. 

Despite the lack of official Mac browser/OS support, bell.ca has been coded using W3C standards. That means the majority of pages will work as intended on the Mac platform. The My Bell section of the site, however, may pose a challenge for Mac users. We suggest using Firefox version 2.0 for the Mac to take advantage of the logged-in portion (My Bell) of the site. 

If you're unable to log in through the homepage, go to www.bell.ca/login and enter your bell.ca username and password. 

We do evaluate site performance using a Mac OS/Safari combination, but we do not do extensive testing.


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## monokitty (Jan 26, 2002)

MACSPECTRUM said:


> intel based black book and i get the very same bell error message
> *less money on beavers and more money on web programming*


LMFAO. :lmao: Well put!

I agree, the Bell web site is ****. I can only get it to work with FireFox on my Mac(s).


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## cap10subtext (Oct 13, 2005)

*Been there, sent that....*



bryanc said:


> I just wrote them a nastygram on the subject of standards compliance.
> 
> The more people who complain, the more likely they are to change their policies.
> 
> Cheers


One of the 300 reasons I left bell. I sniped at them a year ago because back then the only browser they said they officially supported was IE, and when I linked from their website I as greeted by "Sorry Microsoft is no longer developing IE for mac. Thanks for your interest, use safari." I was completely frustrated. I agree. Lose the beavers. Unless you can train them to come up with better customer support options.


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## The Doug (Jun 14, 2003)

Ah, the corporate mediocrity continues.

I ran into problems with the Sympatico customer self-service web page a couple of years ago; it didn't work at all with Safari after Bell did some revisions to the site. I e-mailed them a couple of complaints immediately, clearly explaining that I use OS X and Safari. I soon received two copy & paste responses telling me how to properly set up IE in Windows.  

I'm so glad I freed myself of the Bell shackles last July, and signed up with Videotron cable. The service has thus far been flawless, totally stable, and the customer service website works perfectly from one end to the other no matter what browser I use. :clap:


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## DR Hannon (Jan 21, 2007)

I am now loking to change my internet from Bell. I am also not willing to go to Rogers. Any other good ones near Woodstock ON?


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## greensuperman32 (Mar 28, 2005)

DR Hannon said:


> I am now loking to change my internet from Bell. I am also not willing to go to Rogers. Any other good ones near Woodstock ON?


goto canadianisp.com to find other providers in your area.


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## Caillou (Jun 9, 2003)

Time for Sabia to go and to be replaced with a marketing-focus leader. Finance-driven CEOs have run their term at Bell. Bell's monopoly position is long gone. The compettive landscape has changed tremendously. The Bell brand -once a true leader in Canada-- has definitely lost its luster, thanks to a myriad of small details like the one discussed in this thread. (Customer service at Bell could be another subject for another thread...)

I used to have pretty much all my services with Bell. Now, I'm left with only my cell phone service (which is due to switch when the iPhone comes to Canada...  )

_"Bell et bien simple"_. Yeah right! Good luck Bell.


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## Mississauga (Oct 27, 2001)

iCab reports numerous illegal characters, missing end tags and java errors within Bell's splash page - no surprise.

The number of talentless web creators continues to grow and astound! Clients such as Bell only care about the "wow factor", with almost NO regard for user experience. They also assume everyone is on fast broadband, with no consideration for the overwhelmingly large population relegated to using dial-up.

It's not just Bell, but many large corporations.


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## bryanc (Jan 16, 2004)

Bell said:


> Despite the lack of official Mac browser/OS support, bell.ca has been coded using W3C standards.


If this were true, there wouldn't be a problem. Does anyone remember the URL for the page-checker that returns the errors and non-standard warnings when you feed it a web-page. I'd like to send it's output to Bell's customer support.

Cheers


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

" ... Of course you can enter the site but be aware that your experience may be less than optimal. ..."

I don't see a problem, I see brutal honesty.

"Of course when you become a Bell customer your experience will always be less than optimal".


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## Mississauga (Oct 27, 2001)

bryanc said:


> If this were true, there wouldn't be a problem. Does anyone remember the URL for the page-checker that returns the errors and non-standard warnings when you feed it a web-page. I'd like to send it's output to Bell's customer support.
> 
> Cheers


Dr. Watson, I presume?


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## Carl (Jun 7, 2003)

I never visit the site. Have you ever tried to contact Bell using the site? It's impossible. Next to Rogers, Bell must have the worst customer service in the country. I could replace Rogers easily, but I'm stuck with Bell for DSL and satellite service.


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## since84 (Jan 9, 2002)

*The 3 percent solution*

Some TV networks that offer streaming videos are unfriendly to Safari. If you complain. they say that Macs are only 3 percent of the market and not worth catering to. My answer (which doesn't impress them) is that Mercedes have about the same market percentage and you wouldn't keep them out of your parking lot!
Communication companies seem totally oblivious to communication.


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## Guest (Apr 17, 2007)

bryanc said:


> If this were true, there wouldn't be a problem. Does anyone remember the URL for the page-checker that returns the errors and non-standard warnings when you feed it a web-page. I'd like to send it's output to Bell's customer support.
> 
> Cheers


Built using W3C standards is a pretty vague statement heh. Try the W3C validator -- since they say they built it using standards.

http://validator.w3.org/

As far as "standards" go this site is about as far away from them as I could imagine.

Also their statement of 95% of their users and the browsers they run .. which means that they have clearly made it so that at least 5% of their users cannot properly access the site.

There is NO reason why they have any need to limit things in such away aside from horrible bad coding.


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## satchmo (May 26, 2005)

Hopefully talks will lead to the sale of BCE and better ownership.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070417.wbce0417/BNStory/Business/home


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## CamCanola (Jan 26, 2004)

I couldn't resist telling Bell that 95% of my online purchases are made on websites that support macs.


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## gordguide (Jan 13, 2001)

" ... Some TV networks that offer streaming videos are unfriendly to Safari. If you complain. they say that Macs are only 3 percent of the market and not worth catering to. ..."

I usually reply to these emails and CC a few other departments of the same firm. I tell them that I understand their position that a particular 3% of the market isn't worth catering to and I appreciate them being clear about whom they can and cannot afford to cater to.

I do mention, however, that I don't buy anything that isn't food, gas, utilities, building materials, or mortgage payments anywhere except online and that my annual online purchases are in the five figures.

I then thank them for their candid response, which will save me much trouble looking for something from them when they don't want to sell to me, and wish them luck in their online marketing efforts. 

I close by suggesting that if they ever do revisit the issue, that they take a moment to find out the average online spending habits and the average annual income of Mac users in comparison to PC users, and suggest that the right 3% can often be worth more than the wrong 97%. And then I might add that if you actually are being told that the Mac market is 3%, you should fire your research staff, because they are selling you five year old data and calling it new, and what is probably worse, they don't seem to be able to grasp the concept of projecting trends to exploit emerging market opportunities.


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## irontree (Oct 28, 2006)

since84 said:


> Some TV networks that offer streaming videos are unfriendly to Safari. If you complain. they say that Macs are only 3 percent of the market and not worth catering to. My answer (which doesn't impress them) is that Mercedes have about the same market percentage and you wouldn't keep them out of your parking lot!
> Communication companies seem totally oblivious to communication.


Yet more people going by market share figures rather than installed user base... Market share means nothing- not an accurate figure when trying to determine the % of mac users out there.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

In reply, do Bell flunkies record an evil laugh, attach it to an email message, and send it to you?




gordguide said:


> " ... Some TV networks that offer streaming videos are unfriendly to Safari. If you complain. they say that Macs are only 3 percent of the market and not worth catering to. ..."
> 
> I usually reply to these emails and CC a few other departments of the same firm. I tell them that I understand their position that a particular 3% of the market isn't worth catering to and I appreciate them being clear about whom they can and cannot afford to cater to.
> 
> ...


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