Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
A system outage is one thing when you’re trying to binge a series or catch up on the latest episode.
But when it makes you miss out on a moment in Canadian history because their infrastructure can’t keep up? That, my friends, as they say, is some bullshit.
For those of you who didn’t have the pleasure of experiencing what a very expensive screw job feels like, Bell’s Fibe Alt-TV service crapped out on its thousands of customers not only once during the 2019 NBA Finals, but twice. The first time was in Game 5 with forty-odd seconds left on the clock, leaving us scrambling to find out whether our Toronto Raptors won their first NBA title or not, and leaving us saying “Well, at least it wasn’t the game winner!”
Yeah… well, we shouldn’t have held our breath for Game 6.
Fool Me Once…
I only have a vague idea how the Raptors won because I had Sportsnet’s live tracker running on my iPad, but with four minutes left in the game, Fibe Alt-TV crapped out yet again, making us piece the action together through pirate streams, social media and whatever other info we could find.
As I write this, I hear all the honking, cheering and fireworks outside, a city awash with joy after twenty-four years of waiting, the true fans redeemed for all their patience. But seeing Kawhi Leonard’s free throws after the fact just wasn’t the same. Missing Van Vleet’s critical three. I wanted to be there with the millions of other Canadians on the edge of their seats for our time to shine, but I missed it for what? Unexpected server load? Untested fibre optic technology? For someone who’s only been a Bell customer a few months, it makes me wonder what our future relationship has in store.
So, Bell, what do we do? Do I find a service that’s more reliable? Do we make services cheaper since they’re not performing as advertised? Either way, friends, we’ve gotta do better.
Sincerely, your very disappointed customer,
–Casey Palmer
