I don't use my cellphone very often. I am a mother of two little ones so it is just for emergencies.

Bell offers me the best coverage of any provider in my area and I am still comfortable leaving town and still being able to use it. that being said, I did get a nasty bill when I used it in the US. Be careful about that people. do it only in emergencies.

I have only had to call their customer help line once to figure out how to get more minutes on my phone. They were courteous and patient.

Some companies offer $100.00 top us for a year. It would be nice if Bell did this and I would have to remember less often to top up.

$35 activation fee waived if done at a store. Will be paying for incoming text sometime Aug. 2008. Can send text by emailing to 10digits@txt.bell.ca
$3.95 + $0.99 repeating monthly fee. If you buy a new phone with service, ask for free caller ID instead of free call waiting - vmail - call forwarding, etc.

Bell (aliant) discontinued the $100/1yr topup last December(07). I'll be going to Rogers for this as they still offer it. It works out to $8.34 per month.

I buy minute cards to top up my phone. Then when I go to use it they have taken charges off it for no reason. When I call they do not reimburse for their mistake! Very unhappy with this phone.

I purchased a phone at a Bell Store and also signed a three year contract. I have not received any level of satisfactory customer service since the day I signed my contract in May.

The information I was told at the Bell store was incorrect, which led me to have incorrect charges on my account.

I have called Bell repeatedly and spent a total of 5 1/2 hours attempting to sort out my bill.

I was then told a Customer Service manager would call me back to rectify this situation.

I missed the one call from the Customer Service manager and have now left a total of 4 messages and she has never called me back.

I phoned Bell again this month (September) because they have still not adjusted my phone bill and the customer service agent I spoke to was exceptionally rude, telling me it was too difficult to go through all of the charges on my bill, " I should just read it."

I was with Fido before and would not recommend switching to Bell- it has been tremendouly inconvenient. The customer service agents at Fido are accomodating and actually seem like they would like to find some solution.

im not really likingg my service much.

My daughter has a prepaid cell phone and was just informed she is negative $21.83. I don't understand how that could happen and cannot reach anyone human to explain it to me. What is the point in prepaid if they let you go over?

were are all minutes going wen im not on the phone please explain?

bell sucks it always did and i will never use their products again

ya I know.....I top up like to 25 dollars .......make like 2 local calls like for 3 minutes each, and I check my balance and its like 3 dollars left!!!!!!. Whats up with that????? Im tryin Rogers

Get your phones set to non roaming, you're picking up other towers and Bell may be charging you more than they should. This is strange as I thought they all shared their systems.

bell is crap.,,would have voted NO stars!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

When I signed up with Bell Mobility a number of years ago, they had a monthly $10.00 card which suited us perfectly. They then discontinued it for a monthly $15.00 card, which was considerably more than we needed. I opted for the 60 day $25.00 card. Having accumulated quite a large sum on our account (which could cover roaming charges when we go to the States) I sought to protect that amount by signing up for the automatic top up.
To my dismay I discovered that they will top it up only when the account balance gets below $5.00 and not on the top-up date as I had expected. I lost all the money that was in the account. Since then I have kept close track, but the other day I went in for some surgery and a day afterward as I was recovering, I forgot to top up and lost over $90.00 on my account. I have a question! IF THEY CAN ADVISE ME OF THE DAY THAT MY TIME EXPIRES, WHY CAN THEY NOT AUTOMATICALLY TOP UP MY ACCOUNT ON THAT DAY? ANSWER: THEY EXPECT PEOPLE TO FORGET! IT'S A MONEY GRAB! IT'S A SCAM OF THE HIGHEST ORDER!
I like Bell's coverage and pricing policies. I HATE THEIR TOP-UP SYSTEM.

I have had prepaid services first with Aliant Mobility and then with Bell Mobility for quite a number of years. As far as coverage and pricing policies, I have compared Bell to other wireless providers and I think they offer the best rates, for my needs anyways. Before December 2007, they did offer a service that gave you 5-day warning to top up your account, which was great. But now that they have removed this service I have to agree with Ralph that it does seem to be a money grab - that they are hoping people will forget to top-up. I also am not happy with them removing the option of paying $100. for one year - I too may switch to Rogers for this very reason.

Bell Mobility practices are highly unethical and their level of service is non existent. This carrier should be avoided at alll costs. The sooner we bury this mobile carrier the better off the communication industry will be.
It is indeed unfortunate that i can not rate them at MINUS 5.

when bell mobility prepaid cut off my service due to text messaging i got very angry and will go back to bell to get my cellphone activated

Beware - "Automatic Top Up" does NOT mean that your account is automatically topped up when it is less than $5. At midnight one night, Bell detected that my account had reached its expiry date and reduced the balance to zero. At midnight the next night, Bell detected my account had less than $5 and automatically topped it up. For those 24 hours we had no phone service. No big problem except for my wife who was stuck in a snowbank with no phone. Surely this could be avoided with a minor system change.

Bell is a disgusting company with no respect for their customers at all. Constantly I found false charges on my bills, random added "features" I had to pay for etc etc. There is no excuse for the prices companies in Canada ask for except Bell having a chokehold on our wireless networks. Together Bell and Rogers are responsible for Canadians having to pay 10x as much for our phones. They easily could do like the rest of the world and not charge for incoming, remove long distance / roaming (most countries you can use it anywhere in the country, area codes mean nothing on cellphones) etc etc.
I only pray the government steps in and shuts down their disgusting business practices akin to the old Microsoft.

I live in the city of Kingston (Ontario) and can get only a 'roaming' signal on my Mobility phone at my home. All along the Lake Ontario/St. Lawrence River border, Bell coverage is spotty to nonexistent. I only keep this dreadful pay-as-you-go as it entitles me to $5 for 1000-minutes long distance on my land line - and seems to pick up a signal when on major highways in case of breakdown. We purchased a second phone from Verizon for the USA which has very good service. We pay $100 a year (top up once a year!) and recently, when in Sooke BC, we could use it (strong signal off Washington state), but not our Bell Mobility. My husband talked to his brother in the eastern USA for nothing as Verizon to Verizon calls are free. If you frequently travel in the USA ditch the Canadian cell once across the border and buy a US one - far cheaper!

i can activate my phone

I rated one star because i HATE HATE HATE my prepaid plan with bell mobility.I get 250 texts a month incomming and outgoing which means i only get 150 a month to send. So once I got over my texting i usually still have like 9-6 dollars left on my phone. But people still text me! So it comes off my BALANCE. Causing ME to only have minutes for about two weeks every month! Every other service provider DOES NOT charge you / take off texting for INCOMMING text messages! I HATE BELL MOBILITY . On top of THAT i get all these hidden fees that come of my minutes when i activate them so if i buy a 15 dollar card i have 9 minutes! Thats REDICULOUS. It used to be six! Thats like what six to nine dollars taken off every month? They are sleazy. And the worse part about it is I can't even switch to another service provider because my phone isn't compatiable to them! I will fight to the death about this one with telus.
I love my phone.. but i hate my serice provider. I dont care if my phone isnt compatiable with telus's service. It WILL be.

as soon as they get you in the claws of their contract they do absolutely nothing to make their loyal customers happy. i have been a loyal customer with them for YEARS and they have done nothing to make me happy, nothing to help me out, and given me nothing but wrong answers at every turn. worst company to deal with ever. Plus their phones are rediculously expensive with no cheaper options even if you have been with them forever. and a horrible protection plan.
Overall . . . complete crap all around.

have had nothing but trouble with bell from the start. horrible customer service, and nothing but expensive phones even for loyal, longtime customers. if i ever get out of my contract with them (they have renewed it on me twice, without informing me) i will never deal with them again.

This is fun with customers because all the time every one explaining their own plan they are not tring to reach at the priviously offered by some one else fome Bell Mobility

Why can't I select 0 stars? If you're an existing customer and need to replace your phone (because its broken -- my case) you pay full retail price + $15 transfer fee. If you're a new customer, you get the phone for ~40% of the retail price. They just don't care about keeping a customer. If you want to keep your number and need a new phone you have 2 options: 1) pay the ridiculous retail price for a crappy prepaid phone running on an outdated shitty network or 2) leave the company. Otherwise say bye bye to your number. Also I'd rather deal with indian english customer support then french canadian rude customer support. Goodbye bell. Hello rogers hell. How is it that the phone was invented by a Canadian, yet we have the worst phone providers???

when i needed a phone replacement, i was told to get a phone from ebay or pay the retail price. what kind of company tells you to get a phone from ebay?

DO NOT GET BELL PREPAID, THEY DON'T HAVE ANY CUSTOMER SERVICE WHATSOEVER. I'VE BEEN ON THE PHONE WITH 4 REPS AND NOT ONE COULD HELP WITH ANYTHING, I WAS SIMPLY TRYIN TO LINK MY ACCOUNT TO MY ONLINE BELL.CA PROFILE, NO ONE COULD HELP. TRIED TO DO IT ONLINE SENT 4 TXT WITH THE SAME CODE TO ACTIVATE IT WHICH DIDNT WORK. WEBSITE SAID TO CALL CUST SERVICE (WHICH IS BASICALLY PRESS 1 TO ADD MONEY PRESS TO ADD FEATURES AND THATS IT), AND CUST SERVICE SAID TO GO ON WEBSITE. REDUNDANT OR WHAT. I ASKED FOR A SUPERVISOR AND THEY SAY THAT THE SUPERVISOR CAN'T TALK TO ME. BEST BET GOR WITH VIRGIN MOBILE, YOU'LL ALLWAYS GET SOMEONE THAT SPEAKS PLAIN ENGLISH, OR EVEN TELUS OR ROGERS ARE FINE.

I was a contract customer for 2.5 years and a prepaid customer with Bell. They started out great and went downhill fast. I have many complaints from billing errors, phone shut offs with bill always paid, ridiculous fees. Too many to list, avoid them like the plague. Arrrg I still get mad thinking of them!

would not even give them a one star, lousy customer service, I spent hours each month trying to straighten out my bill, finally gave up and went with Telus and have not had a problem since.

I wouldnt give a single star if I could.I think -10 stars is more appropriate.BELL SUCKS.I am a 2 + year phone holder with bell made a simple mistake did not add funds to my phone on the due date til the next morning.Even bought the card the day before thinking it would not be an issue and lost all my accumulated time $$$$$$$$$ all thrown into some JACKASSES poket to order lobster.This is how they treat there customers then they dont deserve us.I am now calling rogers and setting up an account with them.BELL CAN KISS MY ASS!!!Lets see if they will delete this.Freedom of speech and this is my veiw of bell not speeking for everyone.

bell the best hand down and have good phones

I would definitely give it less than one star if I could. I've got the automatic topup plan which comes out of my credit card. I'm not even using my phone much and there's $90 off my cc bill I got today. I tried to get into my account which I had set up with Aliant but can't do it because of course now there IS no Aliant, only Bell Aliant. Passwords and usernames don't work now. I tried to set it up again but couldn't even with the "help" of an online chatter who is obviously second-language-english. He/she didn't have a clue what I wanted to do so was basically no help at all. They sent me directions on how to link my cellphone bill to my parents' Bell TV bill! Big help, huh?

i hate you guys you have a really bad service i have a cell phone from yous and i put 55 dollars on and you guys took it now i have none i am going to tell everyone what you did.

I "was" interested in bell mobility before I read all of your comments. Thank you. I feel well informed and will not be contacting Bell. I have to wonder "do Bell have staff assigned to reading this commentary"? Because if they had don't you think they would "try" to change their rotten practices and improve customer service to their loyal customers. I am horrified at some of the comments that I've just read.

Thieves Never Never Bell again

bell phone i s the mobile phone is clear when you talk to someone

I HATE BELL SERVICE..PEOPLE STOP BUYING INTO ANYTHING THEY ARE BEHIND ONE STAR MEANS NO STARS

i dont know about bell but try pcmobile.... i have had one of their phones for 3 years and great customer service i am very pleased with it.. they also have some texting deals-$10 a month unlimited txts its great : D

I am a user of the propaid cell phone, served not so bad.
Questoion: is the $100/year plan still available?

Since when does it cost to recive an incoming call on your window time... FFS I JUST LOST 50$

Something fishy is up with Bell after many years with no problems on their prepaid service.

Money has been vaporizing out of my prepaid account. On Sep 4 I had $11.71 on my phone. No calls, no text after I checked my balance and I turned my phone off. The next morning at 8am I have a balance of $-9.04. Completely impossible!

It was a Saturday , so I emailed customer service (no customer service for lowly prepaid on the weekend). On Sep 6 low and behold there is $15 on the phone and customer service emails me to tell me so.....but wait....a few days later I check my credit card and find out they have charged me not only the $15 but tacked on the extra $9.04 which I don't even owe them!

Some programmer is having great fun sucking money out of our accounts! This is fraud, pure and simple.

Emailed a request to see my records for the last year and they flat out said we don't have any. As if they don't keep track on prepaid. Was advised to call and talk to a live person. Based on what I've read I don't have much hope for a refund.

Stay away from Bell!!

Forgot to set the rating. It should be -5 stars...just like my negative balance!! (See my Something fishy story)

i was goin to purcase a bell pre-paid phone but after readin what they have done to you guys theres no way.i've been with telus for a few years no and they have been very good to be.they have messaging 2500 meaning 2500 out going and unlimited incoming for 10 bucks a month.

Purchased a bell pay-as-you go in August in AB. At the beginning of Sept there was in excess of $17.00 credit on my phone with expiration for 9th October. Since the second week I have been unable to receive or send calls, because a recording at the Call Centre say my balance overdue is over $34.00.

How can this be? I did not purchase a post-paid phone.

I cannot get through to bell

Bell Mobility service reps LIE to make a sale. I got a prepaid cell for my daughter for college. I specifically asked that if the prepaid amount runs out then the phone should go dead. Instead, because of a crank caller causing lots of missed calls, the account is negative. We had no help from Bell and the only option was to report the phone as stolen so that we could close the account. I could not find any other way to close the account. Now she will get a good ole "land line" for her rez room.

Take the time to understand how the phone works before bashing it.
1) if someone pranks you and you dont pick up your not charged.
2)the account can only go into a negative if your mobile browser session runs too long, you have features like text messaging added on etc.
3)If your phones stolen they shouldnt be giving you anything back. The phones your responsibility its not bells fault you lost your phone. stop blaming the comapny and blame yourself.

I was traveling across Canada from Nova Scotia to Alberta in September. While in Quebec, Ontario and the Prairies, I was unable to use my cell phone, although I had already prepaid for the service. Why? While in Quebec I was constantly relayed to Telebec.

bell bought solo I want my time back I am not rich. They stole 20.00 from me for just downloading a 3.50 song rip off I want my money back or my time

Service good. Terms bad. Problem is my balance is $1000, so I'm stuck. When the day comes that they change my terms(like when they eliminated the $10 cards), I will take it to small claims court for my balance

i'm with several other people here - i am a legit rogers customer that is unhappy with their mobile service and was debating a pre-paid bell account after contract expiration - not now.....will stick with a good ole land line via vonage on the home internet connection thank you very much.

i think that you should have a phone that has unlimited text messaging and have 4 hours of talk time for only 10-15 dollars a month!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I live in a rural community in Newfoundland that does not have cell phone service. I have two prepaid phones with Bell Aliant. I usually top up one phone on the 28th of the each month. This past month when I went to top up on the 28th I was informed that my service was suspened as I should now have topped up on the 27th. As a result I lost over a $70 credit.

I am also a cabin owner in the coverage area of Springdale, NL but when we are at the cabin and need to make a call we have to call long distance!

As a result of my account being suspened on one cell phone I will no longer use this phone and once the minutes on the second phone are used up I will NOT renew with Bell Aliant.

As for my home phone, when East Link comes through with their phone system/package I will be getting rid of my Aliant home phone.

The customer service stinks and the cell phone service is extremely poor. I am fed up with Bell Aliant!

have had a plan with bell and told them I was moving out of province, rep told me my contract was over at the end of the month anyway. A year later they caught up with me and was asking for a years worth of costs for something I did not use. I suggested they listen to the recording they do of all the calls they have. Said they dont keep them and just use random ones for quality control. I told them see you in court and never heard from them again.
Daughter has a pay as you go with bell and everytime she goes to put some money on it she is always in the neg. today she was -7.50 put a 15.00 card on it, sent one text and received one, she was -1.00 after just that little of use in ten minutes of getting the card on it. They are the worst provider that I have ever used. I think she should try a koodoo or something. I have a virgin now and they are expensive for min to min but they dont go in the hole or anything. stay clear of bell and aliant

Same thing, -5 stars. After my 3 year contact was finally over I called in to cancle my plan, but the rep said that If they switch my account to prepaid for a $25 fee, I would get a startup airtime of $50. He gave me his rep ID. *** Never got the credit, got another bill from bell for $40 even after it was all paid off. **** Then as a prepaid custoemr, voice mail never worked and after 30 call to all the rude French Quebec people, who do meen things like turn call forwarding on on your phonr without telling you, I just gave up. I hate bell.

Bell sucks! Their sole function for "pay as you go" is to steal your money if you don't "top up" in time. If I actually did the things to Bell that I want to I'd go to jail!

Like the rest of the people i would give bell a -5 star. the service was very bad so i payed out my contract and sill tryed to send me monthlty bills after i payed them out never recoment bell to any body big croocks

would be negative five, but no option for that. when I was getting dinged for some daily "premium text message" that I never signed up for, they refused to investigate, nor credit, nor stop.....legally can't believe this is allowed....

Thank goodness WIND will be another player.....this week....here I come....

I'm not unhappy with the $25/2mo scheme, which I'm apparently "grandparented" for - I don't see it advertised any more. But I'd echo Ralph above that the inability to schedule automatic top-up to preserve accumulated time is wrong. If I remember to manually top up via Express on the last day of the 60 day window the time will accumulate, but I lost over $200 missing it once and having everything expire.

I'm looking at PetroCanada which seems to have a $50/6mo scheme that would work for me, though I'm leery of the Rogers network as compared with Bell's very good one.

florida

I bought 3 prepaids for my kids for christmas and they are still unable to use them because it says that they are in the minus. It said on the package that a $50 start up credit was included and that was why we bought the pre-paids (Cause the salesman said that we would not need to purchase any minutes until the $50 credit was used up)well, apparently the credit was used up sometime during the activation process....very disappointed... We tried to get Customer Service, but lo and behold,they are not open during the weekend and self serve is a big joke with only options to add funds and whatever else the other one was... it wasn't an option to speak to a real person. After reading the comments here, I am really regretting this "Christmas Present" purchase...

I just got a new prepaid phone and the easiest way to get it activated was to call the number on the box (Human rep.)15.00 credit immediately, then 35.00 2 business days later...most plans incl call display. I don't use it very often so the pay by the minute works well for me. incl voice mail too.

Remember you can always forward complaints to http://www.ccts-cprst.ca/en/ for investigation and possible arbitration.

I just bought the Reveal from Bestbuy.ca because it was cheap ($20). I wish I would have found this board first and learned of the problems that others are having. I guess I write the $20 off now and save me a headache in the long run.
I currently have a Telus prepaid phone and there is no $6/month caller id charge and the service has been top-self as I have moved out west and back with no costly cell phone fees.
I don't know what BELL is thinking, but they have a POOR service reputation. I have been part of, and present for, 3 occasions where BELL service/rep staff have been dishonest. It appears that the organization is overwhelmed by modern business practices. What kind of management structure must they have to think poor service, dishonesty and gouging are standard operating procedure. Maybe not standard but definitely OP.
I realize that BELL has been a pioneer globally in telecommunications and generally a Canadian organization that all Canadians should be proud of. However, this personal communications side of the business is eroding that reputation at a torrent pace.
I have heard from former employees that BELL feels they are being treated unfairly by the CRTC and competition from internet based communication companies, and this may be true. But, instead of embracing the current competitive environment and working towards a stronger organization unit they have emerged as incompetent dinosaurs.
To BELL: Learn from companies like Apple and Telus and make Customer Service priority 1. Take note of companies like Dell and yourself and your India experiment. Don't sub, you can't effectively control quality. People in Canada do have high disposable incomes but this does not mean that will tolerate being nickel and dimmed for a service offered elsewhere. And who knows maybe once you clean up your act people will be willing to pay a premium for a premium service.

same as everyone else, negative 5 from me. just like Arnold up there said, the $50 activation credit has still not kicked in after 7 days!?!?!?!?! this makes for very disappointed children!!!
I'll never buy another bell product again.

I bought the phone from bestbuy , activated it, changed to 10 cent a minute plan, and had no problems. I had them block internet access, where I think that most of the charges come from. They have better plans than other carriers

We've had 1 rogers prepaid and 1 bell prepaid phone for many years now. I wouldn't say service was better or worse on either one. No real problems with either.

We're about to replace both ancient phones with new ones, and we've been content enough to stick to the same carriers, one of each (better chance of good coverage when travelling cross country:-).

Both now offer $100 for 365 days (that really simplifies things), and that is the route we'll be going. I think rogers is eeking out ahead with their 3 different by-the-minute plans (I'll be doing the 1 cent weekend/weeknight plan, 39 cents the rest of the time), and $1 a day internet browsing day-pass. Bell will hopefully follow suit to compete.

I like the Bell phone selection better.

Bell has good reception - that is all positive I have to say re: Bell. Be warned dealing with Bell is not what it seems. You should realize that if you cancel with less than one year left on a contract that you will be charged $600 per phone. Bell takes no responsibility whatever for their accounting errors - if they make error they take no responsibility for it. Beware - your credit rating can and will be affected. Bell one Bill, Bell Mobility and Bell Home phone do not have access to each others accounts. They use cheap "out of country" labour (India) - people who will not/cannot and, in my opinion are not to assist - just keep on hold and keep transferring - those with complaints will tire and "go away". On the other hand Rogers allows you to speak to real people, working Canadians, who speak English - you get up-front answers. Star Choice - fantistic service - Canadian. Before you "buy bell" ask around about after service. Ask if they employ Canadians.

pauline v

Registered for my prepaid service 2 weeks ago, was supposed to be $10.75 a month for the 10cents plan. There was an error in my registration and I've called numerous times, they told me to fix the issue using bell ecare however their site isnt working. Went to the bell store and they told me to call customer service. It's been 2 weeks and they are refusing to fix it. Wasted money buying the phone and paying for the plan......that I cannot even use. Bell prepaid is the biggest ripoff. Going back to Telus.

Bell does not deserve even one star. I had 20 dollars left, with unlimited messaging at $15 a month already set up and no calls. But my balance kept slipping and now i am at 0 dollars! Major inconvience by a horrible company

Again. Ask Bell to block internet access and this should solve your balance problem. I also just found out that they have a $100 card that is good for 365 days

i found really cheap [url=http://www.wowprepaid.pl/pre-paid-world-of-warcraft-60-dni-eu.html] wow prepaids [/url] look in polish website

My daughter got accused of using the web browser on her phone when I know she didn't. So I was charged 80 bucks and no disputing it according to aliant. I didn't even know there was web browser on the phone. Then they tried to sell me web browser for 10 bucks. What a rip off.

i had a prepaid for emergency's and kept adding min every month it was upto $600 i was 10 min late adding new min and lost them all. called and was told too bad bell is going down hill with customer service. Not to mention their IVR SUCKS!!!

I hate bell. I wish they would crash and burn.

I just canceled my contract, after numerous problems they could care less about. Worst company ever! Stay away as all they want is your money.