Review by wkim75 Location: Mississauga, ON, Canada Cost: $56 per month (month by month) Install: about 7 days Speed at 6pm was 15Mb/0.6Mb, Speed at 10pm was 3Mb/0.9Mb. No option to provide own modem so price includes modem rental. :( Undecided. Will update later..

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

Highspeed 'Standard' package (14Mb/1Mb?) - $52/mo (for 12 month commitment). $75 early cancellation fee.

I opted for the month-to-month plan.. $57/mo.

Note they provide the modem, so rental fee is built into price.
They do not allow for use of own modem.

Ordered on a Wednesday.. Didn't hear from them until Monday afternoon..
Good news was, they said they'd have someone out there by Wed (2 days) to get it installed.. ($40 installation fee? I can't recall exactly)

Said technician would be there between 8am and 5pm (really?).. He showed up around 4:45pm.. =/

Installation was quick and painless.
Modem is mounted in place at demark point, so I don't have any good visibility of the modem other than knowing that it's an RCA digital Broadband modem. =/

Service is pricey, with probably a D2 modem (looks old).. but it's my only non-DSL option (when, teksavvy, when?? ).. and I'm 5.5km away from the CO..so cable sounds like my best bet..

Will update more when I have more to report..

your comment..

Review by lecep Location: Oakville, ON, Canada Cost: $147 per month Decent service in general Expensive, very low caps, cust.svc. will not listen if you have discrepancies regarding bandwith usage, even if they're wrong

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

I have been with Cogeco since Aug-2002 and the service is very good in general. I am subscribed to High Speed Internet Standard (10M/640K) and Analog TV.

I do not remember having a major signal outage, what makes its service very reliable. However, peak hours are very critical and I can get speeds around 1000K for download.

I live in a fast growing area in Oakville, probably that's the reason I am getting those numbers after 6pm. I think it's a matter of time when they realize they have to add or update the current networking platform and improve the real bandwidth for this area.

I highly recommend Cogeco since I don't know of any other company providing the same speeds, just be patient and wait until they fix this temporary congestion issue.

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UPDATE: 18-Nov-2010
The bandwith meter is unreliable. Very unreliable. Customer service will not help if you find your calculations are different from theirs.

your comment..

Review by got_milk2 Location: Georgetown, ON, Canada Cost: $54 per month Speed, extremely high uptimes Insulting customer service, low caps Decent ISP so long as you don't have to call in!

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

I've been a Cogeco user for many years now. The service itself is pretty good, almost 100% uptime and no real issues.

Customer service though needs serious work. They assume you know nothing about your network setup and have treated me terribly in the past. The tech installers are good though, we had a modem die and the installer was great, he came and did the swap quickly, and was very friendly.

One day however we had an e-mail sent from Cogeco Security claiming we had a mass mailer that was sending a large amount of spam e-mails from our machine. The e-mail claimed that our service would be disabled in 24 hours if the problem wasn't fixed. This e-mail was sent at 6:00am or so and we were cut off by 9am. I couldn't find any trace of any problems, but I couldn't download any repair tools due to the lack of internet! Called in and the rep suggested to DOWNLOAD TOOLS. The rep treated me like I was an idiot, and told me I should be running up to date anti-virus software (I AM!) I tore him a new one saying that how could I clean this and download the tools he suggests without any connection! I finally bring him around and the internet is enabled. I do my routine checks for malware and they come up clean. To be safe, I put a packet analyzer on for about 8 hours and checked to see if there was any e-mail traffic - there was none. We were cut off again the next day claiming the same thing and I lashed out saying that Cogeco is to not disrupt service without providing me undeniable proof that there was spam e-mails being sent from our location. Haven't heard from them since.

UPDATE: I'm bringing down a few sliders here as it's been a long time since I could get the advertised upload/download speeds. Now I'm lucky if I can break 10Mbps on a 14Mbps line. Also, connectivity has been far less than 100% as over the past few weeks it occasionally drops for a half hour or so. Trucks are rolling around here like mad working but nothing seems to be getting fixed. Looks like my area is overcrowded, it's a common complaint from what I hear around here.

a friend @cgocable.net a friend Anon 2010-May-12 11:39 pm hmmm Ubuntu! Look it up. You obviously can't fix your problem or lack the ability to solve your issue. Start new... load Ubuntu. Keep in mind its not cogeco fault your not a software enginer. Most people have no clue they are infected. Cogeco has a right to protect there system. Lets face it if your computer connected gives them issues and when they turn you off they don't have issues. Its safe to say they are right and you need either an upgrade or to figure it out. Ubuntu IMO is your best option. Back up your files and install. Good luck. 2010-May-12 11:39 pm: · hey mods ·
	got_milk2 join:2007-08-22 Georgetown, ON got_milk2 Member 2010-Jun-2 4:32 pm Re: hmmm Had you checked my profile you would have seen that I am a student studying software engineering, so yes, I think I'm safe to say that when I am satisfied I don't have malware, then I don't have malware. Thank you for making assumptions though. 2010-Jun-2 4:32 pm: · hey mods ·
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Review by showashowa Location: Windsor, ON, Canada Cost: $58 per month (month by month) Local HQ exists Reliabiliy, Service, Connectivity, about everything I would love to change ISP if I can, don't live in a small town

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

Recently the reliability of this company totally sucks. It disconnects you very frequently and randomly too! Sometimes 5 times within 1 hour (I have concerns that my 'globe' on my connection indication can go poof any second..that's how insecure I feel nowadays about them).

Service is terrible! They try to be nice but every time takes them ages to get a technician and guess what, the problem keeps persisting. The only time my connection stays well is between the time the tech comes and their check-up call. Once i said okay to the agent about my net, the globe is in danger again. I sense some scams but I really can't point a finger at it.

My bandwidth is shaped very frequently. Sometimes to the point it is kind of ridiculous. Usually I have around 10Mbps, but it drops to 2Mbps sometimes (I tried with several speed test so this is confirmed). I called and ask why this is they say its due to heavy net traffic and P2Ps (when I rarely use one)... not that great of a service.

The only good thing I can say about them is that they have a nice looking buildings around town....

your comment..

Review by Chainzz Location: Sarnia, ON, Canada Cost Contract price not specified. Awsome service, Fast and Reliable NONEEEEEE Cogeco Rocks - Not one bad thought crosses my mind

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

No complaints as I used to work for them and know truely their hearts are with the customers. I had the great pleasure of working with this awsome company and too bad I can't return right now if ever but I would go back in a heartbeat if the request came in. Their network is rock solid, maintained by well trained techs and no complaints about the install. My speeds are on par with advertised.

jeisenberg New Year's Eve join:2001-07-06 Windsor, ON jeisenberg Member 2005-Mar-6 10:15 am Agree in principle, BUT ... Although I agree in principle with your review, there have been quite a few "short" outages due to ongoing improvement in the Cogeco infrastructure. Also, I think it fair, in the spirit of full disclosure, that you identify yourself as a Cogeco employee, just so you don't get accused of a biased review. 2005-Mar-6 10:15 am: · hey mods ·
ubikz join:2009-03-28 1 edit ubikz Member 2010-Oct-19 4:16 pm Cogeco Sarnia counter opinion. I feel I do have to speak up to your review as you have just moved to the same city as myself and you are well aware of the over 1 year long congestion and lack of system upgrades in various areas here. Several users on this forum have documented their problems in Sarnia going on half a year, or over a year, similar to myself. While it is true that I have previously enjoyed up to 18 months of steady service from local Cogeco, there have been other problems in the past with minor congestion, service outages, outdated wiring, fighting customer service for information, etc. The current situation here for me and many others speaks strongly against your new experience, Chainzz. You say, "...truely their hearts are with the customers." and while I can agree that every tech worker I have talked to is competent, polite and concerned, the same can not be said for customer service phone experiences and definitely not for corporate agenda as can be plainly seen in increased quarterly profits VS underserviced areas & declining value for money compared to other services worldwide (as is variously documented in recent published studies, regarding Canadian internet in general). You say, "...Their network is rock solid." but clearly this is not the case, as is evidenced by the many threads on this forum. I am glad for your own experiences with Cogeco and can accept others feel as you do but your 5 star review, taking place in the same problematic city as my experience, must be contested. 2010-Oct-19 4:16 pm: · hey mods ·
MarketingCo @hostnoc.net MarketingCo Anon 2010-Oct-19 5:57 pm oh please. The cogeco PR hires at work here posting, if anyone takes this review seriously they should have their head checked. 2010-Oct-19 5:57 pm: · hey mods ·
	Chainzz Aka Snippy join:2004-07-26 Sarnia, ON Chainzz Member 2010-Oct-20 5:08 pm Re: oh please. Ok let me make something clear....I used to work for Cogeco.....I was aware of the Sarnia issued before moving here, I can say I have not had one issue where I am at and I do believe this node has been worked on. I knew it was in the works prior to my leave at the end of August. 2010-Oct-20 5:08 pm: · hey mods ·
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Review by chirpy13 Location: undisclosed location Cost: $40 per month Cheaper than Bell and Rogers, decent speed Still expensive, terrible customer service, download caps Use them if there's nothing better available

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Value for money:

The one paying for the phone/cable/internet in the househould refuses to use anything that isn't bundled - and that's really one of the only situations where I would recommend using Cogeco. The other reason to use them is if nothing better is available in your area.

The internet is prone to disconnecting randomly, and the phone goes sometimes as well. It's not a consistent thing but it can happen every couple hours over the course of weeks for a few minutes at a time when it does happen. The download/upload speed is pretty reasonable on Lite Plus or higher (offering , but the data transfer limits leave a lot to be desired. 30GB on Lite Plus ($35/month), 60GB on standard ($45/month), and even their most expensive service ($100/month for internet) only offers 150GB/month in uploads/downloads with an extra $2/GB past the limits. Not for anyone who downloads or uploads a lot of large files, and I recommend you keep track of how much you download as well.

As for their customer service... We've been getting notices for a couple months about not paying bills (even though they've all been paid on time). I ended up phoning them a few months ago and got told us it was an accounting issue and that it was resolved. I've continued to get the same notices over the last couple months with them starting to charge interest as well. Just today, I got some notice saying to tape my payment to my door and that they'd come by to pick it up at the end of the month or disconnect me. I called again and went over the issue again, and seem to have resolved it after about an hour of waiting for a line and 20 mins of talking to their representatives. I mentioned that I'd be disconnecting and contacting the BBB to complain about their customer service. I got a response from the rep saying that it sounded like I was threatening them, which seems to say that they aren't very open to criticism of their services either.

In all, Cogeco's service is decent, but there's better companies out there. I've heard a lot of good things about TekSavvy being cheaper and providing near-equivalent speeds along with unlimited download limits, though I can't really say much myself having not used them before. I would still look into TS though if they're available in your area (or any other company you can find on Google with similar services). My final verdict on Cogeco is to only use them if your only option is the big-name companies. Despite their crappy customer service, I don't really expect the other big companies to be much (if at all) better, and Cogeco has the best bang for your buck of the three. Be sure to research your local companies beforehand though.

your comment..

Review by MaggieS Location: undisclosed location Cost: $99 per month Speed (if you can get it), not much else Never can get what I pay for 16mbit speed A bad value, overpriced and never can get advertised speed

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

I use to be happy with cogeco, but lately my area has had major congestion. By lately I mean the last three years. I had the pro plan and I can barely get 5-9 Mbit down during peak hours around 5 to 11. I upgraded to the 30mbit plan, and it's slightly better. I still can not get above 10mbit during the evening on the weekdays. After 12 and early morning is the only time I get advertised speed.

Also the reliability has seem to have gone downhill, I use to go for awhile without my cable being down and having my internet down, the past 2 months my service has been down 4 times! Not good. I had cogeco home phone but because of this I switched back to bell because I need a reliable phone even during a power outage, and I use skype for any long distant calls, but even Skype doesn't do great on cogeco if I call around 7 to 11 on weekday evenings.

Smarten up cogeco, and get things back on track.

Edit*- So I been on the 30mbit plan, and just got a call from cogeco basically telling me that I am bad for using 200 Gigs per month. They told me to stop using P2P programs. I immediately questioned them on this, and told them I do not use Bittorrent. I demanded to know how they made an accusation I was using p2p, and I wanted a list stating what they classify as "p2p" like: Skype, Blizzard Downloader and so on.

The rep on the phone immediately backed down. If I could rate cogeco any lower I would.

urbanriot Premium Member join:2004-10-18 Canada urbanriot Premium Member 2010-May-29 1:02 pm The phone line still runs during a power outage. "I had cogeco home phone but because of this I switched back to bell because I need a reliable phone even during a power outage" The battery in the modem keeps your phone line on during a power outage. 2010-May-29 1:02 pm: · hey mods ·
	itbeginshere join:2010-05-20 itbeginshere Member 2010-Jun-1 9:17 am Re: The phone line still runs during a power outage. said by urbanriot: The battery in the modem keeps your phone line on during a power outage. That is technically not true, especially with cogeco.. The battery only supplies power to the modem, no power to the line is transmitted. 9 times out of 10 if the power goes out in your area, your cable goes with it, and your cogeco phone is down. Where as with Pots Lines (bell and the bunch) if the power goes out on the entire east cost, the pots lines would still work and your phone would still be working. 2010-Jun-1 9:17 am: · hey mods ·
		urbanriot Premium Member join:2004-10-18 Canada urbanriot Premium Member 2010-Jun-3 10:13 pm Re: The phone line still runs during a power outage. Hmm... interesting, because 9 times out of 10 that power's gone out, my phone has still worked fine. I suppose mileage will vary but I'd rather pay $45 a month for unlimited national calling than through the nose with Bell. 2010-Jun-3 10:13 pm: · hey mods ·
			MaggieS join:2010-05-12 MaggieS Member 2010-Jun-4 12:28 pm Reply to "urbanriot" said by urbanriot: Hmm... interesting, because 9 times out of 10 that power's gone out, my phone has still worked fine. I suppose mileage will vary but I'd rather pay $45 a month for unlimited national calling than through the nose with Bell. The battery in the modem only works if it's just your outlet or breaker box that goes out. If your cable goes out (TV, Internet) because of a power outage in the area your phone goes with it on cogeco, and the battery in the modem does nothing, and does not supply any power to lines like you have implied. It's a better value to have bell phone (reliable, better for security systems also) for like 14 bucks a month local calling only (unlimited incoming of course), and then get a voip provider for all outgoing long distance for as low as 2.95 for North American calling. Much better deal. Or if quality and reliability are more important to people, then a Pots (bell,Teksavvy) would be the way to go, but then you would have to pay a lot more for long distance. 2010-Jun-4 12:28 pm: · hey mods ·
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Review by d33d Location: Kingston, ON, Canada Cost: $220 per month Install: about 15 days Ultimate 50 is VERY FAST, Connection is always up, Love it Capped at 150gigs is too low for something that downloads at up to almost 6Mb/s Not worth the price but the speed is irresistible

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

Early adoption of the Ultimate 50 package was painful due to knowledgeably challenged field techs, store front reps and phone support agents that made me jump through so many hoops I'm still tired. Cogeco's saving grace are the reps that lurk on this site and go way beyond the call of duty to help customers in need. Thank you broadbandreports and thank you "Krispy".

Now my VOIP and Internet are working very well without drops and very fast. I'm still dealing with spotty HDTV with many audio dropouts and picture pixelation without a resolution as Tech support do not seem to have any solution for me.

My only other issue with Cogeco but not just them is the bandwidth cap on the internet packages, what is so "ULTIMATE" about a 150gig cap? When you advertise the thousands of mp3's or hundreds of thousands of photos (300 game demos is off as the average game demo is more like 1GB then 500MB) one can download at lightning fast speeds, reaching the cap in a matter of days and then pay another $50 in overages doesn't feel very ultimate.

All in all I love my cogeco and wouldn't trade it for any other "blue" companies.

VivaRevolt @cgocable.net VivaRevolt Anon 2010-Sep-12 8:35 pm cogeco nah cogeco is bady bady company they only super nice to get your supernice extra money ...forgive the grammer =) phone out for 3 days 10$ over to 155$ a month from internet usage and only downloaded 1 movie and 1 demo game, cogeco calls tells me cheaper to pay them 10 more a month than to keep going over 2 years never gone over you dont even know who i am as far as usage goes READ ffs how sad i can no longer use my game downloader steam and will go back to buying ps3 games thanks cogeco for sucking the last 155 dollars from me ever switched to bell last week price change 50dollars from 145 to 91.oo for same services cogeco go back to where you came send yourself to a recycle only file and ba bye =PPPPPPPPPPPPPP 2010-Sep-12 8:35 pm: · hey mods ·

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Review by digitalfutur Location: GTA Cost: $49 per month Install: about 14 days Reliable, 3 (cable) outlets @ no extra charge, fast Free fSecure internet security package inferior to Norton 360 4.0 Best of the Cable ISPs

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

Update Aug 18, 10 - No change from last year. Price has gone up $5 but d/l speed and reliability are very good. We finally got digital cable so with the first year discounts it's cheaper, and about $5 more a month after that. Good deal. I've been bombarded with Bell Fibe snail mail and telephone calls, but DSL just doesn't compare to cable

Update Aug 1,09 - D/L speed has increased to 14 MB/s in the past month, upload to just over 1MB/s fo the hi speed standard package. Recent price increase of $2/month so value is unchanged, as is my rating. 60GB cap meets my needs as I don't download movies and typically use less than 70% of the cap. The quality of a bluray DVD is far better than a d/l movie and the computer is not hooked up to the TV anyway.

Update Aug 23,07 - Gee, I got a system message asking me if I'd like to update. OK, here goes. Cogeco rocks even harder, 10 MB/s down, 900kb up, at CAD 42.95 /month bundled, with a 60GB monthly bitcap. No complaints here.

Update Oct 17,04 - another speed increase a few months ago to 500 kb/sec down. Yeah !

Update Jun 26,03 - Smooth sailing, and speed up to 300kb/sec down most evenings. Who needs DSL?

Update Nov 6, 02: Smooth sailing, no complaints. Stable and fast. The price increase to $45 /mth did not apply to me as I have a cable/internet package.

Update May 3, 02: D/L speed has increase to 2000 due to hardware upgrades on the Cogeco netwrok. Connection is rock solid, but tech support is wanting and the website still has limited info. This is not a problem for me as I work for an IT company (not Cogeco) but a newbie would be overwhelmed...

I used to live in Toronto and had Sympatico DSL because Rogers@home was not available. Then moved to Burlington where Sympatico DSL was not available at the time (it is now).

Comparing the two, both are very reliable but Cogeco is about 75% faster d/l on average than Bell (actual measured speed 1700/320 cable vs 900/130 Bell). So Cogeco is a better deal. I woudn't switch back to Bell unless Cogeco's speed and reliability turned into Rogers.

emmpeethree Twizzling Flagella Premium Member join:2001-04-13 Richmond, BC emmpeethree Premium Member 2002-May-3 12:00 pm good stuff =) sounds good! cogeco is catching up to shaw! 2002-May-3 12:00 pm: · hey mods ·
IGotThePower Samsung Sucks Premium Member join:2003-06-07 Japan Inc. IGotThePower Premium Member 2003-Jun-27 7:46 am Caps? 300KB/sec? What about the caps? 2003-Jun-27 7:46 am: · hey mods ·
	Fluxlo The Laughing Man join:2001-11-19 Hamilton, ON Fluxlo Member 2003-Jun-27 11:00 am Re: Caps? what about em? they're not heavily enforced unless they seriously degrade the network quality. 2003-Jun-27 11:00 am: · hey mods ·
metrotitan join:2008-11-21 metrotitan Member 2009-Aug-1 4:43 pm There's a lot more out there than movies, these days. I don't download movies, yet the combined cap is too small for my household's needs. 2009-Aug-1 4:43 pm: · hey mods ·
vega509 join:2005-11-12 Welland, ON vega509 Member 2009-Aug-2 4:54 pm 3 ips? what do yuo mean by 3 ips? 2009-Aug-2 4:54 pm: · hey mods ·
	chdude3 join:2003-07-29 Oakville, ON chdude3 Member 2009-Aug-11 1:29 pm Re: 3 ips? He means 3 IP addresses. 2009-Aug-11 1:29 pm: · hey mods ·
		vega509 join:2005-11-12 Welland, ON vega509 Member 2009-Aug-11 1:59 pm Re: 3 ips? that I know, how do you get 3 ip addresses? 2009-Aug-11 1:59 pm: · hey mods ·
			thirteenmike join:2009-07-31 Burlington, ON thirteenmike Member 2009-Aug-20 8:18 pm Re: 3 ips? you'd have to install a hub or a switch...so you would run: Cable Modem ->>> Hub/Switch->>> Internet Device 1, Internet Device 2, Internet Device 3 If you have 3 devices hooked up to the hub/switch and then change one all you gotta do is power cycle the hub/switch and there you have it, a spare IP for you 2009-Aug-20 8:18 pm: · hey mods ·
				vega509 join:2005-11-12 Welland, ON vega509 Member 2009-Aug-21 7:46 am Re: 3 ips? the OP said he has 3 ips at no additional charge. I assume he mean 3 ips from Cogeco. You can have as many ips as you have ports on your home network. $49 per month about 14 days "Reliable, 3 IPs @ no extra charge, fast" "Free fSecure internet security package inferior to Norton 360 3.0" "Best of the Cable ISPs" 2009-Aug-21 7:46 am: · hey mods ·
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Review by pdajunkee Location: Vancouver, BC, Canada Cost: $76 per month Install: about 15 days Great customer service Price, performance, availability Why is it cheaper everywhere else?

Pre Sales information: Install Co-ordination: Connection Reliability: Tech Support: Services: Value for money:

High Speed Internet Pro package (price is reduced because I bundled both internet and phone, price above is internet only)

Advertised speed:
16 MB/s

Over 8 months had internet go down 5 times. Every time it was an issue with my cable modem and it needed to be reset.

Thought about switching to Bell, but the support at Cogeco is fantastic! Answer calls quickly, spend time making sure everything is working and I always get an enthusiastic and happy support person. Not sure what they are feeding them.

your comment..