What about number portability ??

Posts: 336 · Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 5:14 pm Post subject:

Bell (keeping it simple) has the phone system totally messed up with the way they have things divided. It's all to fill their pockets with more money. I live in Gatineau, which gobbled up 4 other cities 2 years ago due to amalgamation. The 4 cities are Aylmer, Hull, Buckingham and Masson-Angers. I used to live in Aylmer, but now I live in Gatineau due to the amalgamation. None of these communities are very far apart from each other, however it is still long distance for me to call from Aylmer to the old Gatineau sector. Even though we are all one big city now, Bell still charges toll to call these places. Yet I could call Ottawa, and some of the places I called within Ottawa were much further away (many miles further) than calling other areas of Gatineau where I live! Bell charges long distance to call people within your own city. Bell's tactics are one of the chief reasons I switched to Vonage. I don't have to worry about any of that stuff anymore. Ottawa, which is further away from Buckingham than Aylmer is, was always free to call from Buckingham, but Aylmer was long distance. What a scam they've got going.

This has hit the newspapers many times, but multi-billion dollar Bell couldn't care. What are a few thousand unhappy customers?

Posts: 188 · Posted: Thu May 19, 2005 5:18 pm Post subject:

You tell 'em DarKev! They're not called Hell Canada and Helus for nothing! Twisted Evil

Posts: 508 · Posted: Fri May 20, 2005 4:16 pm Post subject:

I'm surprised that Bell didn't change that problem..

I have a friend, who moved into a house, (now this was about 20years ago, when I was very small, lol) anyways, they bought a farm, and the ppl that lived there before, had actually paid to have their phone line switched to become a Drumbo number, but all his neighbours were innerkip (these are very tiny villages) anyways, drumbo was LD to innerkip, and to everyone they knew back in Woodstock.. well, they fought with Bell for over 10 years to get this resolved, bell made up credits and stuff for them, gave them a $25/mo credit towards a cell phone, so they could use it to call woodstock locally, they did do alot for them, they even got them a long-range cordless phone and put a second line at the closest farms house, but the phone didn't work good, so it lasted about a week..

anyways, after the 10years of fighting, they went to one of those "help me" guys on the 6pm news, in Kitchener, the story hit the air and the next day they had a call form bell saying by the next week Drumbo would be a local call to woodstock.. lol.. and it was..

it took 10 years, but they finally caved and made their exchange a local call.. lol..

on a side note, I have a Bell Mobility Cell phone and have had it for about 7 years, never had a problem with them, the few small issues I had fixed free of charge to me.. but then some ppl just have horror stories..

Posts: 336 · Posted: Sun May 22, 2005 1:21 am Post subject:

Yup. It is because of my Bell Mobility cell phone which I currently have why I turned so badly on Bell. I have nothing to do with them except for my cell phone now, and that contract expires in December, so 6 or 7 more months and I'm free from the clutches of Bell. I would never sign another contract with Bell for anything. Only 5 months after signing this 2 year mobility contract, my prices went crazy and I've been fighting with them ever since. They have given me credits, but not until I write letters to them complaining about the charges on my bill. For instance, I have unlimited weekends and evenings as part of my package. Without notification, they decided to take that off of my plan even though I'm in the midst of a locked-in 2-year contract. Their response? They say they are permitted to do this to plans even if you sign a 2-year agreement. However I am not allowed to break out of it. They've also removed my voicemail from my phone, and at one point started charging me for Call Display which was supposed to be free on my plan.

It has been a complete nighmare dealing with them, and I have not had anyone on the phone in customer service who was pleasant.

How do they stay in business?

They've got a lot of loyal customers for some reason. I moved here from Nova Scotia in 2001 and joined their cell phone service right away. Perhaps I did not have an account with them long enough to be respected. I am not sure, but I will not give them one more red penny if I can help it.

Posts: 4 · New Forum Member Joined: May 13, 2005 Posts: 4

Earlier this year I received an email notification from Vonage stating that Local Number Portability was now available in Canada. What the advert didn't say was that they had to first acquire (purchase) numbers from Telus before this could become a reality. I keep checking to see if my local telus number can be moved to Vonage, but so far no such luck! I am wondering if anyone in Alberta has been able to transfer their number as yet!
Any idea when Vonage's false notification will become valid!!!!

Posts: 188 · Posted: Sun May 29, 2005 3:50 pm Post subject:

Local Number Portability is only available if Vonage has numbers in the same rate centre as your current Telus number. I believe that this is only true in Calgary and Edmonton rate centres right now. If you provide your area code and prefix, I can tell what rate centre your Telus number belongs to if you don't already know.

Posts: 188 · Posted: Tue May 31, 2005 11:15 pm Post subject:

miket603 wrote:

I would look at changing my number if I were you. Vonage is still in growth mode in Canada and there are still some major centres that don't have local numbers available. I suspect that they will roll out local numbers in other centres first before going out to the suburbs.

Whoops!

Hold your horses! They made a liar out of me! Check out this post. http://www.vonage-forum.com/ftopic6139.html

You might be in luck yet!