Cogeco → Usage Billing

1. Cogeco sucks
2. You have 2 months to find a new ISP

Thanks for the info Krispy.. but as others have said this is completely unnecessary and just a way for cogeco to rape more people.

They contradict themselves so much it boggles the mind. The part about "If the activity is degrading the service to other customers we’ll temporarily interrupt your connectivity like we do today" is just funny because they know as well as we do that it doesn't degrade service. So if i'm on Lite Plus for $20 a month, i pay the extra $30 for overages that gives me a $50 bill a total of 35GB download. So if i go over that it might DEGRADE service? I know that's not true because i'm on pro right now and download well over 130gb/month and it doesn't degrade service. The whole thing makes no sense and i really do hope to every god that may exist that cogeco as a company loses a huge amount of customers because of this unfairness.

Now my second argument here would be for the comment about transit not being cheap etc etc... and i quote "the “transit” to and from you and the internet is becoming more and more media rich every year so it’s just a natural evolution of the technology" This is SOOOO laughable because your basically ADMITTING that technology is moving forward, downloads are getting bigger, media becoming richer, YET SERVICE IS GOING BACKWARDS!! While other ISP's canada and otherwise NOTICE this and are making moves forward to increase bandwidth to allow this type of thing, the only response we get from cogeco is that THERE ARE NO PLANS TO INCREASE BITCAP, BUT WE WILL CHARGE YOU $125/month for 150GB bandwidth.

That is really just sad.. sad from a customer standpoint and just plain sad that a company who makes plenty money of people in areas where there is no alternative to choose has to use these measures to fill their greedy pockets.

Again Krispy, this is not directed at you. But surely not even you can agree that this is even remotely needed or fair. It's just plain disappointing.

In other Cogeco customer service related news.. When i heard the news about this i sent cogeco an email asking questions about it and was very upset about this. Here is my response.

Product Level 1: High Speed Internet
Category Level 1: Billing or Account Inquiries
Date Created: 03/30/2009 11:08 PM
Last Updated: 04/01/2009 11:15 AM
Status: Solved

THATS IT.. THAT WAS THE RESPONSE. Basically a note saying that my issue was "solved" yet i didn't even get a reply message. This customer service deserves a raise.

Agreed. What is that link BTW? Can I call "pierre" directly at that number? As he seems to be one of the brain dead execs that would make these crappy decisions. I just called and got a confirmation number to participate in the meeting..lol

I'm stuck with cogeco as an isp...there are no other options in my area
In order to send a protest message to cogeco and hit them where it hurts, I will be canceling my TV cable and going with express VU, Ill be sure to tell them why I'm canceling. Bell has better programing anyway.
Though this will end up costing me a few dollars more a month for internet service ( modem rental ) I have to do something in protest.

People need to stop riding Krispy's ass here.

If someone wants to bash Cogeco that's one thing but lets not forget the "don't shoot the messenger" line folks.

Even asking her to agree that these plans suck when these are the people who give give her a paycheck is out of line imho

Btw - this is coming from someone whose most likely going to be dropping my service so I get why you're upset but still...

If you're thinking Bell's gonna be any better for service I'd think again. If you want to leave I'd seriously advise looking at Star Choice or Look.

The messenger's message is no reason to flame her, but the messengers facetious rationalizations of this ridiculous policy decision is.

I hate Bell like nobody's business however I don't hate Julie Smithers (Bell's spokesperson) since she's just another working bloke trying to cash a paycheck - I save my hate for Bell CEO George Cope.

Keep in mind that companies that treat their customers like crap also tend to not be so nice to the employees who aren't execs.

All we can do is starve beast by canceling services...but as cash gets tight everywhere as the depression worsens that might just take care of itself.

I have never seen her go against the company line. Why would you expect her to be different in this case. She is not going to risk her job. This situation just turns the Cogeco employees into PR machines on this forum.

Exactly.

So true! Any contract with Bell for anything is making a deal with the devil.

Agreed totally. Even off contract I wouldn't touch them.\

Btw I was checking out the Look site and they do offer wireless internet for tv subscribers so that might be another option for areas not served by DSL:
»look.ca/en/internet/resi ··· net.html

Ok, This doesn't apply to me, sorry I have a family life and kids and I dont need 100gigs a month to be a packrat. However I can probably come across at least 5 threads that the biggest complainers in here were the ones demanding to pay for extra bandwidth (aww cant we pay a max overage charge), well you got what you asked for now you seem to need a box of tissues to go with it. No-one will ever be happy....

I have been not wanting to post anything in here but I am just posting my perspective on things. Just think if Cogeco jumps into the pool first then competition will follow, if competition jumped in first then Cogeco would follow...like krispy said, this has been talked about for almost 10 yrs now, get over it!

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Anyone with a legit paycheck anymore should consider themselves lucky, why would krispy put that on the line to appease somoene that needs that new, 100th version of redhat or whatever linux distro turns their crank

It's called having moral's and ethics Dilligas... something you should try someday...lol
I don't see anyone going after Krispy, I see people not happy with the corporate propaganda she decided to post with the helpful information. You can only lie to customers for so many years before the majority start to smarten up.

One may think this is greed, however people cry that the network sucks, slow speeds etc. Running a network the way Cogeco does is not cheap, Cogeco wants to protect it and have it run smooth for everyone...whats greedy about that. To my understanding having 100 copies of linux, 500 movies, hours of youtubing etc to me that is media greed. If it makes you feel better everyone is greedy here in one way or another, its human nature. People complaining about Cogeco making money, hate to tell you I used to goto work to make money or else I wouldnt be there....should cogeco take a loss to appease everyone, heck no. My point in another post is People screamed at about having a max charge, well you got it and no-one seems to like it. For once id say Cogeco listened to all of you and they still couldn't make you happy.

This is why this site is the best place to get info about what your ISP is doing:
»Cogeco Drops Metered Billing On Users [77] comments

Great article.

It's her flippant attitude that bugs me.....

Why the hell would you choose April 1st for such an announcement? Corporations today are so disconnected from the reality of day to day life that people within them lose sight of common sense - this announcement is a prime example. Could they be any more brain dead?

The caps are ridiculous in this day and age of HD movie downloads (legal ones, too!), online gaming, and many other uses for that bandwidth. This is nothing but a money grab.

Here's hoping some cogeco customer with money and balls takes your useless asses to court.

People are really pissed about this - and here you are with flippant responses.

ROFL! That is hilarious, no really - HILARIOUS. Those are the kinds of responses a co-worker of mine gave to clients when he was too lazy to address and/or fix an issue.

You can come down off your pedestal at any point sir. I too have a family, and a job and still use well over 100gb for various things. What's happening with cogeco is not as black and white as you make it seem. Sure there were people willing to pay extra for overages, but to pay $70/mnth for 100gb, then pay $50 extra for 50gb?? hardly seems to make sense. Aren't you supposed to get a deal when paying a higher price to begin with? This is simply greed, there is no other way to cut it. It's not about following the leader or competition in any way, because as people said Bell's $45 plan has 100gb limit... other companies have higher, some even have unlimited. It's not at all about competition it's about making money off the people who have no alternative to switch to.

"It's not at all about competition it's about making money off the people who have no alternative to switch to."

Its not Cogeco's fault that certain people have nothing else to switch to. Its not like they are targeting area's where there is nothing else, this is in general across the whole userbase so your point is what? My parents are stuck in the middle of nowhere with no alternative than Dialup and or Explornet...is it bells fault, no, is it Rogers/cogeco/shaw's fault no....they chose to live where they do and I hear them complain they cant get decent services...sorry I told them, they need to move. They don't need a 3/4 million dollar home in the country for 2 people but its their choice.

I don't use the badwidth everyone else uses, did I ever once said I agree to this, I don't think so..I said this doesnt apply to me and I was pointing out the fact this is what the general user base wanted, now that its being implemented people need to break out the tissues.

Anyways I have stated my points, I am going to enjoy my day!

you sure seem to enjoy telling people what they do and don't need.

you should look into politics maybe? maybe a position in the clergy?

Would you please post the exact content of your email that was sent ? I'd like to investiguate that...

It is their fault they are using outdated business models and for overselling their services.

It may have been flippant however the internet is tricky when conveying subtle emotions like that. She may have been trying to make an apt comparison (in her mind) - she didn't use any any winky's for example.

To be honest I'm kinda grateful that I've been given this advance notice since it's given me a long time to make a reasoned decision on if I'll move over to Tek DSL or if I'll just abandon high speed all together and use my $7 phone wap plan or 295.ca dial up

Or I may just keep Cogeco however, for that to happen, I think I'd need to see this policy modified to match the Rogers model of $25 a month overage. To be honest it's always that Cogeco charges more than Rogers that irks me - not metered BW itself.

Time Warner Cable Expands Metered Billing
"In reality, Britt is pursuing metered billing because it gives him a way to monetize and/or control Internet video, which poses a very serious long term threat to his cable television revenues. The pressure to shift to metered billing also comes from investors, who obviously love the idea of charging consumers more money for the same (or less) service in an age where the cost of bandwidth and network hardware continues to drop"
Cogeco is just falling in line with over Cable companies it seems.

So in other words Cogeco is saying: screw you, figure out on your own how to deal with the increased bandwidth requirements that simply go with the evolution of the internet.

Ok, I already blocked the kids from using YouTube and using the webcam, what's next? Dad and mom not watching news videos anymore, mom not watching TV shows on YouTube and dad not watching online soccer matches or downloading backups of his web site?

Geeshhh, great, well done Cogeco with your record profits, keep it up and I have no other choice then to leave.