Tek Savvy - Not so DSL or Customer Service Savvy

I switched from cable to DSL Internet with Tek Savvy.

I like that there are a few 'real' alternatives in the Canadian market vs. the oligopolistic thieves that charge 2 x what the real service is, in addition to a focus on creating fees vs. products. But I digress.

In this capacity, the market for the smaller guys like Tek Savvy and Accanet is their to gain.

So - for the most part things have been ok with Tek Savvy till I switched to DSL.

This is the deal. As much as I dislike anything associated with Bell, I now have to deal with them through a) a leased line and b) Tek Savvy makes you rent, not buy, rent a Bell modem for their higher bandwidth length. In this regard Tek Savvy @ FAIL.

More disappointing is the actual service and customer service. It kacks out on a daily basis.

When I call support, I'm on hold for 30+ minutes if calling in the evening. They have a series of looped messages and songs instead of just the radio. I think they should play Tek Savvy IVR and 'on hold' loops in Guantanamo Bay as a way to keep prisoners in line.

For the 2nd time in 2 weeks, I've been on hold for more than an hour, the first time I actually fell asleep!

How bad is their service that their tech group is soooo tapped out they can't handle the calls? Unless they have the smallest tech support group in the GTA.

In any event, I would NOT recommend DSL from Tek Savvy for the following reasons:
- need to rent (not buy) a Bell modem
- need to pay Bell for the leased line
- service is unreliable as is the modem
- when you need help you will have to wait longer than that battery in your cell phone can support.
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Tried again tonight. Here is a snapshot of their service. I'm downstairs in a house, old victorian. Modem on the 2nd floor at the top of the stairs:

Bear in mind I'm paying for a 15mps/10mps service.
Attached to the cable it's pretty good. But hey, when you have to rent Bell's modem for Tek Savvy's service, this is the result!!!!!

Not particularly Tech Savvy I'd say.

Nokia Lumina 610 and Windows Mobile - The perfect combo to great something bad

So after the experiment with the LG Social P505 ended in me selling it because I was tired of:

1. force quitting phone calls and apps 2-5 times a day
2. not being able to answer a call
3. squinting with such a small screen
4. type horrible txts because the screen is so small
5. tired of waiting 30 seconds to find a contact

I looked elsewhere. I thought I'd tried a Nokia again.

Alas, what were they thinking when pairing with Microsoft. It's like that said - lets find a company with little to know care, appreciation or talent for user interface, coupled with security flaws and absolutely no credibility in the mobile space - AND MAKE THEM OUR PARTNER!! 

Nokia stock $3 and change. Apple, somewhere north of $500.

Duh.

Ok, Nokia, learn your lesson yet?

Like most things Microsoft, the user interface is unintuitive. Add to that experience it not working, plus a platform that no one buys apps for, why would anyone buy a nokia!!! Really - smartphones are no longer novel. At the very least Microsoft and Nokia could have copied what was good out there and left it at that. It's as if they got together and said, how can make something next to useless and completely unintuitive and not user friendly. Basically, how can we make a crap smartphone. How can we take the best that's out there and F#$% it up.

While having a Google Mail section to sign in during the set up process, it hasn't been able to sync my calendar or emails. Contacts came through though.

You need a Microsoft ID to go to the apps store and marketplace, but really, why bother, there's like 20 apps there.....

Looking for a simple program like ever note to download and then something like YouTube, below summarizes my experience:

Syncing music was a bust as well.

I mistakenly thought launching the Microsoft phone App on my Mac, clicking Music, and sync would have been, uh, well, you know, what you do to sync music. But, no. Nothing happens.

I would suggest microsoft stick with Office. Nokia, go back to your original 'peanut' series. And let companies like apple and samsung dominate through superior graphic and user design, supported by solid OS's. If GE were running microsoft - they'd have xBox and MS Office, maybe Outlook. But the rest of the company - enough already, stop making bad products!

I've spent alot of money and wasted a lot of time on lower end smart phones. Perhaps that's not smart.

More of a waste of time than anything else - which ends up costing in the long haul.

HTC Maple - Crap. Won't buy HTC again.

BlackBerry - Crap. Won't buy BBerry again.

LG P505 - Crap, Won't buy anything LG again including any appliances.

Nokia E61 and Lumina - Crap - won't buy again, unless it's Nokia classic peanut phone.

Next up Samsung, lest I totally cave and buy an iPhone4.

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Update - I was finally able to sync with Google so that's a good thing.

Unfortunately for now the wifi is the only thing that works.

Some hipster musician Morgan Cameron Ross sold the phone as being unlocked which it wasn't. Also tried to say it was Android (not) and only 3 days old (not). Why do people like on kijiji or Craigs. I hate when trust is broken in such great public offerings. Anyway - 

when you buy online - verify that everything is what it's supposed to be. My bad, but still not condoning lying.