Horrible service, want to get as much money out of you as possible

They're actually pretty terrible. I transferred my services over to a new location in June/July and it's been a nightmare since then. I haven't ever gotten more than 5-7mbps speed since the move. My coaxial cable is still not buried and actually fell down to about 5 feet above my neighbours driveway; start said it would take 2 days for a tech to come out - he came out in 5. Now that there's snow, the cable is frozen over and falling again. I've been disconnected from the internet and am told that there a 2-7 day wait for a tech, PROBABLY MORE due to CHRISTMAS. I asked what alternative internet I would be provided with, they said none. I told them they can at least pay for my data usage in the meantime, they refused. They also refused to give me the phone number to their legal department (apparently they "don't have one", they can only give that info to my lawyer) I've submitted a complaint with the CRTC and the BBB, as well as having my lawyer draft up a letter. In the meantime, I'm supposed to use up my phone data with no compensation. They won't even refund me for the month, just the days I'm without service Looks like they're only capable of providing good service in certain areas. I didn't think DOWNTOWN MISSISSAUGA wouldn't be one of those areas... Stay far away from them if you need a working internet connection read more

First of all I dont like that they charge $150 for a android box and you cant get the start tv without buying atleast one. This is bad for customers and no cheaper than bell or cogeco. I have had there internet for a couple years now and was planning on switching my tv and phone to start for both my house and my parents but now im thinking on canceling all start service there internet is thru cogeco lines and if there is a problem you have to wait till cogeco fixing them i waited 2 weeks the last time. read more

Great customer service. Nice to talk yo someone immediately when you call. I have been a customer for 1 year and it has been great.

Don't use them. Terrible service; constantly drops and slows down. Don't normally write reviews but this is to warn those who considering this provider....the days of dialup was reliable but slow. Numerous emails and phone calls ..,results in still bad service read more

We were having problems with internet goin out every 20 minutes. and MARK from start took great time and made me feel like be cared and we fixed the problem and as well got GREAT advice thank you read more

I have been a customer with start for 5 years. They used to be a great company - now not so much. Each time I have moved, their interface with Cogeco & internet installs has been bumpy. This time it is far worse. I have waited patiently for an install on two separate dates for which a technician never showed. Then I was delayed by another week for a third install. When I asked if there was anyway for the installation date to be bumped up they "escalated it to a manager" and somehow got the installation date pushed back an additional day. To top it all off, they had the audacity to continue to charge me for the equipment rental while I have absolutely no access to the internet. There is no customer service. There is no remorse. Stay away from this awful company at all costs. read more

Terrible Internet provider. I had my internet installed 2 weeks ago and 3 times already I have come home to no Internet connection. The only answer they ever have is "we can send someone out within 48 hours". My schooling and work revolves around the Internet and I cannot be without it for 2 days. It will always say you are connected; but you are offline and cannot do anything. read more

STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY. In less than 2 weeks, I've been with out internet for 5 days and start has made 0 attempt to resolve the situation. Absolute joke of a company read more

Honestly the worst service, lack of common sense & honesty. Refuse to give me a refund over mistakes they've made. Service is just unacceptable & they do the most to cover each other's backs. Don't even bother with this low grade internet. read more

We moved to the city 3 weeks ago, and ordered our internet with Start a month ago. They were supposed to install on the Friday we got there, but they came the next day. The technician who came to our house was in and out, saying that the wires were bad and he couldn't do anything about it. We didn't get any follow up call for 3 days. When we did, Start asked how we were enjoying the internet (a.k.a, they didn't know we didn't get it installed). Anyway, one week later, we get repairs done and never get notified about it, and they schedule a technician for a WEEK LATER. I wait all morning, and nothing. Start tells me they don't know what happened, but see on the notes that I was not there. I was. They never came. Start then tells me theyll call to reschedule. They never do. I decide to just get Rogers because they are WAY more professional, give me a better deal and have self install. As someone who works from home, waiting a month for internet with no appologies is ludacris. I called to cancel today. They said that someone came to install this morning and that they booked it last week. I NEVER got a call from them about that, AND no one came this morning. I told them we are canelling because we went with Rogers. No appologies or anything from that customer service guy. So rude and so unprofessional. NOT impressed. I really do NOT reccomend. What a mess. read more

We run four devices at a time all the time in our house and everything with our internet runs fine. The cost is substantially lower than the other two gorillas. No complaints here. read more

I'm using them for straight internet and they are not ready for the big leagues. If you are lucky enough to not have issues, you won't have to worry about the dismal support. The helpdesk is fine to answer around 2am but otherwise if issues are encountered you will be waiting in a line 25-50 deep to get to talk to someone. There were dns issues that lasted for days back in 2019 and they admitted that they didn't know the resolution. I have had disconnect issues otherwise and they simply don't admit to the issues as they happen. My router logs exact details and I told them the issues. I couldn't wait around on the phone for a 25 person queue so I sent an email immediately to their support team. I received a reply 14 hours later with the usual, we don't sense any issues. read more

Worst Customer service I have ever experienced. I have dealt with pretty much all known internet service providers from Bell to Rogers to Cogeco and Tek-Savvy but I have never seen anyone as bad as these are. STAY AWAY from using their service - you realize the quality of customer service when you experience issue and that's when you see how good a company reacts to it. I have been out of internet for almost a week now and there is no update on resolution issue. Everytime I call them - I wait for about 1 hour and then a new rep who has no clue about my situation come up with the same script - "you will know when the service is up and running". "We have 48 hours SLA with the backend company - it will be escalated then" when after 96 hours you call them ... we wait for 48 hours before we can escalate!!! you go what the ... I am really surprised how they are in the business without any ethics - if you don't have any issues that's because the company they are piggybacking off is doing great job!! in this case it's Cogeco! And I have already switched to them after a terrible frustrating experience with this crap of a company. Do yourself a favor and find a good company even if you have to pay a little more. read more

Just switched from Cogeco to Start.ca and already so pleased with their customer service. What other company calls you the next day to see how the service is working for you? It's the small things that stand out, that's for sure :) read more

I just cancelled my internet subscription with Start today because I'm moving and will no longer require the service. I sincerely hope that I can do business with Start again someday, and I will continue to recommend them to everyone I can. Their staff is amazing to work with, from short hold times to easy "to-the-point" business. Setting up my equipment last year was incredibly easy (I brought my own modem), I did it all over the phone in less than 10 minutes. Today I called to cancel my service and I spent 2 minutes on the phone. In one year of service there has only been a single internet outage that I was affected by, and my speeds were always very close to what I paid for, limited only by my router's wireless capability (hardward issue on my end). Early 2017 I also received notice that my speeds increased and data cap changed to unlimited for no extra cost (related to a change in government regulation on 3rd party ISPs). Start immediately passed that savings onto me. Start charges less for service because they staff fewer employees, yet they've managed to outperform every competitor. Keep it up Start, I hope I can use your services again. read more

Sure, the internet is pretty good. It's reliable. Sure. It's a little cheaper. But they are spying on my activity. Not just my activity, anyone who uses this internet service. Meaning that suddenly you can't share your Wifi password with anyone, or that if anyone accesses your internet you are left holding the bag. That's really creepy. That's really disturbing that an ISP can just collect all your information and penalize you for it on behalf of other company -- for something you aren't even aware is happening. How is anyone to know exactly how all this technology works, and what is going on day to day? It's ridiculous. Very much thinking of switching back to Rogers. I'm sorry, but this is how I feel. I cannot stand behind a company that (probably) does not stand behind its customers. I mean, does privacy even matter any more? And what do we owe those who are speculating about our supposed activities online? What can they do with all this information? Sell it to marketing companies? Agencies that want to control the shape of society, and/or consumer behavior? I'm just sick of all the lack of privacy, and the outrageous leaning of laws toward the upperclass, and companies that would ship all their jobs overseas in a hearbeat if possible, or replace people with machinery. read more

Start Communications from London, ON is the best available solution to an ever challenging problem which is getting affordable and reliable internet services. Off and on we have been with Start for 6 years (we had a short hiatus when we went to Rogers and we really should have known better) and have had absolutely no issues. Setup is simple, support is timely and pricing is not only comparable it is down right competitive. Having used their DSL and now their Cable Internet Services...the joy of having unlimited internet access means that we truly don't need to watch TV anymore because we can leverage the power of IPTV (NetFlix and other). read more

If you're tired of wasting an hour and playing 20 questions with customer retention any time you want to change something come to these guys. They respect you and your time. Great customer service. I've had many lines with them for my home and businesses and I've never had a problem. read more

Seriously AWESOME all the way around! I was with Bell for 20 years, only because I was getting a really good price once upon a time and they had given me a special number so I got decent customer service. I got fed up of overpaying for low speeds and started to shop around. A friend suggested Acanac and said he was happy with them, but said their customer service was horrible. After searching google, I found most people had the same thing to say about them, cheap prices, but horrible customer service and everyone seems to have had issues at least once. I then decided to check out Teksavvy, and they had good prices and decent customer service reviews, but a few reviews said to check out Start.ca ... Most every review I found for Start.ca was positive and many went on about how great the customer service ... I decided to give them a call and ask several questions and they were absolutely amazing, not having to search around for answers. They already had me, then I found out that dry-loop (if you don't have a phone line) is free with them (all the others charge between $8 and $10 /month). The installation was done 5 days later and I'm getting even better then the advertised speed! I couldn't be happier for finally leaving Bell and saving $37/month while getting 3 times the download speed and 20 times the upload speed I was getting (they limited me because I was on a grandfathered unlimited package) .. The worst part of the whole switch-over was dealing with Bell. They had me on the line for 80 minutes to cancel and kept coming back with better offers, none matching or even coming close to the Start.ca price and they just couldn't understand why I would leave. I thought I was finally done with them, but nope! I received 4 more calls from them trying to convince me to come back !! (actually, they called back about 10 times, but the other 6 times they called, I would answer and keep saying "hello" to dead air. The idiots have a machine dial you and make you wait on hold, wondering what the hell is going on for them to have the time to pick up!!! That's sure to get customers back!!) Go with Start.ca, you'll be happy you did! read more

Internet drops entirely every 20-30 minutes or so, and even while it's working the strength of the signal is laughably bad. Even with a land line connection everything from the smart tv to my brothers PlayStation are barely usable as soon as you attempt to do anything that requires an even moderate amount of broadband. read more

I dont usually bother rating services but this company deserves it. Amazing tech support. Amazing customer service. Install man very friendly. Follow up calls and emails. Promised speeds quality service. Awesome!! read more

I've been a loyal customer for over a year, it seems that they don't give a damn about your loyalty all they care is just money. Facing severe disconnection issues and in response, all I get is a rude unprofessional attitude from an inexperienced support tech. Problem: Constant interruptions in the network for over a year and all they tell me is to get a new router by yourself(in spite of paying monthly rental).When I ask to speak to a supervisor, they say the supervisor is not busy but can't take a call(For no Reason).After that, I ask for a solution and the shocking response was there's nothing we can do at this moment(WTF). This is what you call your unparallel customer service(No Cust Reps can provide you that pathetic service)!!! I would no longer stay with this crappy service provider and would definitely recommend not to fall prey to their shitty service, they will end up screwing you big time. Thanks Start for caring less about your customers and JUST HOGGING ON TO THEIR MONEY. P.S: They don't deserve even a single star !!! read more

Avoid them! I had a similar experience as another reviewer, Gogoland G. The supervisor I spoke with, Dan, was condescending and rude. He raised his voice on the phone and spoke like he like owned the company. Start Communications advertises that they are the "friendly internet provider." Absolutely not! If they cared about customer service, employees like Dan would not be supervisors. Their service is lousy, with multiple connectivity issues. There are many companies who will do better than them to earn your business. read more

It appears to be a get what you pay for service. I have used this company for 3 years now but recent months we have been forced to pay more due to 2 obsolete packages within 6 months of each other resulting in $10.00 per month in increased fees. At the same time we have often been having to wait for videos to buffer on 30mb/s apparent download speeds that we rarely see. To cap it all off I have been dealing with customer support for the past 5 days with internet that has consistently gone down from about 3pm until the following day. Each day is the same, "did you restart the modem and can you send us diagnostics?". We have had our repair tech canceled on us 3 times with no one coming for another 2 days. read more

After years of torture with the big guys customer service I went to Start.ca about 5 years ago. Back then I was amazed you could call, they would be able to help you with ease. No accidental hang-ups after hours of holds transfers etc. Today having issues I decided to call again. Going into call I wondered if customer service was still just as good. Most businesses using Covid Issues as excuse for long waits and poor service this year. Guess what service was absolutely great, even better then past. I called, someone named Sherry (sorry I did not get spelling or last name) answered. She was able to walk us through all our trouble shooting, stay on phone with us for a good 45 minutes and gave us some tips on our network and devices. If your tired of the big guys bully poor service techniques ( I wont promote their name) consider trying Start.ca. My customer service I have received over 5 years has been some of the best I have ever had. I only write reviews for the REALLY good or REALLY poor as I realise sometimes people and businesses just have a bad day too. Randy & Karen Scott Kitchener read more

Terrible service both customer service and the quality of their internet. We had it for half a day before we had technical issues. They expect the customer to completely work around their timetable and they do not listen when customers try and give them details. They screw you over as much as any other internet company only with a smile on their face while they do it. read more

start.ca can't fix the lines because they are owed by cogeco and bell. cogeco and bell won't service lines if your not there customer. so if your line is broke you best be a customer of the owner of the line. been 10 days and counting no internet read more

Charged my Visa, had over 2 weeks to send the modem we purchased, and gave our address FOUR times to them!, and couldn't even do that right. We get stuff from China in less time and without any issues. Cost us $60 to get our old ISP reconnected. Should have just stuck with Distributel instead of trying to save ourselves 2 bucks a month :/ Want to save yourself some money? Stay far far away from this ISP. No help and their "customer service" actually hung up on us when we asked to cancel the service and refund our Visa. read more

Boast about 24/7 customer support which is false advertising as you have to wait on them to contact bell which is a VERY long process. Would not recommend. read more

Very, very disappointed with start.ca - I am paying for 40MB download and 10 MB upload. Several times a week it goes down to 0.1MB uploads, which then disconnects my Nest security cameras. I have called 6 or more times, each time I spend over an hour with a technician going through all of the tests. They confirm that there is a problem, and create a service-ticket with Cogeco. Cogeco keeps rejecting the service-ticket. Start then tells me that I have to re-run all of the tests to submit a new service-ticket, which I do, and they confirm the problem still exists. They have sent me a new modem, go through several more service calls, run all the tests again, the problem still exists. Today's response for start.ca - when you get home from work, call us so we can re-run all of the tests again and submit another service-ticket to Cogeco. STILL HAVING PROBLEMS! In fact, while I have typed this review, I got an email from Nest saying that my security cameras are now offline again. read more

Customer service is great ordered all the equipment stayed home for two days waiting for them to come to set it up never showed up cancel not happy so really never tried their service so I don't know how they are but disappointed called and canceled they had no reason no explanation why they do not show up and each appointment takes a weekto book hard to go without Internet that long read more

ordered two weeks ago, two weeks later no service, cancelled as now they say it won't be coming before April next year? Oh yes, great service, not. read more

Honestly the worst and most incompetent company I've have ever dealth with. No accountability, zero knowledge of how to get your internet properly installed, and their customer service is terrible. DO NOT SIGN UP WITH START!!! Tried to get my mom's account activate for June 25, 2017. Called around June 17 for a service install dated. Paid $90.40 up front for installation and 1 month prepaid service. June 25 comes, Cogeco service install guy comes, tells that the internet is up and running. Test out the internet, no internet. Service guy calls Start for me and tell them that they have to put in a ticket to Cogeco to get our account provisioned. Start says no problem I know how to do that (please they do not know how or would do that). Wait a few days, still no internet. Called Start and ask them for help. Start tells me its not their problem, it's Cogeco's problem. Well I signed up with Start and paid Start, I can't complain to Cogeco can I. Called again and ask for help. Told the same thing, not our problem. Six calls later and two weeks of hearing them tell me its not their problem, I cancel and requested a refund of my full prepaid amount as my services were never rendered. Told that they wouldn't give me my money back until they get the modem and confirm that they owe me the money. Oh best yet, they charged me in full for July 1, 2017. When I canceled on July 18, there was still NO SERVICE!! They knew that. I asked them for a refund in advance of the modem being returned as it takes some time to get the modem to them, and the refund takes time to process, and the whole process has been nothing but horrible. Told me that they would talk to a supervisor and call me back. No one ever called or followed up. They are practically thieves. I repeat DO NOT SIGN UP WITH START! THEY ARE HORRIBLE! WORST COMPANY EVER! read more

Great service on the phone but their reliability sucks. If you run a business from home or a VOIP phone system and need reliable internet service, stay away from this company. They don't have the infrastructure as Rogers supports their own customers over Start. We used them for two years and they were never reliable. Internet was frequently down. read more

This company has the WORST customer service that I have ever experienced. Not only did they never show up to any of the scheduled appointments that we had made for them to come install the Internet (we had 4) they also had no clue what was going on in their own system. Each time we called to complain, their phone operators said that they could not assist us because even they were unsure of the status of our internet. This company was not only rude and disrespectful on the phone, but they also have a terrible system that does not work and leaves everyone confused. We have since canceled our subscription since waiting 2 weeks for installation that never happened and we are excited to be without the burden of this terrible company that honestly should not be operating if no one knows what they are doing. We are also students that REQUIRE the internet to go to school, and they were aware that we needed it at a certain date and time, and yet they still were not compliant or helpful in any sense. WORST INTERNET COMPANY EVER. read more

We've been waiting a week to get our internet hooked up. They were supposed to come between 8-11 but the guy showed up at 7:50, we missed his call because we'd set our alarm to 8 and he left right after trying only once! We called Start and they said "oh sometimes they like to start their day earlier, and we can't reach any of the guys to come back because they're with Rogers so they can't come back until Thursday." Absolutely ridiculous. If we hadn't already given a down payment, we'd have definitely gone with Tek Savvy! read more

have their internet for about year. not too bad and reasonably priced. i added their tv service which at first was ok but now constantly get error and sometimes just goes to a blank screen. the past couple of weeks has been a nightmare with the tv service. everytime i watched playoff hockey on cbc it would cut out or lag. one saturday night it just stopped working. calling their service was a joke as it hung up as soon as the call went through. after 3 hour wait i got a reponse from the chat service telling me the whole service was down! for another 20 bucks im going back to cogeco. anybody in the market for a start.ca android box? read more

I will break it down to you: Pros - Calls will be picked up and answered within two minutes or less - The phone CSR will reiterate your debit card/credit card number/address details/installation date/prompt for confirmation before charging/state clearly what you will be paying on your first month to ensure that everything is correct - A follow-up mail after installation has been completed - A follow-up mail after any order requests, like a modem being shipped, etc - Monthly invoices sent to your mail - Speed changes, cancellations and troubleshooting is usually just a call away - Company that lobbies for better wholesale rates for the last several years, since they are a middleman of the main networks' providers (Rogers, Cogeco, Bell, etc) which in turn gives you 'better options and choices, or prices' to choose from - If they made any mistake like billing you when an installation was not set, or you had no internet at all, they will refund/credit you as appropriate when you call them - Uploads don't count, no contracts, no promotional prices followed by 'sudden hikes', your package is usually respected and grandfathered if they do raise prices, no bundles required - Speeds are usually what you get, unless you have a rare router problem, or one of those 1-2% chance cases where the incumbent lines are on maintenance, etc Cons - Possible repairs that require physical troubleshooting by technicians are dependent on the backlogs of the service providers that they purchase from, since they don't have access to the infrastructure directly (e.g. Bell/Rogers customers might get higher priority) Competitor Companies Rogers can give you a better value if you live in an area where people are price-sensitive or consumer-informed like a University area or Tech Area or Urban area (Toronto, Waterloo, etc) for much better caps or something if you play the 'promo game' or the 'I want to cancel because Bell is offering a better package, and wait 2 weeks or wait for a callback to get 50% off, refund blabla, keep price for 6 months and repeat game' Likewise with Beanbell or whatever there is there. Other incumbent duopoly companies however fail on the service frontier; you are subjected to 30 minute+ wait times hold on calls sometimes, and they also spend 20 minutes or more talking to you about why you should stay, etc. They also hike your prices occasionally from time to time or stick an overcharge fee in when you aren't looking, and they'll never tell you until you call them up. At Start though, they will usually ask you how many people in your household use the internet and what purposes, so this doesn't happen. Other independent ISPs like Chinese/Neutral ones like Mediabox/Arcanet/iTalkBB/IRK/Storm/whatever usually might have shady reviews or difficult-to-talk to people, or their customer service might not be up to par so speed changes, technical issues and as such might be hard to handle (cancellation, etc). While I haven't exactly tried these other ISPs, they usually are a hit-or-miss as far as my research is concerned. They might have better deals like $30 unlimited everything, but you might have to pay up front for 1 year's of internet, or it might be hard to get it to be 'cancelled' or whatever. I generally would opt for Start or TekkSavvy since at least they seem to have a good English speaking staff. From my personal experience, I think Start is the way to go if you can have them. They might be a better deal in some areas, especially where there's only Bell or Rogers, but one thing for sure is that you don't have to have silly headaches like 'waiting for 30 days to cancel policy' or whatever with Rogers, nor those annoying 1 hour phone conversations (if your wage is $25/30/$40+ hour, just think about it). If you are already on those smaller independent ISPs and already have a good savings in bucks or too with $25/mo or have been loyally pleading thousands of dollars away to Bell/Rogers and stroke a cheap unlimited $35/mo or some crazy deal, I guess you could stay with them. But if you're researching and choosing a new provider, Start is definitely a solid ISP in my book. Also whether it be on dslreports, google reviews, yelp, canadacomplaints, bbb or any website, the CEO of the company seems to really care about the reputation of the company and always puts his best in resolving any complaints or issues personally by searching up their name/looking up their account history and seeing what was done/what was needed to be done and always makes a fair judgement call in issuing credits/refunds as appropriate, which is obviously something that isn't possible with larger companies. read more