 Review by Raptor 
UPDATED: 166 days ago
member for 8 years, 1585 visits, last login: a few hours ago
 London,ON
 $55 per month
 about 7 days
 "$100 Paperweight...although its no wicked looking Lancity"
 "Caps, constant price increases, throttling, store employee knowledge"
 "Become a Rogers employee so you can get a reasonable rate"
| Pre Sales information:
Install Co-ordination:
Connection Reliability:
Tech Support:
Services:
Value for money:
(ratings match consensus)
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At first, Rogers or for this case at the beginning Shaw, owned the high speed world. It was everything u could ever imagine. Insane speeds for downloading, uploading, anything....we're talking pretty much uncapped as much as your computer could handle bandwidth....+500k/sec down and the ability to host and play games with insane upload....but all that has gone down the crapper along with now more money each month....Rogers sucks now and thats all there is to it...it costs more, it's stupidly slower being capped at 1000/180ish....whats the point now...? Their tech support is ridiculous and their other customer support/repair is pretty much 1 guy, his dirty old van and a screwdriver, who may or may not come within the next 6-8 weeks to tell you the modem is broken...how do they break so much? I have never so much as looked at mine in the 3 years I had it and its been replaced because it "broke" 5 times? I don't think so...
As far as what they promised....noooo. They never sent a single email about new prices or speeds....they don't even advertise speeds because they know they're brutal....that's all there is to it...don't bother with rogers. Hopefully someone will eventually take light on to all the unhappy people and straighten themselves up. All it'll take for me is another company to offer more speed and/or consistency and I'll switch...
****UPDATE March 9 2004*****
ok, rogers users, i have found the solution to all problems...ready?
B*tch at the tech support like there is no freaking tomorrow.
Embellish your crap speeds just a little, or a lot...whatever, and get angry, yell, swear, do whatever, (you don't have to be mean to the tech person) but basically just lose it. I say this because:
3am at night: speeds 1000/100 (the capped value I've been at for a few months now)....begin drunk bitching at tech support.
Next morning: speeds 2000/400--they haven't dropped since.
Seems to be the key, they have the bandwidth, they just know that they can shaft 9/10 people and hold back on the bandwidth.
****UPDATE OCT 27 2004*****
So this magical Extreme package comes along, what more could we all ask for right? Well frig....apparently they don't know how to use these new Docsis modems and the network is over congested and blah blah blah, Rogers sells their services without having enough network capacity...but they still get their money right?
I have $100 paperweight of a Motorola modem on my desk. It wont connect since it wont receive a response and it isn't assigned an IP. Smooth Rogers. When it first stopped working, I called Rogers that day. After 5+ tech visits, and 10+ phone calls they were 'gracious' enough to loan me a Terayon while the Docsis crap is fixed with the Motorola (extreme). How nice of them...except the network is over congested at the moment so i get 100/27kbps (that's NOT kB) on a test...whats that, less than 10KB/s or something terrible....$45 well spent!....essentially, no one knows whats going on, after talking to 10+ techies, none could refer me to anyone that knew about how, when, if at all the problem was being worked on, let alone understood. So I'm in week 3 of having my 100$ paperweight....if Rogers was beside me id punch him in the face....
So to recap and say yet again, the techs are like PR people, they keep the peace and give politician like responses--crap. I wish there was an alternative since DSL just isn't as fast....how is it Rogers isn't a monopoly? I'm confused? I don't know of any other cable companies in SW Ontario...whatever.
Rogers continues to screw up a good thing. From the Wave, to Shaw, to Rogers, to the Yahoo junk....none of which are improvements.....
And finally, the newsgroup change....why....why mess with such a wonderful thing. Now I have nothing good to say about them. I was happy having crappy overall internet but still getting 500k/sec off newsgroups...no longer.
Conclusion
- I am convinced a monkey is running rogers.
- They don't really care, they get their money, and will maybe fix stuff if enough people complain, as the techs have told me to wait to see if other people complain.
- All us haters of Rogers should start our own cable company 
- I personally don't recommend Rogers unless you know it's good in your area.
****UPDATE Mar 1 2005*****
60 GB Cap....what the bloody crap? It's ok though since I still can't use my $100 paperweight because my extreme modem won't connect since too many extremies are already online on my node. But the good folks at Rogers tell me if I keep unplugging and plugging my modem in hoping that someone else dropped, I might get their spot! Best service ever!
Overall: Its good if its good in your area. I wish I was in a good area.
And the caps...well, there are no words for that. Ridiculous comes to mind. I am not impressed, especially since I haven't actually received any notice of the cap. So how would I know if i was an average user that used the bandwidth but didn't frequent DSLR or the crappy rogers website FAQ? Magic powers? oh no, only Ted has magic powers, he makes all our money disappear instead of paying for network upgrades....*poof*.
-----UPDATE APRIL 15, 2005-----
Well, the other day I attempted to use my Geocities, to transfer a file to someone, but even with my user name and password it wouldn't open the file manager or let me ftp. I could login via IE, but it would just time out when I clicked 'get started now'. I emailed the tech gods, and they wanted me to send them my user name and password for my account, um no. So i said screw it, got me a G-mail account. Anyways, 5 days later, I get some auto response from civics@geocities, apparently my account is now active and ready to go! Right, nice turn around on a free service which i SHOULD already be signed up for, apparently I had to activate it by attempting a login? People whine how Rogers users shouldn't complain about an 'extra service', well we used to have this extra service and it was much better! 10mb, no apparent limits?, and no GeoCrappies. But then Yahoo happened, so wheres my price drop? Only in my dreams.
My connection is a sentient life form, it chooses to be on when it wants to be, and when it's happy, it goes fast, other times it is unhappy, and chooses to hit 300ms off the first node. That's still good right? It's ok, Rogers doesn't guarantee ping times so wtf would they care. No worries, there are about 5 unprotected wireless AP's around me, since one of the modems are usually having good days when mine has a bad. Hopefully I don't get spammed for 'stealing'. People shouldn't be allowed to purchase wireless equipment if they don't have the knowledge to run it. Just like all the zombie spam bot computers out there, users who don't know anything (generally). Its in the air, and its in my house, its a backup and i don't abuse it. But I digress...
Shaw upgrades! Well that'd be nice for Rogers. I wish i understood the corporate workings, how does Shaw upgrade and others not? Cogeco and Rogers, I guess we're all different. Maybe they have a good connection in Shaw areas still? I'd like to say that, and agree with some others, I don't need 7Mbps damn it, I'm capped already, I could damn well use the upload though, maybe a guaranteed .5mbit, and max 1mbit? I'd take a 5/1 any day, and not an 'up to' 5/1.
Finally, the Rogers EULA, this has been the topic of discussion especially the caps. On one side, you have hard asses saying, if you didn't agree don't sign up for the EULA. No one reads that uber document. When I complain that my advertised 5mbit is only going 1.5 and they say well it is 'up to', well when I go and buy a Porsche and it should go up to what 300km/hr (i don't know), and if the engine is limited to 150, I'm going to go kick the dealers ass. I paid for the top speed. Don't advertise something you cant give. Give me a range or something. There's too much leeway for Rogers to jerk us around in. I invite any competition into Ontario, if you are better then we will switch to you! Gah. I want my Wave back.
**Update NOV. 2005**
I canceled Rogers and switched to Sympatico in Waterloo. I get constant 3mbit/.8mbit connection and have never had any downtime. What can i say, if you're on a good node for Rogers you're on a good node. Otherwise, don't ever expect things to improve. For anyone who is new to Rogers, if you experience slowness or downtime consistently, you should probably get out, they aren't going to fix it, as my issue was brought up over a year ago when they acknowledged the node was overloaded, after a large run-around.
Sympatico may be slower than extreme, but i don't see any slowdowns during peak hours, and although there were a couple early billing issues, they fixed it in 2 seconds, no questions asked.
And don't get me started on the newsgroups, they already raped those back in April or whatever when they capped it to 60k/sec. I don't even use them since i bought a 3rd party service...for anyone looking around, try Newshosting.
This is one customer they've lost. Nicely done, I only gave them a year to fix it.
**Update June 2007**
Prices are becoming out of reach for the average user. Personally, I don't understand the price hikes. Yes, we're slowly seeing more speeds, but we're owed it. Services are supposed to improve with the times. I recall standard $30 a month price ranges. Now we're over $50 a month for the more standard high speed. And that's not even mentioning these ridiculous 'portable' solutions at $100 plus.
I no longer have Rogers wherever I live. I move somewhere new every 4 months the way my school / co-op is setup and I always install Sympatico. So how I am justified in rating Rogers you say? Well, my parents still have it at home. Anyways, I (they) happen to be on a congestion free node in their London home. It's around 8/1 now, which is nice. But has increased about $20/month over the past few years. Yet, the package is still considered the same package.
The most frustrating thing ever, which is why I'll continue to denounce and poorly rate Rogers are their poor customer tactics. If anyone is familiar with the origins of the Extreme package, you would recall that you could purchase the extreme modem ($100), and receive the Extreme tier for the same price as Express. At the time, I believe Extreme was 5/800, and Express was 3/384. So it made sense to avoid the modem rental if you were going to go with Extreme for the long haul. Well that’s all gone, and now extreme costs more anyway, regardless if you purchased the modem. Essentially, I was ripped off for $100!!! I bet someone in marketing got a fat bonus out of that.
Long story short, after dealing with both Rogers and Sympatico, I choose Sympatico first having been given the run around too many times from Rogers. If given a choice of a reliable 3rd party, give them a shot. It's up to the customers to show them that we're not happy.
***Update Mar. 2008***
My current living situation uses Rogers for internets. We're on the extreme profile, though you would hardly know it during normal usage hours. From about 3pm to 2am downloads grind to around 100kB, even normal browsing seems slow. Anyone who would suggest that I may simply be on an overloaded node, which may also be the case, at 2am or so, wham, I'm downloading at ADVERTISED SPEEDS - 1.1mB/sec. That would be Rogers handywork in their severe throttling of ALL traffic. I use newsgroups so, I barely touch the upload spectrum, yet nonetheless it gets throttled to hell.
My living situation in the summer will be at another residence with Rogers, which I have already lived and it is the same if not worse of a situation. It resides in a neighbourhood not far from a university campus. You guessed it, overloaded nodes, on top of the throttling. No need to explain that one.
My repeated beef is with the severe price increases that seem to be relentless. We're up to around $55/month for extreme service. That which I purchased the modem myself I might add so that I could enjoy this tier of speed without paying more. Nice scam Rogers. What happened to $30/month? Should our services not be increasing with time since as years pass technology improves? Why should the cost increase as well? Inflation doesn't quite account for all the price increases!
The ISPs of the day have too long lived on a network that people were underutilizing. They overloaded nodes knowing that most users barely touched their advertised speeds. But with todays changing times with internet video (Youtube, etc) and P2P (legit et. al) and other streaming services, all of a sudden the goldmine is costing a little more to operate than what it used to. It's a business, change with the times or get left behind. I'm sure the goldmine was good while it lasted, but if you don't get ahead of the internet it will bury you. All I can say is look to Verizon (Fios) or Videotron (Docsis 3.0). Get with the times or they'll leave you behind. The cashcow you've had should be used to build the next generation of networks. One that provides this country with a next gen network. The profits will come.
Finally, net neutrality. Learn it, embrace it.
***May 2009 Update***
While my own personal Rogers account has nothing to be commented on at this point, I will comment on an account I setup for a friend and the billing issues related.
Went into a Rogers Plus store (Rogers Video) because of a 3 month free promo + free modem (after rebate) deal. The promo was "Grab and Go" in that you bought the modem at the store, went home and fired it up and they set a few things up at the store before you left and voila, internets. Seemed good as the friend I was helping was moving into a new apartment.
The first store we went to explained how it all worked. At this time, it was one week prior to the move in date. I thought it best to go early because I've had install times of roughly 1 week for Rogers/Bell and I didn't want her new place to be without internet for that long. The store clerk explained the grab and go thing, and that I didn't need to order it a week in advance. So, we left and I planned to return on the date of move in.
Returning to a different store (the other one had a power outage and their system was down) to get the "Grab and Go", you know, to GRAB it and GO home and set it up within an hour or so - I was stone walled suddenly when upon attempting to do all of this was told I needed to have a tech come out and work his magic, and the next closest appointment would be later next week. Pretty unimpressed by the lack of harmony amongst employee knowledge. Store clerk said nothing could be done, despite the fact that I know they have rolling trucks for customer service emergencies, like mine if you ask me. Being misled by 1 clerk and all....via their lack of knowledge. Anyways....
Tech made it out, did his "magic" by opening a box and making a connection. The bill arrived a few days later with NO MODEM REBATE and some wonky $50 installation fee, and $15 activation fee. I couldn't find anything about the $50 install fee anywhere on the little flyer or the website, nor did either of the TWO store clerks when I specifically asked them about other charges mention them.
I called in to the Rogers billing department and and was connected to a nice lady. She listened to my sob story, but wasn't aware of my promotion. I asked about that out of curiosity and she helpfully explained that there are so many promotions through the Rogers Plus stores, Futureshop, etc that while they can look them up they don't really know about them - so that wasn't a big deal. What was excellent about her was that instead of connecting me directly to the department to resolve it, she spoke with them on my behalf so that I didn't have to re-explain my entire situation. She came back on after about 5 minutes and said the modem rebate [b]with taxes[/b] would be credited and that because of the lack of transparency and information regarding the connection fee that would be waived ($50).
Turns out that the $15 charge is for a new service (internet, tv, phone, etc) and that the $50 charge is for a new Rogers account. Since my friend didn't already have say TV, and was adding internet. My point to her on that was I shouldn't be double charged for a new connection sign up of both $15 and $50, and it should realistically be one or the other. Furthermore, had I simply been told ahead of time about the $50 charge, that would be up to me. I noted that Bell doesn't charge a install fee/connection fee and that that was part of my selection process between the two carriers. A fee that size is good for a month and a half of Bell 7Mb/1Mb service.
The lady was very helpful and we had a little discussion on how I would have liked to have been presented things as a customer (all details up front) and that clerks/employees should be more versed in making sure they explain that NEW rogers customers may incur additional fees for setting up a line. Granted, my personal opinion is that is still BS, since the cable lines are already installed in the apartment, so that all is needed is to hook up the connection at the box, which I think the $15 should account for. If a tech has to setup the modem, fine, charge $50 the same way Bell offers home installs. It is how they make money.
[b]Summary[/b]
- Rogers failed to credit modem rebate (had to call in)
- Poor education of Rogers Plus! store employees (twice)
- Sketchy installation/connection fees not properly explained/represented
+ Excellent customer service phone rep (may just be a crap shoot )
+++ Interdepartment communication transfer done by initial rep so I don't re-explain
+ Install credit, while technically valid, was given as customer service offering based on poor handling/explanation by in store clerks
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