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 Review by N0_Nam3 
member for 9.6 years, 2834 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 4 days ago
 Leamington,ON
 $150 per month- (24 month contract)
 about 4 days "its internet" "its from cogeco" "either this or dsl"
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well being in Canada there isn't much to get. you either deal with bell or cogeco in my area or teksavvy dsl sadly ive heard that cogeco wont allow tek to use their lines to provide people with cable in my area quite sad so again it comes down to bell who charges like crazy or cogeco both have unrealistic caps for what todays users wish to do on the internet. recently there was a problem in my area several calls were made to try to fix this issue when the tech came out i was shocked to hear that there was a congestion issue going on in my area and that a ticket was open with it but yet when i had called about slow speeds none of the reps had even mentioned such an issue. all in all its either cogeco or bell
Comments:
 | | Valid? Is this just a bash post against Cogeco? The information provided sounds like you are not actually a customer, and your listed fee of $9999 is obviously false. | |
| | N0_Nam3
join:2002-06-14
Leamington, ON | Re: Valid? sure the price per month is wrong but everything seems to be the way i feel about cogeco and their service | |
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 Review by DavidT
member for 5.4 years, 933 visits, last login: 1 days ago
updated 6 days ago
- Oakville,ON
- $70 per month
- about 5 days
- "Fast, stable speeds as-advertised / Relatively reliable"
- "Painfully low bandwidth caps / Inaccurate bandwidth meter"
- "You get what you are promised, but be prepared for frequent price increases, tech support headaches and billing nightmares."
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My experience with Cogeco is a bit mixed, to say the least.
To be perfectly fair, the service we receive is exactly as advertised. We subscribe to Ultimate 30 and receive 30Mbps down and 2Mbps up. It is very reliable with only a few interruptions over the past two years (albeit pesky ones).
Tech support is just… Uhg! Their attitude towards situations is infuriating. If you’re having connection issues, they will think of every possible way to blame the issue on you. Even then, they are very reluctant to admit that the problem might be on their end. If it comes down to requiring a technician visit, they will make you very uncomfortable about it. “You better make sure the problem isn’t on your end, otherwise you’re going to end up paying.” This was the attitude I received every time I called, despite providing ample evidence that the problem was with their network. The only reason I’ve given them a 25% is because of the few employees that post on the BBR forums (unofficially). They are far, far more helpful and understanding than phone support. Unfortunately, some of them seem to have stopped posting in recent months.
Bandwidth caps are an absolute joke. We started off with a 125GB cap. This was recently increased to 175GB, but at the cost of an extra $5/mo as well as the removal of the $50 overage cap, meaning they can keep charging you to their heart’s content. This was a “take it or leave it” service change, with no option to stay on our current package. Frankly, it’s an absolute rip-off and a clear abuse of their cable monopoly.
The only thing more laughable than their bandwidth caps is their bandwidth meter. All it takes is a quick skim over the forums and you’ll find numerous reports proving that the meter is wildly inaccurate. Customers are frequently overcharged and the issue is so severe that is has made the front page of Broadband Reports several times now. Their meter is not regulated by any third party (e.g. Measurements Canada), so they essentially have a licence to print money and they’re not afraid to use it.
If it were not for the ridiculous dry loop fees imposed by Bell, I would be switching back to TekSavvy in a heartbeat.
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 Review by dillyhammer
member for 2 years, 673 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 8 days ago
- Hamilton,ON
- $139 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 3 days
- "Crazy fast"
- "A bit more than what I would like to pay."
- "Not bad value, not great value, keeping an eye on things and my options open."
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I've had Cogeco internet for a couple of years now and never really had a problem with it until they started the bandwidth cap. I have the standard service and the cap is 60g per month - which is stupid low and IMHO a money grab.
That said, up until November of 2009 I never went over the cap of 60g.
On New Years Eve 2009 I got a call from Cogeco. They said they wanted to check my wireless security because my bandwidth usage had tripled - approaching 100g a month for both November and December. I would be billed $30 each for those 2 months.
I've since installed a bandwidth monitor, and frankly, I think their assertion of the tripled usage is BS. My usage patterns have not changed in years, and my usage now is what it was in October and every month before that - normal, going to be about 50g this month.
Was also disconnected last Thursday. Couldn't get through to their support line, so I guessed it was a major problem. Checked my mail, and there was the little blue slip in my mailbox from Cogeco saying my neighbourhood was being upgraded and I'd be down for up to 9 hours that day. Yeah, thanks for the "in progress" notice.
I called Cogeco, got through, and asked why I didn't get better notice for a planned upgrade. The guy hummed and hawed. Whatever.
I had him put me through to billing and cancelled half my television service, dropping my monthly bill by about $30. There goes $360 of my business this year due to the bandwidth overage charges of $60.
In the process now of hooking up Teksavvy DSL. Should be completed this week. Once I get that stable, Cogeco internet is gone too, another $55 a month of my business they lose. On that day I'm also cancelling their HD service, which costs me about $19 a month.
So they bill me an extra $60 ( a rip off any way I look at it ), I change my services and go from $155 a month to $55 for basic digital TV.
Keep the $60 Cogeco, and enjoy.
The stated $44.95 a month charges do NOT include the poitential $1.50/gb bandwidth overage charges, capped at $30 per month.
IMHO, Cogeco should be avoided unless absolutely necessary.
UPDATE - Jan 20, 2010
Customer service called me today while I was configuring my Teksavvy DSL, to remind me that the bandwidth overage fees would be coming out on my next payment. I wound up having a lengthy discussion with the nice younbg gal who called. These fees are a major problem for Cogeco right now. Many people calling, complaining, cancelling. She said it was huge and they were not prepraed for this backlash. When I told her I'd be handing in my modem as soon as I was sure my new DSL service was stable she laughed. Nice gal. I told her she should be running the place.
She also told me that Cogeco will remove the first overage fee for any customer who calls and asks.
UPDATE - Jan 21, 2010
Dropped by cable modem off this morning. Called Cogeco when I got back home. I explained the whole situation to the chap, and told him in no uncertain terms that if there wasn't some negotiation on those overage charges I would likely be cancelling the balance of my Cogeco services before the next billing cycle. The rep gave me a credit for one month of overages ($30 + GST) but would not budge on the other month. On that basis, I'll keep what little Cogeco services I have remaining, and forget about the call i was going to put in for satelite. For now.
UPDATE - Nov 13, 2010
I'm back with Cogeco as of the 10th. The install took 8 business days due to static IP provisioning. This was something I needed, hence the business account. A secondary piece of hardware (a Cisco router acting as a gateway) is required for the static IP. I was a little freaked out about having a piece of hardware conencted to my network without having access or admin over it, still am.
The reason I've returned to Cogeco - the only reason - is I refuse to do business with Bhell Canada directly or indirectly. For me DSL is dead as a door nail.
In the event TSI puts together cable access in Hamilton I'll switch back, even if it means paying the $75 ETF. I've never gotten over the usage charges from late 2009. Given everything I've learned about metering and UBB since then, the charges were totally bogus. Meh. Live and learn.
UPDATE - April 11, 2011
DOCSIS3 was rolled out to the rest of Hamilton last week. I had read some previous posts about folks having some issues, but my concerns would put at ease by Marcer (thanks dude).
Ordered the upgrade to Business Ultimate 30 last week. The CSR who took my upgrade request - Anna - was terrific. Install was set for today, tech guy was in and out this morning, 5 minutes flat. Rebooted my router and away I go. In a word - crazyfast.
The support and service of the last few months have gone a long way in erasing some of the bad memories I have of dealing with Cogeco - and I've left them here so that others can understand the route I've taken with this company. I still don't agree with some of their policies and the way they do some things, but I feel a lot better about them today than I did a year ago, tell you what.
Is it me, or does anyone else find the Cogeco Business automated attendant's voice hot?
UPDATE - Oct 25, 2011
Speeding along on the Ult30 Biz. A couple of small issues easily remedied. Support on the biz side is much different. Faster. Better.
That said, I've had to cancel my cable subscription. I found the recent price hikes (on the TV and internet side) heavy-handed, so voted with my wallet and switched my TV to Shaw Direct. Better pricing, better quality picture. I own the equipment. Sticking with the Ult30 Biz in the meantime. I'm on a soft contract for the year, which is up in June. Keeping my options open. If there's TPIA, I may switch to that, if not, I may switch back to DSL (gulp) and try bonding 2 X 12 or 2 X 16 accounts and add the 7 up to both if that's possible.
For now, I'm reasonable happy.
If they harden their cap on the business side, I'm gone. I just won't tolerate, not at any price.
UPDATE - February 3, 2012
I will be moving off Cogeco shortly and cutting all ties with this company - the result of the $2500 UBB bill they passed on to a residential customer for 3 months of service.
»[Burloak] Usage Based Billing Nightmare
To me, it is the very epitome of what is wrong with our telecom landscape, and that whole issue a poster boy for the real purpose of UBB - profits. I can't and won't do business with a company that does stuff like that. Period.
DSL install is February 9. Shortly thereafter the cord to Cogeco will be cut. Permanently. No Cogeco in my house.
Comments:
 Fireblade
join:2008-08-27
St Catharines, ON
kudos:2 | Rate Fair review, you should also give Cogeco a rating out of 5. | |
| | dillyhammerBack to TeksavvyPremium,MVM
join:2010-01-09
Hamilton, ON
kudos:9 | Re: Rate Done, thanks. | |
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| | Use Tomato Some routers, those that run Tomato, will give you your daily, weekly and monthly bandwidth usage. I works very well for me, and, so far, has been completely in line with what Cogeco has said I used. Mind you, I'm keeping a very close eye given the reports from others.
At some point, they're going to need to up that very limiting bandwidth. 120gb for the basic service would be reasonable. For now, I'll leave it at that. | |
| | dillyhammerBack to TeksavvyPremium,MVM
join:2010-01-09
Hamilton, ON
kudos:9 Reviews:
 ·TekSavvy DSL
 ·Cogeco Cable
·Caneris
 ·voip.ms
| Re: Use Tomato said by hagbard72:Some routers, those that run Tomato, will give you your daily, weekly and monthly bandwidth usage. I works very well for me, and, so far, has been completely in line with what Cogeco has said I used. Mind you, I'm keeping a very close eye given the reports from others. At some point, they're going to need to up that very limiting bandwidth. 120gb for the basic service would be reasonable. For now, I'll leave it at that. I have a WRT54G running HyperWRT 2.1b1. I just want to make sure my DSL is stable. Once I'm satisfied it is I'll flash the router with Tomato/MLPPP - I've a static IP.
I agree, they need to up the limit. If it was 120g I would not have incurred any charges (even though I think my overages were bogus), and they wouldn't be losing $1100 in business this year. And thats if I keep their television services. I'm already looking at satellite and FTA.
Mike | |
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| | bandwidth monitor Sorry Im not too computer savvy with all the terms and such but I was just wondering....I just got cogeco today and the women tells me that Im allowed 60g a month and that its a lot. She also tells me I can keep track of my usage on the website....now can someone tell me what a bandwidth monitor is and how it works? Is it expensive? In your opinion should I buy this bandwidth monitor or keep track using the cogeco services? How does one accumulate 60g of usage? I'd really appreciate all this info and thanks in advance | |
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Review by darth_baras
Fair warning: reviewer joined this month
lodged 9 days ago
- Chatham,ON
- $111 per month
- about 7 days
- "speed is good, the sales person i talked to (who was also the installer) was very nice and took his time with the install"
- "bandwidth cap too low, overage fees are high, although max ov $50 is good and CSR/TS not very smart."
- "good if you want speed, bad if you want something informative and high bandwidth cap"
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Overall
Cogeco is not bad speed wise, but it is pretty terrible for it's bandwidth cap. I have the package with an 80gb cap and it is not nearly enough. If they had higher caps and more knowledgeable CSRs and TSR then they may have a higher review. But in the mean time they are pretty mediocre
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 Review by xfinisherx
member for 281 days, 25 visits, last login: 5 days ago
updated 20 days ago
- Hamilton,ON
- $31 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 2 days
- "Better than Bell, Probably Best ISP in the area"
- "The installation technician forgot to set up email"
- "Definitely better than Bell. I wish I went with Cogeco a lot sooner."
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After my horrendous experience with Bell, I wanted a new start. So I switched ALL of my services to Cogeco. The Speed is AMAZING! I get 7.9 Mbps, paying for service that is 7. The technicians are friendly, the install went smoothly, that is, until the technician left and I realized he did not setup my E-Mail, even though he fired up his computer to activate my service. The standard RCA internet/phone combo modem was used, and the technician even setup my Wi-Fi router for me. Very friendly and overall an amazing experience compared to Bell.
The people at the Cogeco Store seemed to know what they were talking about. They were very confident in their services and friendly as well. My connection has not dropped to date, even though service has only been installed for a week. Tech support is a lot more competent than Bell, but wait times are significant. Plan to wait 10 minutes at the very least during non peak times, even the technician had to wait 20 before he got a hold of someone to call in my services. The service quality itself is great, and value is unbeatable. Thanks Cogeco for saving me from Bell's death grip.
UPDATE - AUGUST 19 2011
I'm still getting higher than expected speeds on Internet, now peaking at 8. Hold times are still poor. At least when you get to someone, you know they speak proper English and you can understand them. I switched Home Phone to them as well... 15 bucks a month, plus tax, and caller ID of 4, much better than Bell's 32 plus tax package. I'm very happy I switched to Cogeco.
UPDATE - SEPTEMBER 8 2011
Although Cogeco is going to upgrade their plan packages and pricing, My pricing will stay the same at 31.95 until April when the Contract expires. I'll probably call and ask to even re-sign the contract to keep enjoying the deals. I love Cogeco. Absolutely, positively never ever going back to Bell. Thanks Cogeco!
Update - January 22 2012
Service is still top notch. I'm very satisfied of the service AND the price at which I'm getting it at. There's not a chance that I'm going back to Bell.
Recent Speedtest - 8.3Mbps down, .80Mbps upload - Paying for 8Mbps download, .6 or whatever upload - they don't say.
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 Review by Matty
member for 8.9 years, 2167 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 31 days ago
- Welland,ON
- $50 per month
- "Speed & Uptime!"
- "80GB Bandwidth Cap!, $1.50/GB over charge, rates increase all the time, unstable bandwidth"
- "Great service if you don't need 100s of GB's"
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I'll try to be very neutral here:
What I love about Cogeco High Speed Standard Internet:
-14/1mbit speed, and usually very consistent bandwidth
-latency for gaming is usually pretty low
-very reliable in terms of up time (rarely any outages in Welland)
What Irritates me as a long time Cogeco user:
-80 Gigabyte bandwidth cap with $1.50 overage charge which can lead to $30 extra per month!
-constant price increases, went up $12 in the last 10 years
My current thoughts:
It would be nice to not worry about bandwidth usage and simply just use the internet for its true potential as I pay for it! Other than that Cogeco's network is probably one of the most reliable ones in the country.
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 Review by kim
member for 10.8 years, 4611 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 40 days ago
- ON
- $48 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 5 days
- "Speed baby, speed."
- "I just can't think of any."
- "Good value"
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Here I am still a Cogeco customer years later. I've been with them consistently since 2000. I pay a little more for my connection, it's much faster now though. Back in 2000 I think the fastest speeds were about 1500 or 2000 for a download speed and about 1/2 that for upload. Now we're at about 10 000 d/l
I have my phone and TV with them also so my price is bundled and therefore approximate.
I just don't ever have problems with my connection and when I do it's on my side, usually a router issue.
It's fast, stable and reliable or as reliable as any technology can be expected to be. When I call I always get great service.
I think it's time to do a speed test and see how I'm doing.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well it's time to update my review. July 26 2008
I now have internet, phone, HD and DVR with Cogeco. Price for high speed net is still the same. 7191/612 on wireless connection. Not bad and I haven't even tweaked it.
I am very satisfied with the service.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cogeco is the best bang for your buck. The speeds are consistently higher than advertised. I just can't find anything to complain about. I am still a very happy customer through 5 moves.
I believe I'm rated to get 5000/640 I've hit 7000 on wireless network.
Edit: make that 6 moves. I'm now in the fastest growing city in Canada. Cogeco is keeping up with all the development and maintaining their service.
Cogeco had trouble getting authorization in paper from the builder to install the lines in our complex. I was going to have to wait over 3 months at least. A few phone calls to Cogeco later (you have to get escalated out of tier 1 support) and the engineering dept. was on top of it. Problem solved in a few days. I was thoroughly impressed at the professional manner with which it was dealt. I measure people/companies by how they deal with challenges and they passed with flying colours.
I now have digital phone and tv also. I'm a happy customer, as always.
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 Review by Lynn
member for 184 days, 166 visits, last login: 1 days ago
lodged 53 days ago
- Trenton,ON
- Contract price not specified.
- "good service"
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We signed up for Cogeco about three months ago. The service has been good and I have only had to call the sales team once for information. Reps are friendly and seem to be well trained. They have no problems answering any of my questions. Signal strength is great and have not experienced any down time so far.
I never give a perfect score as there is always place for improvement but I will say I have had no problems with them and are very happy with their service.
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 Review by AMailer
member for 7.8 years, 2217 visits, last login: a few hours ago
updated 59 days ago
- Burlington,ON
- $58 per month
- (12 month contract)
- about 4 days
- "Good speeds,"
- "Price as well as some issues with sign up"
- "At best a second option"
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-- Initial Review ---
So far so good. I just don't like the pricing. For the residential, the 10Mbps with 60GB cap (combined) is ridiculous, business starter seems a bit high as well.
As well, the throttling. Even the business plans are throttled.
-- Update 24/11/09 --
Well the speeds ARE still good, loving them and since I don't go over the bandwidth I have no problem there, but I am still checking my bandwidth very often.
However I am updating this review to reduce some points on......connection reliability (hand in hand with tech support not surprisingly). Lately my connection has been just BAD. What I mean by that is, disconnects every minute to 5 minutes (random, but frequent).
I asked a Cogeco official on the forums, he was great actually helped- but told me to contact tech support; very understandable and so I did. Now initially, great tech support - felt like I was talking to TekSavvy O.o. They said they'd send a tech and they did, he came and said he FIXED the problem - great! Or I wish it was. It turns out the problem wasn't fixed, so I call in saying that the problem is still not fixed...and then the bad tech support.
The rep kept blaming me (my computer), saying he sees nothing on his end and told me to get off the router. Fine, I did - they always ask, I guess they have to. So I did, plugged it right into the modem and then he says there is STILL nothing wrong with the line even though I am seeing drops in connections (running a constant ping to google.ca at this time) while I am on the phone with him.
He then says I have MALWARE on my computer - ugh for some reason this pissed me off beyond anything. Why? because I have called in previously regarding this issue, he says he read the notes on my account regarding the previous call and the tech that came in and CONTINUES to say its on my end, without even THINKING of doing another LINE TEST.
I decide he is useless and end the call. After a few hours and a lot more disconnects I call in; I finally get a decent tech rep who; guess what! CHECKS MY LINE STATS straight into the call and BOOM 27 drops in the past 10 minutes she tells me. Very kind and now another tech is being sent over.
I know, its just 1 bad rep I've gotten but come on - there is a note on my account, quit being a dick and run a line test when asked.
Anyhow, still decent - 1 point off.
-- Update 06/12/09 --
Around 2 days since my last review a tech was sent over and managed to fix the problem. I wasn't told what the issue was other than it had something to do with my line specifically.
And so far so good, I've had a stable connection ever since, 0 drops!
I'll update the score (Connection Reliability) after a month or so from this update.
-- Update 16/06/2010 --
Just got a reminder asking if I would like to update my review, figured I'd post an update.
Connection has been good so far, there was a huge almost a whole working day downtime a few weeks ago but that brought me to call tech support which was fairly fast even though it said there was overwhelming amount of calls coming in - I got the reason as to the downtime and even got all the information regarding some billing issues I was concerned about - so +1 on support.
-- Update 01/06/2011 --
Everything seems great, connection has been very reliable so +1 to that as well they did increase the speeds, I wish I could give a +1 for value for money but still think there is a lot of room for improvement for that :P
-- Update 14/12/2011 --
Connection has been very stable, so +1 to that; since it has been so stable I haven't had the need to call in support or anything so can't comment on that 
Note: I am still on the "business starter" plan
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Review by sneaks
member for 65 days, 16 visits, last login: 44 days ago
lodged 60 days ago
- undisclosed location
- $60 per month
- "Always get advertised speed (14/1)"
- "Always have to budget for my cap (80gig); Usually go over :("
- "I never had an issue until they started charging for overage."
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Been with cogeco for 7 years.
Started with the full tv and then upped to digital hd, home phone (voip) and internet. Paying over $200/month. + tax
Cancelled tv last year. = bill reduced to $110/month + tax (put up antenna)
Cancelled phone last month = bill reduced to $60/month + tax (tektalk)
Cancelled internet today = bill reduced to 0. (bell grab and go 4 months)
I asked to be upgraded to Cogeco turbo 20 from 14 because it is actually $1/month cheaper for a faster connection but I was told a tech would have to upgrade my modem and I would need to pay a $50 service call charge. This annoyance led me to investigate options and brought me to sign up for the bell grab and go dell promo.
Bye cogeco. Maybe we'll meet again in 4 months, but hopefully teksavvy has a solution.
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