My Honest Review of Purple Cow Internet – The Good, The Bad, and The Reality

Bell Aliant Vs Purple Cow

I have no issue with Bell Aliant’s product. I was a Fibe customer for almost a decade. In reviewing my expenses for 2024, I noticed that they had gradually increased my prices without notifying me. Since I was on direct debit, these increases went unnoticed until I did a full review of my expenses. That made me start looking for alternatives. Living in Nova Scotia, I had previously heard about Purple Cow, i’m not sure exactly when but it was from friends mainly and maybe ads. At some point I think they had election-style lawn signs planted around the area. So I went to their website to check if my building was covered. It was, and I opted for a mid-level package: 300 Mbps speed, a selection of TV channels, a PVR option, plus one extra channel for an additional $4.

1. Sign-Up and Installation Process

Signing up was straightforward—I filled in my details online and quickly began receiving texts from Purple Cow guiding me through the next steps. I scheduled an installation day, and the router arrived on time. I followed their instructions to plug in the router, which was supposed to activate automatically. Unfortunately, it didn’t work right away, so I had to go back and forth via text.

They scheduled a technician, but I had to wait through the weekend for them to arrive. When the technician did come, they were punctual, professional, and quickly resolved the issue. The initial setup had an upfront cost of $195.90, but the technician visit was at no extra charge. The text-based support system was unusual at first, but once I got used to it, it worked well.

2. Internet Performance & Reliability

I signed up for 300 Mbps download, and I consistently get that speed, regardless of the time of day. Ironically, on my installation day, Eastlink (which Purple Cow piggybacks off) had an outage, causing some initial confusion. However, aside from that first day, I have had zero outages or issues. The connection is stable all day.

We are a household that streams a lot and frequently uses Zoom, and we’ve had no issues with either. We do not game, so I cannot comment on gaming performance, but given the reliability so far, I suspect it would be fine.

3. Customer Service & Support

I interacted with customer support quite a bit in the early days, mainly due to Purple Cow sending me different passwords for my WiFi and their TV app, which I found needlessly confusing.

Customer service operates via text, and they always respond within minutes. While I’m not entirely sure if I was chatting with a person or an AI chatbot, the responses were helpful. When I added an extra channel to my package, they promised it would be active within 10 minutes, and it was. That level of responsiveness was impressive.

While the text-based system works well, an improvement would be a customer dashboard on their website where users could manage their service, add/remove channels, and view billing information directly without needing to text customer support.

4. Pricing & Value for Money

I chose the 300 Mbps plan, which is a mid-level option. Purple Cow also offers 100 Mbps and 1 Gbps plans. My total cost, including TV channels, is $113 per month before taxes. This switch has saved me over $100 a month compared to Bell Aliant, and given the consistent service quality, it’s absolutely worth it.

Purple Cow is completely upfront and transparent with their pricing—there are no surprise charges or hidden fees.

5. Pros & Cons Summary

Pros:

• Significant cost savings compared to Bell Aliant.
• Transparent pricing—no need to “negotiate” for a fair rate.
• Reliable service with no outages after the first day.
• Quick and effective customer support via text.
• Technician visit was free when initial self-setup didn’t work.
• The TV app is very easy to use with full DVR functionality ($5 a month)

Cons:

• A website dashboard for managing the account would be a big improvement. (Correction there is one)
• This both a pro and a con. I realized after I signed up that I could have saved money ($15) on installation by using a referral link. However, I can now offer my own referral link to others, and we both get a small credit. At the time of writing, the referrer gets $25 and the new customer gets $15. I wish someone had told me beforehand.
• Lost a few TV channels compared to what I had with Bell Aliant, but that has helped cut down on unnecessary watching.

6. My Honest Purple Cow Review

I highly recommend Purple Cow Internet. It offers solid service with excellent value, and the savings are significant without any noticeable drop in quality. If you’re looking to reduce your monthly expenses while maintaining fast and stable internet, they are an excellent option.

I believe their product is suitable for everyone—from budget-conscious users to heavy internet users—because it runs on Eastlink’s infrastructure. The 1 Gbps plan should work just as well for those who need more speed.

One suggestion for improvement would be a self-service online portal for managing channels and account details, but overall, my experience has been extremely positive. If you’re considering switching, I’d say go for it!

7. Cancelling Bell Aliant

Probably the worst thing about Bell is their customer service, and cancelling is no exception. They are relentless with counter-offers and will eventually agree to match their competitors’ prices. If you’re truly prepared to cancel, that’s when they present their best deals. But why should that be the case? Surely the best price should always be offered with no need to complain.

However, my decision was final. When they started their sales pitch, I simply said, “Can we just skip to the part where you cancel my service, please?” Refusing to answer why I was leaving seemed to short-circuit their customer retention efforts. The salesperson was clearly baffled when I stayed silent after being asked the same question for the third or fourth time. Initially, I just responded with, “I’d rather not say.” By the end, I just went silent.

I know others who wanted to make sure Bell understood why they were leaving, but in the end, that only dragged out the conversation, giving the rep more opportunity to persuade them to stay. There’s a certain satisfaction in withholding that valuable customer data and leaving them guessing.