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Cogeco, following in the footsteps of Rogers, Canada’s largest cable operator, has mailed letters home to residential subscribers informing them that their new Internet Overcharging scheme and fees are real and will apply to broadband accounts that exceed their arbitrary usage allowances. Since the spring, Cogeco has been showing the Internet Overcharges on subscriber’s bills, but not actually billing them. That is set to change, however, and many residents in Ontario and Quebec are quite upset.
“Cogeco can bite me. As soon as I manage to scrounge up a second DSL modem I’m gone.”
“I’m waiting for the Cogeco trolls to come out of the woodwork so they can claim how competitive and affordable that plan is.”
“I am starting to hate Cogeco very much, I am tempted to cancel my internet and my digital TV service for spite.”
“Vote with your wallets guys, I did. And now with the increase I’m going to cancel my HD access and return the receiver – enough is enough. I’ll be down to Basic Digital Cable and if they keep increasing prices, that will go too.”
“Ditto! Price increase is THE LAST STRAW for this 10 year + customer!”
Cogeco’s limits also come with overlimit fees that are particularly harsh on casual and power users. In Canada, many overlimit fees are currently capped at a maximum amount, and do not continue to increase beyond that maximum. Lite users face a $2.50/GB overlimit fee (maximum $30), despite representing almost no usage impact on Cogeco’s network, and “Pro” users face a $1/GB overlimit fee, but face a maximum of $50 in overlimit penalties, despite paying a much higher up-front monthly subscription fee.
In a nutshell,
- Lite – 10GB/mo bitcap – $2.50 per GB over to a maximum of $30
- Lite Plus – 20GB/mo bitcap – $2.00 per GB over to a maximum of $30
- Standard – 60GB/mo bitcap – $1.50 per GB over to a maximum of $30
- Pro – 100GB/mo bitcap – $1.00 per GB over to a maximum of $50
Broadband providers in the United States always promise that if they are permitted to introduce Internet Overcharging schemes, it will be “fairer” for all customers, because “heavy users should pay more for what lighter users don’t do.” Providers also typically allude to network improvements and no widespread price increases.
But as Canadians have already discovered, big telecommunications firms operating with virtual duopolies can have their cake and eat it too.
Cogeco customers now face the prospects of classic Internet Overcharging — usage allowances, overlimit fees and penalties, and “fair pricing,” but after the company implemented these schemes, consumers got a reminder of what cable operators like Cogeco are also capable of — widespread rate hiking.
New Rates: We’re improving our services so you’ll continue the best today and in the future (effective July 17, 2009):
Internet Pricing
Standard – With TV or Phone…..current rate: $44.95……new rate: $45.95
Standard – Standalone……..current rate: $52.95………..new rate: $54.95
Pro – With TV or Phone……..current rate: $69.95………..new rate: $76.95
Pro – Standalone……………..current rate: $74.95………..new rate: $81.95
Internet Overchargers like Cogeco consider “fair share” to mean giving an equal amount of dollars from yourself to them. That’s fair, right?
It’s simply more evidence to this universal truth, a fact of life every North American should already know:
Cable bills never decrease, they only increase, unless you drop services.
When a cable company tells you they have a plan to guarantee “fairness,” be sure to remember what represents “fairness” to you may mean something entirely different to them.
Other stories of interest:
- Cogeco Offers Unlimited WiFi to iPhone/iPod Owners in Toronto for $5 Month
- Interesting Things in Wilson, North Carolina
- Austin Broadband Advocacy Group Calls on FCC to Regulate Internet Overcharging Schemes
- Audio from Toronto Internet Town Hall Now Available
- North Carolina Denied Broadband Development Funds If Anti-Consumer Bill Passed
CAPS suit me fine, I never get anywhere near them and found that there provision of my usage stats at the end of the month showed I could very nicely downgrade my service to a lower tier and save money. So thanks Cogeco you took money off your bottom line and saved me a bunch. What a consumer friendly idea.
That said this whole idea and plan sucks. Just downgrade those digital service and make them keep[ delivering the analogue ones – they’re more expensive and a bandwidth hog more than your internet ever will be. Eventually they’ll have no choice but to kill it off meanwhile hang in there and you’ll get that HD box for free (the same as they did in the UK).
To top that off show them where your loyalty lies, scrap that home phone service or if you really have to have one pay less get more and go to vonage or the likes….
Thanks cogeco for making me more money savvy and even less of a customer to you.
The problem with that resonse is that you can bet if it more people pay them less money per month, that the caps will change so that YOU will be affected.
Exactly, and that is precisely what Bell did. It’s the Limbo Dance Craze of cap reduction. Sooner or later, everyone gets to pay overlimit fees.
In the States, lighter users can choose a “Lite” plan that offers lower speeds, but lower prices to go with them, and never a fear of going “over the limit.”
Additionally, if Cogeco wants to run a lite tier with limits and a reasonably priced unlimited plan, everyone could be happy.
The ONLY saving grace about caps in Canada is that they haven’t learned the trick U.S. providers are conjuring – unlimited or punitively high limits for going over. In Canada, a maximum of $20-25 in overlimit penalties often applies, so you can just pay the penalty and use the service as much as you want. In the USA, Time Warner Cable wanted to max out penalties at $100 or more.
We all know how this works – soon enough the sky is the limit on penalties, and everyone pays a lot more.
Indeed this is true, but the idea of internet usage decreasing is a new one on me. Internet usage per household has exploded in the last two decades and now on a personal level it is exploding with device like the iPhone. It is true that no matter what, they’re going to take the hard earned cash from our pockets, all we can do is be more tech savvy and financially aware and swap and change like the wind when a better deal is around.
The bit that gets me more and more each time is that special offers are generally best for non-customers rather than current customers. I firmly believe that if the current customer is getting the best deals and continously gets great customers service even when prices increase (as they do across the board once per year) then we’re more likely to tolerate it (don’t mistake that for being happy about it) but the great service and great plan should make it vert hard to wave goodbye. Either way though we’re paying for it or simply doing without.
The problem i have with this is that i constantly have been going over the cap limit in the last 2 months because of Cogecos deciding to add upload bandwidth to my cap as well and i easily hit the cap with almost no warning every month and have to dish out another 30 bucks on a rediculess 200 dollar package for phone internet and television.
Thanks cogeco ill be leaving you soon
The problem i have with this is that i constantly have been going over the cap limit in the last 2 months because of Cogecos deciding to add upload bandwidth to my cap as well and i easily hit the cap with almost no warning every month and have to dish oyt another 30 bucks on a rediculess 200 dollar package for phone internet and television.
Thanks cogeco ill be leaving you soon
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