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Rogers Communications has slightly bumped the monthly usage allowance for its “Lite” Internet plan up by 5GB per month to 20GB. The company also doubled the speed of the entry-level package from 3Mbps to 6Mbps. Upload speed remains at 256kbps.
But the plan still carries a hefty price — $38.49 a month, and there is a stiff $4/GB overlimit fee for those who exceed their allowance. Just south of Lake Ontario, Time Warner Cable’s “special offer” provides cap-free 10/1Mbps broadband for $29.99 a month for a year.
Our regular reader Alex mocks the move as another example of Canadian competition at work for consumers. Rogers has made only small adjustments to their usage caps since last summer, and customers who want the most generous usage allowances (paltry when compared to western Canadian ISPs), have to spend money out of pocket to upgrade to DOCSIS 3 technology.
As of today, here is the current roundup of Internet plans from Rogers
Rogers always adds a lot of fine print. For these offers, here come the disclaimers and special conditions:
- Taxes and a $14.95 one-time activation fee apply. Internet modem purchase or monthly rental required.
- †Speeds may vary with Internet traffic, server or other factors. Also see the Acceptable Use Policy at rogers.com/terms. Modem set-up: the system is configured to maximum modem capabilities within Rogers own network.
- ††In some areas, Rogers manages upstream peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing applications speed to a maximum of 80 kbps per customer for Rogers Hi-Speed Internet (delivered over cable). This policy is maintained at all times. For information on Rogers Internet traffic management practices and Legal Disclosure click here.
- †††Usage allowances apply on a monthly basis and vary by tier of service. Charges apply for additional use beyond the monthly usage allowance associated with your tier of service. For details, visit rogers.com/keepingpace.
- *Note for Lite customers: If you signed up for Lite before July 21st, 2010, your usage allowance remains at 25 GB, and your additional usage charges remains at $2.50/GB.
- **Note for Extreme customers: If you signed up for Extreme before July 21st, 2010, your download speed remains at 10 Mbps and your usage allowance remains at 95 GB.
If you want to compare Rogers’ allowances to what they sold in July 2011, here is a reminder:
Other stories of interest:
- Rogers Introduces ‘On Demand Online,’ But Effectively Rations Your Use With Usage Caps
- Rogers Throws Customers A Few Scraps: Faster Speeds, Tiny Increases in Usage Allowance
- Rogers’ Usage Limbo Dance Continues: Company Slightly Raises Cap It Slashed Last Year
- Rogers Doubles Maximum Overlimit Usage Fee from $50 to $100 to “Protect Customers”
- New Details on Rogers “Extreme Plus” and “Ultimate Tier” Packages
“Competition” at its finest indeed.
What happened is that Bell had their lowest tier plan with 5 Mbit/s down, 1 Mbit/s up and 15 GB of usage. Rogers had their old plan with much lower speeds and the same usage for the same price. This is why they updated their plans, giving slightly more download speed and usage than Bell.
What’s even better is that these speeds are now being rolled out to independent providers, too. Rogers is known for charging much less that Bell to wholesale customers. Distributel now offers the same 6 Mbit/s using Rogers cable from the customer’s house to Distributel’s Internet equipment. The plan is a good value at under $40/month (or $35/month before taxes) and unlike DSL, no phone or dry line is required. TekSavvy plans to officially announce 6 Mbit/s cable with 25 GB, 300 GB or unlimited GB. i haven’t tried an indie ISP yet, unfortunately.
Overall, this is good news for cable Internet customers. Waiting times for surfing the web will be cut by half!