Start.ca Reviews 

Cannot terminate my account. Multiple attempts to contact them have gone unanswered and I've spent hours on the phone. Messages to their counterparts at Altima resulting in promises of a callback (did this twice) and neither time was I called back. Sometimes you wait and wait on hold and they terminate the call while on hold. In the meantime they've billed me for another month.

2025-10-04 I found that if I create a new online account under the new support site (it was not automatic based on my old start.ca account), I could engage with the live online chat where I was able to get through to a person in around 40 minutes and was actually able to cancel my account that day. If you aren't having luck contacting them by phone I suggest trying this.

When I started with START over 10 years ago the once or twice a year I called I waited no longer than 60 seconds each time to get a real live human being on the phone.
I've been calling and on hold for hours and hours and hours. Looks like the "profitability" for Koodo/Telus is to simple disable the support call center. I'm just on hold forever. I don't believe there's anyone actually there at all.
So I will continue to pay for a service that I am unable to cancel. Kind of like a tax.

Out sourcing your customer service department was THE WORST thing they could have done. Wait times are super long, the employees arent trained properly, and they cant help in any way. It was great when it was a home grown and home operated company. Its awful now.

Terrible since being acquired by Telus. Can’t get support and I’m being overcharged for services

Since they were acquired, service has been sliding downhill. When it works, it's excellent, no complaints. But, may the Good Lord help you if you actually ever need to talk to a person (like when the local construction crew cuts the cable to your house for the FOURTH time). Their hold times are now well over an hour and they are always seem to be "experiencing a higher than average number of calls". Dante could learn a few things about Hell from them. The "helpful" messages suggesting the use of their online resources or to restart your router are especially infuriating when the cable is no longer connected to their infrastructure, which actually isn't theirs in some cities, like ours (which, at this point, is making me wonder why I'm bothering with them at all - maybe I'll just move to the company that actually owns and services the lines).
If you have a recurring problem, then you have to wait on hold every time. For over an hour. Each. Time. No escalation team, no "supervisor I can talk to", no extension to leave a message. Just a nice, egalitarian queue, where it doesn't matter that you've had to call about this issue a few times before and waste chunks of your day listening to their "helpful" messages. Over and over again.

Horrible service waitibg hrs on hrs to talk about how to send back a unit they over charged me for

Was a great company before telus took over, will be looking for a different internet service

Will never recommend this company again as I did in the past

It took 6 hours of trying before I could reach a person...2 hours on hold for 3 days straight. Then my credit was a charge, so another 1 hour on hold to get that fixed..now my oct invoice is wrong! Online chat just kicks me out so can't do that route. Used to be fantastic but not since Telus bought them. I am looking elsewhere....frustrated beyond belief

Internet has been dropping around the same time daily for the past 2 weeks. In order to get this issue rectified (yes I have rebooted etc) but the issue persists on a daily. Calling tech support or doing live chat is nothing but a waste of my time. Waiting on "ignore" for over 2 plus hours (I hung up after that) for the past 5 days is unacceptable. Seems to me that Start.ca is having major problems that 100's of customers need tech support. Or Start.ca needs to hire more techs. Sounds like by all the other bad reviews Start.ca is losing lots of customers. Add me to that list.

This company has gone down the tubes!

I have been with start since moving to London 10 years ago. They were amazing! I referred many, many people to their service. It was 24 hour support, rarely on hold, if ever. I used to brag to everyone about the outstanding customer service. Well... not anymore! My internet went out sometime during the night last night. I did all the regular troubleshooting that we all should know at this point. I called before work this morning and was on hold for an hour. I was on hold for another hour around lunch time and the call just dropped. I have now been on hold for an additional 2 hours. That is ridiculous when you are paying for a service that isn't working and nobody will answer a phone, a live chat or an email (I've tried them all)! There is no respect for anyone's time! It is too bad big corporate bought them out and ruined them just like everything else. I will be switching providers once I shop around. Oh boy, I can't wait for that call! Yes... I am still on hold! Shesh!

This company use to be great when they first started for about the first 3 or 4 years. There was always a local number to call for your city. Someone THAT YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ALWAYS answered. Now internet is crappy. Mine goes out at least once a week and I have to reset it. Trying ro call them now been waiting on hold for 2 and 1/2 hours and still waiting. I'll probably end up have to talk to someone overseas that I can't even understand and though their glitchy wifi to make things even worse. This is rediculious. Time to look for new company.

Used to be fantastic, Super quick customer support, tech support or billing support. Now...GOOD LUCK! They've also mitigated their payment portal to Altima or whatever that garbage is, and even if you pay your bill. Start will hound you with e-mails claiming its unpaid. Absolute nightmare now. Might have to find a new provider. Telus/Koodo/Start/Altima nightmare.

Internet is good when it works. They were acquired by telus recently, and service dropped significantly. My internet has been out all day, and when I called in (it took 2 hours to get someone who said its down, and they cant do anything or know timing).

Do not use this service at all. Since they partnered with Telus are a complete failure. Used them for 4 years and was extremely happy. Now internet goes down daily and cannot get in touch with support. Trying to cancel and cannot get in touch with anyone.

I signed up two fibre interconnections with Start.ca when they were privately owned. Great people to deal with. One location was a large building and fibre had to be installed to the 25th floor. Went well. This company has now gone so far down hill that it is pathetic. As I type this I have been listening to their damn music for 47 minutes waiting to upgrade my service to include static IP addresses at both locations. Suggest that unless you have lots of patience do not go with this company NOW!
More info 2025 09 17 - I just tried to call Start.ca on the phone - 519-434-5888 - and the auto attendant asked for the phone number associate with the account - entered the number - and then their system asked for a PIN number. I have never had a PIN in all of my dealings with Start.ca - the PIN thing is NEW. I tried a couple of PIN's that were invalid and then their system defaulted to the ACD tree and I waited for 30 minutes and then gave up. This company has absolutely no respect for their customer's time. But I will add that their service has remained good with two fibre internet drops.

I've been a customer with Start.ca for 6 years.

There was a mix up with payment on my account. I been trying to call to speak to customer care for a few days, but seeing that the time wait is always close to an hour, I could never stay on long enough to speak to a rep due to my time. One day I had the day off work and after waiting for 1 hours and 20 min. To speak to a rep, I finally got through to a rep, who was so rude to me about my account. I asked to speak to the manager, and he refused. After I asked him to stop being short with me, I asked to speak to the manager one last time, he raised his voice telling me that its not possible and that a manager will call me and hing up on me.

I called back and was on hold for 45min. When I just gave up, NEVER AGAIN. will I recommend this company. So many people I recommened had issues with them, and after all these years I couldnt believe it until now.

Be advised: The internet is slow.
I switched to Koodo in Aug, saving over half the cost and increasing the speed exponentially!
Since they are essentially the same company now, one would think that they would switch the account on their end. They do not. You will pay for both accounts until you can cancel your account with start.ca, which is immensely and unnecessarily difficult. The only option is to CALL them. I haven't calling service where I live, but I cannot send an email or cancel online. I am currently sitting just shy of 35 mins waiting for a person to answer the phone...the only way to cancel.
The online chat is as useful as the phone which is currently 0%.

Stay away from Start.ca

Service is unreliable and no one answers the phones. My Internet goes out for hours or days at a time and I get absolutely no customer service.

The only connection issues I am having is trying to get someone live on the phone. Since Telus Koodoo got involved, SERVICE SUCKS. Have spent 3 Hours on the phone on Hold since Saturday Aug.30 trying to get somebody in Billing. Impossible. Tried Live Chat and even that came back as being overwhelmed and unable to respond at this time. They Used to be The Best- NOT ANYMORE!

Infuriating company. I so regret shifting to Telus/start a year ago. I’ve just been had services cutoff for the second time because they say they didn’t receive payment but we’re on automatic withdrawal from our bank. Waited an hour and a quarter on hold to speak to someone before giving up. I’m out.

The owners obviously don't give a shit…
The owners obviously don't give a shit about customers. Used to be connected to an agent in 2 rings, now its in the 90 minutes you spend on hold. Pete and Darryl counting their money from the Telus buyout and zero warning that CS was going to complete utter chaos. Dropping START on the 5th. Great job Pete and Darryl