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Citing “the many enhancements they have launched” in the past year, Rogers Cable has announced an across-the-board broadband rate increase that will cost subscribers an additional $2 a month for Internet service effective March 1, 2012.
Rogers claims the rate increases come as a result of investments in their broadband network and the introduction of SpeedBoost, which delivers a temporary speed increase during the first few seconds of file transfers.
Rogers also claims they have increased monthly usage allowances and download speeds on many of the company’s broadband packages.
The rate increase is not going over well with subscribers, however.
Stop the Cap! reader Nick in Markham, Ontario is one of them.
"No additional charge," except for the $2 rate increase Rogers suggests comes after the addition of "service enhancements" like SpeedBoost.
“Rogers introduced ‘SpeedBoost’ as a ‘free’ feature which we are now apparently/effectively going to pay more for,” Nick writes. “I am really unimpressed with Rogers’ ‘generosity,’ especially respecting bitcaps, considering they are totally arbitrary.”
Nick notes customers in Quebec and western Canada have more generous usage allowances, and often lower bills.
“Shaw customers are getting a much better deal than Rogers’ customers these days,” Nick says. “If Rogers increased prices by $2 and took the caps completely off, I’d gladly pay a little more just to end years of headaches over watching my Internet usage.”
“I am so tired of feeling like my Internet connection is being rationed, and considering my choices have been Bell or Rogers, I think I’ll sacrifice some of the higher speeds and just consider switching to TekSavvy DSL, because it costs less and doesn’t come with Rogers’ stingy caps.”
A Montreal Gazette piece on the Canadian telecommunications industry says stockholders and company executives are doing much better, enjoying major boosts in telecom industry dividends. The industry enjoyed a 25% boost in stock price + dividend yield over other Canadian stocks over the past 12 months. The industry also enjoys the benefits a barely-competitive marketplace that offers opportunities for unfettered rate increases:
Canada remains a heavily protected market in telecommunications, which is one reason why consumers don’t get the kind of deals available in other countries.
But in the absence of such [competitive] changes, there’s a strong case to be made that telecom and cable companies will post solid profit growth this year and next.
Other stories of interest:
- Rogers Cable To Unveil 50Mbps DOCSIS 3 Service in Metro Toronto – $149.99/Month & Capped At 150GB
- Rogers Abandoning Portable Internet Service: Internet Overcharging 3G in Rural Canada’s Future
- Rogers’ Usage Limbo Dance Continues: Company Slightly Raises Cap It Slashed Last Year
- Rogers Limbo Dance – Company is Lowering Usage Caps on Its Broadband Packages So You’ll Pay More
- Rogers Introduces ‘On Demand Online,’ But Effectively Rations Your Use With Usage Caps
Now, I would like to sound off about the Speed Boost and Power Boost that a lot of telecommunications and Internet Service Providers are providing for free and now
charging for it. I just want to put this out there that this technology they DID NOT come up with.
It’s a normal protocol within the TCP/IP specifications.
It’s real name is called, “IP payload compression protocol”, you can read up about it here,
http://rfc-ref.org/RFC-TEXTS/3173/chapter1.html. Some of this may go over your heads while the rest of us technically inclined folks will do fine.
In short, if they charge for it, they are a bunch of lying sacks of sod and should get sued for charging for it, as well as getting sued for these other so called enhancements which are
also a part of TCP/IP specs.
They’re a bunch of evil jerks!