gobisbay
@maxess.ca
| reply to nydwarf1
Re: [Niagara] Cogeco Bitcaps
I'm in Windsor and my account was suspended last night (Tuesday). I received a warning message to all 3 e-mail aliases on Saturday notifying me that I was at 197% of my allotted bandwidth. I guess Tuesday night I reached 200% and was suspended, with the webpage notifying me that it was my third notice (which it was not, it was the second notice). I've been with Cogeco for over 7 years and never received any warnings, despite high monthly bandwidth usage. This month has been higher than most, I will admit.
I have no problem with the suspension, because I've used 120GB in 17 days this month, which is probably excessive (70 down, 50 up). My problem is that they didn't send me a warning until I was basically about to be cut off. Had they warned me at 60 gigs that I had reached my limit and could be cut off, I would have reduced my bandwidth usage somewhat.
Notifying me halfway through the month that I'm about to be cut off is useless. I can't give the bandwidth back.
The question is, if I upgrade to the Pro package, will the 200% limit remain? (i.e. 200 GB before I'm cut off.)
Bell offers an extra 30 GB for $10/month or unlimited for $25/month extra. However, I really don't want to change my e-mail addresses and Cogeco has provided good service for 7+ years.
Is this going to be a one-time thing, or should I look elsewhere for my Internet access? |
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DrDog
VIP
join:2006-07-28
Fort Erie, ON
| reply to neko
it was this year, I think in July. The meeting is not important, we have them all the time, kind of a state of the union address.
The main thing is it will be coming, but Like I said I don't know when, or how much, but Cogeco has done a pretty good job keepin up with demand in the past.
This alas will not help people with their suspensions right now. 200 % is alot over, I can easily see why you were shut down. |
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gobisbay
@maxess.ca
| Oh, I'm not disputing the suspension at all.
My dispute is with the warning right before I was cut off. Why even bother to warn me? Had they warned me when I hit 60 gigs, this never would have happened.
The real kicker is this occurred right as I was about to enter my Fantasy Hockey draft! Now I'm stuck with a crappy Yahoo!-drafted team. |
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Roxx
@cgocable.net
| reply to diskdocx
I am on the commercial tier 1 account (soho) and just got the email warning. I have been consistantly doing 100 gigs up and 110 or so down since I upgraded. I was talked into this account by the cogeco telephone reps to avoid these very emails instead of switching to an unlimited DSL account back in 2004. The original email from my commercial rep even states the previous caps had been removed. For the past 3 years they have been gladly taking my money even when service was not at the full speeds they claim they offered.
What has changed? Do I now need to upgrade to a higher account? |
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technovert
Premium
join:2007-06-14
Canada
clubs: | reply to nydwarf1
I did 172GB down, 19GB up on standard and they disconnected my service.
I am now on Commercial Level 2 for $89.95 on a 12 month contract with a 200GB bitcap.
16/1 |
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aardvvark
@cgocable.net
|  reply to nydwarf1
Joost, iTunes, Revision 3 (Diggnation just went HD), Google Video, Youtube? Way to move with us into the future, Cogeco. -clap clap clap-.
Does this move have anything to do with Comcast's recent push to disconnect "heavy" downloaders? Copycat? Just waited for someone else to do it first? This strategy will fail. Online content distribution is the future. |
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mrbig
@cgocable.net
| I got my warning at 66 GB down and 15 GB up.
You guys should try Sentex, its $34.95/month, the download is only 5 Mbit however the upload is 20% higher, 800 Kbit, I have both cogeco and sentex and I can not tell which is better. (well; I can now, Sentex Data Transfer is Unlimited)
»www.sentex.net/residential/highspeed.shtml |
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PegLeg
Premium
join:2002-06-27
@ Sea
| reply to aardvvark
said by aardvvark :
Does this move have anything to do with Comcast's recent push to disconnect "heavy" downloaders?
Copycat? Just waited for someone else to do it first? ........
Maybe , but check out Comcast's next move - »Comcast Has Tested Pay-Per-GB System |
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Snickerdo
Premium
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON
| Also, based on these discussions, it is quite possible that Cogeco also has various "hard" caps in different markets/nodes based on their overall usage and congestion. |
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okoolo
@cgocable.net
| reply to gobisbay
I'm in Windsor too .. got a 24hr suspension (110 down, 13 up)
I upgraded to the pro account today with a 100 Gb limit
But I'm over 100 GB anyways so will they came after me again if I download anything?
what's the % of usage at which they suspend you? |
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boredguy
join:2002-01-27
St Catharines, ON
 ·Cogeco Cable
| reply to nydwarf1
I got sent a warning a couple of days ago when my usage was at 8 gigs up and 72 gigs down. I'm usually around 20 gigs up 100 gigs down for a month, only other time i got a warning was when someone else in the household was using some weird crappy p2p program that couldn't limit it's upload and was using the entire upload for a couple of days.
--
What would Jesus do for a Klondike bar? |
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alamarco
o.O
join:2003-06-18
Windsor, ON
clubs:
| reply to nydwarf1
I do think Cogeco is starting to enforce their cap a little bit more, but they still aren't worse than most companies. I used to get warnings around 40 GB in upload while the download didn't really matter. Just got a warning today on 20 GB upload and 50 GB download.
Still, I am over and with the warning I'll stop doing most of my usual activities. I respect Cogeco's warning system as I think it's very generous. Instead of charging you the minute you go over the cap, or instead of shutting you down the minute you go over the cap, they give you a warning using a 3-warning type system.
Even if I have to limit myself for the rest of the month, I appreciate the warning system they provide. |
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Krispy
Premium,VIP
join:2001-12-11
the stix
| reply to nydwarf1
Ok, things got changed on Monday as most of you noticed. Things also went wrong, as things sometimes do, and some people didn't get the warnings they should have. The problem has been identified and hopefully won't happen again, it wasn't planned to go that way and lots of discussions have/are occurring to ensure it doesn't happen again. I also worked on a bunch of changes over the past few days to quickly alleviate the issue for those affected...probably didn't come fast enough for some of you which kinda sucks but we did what we could as fast as possible.
As for the changes, basically we're enforcing based on combined bitcaps now. We're still being generous with the bitcaps and we're still not charging money for overages but it's tighter than before and if you're transferring tons of traffic you should probably move to a more appropriate package (ie: doing 100GB/mo on a Lite package).
So that's deal.
--
you can lead a horse to the water but you cannot make him drink...you can put a man through school but you cannot make him think --ben harper
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anonguy2
@cgocable.net | What's generous? looking at the posts seems that > 80 gig combined is enough to get a warning. Is Cogeco going to start nickel and diming its customers like Rogers? |
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manderson4
join:2002-07-05
Hamilton, ON
| reply to Krispy
Thanks for the reply Krispy and the work you did do on this for us. Can you maybe help us out with a little clarification on "We're still being generous with the bitcaps and we're still not charging money for overages but it's tighter than before." I realize I need to upgrade but I am wondering if just the Pro will do it or do I need to look at a small business package. |
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neko
All Hail Canada
Premium
join:2006-08-11
canada
 ·Callcentric
·Cogeco Cable
·Future Nine Corpor..
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to Krispy
What about offering more tiers aimed at bandwidth consumption & not speed, ie having standard package but with more bandwidth available but for less money than a full commercial tier with 16Mbit. I am quite happy with 10Mbit but I would like more bandwidth. |
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Snickerdo
Premium
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON
| reply to nydwarf1
A hard cap? Screw that. I'll start counting down the number of days I am a Cogeco subscriber if this is true.
Simply put, I will finagle an unlimited bandwidth contract out of Bell or someone else and be done with it on the first bandwidth warning I get. I've never ever received a warning since Cogeco was available in St. Cats since 2000, I've easily downloaded 100GB+ in a month - yet the next month very well may have only been 20GB combined. I don't like the idea of having to monitor my usage when it isn't exactly unreasonable. I'm not going to change the way I browse the Internet just because Cogeco is financially troubled and trying to find ways to not upgrade their network, since this is the only reason they would ever pull a stunt like this after 10-13 years of offering high speed service.
Now, if they start charging, I'm done as a subscriber right away.
--
I swear that I will faithfully and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Canada, Her Heirs and Successors, and that I will faithfully observe the laws of Canada and fulfil my duties as a Canadian citizen. |
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urbanriot
join:2004-10-18
St Catharines, ON
·Cogeco Cable
| From the sounds of things they're starting to enforce a cap they advertised, but never really enforced unless someone was way out of bounds.
I have no problems paying for pro with my usage... I don't think it's unreasonable for them to ask me to upgrade based on my excessive downloading.
However, I do think it's a little severe if they're disabling users with no warning, since this enforcement is new. |
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PegLeg
Premium
join:2002-06-27
@ Sea
| said by urbanriot  :However, I do think it's a little severe if they're disabling users with no warning, since this enforcement is new.
What I find strange is why drop the hammer NOW , IF they are going to raise the 'caps' as stated above by ' DrDog '.
I think it would cause less problems to raise the limits first and THEN announce the hard cap ! |
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Forbin
@cgocable.net
| reply to nydwarf1
In my case I got two bandwidth warnings in quick succession a couple of days ago. Now my download speed is ~200kbps. Not as bad as being disconnected but it's next to worthless.
After 8 years with cogeco (all the while recommending their service to friends) I find this abrupt change of policy disappointing. I too will be investigating DSL options asap.
Good luck everyone with your ISP search. Please share any good finds with the rest of us. |
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