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Late last week, Rogers Cable announced the launch of an “Ultimate” tier broadband service for residents in greater Toronto, offering speeds of 50Mbps for $149.99 a month. This morning, new details on a second tier of service, an adjustment to the usage allowances for both tiers, and more.
New this morning:
- A second tier of service for greater Toronto residents has been announced. “Extreme Plus” will offer 25Mbps/1Mbps service for $99 a month, with a 125GB monthly allowance. A digital cable TV subscription is mandatory.
- Some corrected information about the “Ultimate” tier. Despite what Rogers told one of our readers, this tier will offer 50Mbps/2Mbps service for $149.00 a month, with a 175GB monthly allowance (up from 150GB).
- The purchase of the Rogers Wireless N router for $200 is mandatory for all customers choosing the “Extreme Plus” or “Ultimate” tier.
- The overlimit penalty fee has not yet been established. Rogers typically charges a maximum of $25 in penalties for exceeding usage allowances. As one reader put it: “What this means is that – IN REALITY – you are paying $124.00/month for an unlimited account at 25Mbps, or $199.00/month for an unlimited account at 50Mbps.”
Although many customers were excited by the initial news of higher speed service, the reality that the usage allowances are only incrementally higher, for a considerably higher priced level of service, reduced enthusiasm considerably. Customers have also been underwhelmed by the upload speed, and by the news they will be required to purchase a router from Rogers for $200 just to obtain the service.
Rollout date for both services in sections of Toronto in August 17th, with other areas being added in mid-September. We’ve obtained some preliminary specific dates for service based on Toronto metropolitan area postal codes:
August 17 is the date for implementation in the follow postal codes:
Toronto
M5X
M5J
M5W
M5C
M5G
M5B
M4Y
M5R
M4W (western section)
M4V
M4T
M4S
M5P
M4P
M4R
M4N
M5M
M2P
M2N
M2R
M2M
Markham
L3T
Vaughan
L4J
Richmond Hill
L4B
L4C
L4E
Newmarket
L3X
L3Y
Bradford / East & West Gwillimbury
L9N
September 18th is the targeted date for Phase Two of the rollout in these areas:
Aurora
L4G
All other areas surrounding Toronto (Pickering, Ajax, Brampton, Mississauga, etc.) upgrade is expected on September 18th + in these random postal codes:
L6E
L5W
L4T
L3Z
M5A
M4X
M1J
M1H
Thanks to Digital Home and a Rogers employee who remains anonymous for specific details.
Wow, just to get the 50Mbps/2Mbps service from Rogers, you have to bite a cap, pay for Digital TV service, pay the $150 for the speeds, as well as fork up $200 for a Wireless N router (you can get one for WAY cheaper than that). Certainly not worth it. Next offer please :\
Have all the providers gone insane in these times with this economy. Even
in good times I don’t see people paying $100 to $150 a month for the net.
A 2 gig cap? you might as well not bother even turning it on. Something is
going to blow up in somebody’s face….im just not sure who’s.
Mr. Smith could explain to me the path of lets say the Rogers internet starting where the wire mounts to the house to the computer. Would you also include any USA variations? I understand Rogers requires an N wireless router. I also understand they are both a modem and router in one package with very little if any ability to control the router. My system has no wireless ability and everything is hard wired and I at the moment have no need to attach anything else to my one computer. Let me explain my setup. A TWC modem is connected to the wall. From there it goes to a linksys router and from there goes to a motherboard Ethernet socket. An adapter supplied by TWC lets me connect to my laptop to the router if I want them to talk together. (Very seldom). Some of my questions is why the wireless unless that is all that is being produced these days, Would it have a wired connection to my motherboard or need something else like a PCI wireless card as an antenna or can I just use it wired and forget the wireless? Im sorry for the stupid questions but im falling behind very quickly. I looked at wireless N products and they run from $50 to $200 and Rogers equipment is made from 2 or more manufactures with not so stellar reviews.
Well, the only reason I can think of Rogers wanting to get people on Wireless N (even if their devices don’t support it, which I’m sure 90% of their customers’ devices don’t in the first place) is so that people don’t come around calling up about their wireless not delivering speeds past 22.5Mbps. But basically the path it takes would be typically the cable drop from the poles, into the DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem, and into a router and then to your PC. It could also work just fine with just a PC and the modem (though unless the modem does NAT, many people including me don’t suggest hooking your PC into the modem). If it’s an all-in-one unit (These things can be a pain, especially if the provider locked them down, and tend to get weak wireless signal), then it comes Cable drop to Modem/router combo, and then to your PCs.
But other than that, I don’t see a reason for forcing wireless routers onto people if they don’t have a need for it, or if they already have their own Wireless N or Super G router. Also, obviously the modem/router is going to have an Ethernet port on it. You can’t get by without them really. The only thing extra about it would be the Wireless on the unit.
Thanks: That clears up much. My little linksys router may not be much
it I have alot of control over it. I don’t like the idea of a modem and router
in the same package. Something someone else can change settings.
Mine you need a username / password to get in.
PS: I know hackers have been cracking routers for years but my linksys
and most other routers are a great first line hardware firewall. Not perfect
but still a good way and I do like the ability to adjust ports. I used the router
to block port 113 then I think MS came out with a little fix for that. I could
remove the router and check it out on the Gibson site but either way as
it is set up all my ports are in stealth. at least the first 1023 and any random
port I check. Im sure all 65535 or 65536 ports depending on how I count
are locked down.
$200 for a mandatory DOCSIS-3 modem/router combo and $99-149 a month for such a low bandwidth cap doesn’t seem worth it. When you throw in the fact that its crippled internet with throttled bittorrent this hardly seems worth it. I pay roughly $45 for unlimited, sure the speed is only 5mbps but i can use that speed to its fullest. When small independent dsl providers are offering 200gb for $35 and offer you ways around Bells throttling it makes no sense why Rogers couldn’t offer a better deal.