anyone working for Bell Technical Solutions? or a field technician?

[iamcanadian100]

What is the $1500 for? I didn't think they were training this late, having done the job fairs and interviews a month or more ago. When did you interview with them?

[blackstar360]

What is the $1500 for? I didn't think they were training this late, having done the job fairs and interviews a month or more ago. When did you interview with them?

Bell is sending the trainees through the PAT Institute for 3 weeks of training. We have to shell out $1500 for the training, boots and clothes. I'm not sure if I want to do it though.

[yatta]

wtffffffffff are you serious? You have to pay 1500 dollars now for then to train you to work for them? or is this an early April fools joke?

sounds mad scammy. I call BS

[sears_sucks]

I can't believe that Bell is making you pay for training. Maybe they are making you buy all your safety equipment and some hand tools?? Makes me mad when i hear stuff like this.

[blackstar360]

wtffffffffff are you serious? You have to pay 1500 dollars now for then to train you to work for them? or is this an early April fools joke?

sounds mad scammy. I call BS

Nope. it's legit. We had to do a second interview at Bell's recruitment office. We even had to do a driving test. It's just B.S. that we have to pay $1500 for training. I don't think i'm gonna do it. Working like a mad man for $14 an hour? No benefits till a year of working there? Crappy Hours? Takes two to four years for the conditional period to end? I have until Tuesday to figure out what i want to do.

[blackstar360]

I can't believe that Bell is making you pay for training. Maybe they are making you buy all your safety equipment and some hand tools?? Makes me mad when i hear stuff like this.

Nope. We borrow the safety equipment for the 3 weeks of training, then we have to return it. The only thing we keep are the coveralls, boots and safety hat.

[yatta]

Nope. it's legit. We had to do a second interview at Bell's recruitment office. We even had to do a driving test. It's just B.S. that we have to pay $1500 for training. I don't think i'm gonna do it. Working like a mad man for $14 an hour? No benefits till a year of working there? Crappy Hours? Takes two to four years for the conditional period to end? I have until Tuesday to figure out what i want to do.

wow man that is some serious B.S man I use to work from them and couldn't keep up with them. I was considering coming back and heard things were better but by the sounds of it, they don't seem that much better, Especially if you have to pay 1.5 grand for training now lol that's ridiculous. The Driving test colour test and ladder test is all standard though.

Choice is yours man if you can handle all the stress in the beginning then it will be a nice job later on when you get the hang of it.

good luck

[AudiDude]

Telecommunications Technician as a job has really gone downhill since 1996. My advice is if you need the money, take the job. Plan to quit and if necessary get some more education. Please do not make a large financial commitment, because then they've got you. I feel sorry for those who got married, had a kid or bought a house. They usually can't afford to take a pay cut to switch jobs.

This goes for B**L and R****S. They seem to be in a competition for who can have the most underpaid and overworked techs. As things become more complicated, the job has not paid more. People who get paid more sit inside and work in the same enviroment which is fairly predictable while you stay outside in traffic which is variable, in weather which is variable, in an home enviroment which is variable, dealing with customers that vary from nice to nutbar or senile. Now some 'tard inside that has never done your job will set the maximum amount of jobs you are to do each day.To top it off, you are going to be pushed to do phone, TV, and internet on a pay scale that is less than what people get to tackle one technology.

B**L techs were getting paid $25/hr in 1996 to connect two wires from the CO to your house and connect them to the jacks to deliver phone, and that was all!

[Donimo]

Telecommunications Technician as a job has really gone downhill since 1996. My advice is if you need the money, take the job. Plan to quit and if necessary get some more education. Please do not make a large financial commitment, because then they've got you. I feel sorry for those who got married, had a kid or bought a house. They usually can't afford to take a pay cut to switch jobs.

This goes for B**L and R****S. They seem to be in a competition for who can have the most underpaid and overworked techs. As things become more complicated, the job has not paid more. People who get paid more sit inside and work in the same enviroment which is fairly predictable while you stay outside in traffic which is variable, in weather which is variable, in an home enviroment which is variable, dealing with customers that vary from nice to nutbar or senile. Now some 'tard inside that has never done your job will set the maximum amount of jobs you are to do each day.To top it off, you are going to be pushed to do phone, TV, and internet on a pay scale that is less than what people get to tackle one technology.

+1 to the house/marriage/child reference. I have done all three in the last three years and I feel like I'm in a telecomms trap that I cannot easily escape from without a serious financial cut.

+1 to the variability factor. These days though it's not even necessarily a person setting a workload. For my it's a computer program that has the option of bring overridden by a human dispatcher. It determines drive times (which are often way off) and how long a job should take based on averages from a different province). As a contractor being paid piece work it is frustrating.

[steel3621]

I just got a job offer from BTS yesterday. This thread is a little discouraging after reading some of the comments. Plus, I have to pay $1500 for the training...

Seriously? Wow, they got cheap. I was trained in Feb of 2009 for an entire month for free and was guaranteed 8 hours pay per day. I hope they are paying you hourly at least.

[yatta]

B**L techs were getting paid $25/hr in 1996 to connect two wires from the CO to your house and connect them to the jacks to deliver phone, and that was all!

Good ol days huh? Wish i was in during those times.

[blackstar360]

I didn't take the job. I'd rather stay unemployed and take the risk to look for another job then work somewhere where I'm pretty sure i'll be miserable.

[yatta]

I didn't take the job. I'd rather stay unemployed and take the risk to look for another job then work somewhere where I'm pretty sure i'll be miserable.

Don't sweat it man, it wasn't like that was the Job of a lifetime. Just figure something out do something you enjoy.

[rulbak]

I was one of the succors to pay the $1500 and goto the pat-institute in chambridge..

Worst experience ever. the school wasn't even finished. no poles no stands no jwi's/opi's or anything complete garbage. 90% of the things patti taut us was wrong. I believe the hole experience cost me close to $4,000 if you include time away from my old job (3weeks) plus travel costs (230km round trip everyday) for 4 hours a day, which half the time we ended up doing "busy work" like 3 hours one day installing rocket 88's over and over.....

also during the second interview (the one with the bell rep) we were promised fulltime within 2-3 years, and 60 hours a week as a temp if we want it. so of course the $1500 didn't look bad when you are promised stuff like that.. even when another bell rep came in after we paid and started our training, told us the same thing again when we signed our conditional employment papers.

now we finished our crappy training with patti, and do our "review" with bell for 1 week, we find out we got screwed. that it's going to take us years to even get rpt, but there are no hours out there.. my first week, I work 1 shift, then get sat for 4 days in a row.. you can't even get good at a job if you only work 2 days a pay period.

I strongly do not recommend doing the patti training, it's garbage.

we also found out after we finished the patti training, there was a group before us and after us who got the 8 weeks of training paid from bell.... we are afraid to goto the union about it because we are all on probation, and bell will fire at the first sign of trouble. also considering talking to a lawyer about the falsified information bell gave us, to entice us into this patti training...

all in all, i actually like doing the job, and want to work, but bts has already left a very sour taste in my mouth after only 1 week.

[Supra90T]

Dont be scared about going to the union with it; The union is there to protect you when you file a grievance. That said, it's hard to say what's going to happen to service levels in the future w/ the iptv project ongoing. We're fixing alot of the faults out there during the dsa cuts but also afterwards when we go back in and fix any iptv-ready pairs. There ARE however alot of out of services with all the new hires for the project cutting cables the wrong way and whatnot...fun fun

I was one of the succors to pay the $1500 and goto the pat-institute in chambridge..

Worst experience ever. the school wasn't even finished. no poles no stands no jwi's/opi's or anything complete garbage. 90% of the things patti taut us was wrong. I believe the hole experience cost me close to $4,000 if you include time away from my old job (3weeks) plus travel costs (230km round trip everyday) for 4 hours a day, which half the time we ended up doing "busy work" like 3 hours one day installing rocket 88's over and over.....

also during the second interview (the one with the bell rep) we were promised fulltime within 2-3 years, and 60 hours a week as a temp if we want it. so of course the $1500 didn't look bad when you are promised stuff like that.. even when another bell rep came in after we paid and started our training, told us the same thing again when we signed our conditional employment papers.

now we finished our crappy training with patti, and do our "review" with bell for 1 week, we find out we got screwed. that it's going to take us years to even get rpt, but there are no hours out there.. my first week, I work 1 shift, then get sat for 4 days in a row.. you can't even get good at a job if you only work 2 days a pay period.

I strongly do not recommend doing the patti training, it's garbage.

we also found out after we finished the patti training, there was a group before us and after us who got the 8 weeks of training paid from bell.... we are afraid to goto the union about it because we are all on probation, and bell will fire at the first sign of trouble. also considering talking to a lawyer about the falsified information bell gave us, to entice us into this patti training...

all in all, i actually like doing the job, and want to work, but bts has already left a very sour taste in my mouth after only 1 week.