I don’t like using the “S” word when referring to a company, but in this case I feel it’s appropriate. I have complained before about Bell-Aliant’s service, and how it took over a year to get things straightened out:
A little bit of searching and I found the e-mail of one of Bell Aliant’s VP’s and sent my story, with links to my blog. Within 24 hours, Aliant had delivered:
- an apology directly from a VP
- a rebate on the High Speed Ultra service for which I paid
- a year’s worth of free Ultra service
Unfortunately, what I received from Aliant has almost no value. First of all, Aliant’s service does not work with Skype, my preferred VoIP application.
Secondly, Aliant’s Ultra service comes with free “TV on your PC”, but this service hasn’t worked at all for 3 weeks, and my requests for help remain unanswered.
All I can say is, “Buyer Beware”, and choose an alternative.
Update: I never received a response from Aliant’s technical support regarding TV on my PC, but my son suggested that I roll back Windows Media Player, and after two rollbacks (to v. 9) it now works, in spite of Aliant’s statement that the service works with Version 9 “or higher”. Still no joy with Skype.
Update 2: It seems that other telco monopolies are blocking traffic.
When I moved to New Brunswick in 2001 I chose Aliant’s high-speed service.
It turned out to be an unusual and backward form of ADSL offering speeds less than half that or normal ADSL. The equipment didn’t work properly and I couldn’t get service.
This told me that Aliant was a small-market operator run by parochial gnomes that would never offer up-to-date service. The blocking of Skype is a perfect example of how such companies think.
I switched within a couple of months to Rogers and have had no problems with internet access since then (aside from a DNS hiccup a couple years ago that was cleared up after a complaint).
Hey Harold,
Switch to Eastlink and be done with those people that squashed any vision that NBTel may have had.
Mike
Thanks, Mike; but first I want Aliant, and potential customers, to understand how bad their service is.
How long has your son been part of Aliant’s paid technical support team?