Changing the Internet Provider, from Bell to Fizz

So, yesterday I got my bill for March from Bell, and I noticed that the amount is higher by $5 than the previous months. It’s only been a couple months since I signed up, and there’s already a price increase. Huh?? So, apparently this has been happening to other people before (see here, here, and here). Almost $90/month ($100 with taxes) for Internet, that’s too much.. Well, time to move on I guess..

Good thing is, I’ve been keeping an eye on Fizz’s Internet for a while. I’ve been a customer of their mobile service for almost half a year now, and besides the occasional hiccups, the service is really good. As of late, I’ve never experienced any issues with connectivity. I’m also getting LTE speeds Canada wide, which compared to other services of this type (Public Mobile, Koodo, Freedom Mobile, etc) that only offer 3G speeds, is a real delight and makes me feel like I really live in the new century.

Just a quick note about Fizz, this is a company owned by the bigger Videotron/Quebecor giant. The service is attractively cheaper than other alternatives, but there’s a catch.. You don’t have a phone number to call in case you need support. There is a forum that encourages the community to help each other (through incentives, such as points that can be later redeemed for extra perks), but you won’t have the same level of support that you would get if you were to call your bank, as an example. If you are tech savvy like I am, you’ll find that their website actually has everything you need to manage your account. And if something doesn’t work, just open the console and look for errors, maybe you need to clear a cookie or two 🙂 If you’re ready to pay less for more, feel free to join using my referral and we’ll both get a nice credit bonus https://fizz.ca/?ref=53I4V (as of November 27 2020, it’s $50 each, whoaaa!). Oh, by more I mean getting 4Gb/month for $32, with unused data rolling over for next 2 months (I’m now having 11.4Gb of data, noice!!), and the usual unlimited calling and messaging.

Back to the Internet, I’ve scheduled an appointment for later this week to get my modem and installation. I’ll post my notes here about the process, and about the overall experience with Fizz Internet speed/latency.

By the way, I live in Montreal. Fizz is (unfortunately) only available in Quebec and Ottawa. Also, if you sign up using my referral link https://fizz.ca/?ref=53I4V , I believe you will get the current $75 (as of June 30, 2021) bonus towards your Internet service as well.

Update 1: Just finished setting up my Fizz modem. It’s a tower modem that connects to the Internet thru a coaxial cable. The whole process since the technician came to when I did my first speed test, took around 1 hour.

Google speed test: 66.1Mbps down / 11.1Mbps up / 9ms latency / Montreal, Canada

Fast.com speed test: 68 Mbps down / 11Mbps up / 8ms latency / Montreal, Canada

Ookla speed test: 66.9Mbps down / 10.37Mbps up / 98ms latency / Dusseldorf, Germany

So overall, I am very pleased with the results. The connection is very stable (download/upload), and I definitely feel that pages load faster, as in connection time (TTFB). The modem also came with an Ethernet cable that I will happily use with my System76 Gazp6 (2011 edition) laptop. So that’s all for now, but I’ll keep updating this post if anything else needs to be told. Otherwise, if you don’t hear anything from me, it means everything is fine haha

Update 2:

Fizz service has been great so far. It’s consistent and reliable.

Meanwhile, got my final bill from Bell. I was disappointed to find that the prorated amount I had to pay (cancelling in the middle of the month) was based on the full amount and did not contain the discount credits. Glad I’m done with it though..

Update 3:

I’ve ended my Fizz Internet at the end of July because I moved out of Quebec (to Alberta), so I couldn’t transfer my account over to my new location. However, for the entire duration that I used Fizz I was extremely satisfied with the service (and the price), so if you live in Quebec, I totally recommend them.