Cellcom Fiber in Israel: Internet Options

Cellcom Internet in Israel - סלקום אינטרנט

Cellcom Israel (Hebrew: סלקום) is one of the major telecommunications giants in Israel. Cellcom home internet and Cellcom fiber account for a substantial share of the national market. The company claims over 2 million subscribers (all telecom services) and competes fiercely with rivals like Bezeq, Partner, and Hot. 

Cellcom internet reviews are patchy, particularly among Anglos in Israel. We’ll check out the pros and cons of Cellcom Fiber in this blog post. We’ll also look hard at Cellcom Customer Service and Cellcom online chat. If you’re already a Cellcom Israel customer or are considering signing up for either Cellcom Fiber or Cellcom home internet, read on for a full list of internet options.

Cellcom Fiber 

Cellcom fiber is available through four major plans via the Cellcom Israel website. The website is in Hebrew (סלקום), the only English that you can find on their website is the headline details of each fiber Cellcom plan.

Non-competitive pricing

Cellcom Fiber pricing is nothing special. HOT offers better introductory deals, but their equivalent 300 Mb -1Gb plans slip into the same general price range after the first three months. Bezeq’s BFiber and Partner fiber are all comparable. You can save a few shekels by shopping around and switching providers, but the market is pretty much sewn up. 

A cynic might say that the major internet companies have a tacit agreement not to undercut each other’s prices and to maintain the status quo to their mutual advantage. Fortunately, nothing like that could ever happen in Israel’s pluralistic and consumer-oriented economy…

Back in the real world, it’s clear that Cellcom internet Israel doesn’t offer customers any significant advantages regarding their monthly prices for neither their Fiber Cellcom deals or the Cellcom Home Internet plans. If you want a basic 300 Mb fiber plan, it will cost you at least ₪1,200 a year.

If you’re thinking about signing up with Cellcom Israel, or renewing a Fiber Cellcom plan, what will probably sway you are factors like convenience, availability, reliability, and the quality of Cellcom Customer Service.

Is Cellcom Fiber Internet any Good?

Cellcom fiber deals are not significantly cheaper than most fiber plans offered by the company’s competitors, nor is their technology more advanced. Within the context of that market reality, Cellcom fiber internet is pretty good. If you sign up for a Cellcom fiber deal, you’ll get a reliable, super-fast home internet plan. 

You should get good overall signal strength if your plan includes a Cellcom Fiber Router. Every apartment and home has its peculiarities and many Anglos in Israel still complain that they encounter signal blackspots in Israeli-built homes. The Cellcom Fiber Router is on par with other modern routers and eliminates many former problems with coverage.

If you opt for a 1Gb Cellcom fiber plan, you’ll have enough download capacity to satisfy all the family. All your requirements for streaming, gaming, video conferencing, etc., will almost certainly be covered. If you’re a single person who uses the internet moderately, even a 300MB Cellcom fiber plan should be more than adequate - that’s if you even opt for fiber. Many people are happy to pay peanuts for a minimalist 100Mb plan - and cope fine. 

Cellcom Internet Reviews

Cellcom Internet reviews tend to be middle of the road. They are rarely as negative and despairing as many HOT Israel reviews but lack the upbeat enthusiasm of typical TCS reviews. Most Cellcom internet Israel users seem either indifferent or moderately dissatisfied when it comes to Cellcom Israel service standards. 

Our anecdotal evidence of Cellcom internet reviews is that users are most positive about the Fiber Cellcom coverage and availability range. Fiber Cellcom uses the national fiber optic infrastructure. The national network already covers almost 70% of the country and is growing fast. If you live in a town or city or other populated areas, the chances are that Cellcom internet Israel is already an option. 

Most people with Cellcom home internet seem to enjoy a fairly glitch-free service. Fiber internet is generally reliable, to begin with. It doesn’t - or shouldn’t - experience peak-level disruption. Cellcom internet reviews rarely complain about any disruptions to service. Cellcom FiberTV viewers usually report that the Cellcom Fiber Router is reliable. 

Cellcom doesn’t always get good (or even average) user reviews. In December 2010, the company experienced a nationwide service outage. The failure was big enough to lower projected Q4 profits. Cellcom’s promise to compensate mobile customers with free calls and texts wasn’t honored.

Cellcom reportedly lost thousands of customers in 2021. The company made a catastrophically ill-advised decision to suspend operations for an hour in support of a strike by Arab Israelis and Palestinians. Cellcom Israel users castigated the company for getting involved in politics and adopting a socially divisive stance. 

Cellcom Customer Support  

Customer support and customer service are the Achilles' heel (or one of them) for almost every Israeli company. Israeli companies either don’t get it when it comes to customer support, or they do get it and don’t care. A small minority of companies, often those with CEOs who previously worked in the US or Europe, try to improve their customer service ethos. Their good intentions usually evaporate amid Israeli chutzpah, impatience, and attitude.

Cellcom customer service and Cellcom online chat is average for major Israeli companies - which is to say that it can take less than 5 minutes to spoil your day. The only positive thing we can say about Cellcom customer service is that it is light years ahead of its rival HOT Israel!

Suppose you’re signed up with Cellcom Israel. In that case, Partner, Bezeq, Golan, or any other major company - including banks, utilities, and similar service providers - you’ll probably only call their customer service numbers as a last resort. Olim, who’d previously complained about call centers in their former country, often get a major culture shock the first time they call Israeli customer support. 

Cellcom customer support rating

If our ratings for Cellcom customer support seem harsh, we judge them by the US, UK, and EU standards that most Olim and Anglos in Israel are used to. If we compared Cellcom objectively to other Israeli call centers, they might average a ★★★ or, in a couple of cases, even a ★★★★ rating. 

If you have issues with Cellcom home internet, a Cellcom Fiber Router, or FiberTV, you’ll probably have to call customer support. You’ll need plenty of patience, some spare time, and a quiet place to call from. Reception and sound quality aren’t always great, and poor sound quality makes a Hebrew conversation much harder. 

If you can familiarize yourself with any relevant technical terms in Hebrew, it may help a lot. Writing them phonetically on a piece of paper is a good idea. It’s always wise to record any conversation with Israeli customer service. You have a conversation record if you have to complain about lousy attitudes or poor service. More importantly, if a rep gives you technical instructions, you can play them back as needed. 

Does Cellcom Offer English-Speaking Customer Support?

Most of Cellcom Israel’s 2 million plus users read ‘Cellcom’ as ‘סלקום.’ The company is an old-school Israeli with a Hebrew website and Hebrew customer service. Some telecom companies in Israel do offer token website content in other languages (English, Arabic, Russian and French). Cellcom doesn’t bother. 

You'll probably connect to an English speaker if you need to call a Cellcom call center. It may involve a long wait, and the quality of the English will be variable. There is also the possibility that you will be abruptly transferred to a Hebrew speaker if you require a specific service or assistance. 

Many Anglos in Israel - and most new Olim - will impose on a friendly Israeli to call for them and handle the language barrier. It’s not just a question of Hebrew/English communication. There is also a cultural barrier that Anglos don’t always manage to cross. 

A native Israeli interpreter is far less likely to be fobbed by a lazy or unhelpful call center rep. Sabras are usually tougher, shrewder, and more streetwise when pinning down call center reps, insisting on genuine answers, and getting actual results. The fact that they’re not inhibited by instinctive Anglo politeness is an advantage.  

No English whatsoever

Cellcom Israel does not offer English speaking customer support.

What English Speakers in Israel think about Cellcom 

English speakers in Israel are ambivalent about Cellcom at best. The company doesn’t have an English language website and doesn’t invest in English-speaking customer service. Whether this is a genuine oversight or the company did the math and doesn’t consider the Anglo community to be a lucrative customer base isn’t clear. 

The benefits of a multilingual website, or at least publishing key pages in English, Russian, French, and Arabic, ought to be obvious. Those Anglos who do choose to sign up for Cellcom home internet Cellcom seem to manage with the Hebrew text. Google Translate is a big help. 

Generally, English speakers in Israel relate to Cellcom the same way that they do to most other major companies. When Anglos bother to think about them, they dislike and distrust them. There’s an underlying feeling of paying too much for too little and getting second-rate service. In 2022, that appears to be a cross-cultural sentiment that is the norm in most Western countries. 

The average English speaker in Israel who uses Cellcom home internet, fiber, and telephone services probably couldn’t single out any significant advantages over Bezeq, Partner or Golan, etc. The brand loyalty that is so important to marketers is often no more than a force of habit. Most Anglos tend to sign up for services on the strength of personal recommendations rather than in response to targeted advertising, brand knowledge, or research.  

The bottom line with most English-speaking Cellcom users is that the company deducts a monthly payment from their online bank account, receiving a functioning internet service in return. If they don’t have to deal with Cellcom customer service or field cold calls from sales reps pushing upgrades, that’s a big plus. 

Anglo customers generally stick with Cellcom because (hardcore utility switchers aside) there’s little to gain by changing internet service providers. Switching companies is usually a hassle in exchange for a cheap three-month introductory offer, a minor bandwidth increase, or a free router.

Cellcom Israel - Take Away Points for Customers

Do You Want English Speaking Customer Service and Billing?

TCS is an Israeli company with a difference. It was founded by Anglos and operated entirely in English: English website, English contracts, English customer service, and English billing. If you’re tired of battling Israeli customer service and trying to make sense of contracts and bills written in Hebrew, TCS will be a breath of fresh air. 

You can sign up for a range of broadband and fiber internet deals, either as a stand-alone service or as part of a tailored telecom bundle. Many TCS customers are deeply relieved to be able to consolidate all their internet, mobile, landline, and TV packages under a single TCS deal. They’re also delighted to get fast, courteous, and competent customer service from native English speakers!