dslreports logo
 
    All Forums Hot Topics Gallery
spc
Search similar:


uniqs
22039
elec999
join:2005-12-19

elec999

Member

Rogers Usage

My usage is started from 26 of each month, on jan 3 I had 18gb of used bandwidth. Now all the sudden it jumped to 73gb. Theres no way I could download that much. I didnt download anything. I dont use wireless, so no one else can connect.
Thanks

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

This is another example of why Rogers usage tool is so screwed up such that they can never implement charging without incurring legal issues.

kmacke
@rogers.com

kmacke to elec999

Anon

to elec999
I've got similar issue with the usage tool.. only I'm on extreme plus and the actually do charge for overages!!

I've been charged 180 bux in overages (90 bux a month for the last two months) when I know I didn't use that much bandwidth!

I had a feeling that something was wrong and pretty much confirmed it when I got back from my xmas and new years holidays. They had me downloading over 5 gigs a day when my house was empty. I though that maybe it could be some sort of spyware/virus eating my bandwidth or possible someone stealing my wireless internet.

Knowing Rogers I did a few things before I called.
-I first checked my router and went through the logs and didn't find any mac addresses except my laptops connecting wirelessly. I also have mac filtering turned on and WAP so am confident that nobody is stealing.
-Second I installed a bandwidth monitor on my pc to rule out spyware etc.

sure enough the number that my bandwidth monitor and rogers usage tool are different. I expect them to be different but not by as much as they are. To give you an example Rogers has me using 15-16 gigs on certain days and my bandwidth monitor has me using 25mb!! These are days that I know I didn't download anything!

Anyway, after arguing with them for a while on the phone I finally got a supervisor to 'look into it' with the promise of getting back to me tomorrow. If I don't hear anything then I'll be calling the office of the president, getting credit from them.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Good luck! Although, I hope you don't need it!

kmacke
@rogers.com

kmacke to elec999

Anon

to elec999
Yeah, I'm hoping they own up to their error. However my past experience with Rogers tells me that it won't be easy.

I've actually cancelled my internet with them as my interactions with their tech and customer service left a bad taste in my mouth- basically it took me an hour and speaking to 3 different people to finally get them convinced that they needed to investigate this. Anyway, I'll hound them until they give me my money back even if I am no longer a highspeed customer with them..

Stewy6
Premium Member
join:2007-12-12
Kitchener, ON

Stewy6 to kmacke

Premium Member

to kmacke
said by kmacke :

I've been charged 180 bux in overages (90 bux a month for the last two months) when I know I didn't use that much bandwidth!
How can you be charged that much if the max is $25/month ?

just wondering.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

This $25 max is a figment of somebody's imagination. There is NO LIMIT currently on the overage charge on Extreme Plus. Look back in the forum and you'll find that one chap was billed $350 after upgrading to E+ ... most of the excess bandwidth consumption actually ocurred while he was on Extreme, so he had to fight to get the bill fixed!

There have been RUMOURS of maximums, but nothing definitive on billing or overages has actually come from Roges apart from the E+ service where they're charging $1.25 per GB with no stated max!

a_large_rock
join:2003-08-02
L6H0H3

1 edit

a_large_rock to Stewy6

Member

to Stewy6
If you want to see just how much it could cost you check out this link. »Usage Charges for Bandwidth hogs Its from November. Some things have changed since i wrote this (quotas have decreased, base price has increased, and speeds have increased)

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

The cost per GB included in the base rate is actually inaccurate, because you haven't deducted the service cost and the support costs and the "extra services" costs, like email, flickr, website etc.

Of course that makes the overage charges look even worse.

But you have to remember that the under cap prices are based on the AVERAGE consumption and not the max consumption, which will actually push the cost per GB up dramatically.

The cost per GB base on max consumption is probably of the order of pennies per GB. Based on average consumption of around 5GB per month it's probably closer to $1 per gb.
elec999
join:2005-12-19

elec999

Member

All this info is scaring me, because honestly I do not download 100gb per month. But the meter is running.
THanks

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

at the moment you only need to worry if you're on Extreme Plus.

If you get billed and you're absolutely sure it's wrong, raise hell!

MattSpec
@rogers.com

MattSpec to elec999

Anon

to elec999
the $25 cap is not going to implimented until march 1st (or next billing cycle after) thats when overage charges are going to be attached to all tiers

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Again, more rumours.

With all these things, it's believe it when I see it in black and white from Rogers. And I sure hope they have the guts to let users know soon what's happening rather than sneak it on us and have the CSRs running defence like they did when they implemented throttling.

elwoodblues
Elwood Blues
Premium Member
join:2006-08-30
Somewhere in

elwoodblues to elec999

Premium Member

to elec999
Lets put the usage tool aside for the moment, we all know it's FUBAR.

How much of that bandwidth can be attributed to the crap that is always floating around in Cyberspace, trying to attack your IP.

Since it's obviously going to hit the modem, why am I paying for that? Especially if they start (I can Rogers being all over that) metering your bandwidth.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

Actually in terms of bandwidth consumed, it's fairly small potatoes, even though DoS attacks can bring systems to their knees. It's the processing of lots of tiny packets that's the system killer. This is why a router as a firewall is a good idea from the pov of system protection. Doesn't help the usage stats though.
elec999
join:2005-12-19

elec999

Member

I'm on Hi-Speed Extreme.
Thanks

habskilla
join:2005-09-19
Moncton, NB

habskilla

Member

I'll put it out there,,,

modem cloning?

elec999,
Ask Rogers to swap out your modem or go do it yourself. Exchange it for another modem and see if the usage comes back in line. If you go this route, please let us know what happens.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

As much as you might say modem cloning, I don't believe it is ... Far more likely is problems in the bandwidth detection.

Rogers should be more than able to detect modem cloning.

habskilla
join:2005-09-19
Moncton, NB

habskilla

Member

I agree, but maybe they can't detect it.

He's got nothing to lose. Swap out the modem and see if that fixes his problem.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

His problem is Rogers billing him ... That's the significant one!

More to the point, it's my understanding that billing is done by assigned IP which makes modem cloning moot.

Don't ya wish that Rogers would tell us how this stuff is supposed to work instead of us just guessing?

a_large_rock
join:2003-08-02
L6H0H3

1 edit

a_large_rock

Member

Yeah it would be great if they told us how they were billing us. Gas meters, water meters and hydrometers all have to be certified… and if your hydro usage all of a sudden jumps 10 fold you can challenge it and the meter can be tested for accuracy. How do you do that with rogers when they won’t even tell you how they are measuring it, and what hardware’s being used. The measuring equipment at work is certified and inspected to comply with the Weights and Measures Act and I know gas pumps are too.. so why not bandwidth meters? Considering how inaccurate they are.. and how rogers still plans on using the broken system.

kmacke
@rogers.com

kmacke to elec999

Anon

to elec999
Well, so far they have credited me back a month and a bit of overcharges while they investigate. I've probably called them 10 times..lol Anyway, I talked to a couple supervisors and they always start with the "we've tested the usage tool and they have proved to be very reliable. In all our tests the only issues that ever came up was that it under reports vs. over....blah blah blah". What finally convinced them to keep the issue open and give me a credit is this. On Tuesday I unplugged the power to my router just before midnight- meaning nothing can connect to the internet as my router is the only thing plugged into the modem. Around 4pm I actually unplugged my modem as well. When I looked at the usage tool today they had me registered as downloading 5 gigs on Tuesday!! not sure how that can happen when nothing is plugged in at all!

Of interest is that the second level support told me to take my modem back and get a new one as someone could have mac cloned my modem. I know that Sbrook says that they use IP not Mac address but this guy told me they use Mac address as well. Having said that my experience with Rogers support tells me that they aren't the most knowledgeable and I am more inclined to believe Sbrook..lol
Its a scary thought if it turns out that they do use the Mac address to track usage. Mac addresses and profiles can easily be stolen/cloned (one would hope that Rogers has fraud prevention in place to combat this though) and if they are charging for excess usage based on their usage tool this will become a major factor for users like us.

habskilla
join:2005-09-19
Moncton, NB

1 edit

habskilla

Member

said by kmacke :

Of interest is that the second level support told me to take my modem back and get a new one as someone could have mac cloned my modem. I know that Sbrook says that they use IP not Mac address but this guy told me they use Mac address as well. Having said that my experience with Rogers support tells me that they aren't the most knowledgeable and I am more inclined to believe Sbrook..lol
Its a scary thought if it turns out that they do use the Mac address to track usage. Mac addresses and profiles can easily be stolen/cloned (one would hope that Rogers has fraud prevention in place to combat this though) and if they are charging for excess usage based on their usage tool this will become a major factor for users like us.
First, thanks for filling us in.

Second, this is a huge security hole. How can Rogers roll out a usage tool when they know modem cloning is alive and doing well on their network?

How can they bill people overage when they know there is a percentage of people they're billing that didn't download all the reported usage?

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

This is one for the CCTS.

kmacke
@pacbell.net

kmacke to elec999

Anon

to elec999
I agree about engaging the CCTS and to be honest I'm just collecting a bit more data before I send it off. i.e the test with the new router and comparison results with the bandwidth meters that I have installed on my network vs. what Rogers site says.
bricksterr
join:2004-08-10

bricksterr to elec999

Member

to elec999
For about the last year Rogers usage tracker goes down and stops tracking for around a week or two every month (about the middle of the cycle) on my account. Checking the day to day usage shows no days recorded for this period and on that same page it states that if NO usage is shown then NO usage was recorded.

However, before the month comes to an end the tracker has been updated and the missing days (for which no usage should have been recorded) magically reappear and, depending on when I check back, I am slammed with a whopping increase in usage! An innocent user who merely checks general usage and is unaware of this problem could be slammed with a huge jump in usage without knowing why.

Rogers will be reminded of this problem if and when the day of over charges comes. They will be reminded everyday by me and I will expect no extra charges, regardless of usage, until this problem is corrected.

Current Usage Page:
NOTE: The usage details listed on this page are not final until the end of your usage period.

Day To Day usage page:
If days are missing, then no usage was recorded for those days. This includes days when both download usage and upload usage are both less than 1 MB.

This will lead to some interesting discussions with the reps.

P.S. The tracker is down again for me. It hasn't recorded for 6 days. You HAVE to check the day to day tab to realize this. Be diligent about this if over charges come!

So don't switch ISP's until they correct this.

georo
@rogers.com

georo

Anon

I noticed that since several months ago their usage tracker updates ones every week. I suppose they deliberately changed its update frequency in order to confuse the users so they cannot adjust their dl/ul patterns. It definitely makes my life harder in making my quota. Yes, I do try to max my 60GB every month. Not go over, just make as close as possible to the quota. This is my way of showing Rogers middle finger for trying to throttle my torrent usage. If I am entitled to 60GB I will find a way to use them.

sbrook
Mod
join:2001-12-14
Ottawa

sbrook

Mod

That's like the guy who was so tired of the warning chime in his car for the seatbelts ... One day, he said "I'll fix them, I'll put the seatbelt on BEFORE I start the engine!"

That got rid of the chime alright and so he did exactly what they wanted him to do!
lisalovlee33
join:2005-03-20
Toronto, ON

lisalovlee33 to elec999

Member

to elec999
I've been Rogers for the many years, highest I register is about 40GB per month. MY billing cycle is 21st of the month and this morning I noticed I'm at 72GB already. I'm sure this is false. The only thing different that I've done this month (this past weekend) is downloaded 40 files individually, each file is 100MB each, which should only contribute to about 4Gs. The bandwidth is registering me at 8Gs for Sat and 8G for Sunday. That's a whopping 16G. Do they screw up particularly when you download directly from rapidshare and megaupload as this was the download sites I used this weekend. Thanks.
bricksterr
join:2004-08-10

bricksterr

Member

A question to lisalovlee33 and others here who are experiencing the tracker reporting far greater usage than it actually should and please don't be offended, for I too have little faith in Rogers tracker.

But...

Are you using a wireless network and, if so, are you absolutely certain it is properly secured? In my experience, default router setups are not secure and I know "neighbours" will actually use these open connections.

From my personal experience in helping others with various PC issues, connectivity and otherwise, I would guesstimate that well over 50% of wireless broadband connections are insecure and pretty much everyone uses a wireless router these days.

Even though I consider my settings secure, I well disable the wireless setting when I am not using it. I don't use it a lot. Others I know will simply remove the antenae.