Wi-Fi Pod Speed Tests

Aptic
Regular Contributor III

Up until recently I was getting between 300-600 mbps on my POD and Hub over wifi. (I don't have wired connections) However, I am at best getting around 150-200 mbps on my POD now (no change with the Hub, and there was no change to my set up).  I rebooted everything to see if it would make a difference, but it remains the same.    This has been going on for about a week, and measured at different times throughout the day.

When I run the Bell wifi checkup, it is showing a download speed of 1.8 gbps on the hub, and 1.5 gbps on the POD - with a strong signal to all my devices.  That said, I see no difference in the performance of any of my devices. I also note that the Bell wifi app is showing my devices are getting 2-3x the speed that I see when I run Speedtest or Fast. 

I am curious as to why the POD speed connectivitiy has dropped in half, and why Bell keeps sending me promotions to upgrade my speed, when I can't even come close to getting the speed I pay for now. 

 

9 383 48.7K
383 REPLIES 383

I called Bell to inquire about this and apparently there is no grace period since I'm in a "locked promotion." So I'm kind of stuck for 2 years, more incentive for me to buy a Wi-Fi mesh system, or I might even try MoCA adapters since we have some coax ports in our house. Leaning more towards the mesh system however because it will always be viable if we move in the future or something, whereas not every house will have a convenient coax infrastructure. 

dks
Community All-Star
Community All-Star

I have five pods and have had for several years. They continue to provide acceptable wi-fi performance for me. Ethernet is not an option. I have watched baseball on my iPad using the Fibe app connected through two pods (daisy chain) with excellent audio and video. 

I am a Community All-Star and customer. I'm here to help by sharing my knowledge and experience. My views on Bell and the Community Forum are my own and not the views of Bell or any of its affiliates.

I had wondered about how promotions that possibly provide discounts through bundling how the grace period works. Personally 8 would immediately run an executive concern through below escalation, but also run a concern concurrently to CCTS for their interpretation. I know recently when I removed TV and Internet just outside the end of term. When the adjustments finally came through my promotions on Internet and TV were discontinued and five dollars on the Bell Smart home was discontinued. My interpretation and I have clarified this with every service provider differing services is that any "term locked promotions like say discount to internet of having mobility" if I left mobility in grace period I would loose discount bundled to internet, but grace period still applies, it just impacts any promotional discounts. I had a lot of calls on that one because first level cancellation staff had no idea how to deal with grace periods. 

I would personally lean towards the mesh system too given this huge discussion on pod issues and you can always use it. I believe the decco from researching will work with any ISP, they say, and appears to not need bridging over poor which is very complicated as other discussions show. My reading is you can just turn off Wi-Fi on the gateway and the decco system drives it's independent mesh network with its own said. I don't know how shxp on both will work. I fortunately have always been able to create my own solutions, now with a dlink 300 ac ax if I remember properly set as a repeater. 

I personally don't buy the can't do grace period as you have locked in term. The locked in term kicks in after grace period as far as I know but CCTC will take it under consideration effective if date received. 

Good luck with whatever you do. Hope the solution works out for you.

So a one day order off Amazon prime and if you drift out of grace period, the penalties may kick in. I just ate 75.00 to walk from internet and TV because I personally am done with poor customer service and mostly TV issues since the wait for it "dadatada upgrade". Jaws music in background. Cogeco gave me great comeback discounts and even covered part of my 75.09 installation penalty from cancellation with a 50.09 additional discount. Bell also messed up the whole cancellation process and shipping return tracking and I got additional compensation on the credit calculation to cover their failure to process the cancellation. This thread and the 70 days to finally get my billing correct confirms why for now I am done with bell. 

Again good luck with what ever you choose. May Bell get whichever venders, plume sagecom or both to deal with this issue. 5 months and lots of posts with multiple opinions I just see a lot of frustration. I am done with bell support, and mobility may go next and just pay out time left on smart home. It is just a doorbell now. 

So hope a solid resolution can be reached. I read the whole thread and I would personally go with a third party solution and even hire a local tech to make it work. 

I am now done following the forums. It has been interesting, glad to have helped many out and provided solutions along the way. 

All the best. Bruce 

 

rascar
Contributor III

I haven’t posted in a while. Have people basically given up on the pods getting any sort of update?

dks
Community All-Star
Community All-Star

Nothing has been announced by Bell, no. 

I am a Community All-Star and customer. I'm here to help by sharing my knowledge and experience. My views on Bell and the Community Forum are my own and not the views of Bell or any of its affiliates.

Hi, Did you have some update from your contact ?  

WebGeeks
Regular Contributor

This is getting ridiculous with Bell. The POD speed issue was reported December 2024 and it is nearly mid-August and no resolution an update. Why am I paying for PODs that have speed issues?

I am going to file a complaint and want some form of compensation for the lack of resolution to an issue that has been dragging on 7 months.

Symple_Syrup
Regular Contributor

Hey sorry, the last update I received on July 11th that they still had no update. Not happy either. I will be back in Ontario in September and will be on them for a rebate. I will start looking for a replacement setup of gear. I have a TV subscription too so I’m not sure I can bypass the main wifi and the TV portion will work.Thinking about buying a Unifi Cloud setup that I could connect to the high speed Ethernet port of the GigaHub.

Tried to file a complaint today, but their website errors out. I will try again later today or tomorrow. If they can't resolve this, Bell can have their PODs back and I will use another solution. There are definitely better solutions out there that work if Bell is unwilling to resolve this issue in a more timely manner.

To my surprise, as I was exploring the idea of fishing Ethernet wires by pulling out the existing coax cables, I found some cat 5e wires deep in the walls behind the metal outlet enclosure. They lead to the garage where my modem is so hard wiring my device wasn’t too difficult just had to do some terminations. I feel stupid for not being aware of the bundle of Ethernet cables in my garage but I also never really cared since Wi-Fi speeds were never a problem for me. I can hard wire other rooms as well but I’ll need to buy a switch for that, but I’m in no rush since the rest of my household won’t even notice or care about the Wi-Fi issues with their usage. 

As for the Wi-Fi pods, I called bell about 4 times to resolve this issue. First they upgraded my modem to the latest firmware which did nothing, then they sent me another modem with an older firmware which also did nothing. On my last call I was talking to the highest level of support and they did a speed test on the pod from their end and claimed I should be getting 600-700 Mbps which I wasn’t buying at all. Bell again acknowledged this issue but they said ā€œnot everyone is experiencing thisā€ so I guess that is why they don’t care enough to address the problem. 
 
To everyone having this problem, I honestly wouldn’t hold your breath and just buy third party equipment. I was lucky enough to have existing Ethernet wires in my house but that is not the case for everyone.

Maybe when this thread gets to 100+ pages Bell might finally decide to do something but let’s hope it doesn’t take that long. 

WebGeeks
Regular Contributor

I have resorted to the same as required, run cat 5 to the end points that involve streaming hardware. Fortunately, the basement is finished, except the ceiling and makes it easy to get cat 5 where needed. I do have existing cat 5 in places, but have two spots that are not near any cat 5 jacks. Just takes time to phish in a new cat 5 jack.

With Bell being strapped for cash and competitors already rolling out wi-fi 7 equipment, my guess remains that Bell will not invest any resources in resolving this issue. If that turns out to be the case, the best case scenario is likely that those who complain will be first in line for wi-fi 7 gear when Bell makes it available.

Vanadiel
Community All-Star
Community All-Star

For me personally, I would always opt for a third party solution rather than a provider solution, simply because with a provider supplied solution you are stuck with what they offer.

But that is just me. Others might opt for a provider solution for support/cost/etc... reasons.

I am a Community All-Star and customer. I'm here to help by sharing my knowledge and experience. My views on Bell and the Community Forum are my own and not the views of Bell or any of its affiliates.

GS_5
Contributor III

@BellDRock After more than 5 months(March 17th)  since the issue was identified, an update on the situation would be appropriate out of simple respect for Bell customers.

rascar
Contributor III

So nothing @BellDRock ?