Something very strange happened last night. I’m sitting here this morning wondering if I’m naïve enough to believe that SaskTel had a huge system glitch or if I’m distrustful enough of them to accuse them of messing me.
I was in the middle of a download yesterday evening when I hit 23GB of data usage and promptly received a text message that I was being throttled again.
Sure enough, my download slowed to a crawl, going from the roughly 256Kbps throttled speed they give me to less than 100Kbps. I could barely get online. Text-only pages took about 10 minutes load, pages like Facebook were unavailable.
My first instinct was to check to see if they had changed their fair use policy. Yes, just a month ago, but there was nothing about double throttling on unlimited plans and, in fact, the only thing that applied to me was super positive as they had removed my data limits when outside of SK (but still in Canada). Yay for that.
So I got on the phone and after waiting on hold for more than 15 minutes, I finally got hold of tech support. The guy looked at my account and told me this:
- When I had a major data issues at the start of August, when I didn’t even have service in town, the tech removed my plan and put it back, which brought my data back. I triple checked with her that I was going back to my grandfathered unlimited $70 a month plan, not the limited, and she said yes. Last night’s tech said that I was actually on the limited plan and after 23GB you get cut off because of excessive overages and that I had about $300 in overages on my account.
- After 8:00p.m., tech support doesn’t have access to your full file and cannot help with complex issues like this, so I had to call back in the morning.
This morning, I called them right at 8:00 when they open. I’d been up for a bit and been online and my connection appeared to be back to normal….
This is what this morning’s tech told me:
- I am still on my unlimited plan.
- There is no way I could have the overages last night’s guy said I did because the new telecom laws force them to cap your data at $50 of overages. I know about this because when I still had my Bell Mobility account I was tired of having to call every few days to tell them that I knew my account was at so much in overages and they finally had me sign a document that meant I no longer got capped after a tweak in the law gave them permission to do so. I haven’t done that with SaskTel since I’m on an unlimited plan.
- There is no automatic throttle at 23GB for any plan.
- There is nothing wrong with my account. They must have just had a huge glitch last night.
SaskTel’s frontline techs are usually very good, so last night’s experience was a huge anomaly. The lady who helped me on August 6th is my favourite as she is really quick to understand what is going on and find a resolution. So I trusted her when she said that she would give me back my unlimited plan after taking it off (and that doing this would give me back my data). So I was shocked last night to be told that she had betrayed me. I’m glad to know that she didn’t.
So happened last night? Was it truly a system glitch that put the wrong information in my file, was it a tech guy who was making up stuff because he didn’t have access to my full file, or was there some sort of trap put into my account that was triggered when I hit the 23GB cap? Just a few months ago, I would have gone with the tech support guy making up stuff. But now, I’m rather suspicious.
Most people would think that a huge telecom would not stoop to these tactics but after 30 years of fighting Telus at the Union vs IR level, I am not one of them. They will do outrageous things to scare an individual employee or customer off and are not above outright lying to the Courts and government. The good news is, they will eventually back off when the individual or customer is in the right and chooses to fight them.
The government gave our telecoms way too much power. SaskTel is discovering that they’re messing with the wrong customer because I’m informed. Unlike a lot of other customers I encounter on the forums, I know exactly what my plan limits are, understand usage, and have never once had a complaint that had to do with being throttled (no matter how much they’ve tried to blame my not understanding what throttling is on my data issues…). Last night’s guy was surprised to hear me quote from the fair use policy. Today’s was surprised that I had my contract at hand.
It reminds me of when Aviva tried to screwed me over with my insurance claim after my 2012 accident, taking a gamble on the fact that I would have been like a lot of customers and not read all the fine print of the policy.
Being informed is the best offense.
This feels like what I’ve read about the days of establishing labor unions–when protestors would have “mysterious” things happen to them. I’m glad you are prepared and qualified to deal with them. And I’m quite sure you are documenting each of these “mysterious” happenings.
Glad to know I’m not being as paranoid as I think I am. And, yes, of course I am documenting everything.
I don’t know the Canadian system, but I think you’ve been targeted.
So that’s another vote for my not being paranoid. I wish it made me feel better. 😀
I’ve recently been having problems with sasktel. Every month I get a text that my data is nearing it’s limit so they slow it down for the rest of the month. Well I don’t use it anymore than I every have before. Actually I know a couple weeks ago I used LESS because youtube was down for several days. And when I looked at my data usage chart it jumps from almost nothing every day to 5G a day for 5 days! And 1 of those days I know I was barely on my phone at all so something is fishy.
When I went to sasktel yesterday they said they don’t know where it went. And started talking about higher limit plans (I’m on the $70 one). So I called them out on thier scam & am thinking o going elsewhere when my contract is up in a couple weeks
One thing I can say positively about SaskTel is that their usage counter has always been very accurate for me. It does sound like there’s something strange going on with your account. My first thought was that you’re on a Windows computer that has been downloading updates in the background, but that doesn’t sound like the case. I’m not sure what kind of phone you have, but I know that the iPhone has a lot of data sucking features that need to be turned off. Make sure your photos aren’t linked to Dropbox, for example. Rather than accusing SaskTel of scamming you in this regard, I’d call technical support (which has always been very good), explain that you are seeing unusual data use, and ask if they have any suggestions for where the leaks could be.
I wouldn’t go with anyone else since they are the only ISP with an unlimited data plan, which is invaluable to me. Hence why I put up with their BS about not providing my community with decent service. 🙁
I have a blackberry & it’s the same phone I’ve had for the last 2 years. The system updates will only download on wifi and nothing runs in the backround. And why would it just suddenly become an issue the last few months.
The only reason I went with SaskTel when I got this phone was because of thier unlimited data but since it’s not actually unlimited and they keep claiming I’m at my limit I could switch to Telus & I’d still never come close to thier data limit.
Like if I go back through my bills I think the most data I’ve used in a month is 2GB & that’s probably when I’ve been traveling
Their plan IS unlimited. I think my record usage in one month was 110GB. You do get throttled after a period of time, but that is in their TOS.
It does sound like there is something wonky going on with your account and instead of calling them thieves and scammers, work with them to figure out what. Other than their upper management refusing to give my community service, SaskTel’s techs and billing department have been very good to me and very fair, much better than Telus, Virgin, or Bell ever were.
No it’s NOT unlimited. It used to be but they changed it quite awhile ago. You should probably look into it before you recieve a huge bill.
And they are thives and scammers. I questioned it & was upsold to the $110 plan. They can’t give me answers just try to tell me I must have used it. Even a friend of mine who works in tech support can’t look it up. And like I said I know for sure 1 of those days I barely even touched my phone. But I guess this is just like the in person payment I made that never appeared on my account that they “couldn’t” look up. Or the deposit that they refused to return in any way.
They’re a crooked company but when we have no other options for service we have no choice but to let them. it’s time more people spoke up
I’m grandfathered into their unlimited $70 a month unlimited plan. I’m sorry you’ve had such trouble with them. Mine has been a different sort of trouble.