# Rogers is increasing fees



## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

Rogers hitting heavy internet users with an extra 25$ per month charge. 

I never look the bunch of extra stuff Rogers sends me but this month they sent me an increase starting March 1

I am a heavy internet user and download a lot of stuff an average of 209 GB per month. When Rogers initially started charging for usage at 25$ per month I just resigned myself to pay it every month. Then they started their traffic shaping and then my internet connection slowed down to a crawl and my VOIP phone got really incomprehensible at times. So I was not happy about that either but kind of suffered along. Customer service representatives call me at least once per month to discuss upgrading my service to get faster internet. So then I would pay the higher plan plus $25 for downloading which I declined to do. I would also ask then if they could please stop their traffic shaping so that I would get the speed I was paying for. 

So anyways yesterday I got the letter.... my new fees would be 46.99 per month + $50 per month for usage and this for a service where I don't get the speed I am already paying for. So $1200 per year for something that doesn't work properly. 

I was mad and decided to change my Internet provider to Teksavvy

http://www.teksavvy.com/en/content.asp?ID=7&mID=1 

This move will save me 50$ per month. 

I am also cancelling my Rogers cell phone service. My husband has a phone which he barely uses which is on their minimum plan but that is $50 per month. So I want to go with Koodoo or Wind but we need to do more research first. 

Does anyone use Tecsavvy here ? Are you happy with them? What about the "alternative" cell phone providers?


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## Cal (Jun 17, 2009)

Got the same Rogers letter.

My usage is roughly 7GB a month, but my limit for $25.99 was 60GB. 

The letter stated that my limit would be reduced to 2GB, but the monthly fee would raise to $27.99. And that I would be paying an additional $5 per GB over the limit.

So to upgrade to the next limit and get a limit of 25GB, I could pay $35.99 per month instead. Which I did, to avoid going over the GB usage limit.

I too also have a basic cell phone plan w them, paying roughly $50 a month.


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## bgc_fan (Apr 5, 2009)

Berubeland said:


> I am also cancelling my Rogers cell phone service. My husband has a phone which he barely uses which is on their minimum plan but that is $50 per month. So I want to go with Koodoo or Wind but we need to do more research first.
> 
> Does anyone use Tecsavvy here ? Are you happy with them? What about the "alternative" cell phone providers?


I can't say anything about Tecsavvy, but when you say your husband barely uses a cell phone, what do you mean by that? Does he keep it for emergencies and uses it once in a blue moon? If so, you may be better off with a prepaid service. Personally I use Bell (top up every 60 days with $25 to avoid losing money), but I see Petro Canada offers a $100 for 440 minutes and valid for 365 days. But then I almost never use my cell phone, so it's an option I use.


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## Dr_V (Oct 27, 2009)

Berubeland said:


> Does anyone use Tecsavvy here ? Are you happy with them? What about the "alternative" cell phone providers?


I do not personally use it, but I know several people who do and they're all happy.



> am a heavy internet user and download a lot of stuff an average of 209 GB


Holy smokes...


K.


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## FrugalTrader (Oct 13, 2008)

Berubeland, before you switch, call Rogers customer retentions and tell them you want to cancel. They will most likely reduce your monthly fee.


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## the-royal-mail (Dec 11, 2009)

Dial-up internet and NO cell phone here. 

I sit beside a phone all day at work and then in the evening. I'm not so important a person that I cannot wait until I get home to do my communicating. There are NO emergencies that require me immediate access to place a phone call. I am not fire, police or ambulance and so there is no need for me to have access to communication instantly. I live in an urban area, as do most cell phone users. There are phones everywhere. 

As for the www, I use firefox and a firewall and have much of the advertising blocked. I rarely visit video or music or other rich content sites (which are mostly riddled with ads and spyware) and basically just do basic ebay and forum posting. The speed is comparable to what I get on our work network and I don't need to mess around with the sort of nonsense being pulled by Rogers, Bell and other large companies. Works very well for me and I've saved a ton of money these past 12 years that would be in the pockets and under the control of the few big companies like Rogers.

The way to keep control of your money and not be at the whim of the fees of these companies is not to subscribe to their junk.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

the-royal-mail said:


> Dial-up internet and NO cell phone here.


The no-cellphone is easy enough (although I often go to Washington DC for work and have noticed that almost all the payphones there have disappeared, and hotels charge you even to call toll-free lines, so it's pretty hard to exist there without a cell.

But dialup internet? I like to keep my software up to date, and I remember back when I had dialup it would take 12-15 hours to download updates to my operating system and other software. On DSL the same download takes a couple of minutes and rarely has errors.

I have Bell's DSL service, which costs me about $55/month but because I use it for work as well as everything else I get reimbursed by my employer. They often try to get me to switch to their "faster and cheaper" service, but that doesn't have unlimited downloading and I'd end up paying more in the long run because their bandwidth limits are pretty low.


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## el oro (Jun 16, 2009)

Going from rogers to tecsavvy is a common topic on RFD. I'd search there.

As for koodo, I'm a satisfied customer. They had the best value plan for me when I was shopping around. Few phones to choose from but I don't care.


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

It is not just Rogers, Bell Canada is playing a similar game.
My home phone bill has been surreptitiously going up as well, without any change in service or any change in features selected.
It was $34 a year ago and the last bill is almost $10 more.
My high speed DSL internet has gone up from $55 a year ago to $64.
It is mostly the addition of junk fees and increase in basic services.
The satellite fee also went up similarly and I called to reduce features and get a 1 year 20% discount.
Will do the same for home phone as well.
DSL and cell phone dun matter as much because company pays for it, but it is still obnoxious.


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## neeko (Apr 8, 2009)

I've been using TekSaavy for about 3 months now. Because I don't have a home phone line setup I use the DryDSL loop. The basic package is 200MB download cap (5Mbps speed) for $29.95/month, where I'm located the DryDSL surcharge is $9.10 and I am on a rent to own for my modem which is also another $10 but that should be finished at the end of next month I believe. So total with taxes my monthly bill is $52.30. I believe the plan with no download limit is $10 extra so I could in theory upgrade to unlimited after the modem is paid off and pay the same as I'm used to.

Speeds are great, have yet to experience any outages (knock on wood) and both times I've called them (to sign up and to change my payment method) I didn't have to wait in a 20 minute queue before talking to someone


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## John_Michaels (Dec 14, 2009)

wow, 200Gb a MONTH? That's a lot of porn (joking!). I thought my usagage 25Gb a month was a lot, I'm such a naif. I guess with streaming videos and music, it all adds up.

I live in an area where Bell's 1Meg Modem was only available, then they upgraded me to real DSL in 2003. My service was originally 1.5Mb down for ~$45 but unlimited download. I notice Bell has silently upgraded my service to 4Mb last year and it seems to be >6Mb now. I'm still paying a little bit more than the standard price but hey, 'unlimited' bandwidth. I assume if I started downloading 200G I would get something similar.

[no cable to my house and Rogers isn't going to trench so I can't even go that route]


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

*wow, 200Gb a MONTH?*

I don't have cable all I have is internet so my hubby downloads the shows we want to watch from the internet. Apparently some very helpful geeks download pretty much any show you want as soon as they air. We also record shows off the digital antennae (which is free)

I have what is probably the most sophisticated TV watching set up ever seen. I can watch whatever I want when I want. We even have a computer program to strip out the commercials. The only PC in the house is running Media Center for the TV. I also have an Apple TV that holds a bunch of shows... every day the downloaded shows get converted to a Codec (computer language) the Apple TV understands then I can see them. 

Occasionally I need a course on how to watch my own TV. 

We also have about 400 movies the biggest problem we have is keeping the 2 terabyte drives from filling up. 

This entire thing is out of control now that I think about it  I was too cheap to pay for Rogers cable so I get compelled into buying all these computers to run the TV. 

So that's how you download 200 GB per month.


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## John_Michaels (Dec 14, 2009)

...a good window into the future of Cable-cos (and Telcos in the U.S. I guess) delivering video. Darn, what do I do with my Shaw stocks...

I bow in your technical presence


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## high octane (Jul 21, 2009)

John_Michaels said:


> ...a good window into the future of Cable-cos (and Telcos in the U.S. I guess) delivering video. Darn, what do I do with my Shaw stocks...
> 
> I bow in your technical presence


Yea I've been downloading all my TV for years. At first because I was in college, but now because I travel and prefer to watch what I want when I want etc. At home I have a PS3 and it streams any file off my desktop hard drive seamlessly

The telcos could really hurt if people realize how dirt cheap and good Voip is (not vonage) Theres no reason why we can't merge everything with the internet, except that it would not be profitable for the Telcos


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

Where do you guys download your TV shows from?
I've tried searching for TV shows and end up getting redirected to websites with more spyware than shows.
Please share your links.


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## steve_jay33 (Aug 29, 2009)

FrugalTrader said:


> Berubeland, before you switch, call Rogers customer retentions and tell them you want to cancel. They will most likely reduce your monthly fee.


Just did that 3 days ago. They offered 12$ off the monthly price of the extreme service. I cancelled anyways and went with a much cheaper ISP.


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## high octane (Jul 21, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> Where do you guys download your TV shows from?
> I've tried searching for TV shows and end up getting redirected to websites with more spyware than shows.
> Please share your links.


First download the program Azureus vuze, then go to a site such a mininova.org to search for episodes. You can get entire seasons in one link, and then select the episodes you want

PS3 even links to the Vuze program, so you can open the show on your TV as soon as it downloads from the TV


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

No great sympathy here. The internet does not have unlimited cpacity. If you are hogging bandwidth you should pay more. But it does pay to shop around.


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## Berubeland (Sep 6, 2009)

You know the thing that pisses me off about Rogers is that they do not have a plan for me. 

Every plan they have forces me to pay an extra $50 per month for usage. 

And what really upsets me about that is that they promise me a certain SPEED for my internet. They have NEVER delivered that speed since they have started their traffic shaping. They are discriminating against the type of use that I am putting my internet to. Not only that it screws up my phone. 

I would be glad to pay triple what I am paying now for 200 GB with decent speed at least what I am paying for. THEY DO NOT HAVE IT. 

Let me give you an analogy. You need a paid of running shoes for a marathon, you go to the shoe store and all they have are sandals several sizes too small. So you say to the sales guy is hey i need shoes to run this marathon he comes out with some sandals your size so you say hey I need to run a marathon I need running shoes. He says that's more expensive but you're ok with that you need what you need right? So he goes in the back and gets you a pair of running shoes but they are the wrong size. 

So that's me and Rogers....


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## high octane (Jul 21, 2009)

The CRTC and lack of real Telco competition in Canada sucks. Internet/cell phones/telephones all suck in Canada. Yes the population is spread out but they are still raking in ridiculous profits

Most people who pay for super fast internet will not get what they pay for because the infrastructure does not allow it anyways

I go with a small local company, which used to have no throttling and no DL limit (until recently) for a reasonable price.

NB is supposed to be getting "Fiber Optic to The Home", that should make it possible to actually get the speeds you pay for. Don't know how long before that spreads


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## OhGreatGuru (May 24, 2009)

And yet we have one of the highest rates of internet usage in the world. So it can't be all that bad.
I'm a contrarian. I think Canada had the best telephone system in the world (and the cheapest local rates) under a regulated monopoly. Then with the puiblic clamor for competition in long-distance and internet carriage we now have rotten service and misleading pricing schemes from all the big players.


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## brad (May 22, 2009)

high octane said:


> NB is supposed to be getting "Fiber Optic to The Home", that should make it possible to actually get the speeds you pay for. Don't know how long before that spreads


We have had residential fiber optic available from Bell for several years now in Montreal. I looked into it: more expensive than DSL or cable and it comes with bandwidth restrictions. They keep offering it to me and I keep telling them why I don't want it.


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## high octane (Jul 21, 2009)

I travel a lot, and I like to hook up internet whenever I can. I've dealt with just about every ISP in Canada

I just got Shaw Extreme last night and I'm very impressed. Their CSR was very competent and was obviously from the area (usually I have to spell everything phonetically twice) The tech came as scheduled and ensured the cable would not be hindered by splitters etc

I've been running the speed test and consistently getting 12-17 MBps when we paid for 10 MBps at promo $25/month... no set up fees no disconnect fees (afaik) The only catch is the 100 GB cap, but Shaw's policy is to call and warn customers before charging them

This is far better customer service than I've come to expect from Canadian ISPs such as Telus, Bell, Rogers, Persona, Videotron

Shaw has a plan that might suit Berubeland with unlimited DL for $150/month. I doubt you would hit the limit on the speed but you'd essentially get the fastest internet possible on cable. This would be good for people sharing one connection. I noticed it's not advertised on their site either

Just wait for fiber optics!

Completely unrelated I bought shares of Shaw last week but it hadn't even crossed my mind. I'd happily buy shares in the Telcos I hate with a passion to deal with as well if the price is right


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## high octane (Jul 21, 2009)

brad said:


> We have had residential fiber optic available from Bell for several years now in Montreal. I looked into it: more expensive than DSL or cable and it comes with bandwidth restrictions. They keep offering it to me and I keep telling them why I don't want it.


That's because the Telcos suck and are ripping us off

You can't tell me phone or cable lines are better than fiber optic. I was using fiber optic cable to connect army systems when I joined in 2001.

It's slow to take off because the cable is extremely expensive


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## HaroldCrump (Jun 10, 2009)

high octane said:


> I've been running the speed test and consistently getting 12-17 MBps


Wow...is that cable or DSL?


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## Dr_V (Oct 27, 2009)

"Goldman hangs up on Rogers"


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## high octane (Jul 21, 2009)

HaroldCrump said:


> Wow...is that cable or DSL?


It's cable.

This is a speed test and it's even on wireless G. I'm in an ancient military house sharing with over 10 ppl. I think I get 3 MBps at home



I tried to get DSL through Telus but they barely spoke English and kept trying to tell me for hours I didn't know my address or they didn't service the area even though my neighbor has Telus DSL, they claimed it must be Dial Up

Shaw only needed my street address and 2 pieces of ID and gladly took my business


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## high octane (Jul 21, 2009)

Dr_V said:


> "Goldman hangs up on Rogers"


I'm no stock analyst but I would happily own Rogers unless Canadians wake up to competition

The Telcos seem to have the CRTC wrapped around their finger

I do own BCE and SJR.

I'll see in Wind Mobile actually has anything before I look in RCI


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