I have been experiencing this problem now with varying degrees of frequency and severity since the beginning of October.
In my case, when running any kind of online game, or voice chat program, the program(s) in question seems to either slow down to near stopped, then completely disconnect(s) and I have to spend a few minutes waiting for my connection to 'come back' to even attempt reconnecting. Speed and stability come and go. Some days I have no service interruptions at all, other days I simply have no service at all. Today, for example, I might've had 4 hours total service since 7am, with the longest uninterrupted stretch of normal connectivity and speeds at around 1 1/2 hours. Suffice to say, I'm not a happy camper.
Back when it first started, I could characterize the problem as simply happening during 'peak hours', and little more than a moderate slow down in speeds.. mainly from 4pm-10pm, intermittently. Now, it's happening at all hours of the day, and showing its face as both slow downs and complete disconnections.
I've had multiple tech support tickets opened and closed, originally just relating to me, but later relating to multiple issues in my neighbourhood. All these tickets have been closed as 'resolved', but when I asked a rep as to what the resolution was... wait for it... the answer was simply "the modems came back online". Basically, if it was a reoccurring, intermittent problem, any time after the problem went away, even for a moment, if there were any tickets open, they were closed as fixed. This, naturally, has no bearing on reality, as the underlying problem has never really gone away.
Out of the many times that I've called, they've only been able to catch it happening in my neighbourhood two or three times... or they've only admitted to it those times. Of those times, once I was told that there was an 'issue' with my neighbourhood, and that it would be fixed by December 9th. Around that time, my connection seemed to stabilize for about a week. After that, sadly, it went straight to hell again, and is now the worse it's ever been.
I've replaced my router, much to my own dismay. I've also had 3 techs come out, and of those guys, two did little more than replace my modem and check my signal levels, all of which did nothing. The third (most recent) not only gave me a new modem, but also took the initiative and replaced the line coming from the pole to my house. Again, no real help, but I appreciate the attempt.
One of the latest tech support people I spoke to couldn't understand why this issue, of which she seemed to have more knowledge than most other techs I'd spoke to, hadn't been fixed. She sent a ticket to the CAT team, but they're closed for the holidays... and we can guess where that's gone.
As of my last call, however, nothing seems close to being resolved. They tried to convince me to get another service truck out here, but I respectfully declined. After I went on, at length, regarding what all the previous techs did, the rep on the phone couldn't disagree when I told them there was nothing left for them to do between the pole and my house. However, when I suggested they check between the pole and their server, that was met with the ol' "we'll need to have engineering look into it". After three months, forgive me if I don't believe there even is an engineering dept.
There is a thread at the Rogers community forum that really sums it up... »
communityforums.rogers.c ··· 9/page/4 but it's probably already been listed. Heartbreaking, really.
Even with trying to bargain for a discount for all my stress from trying to have this resolved, I had to fight for a measly $20. They told me they could give me two free movies, and their tone indicated I should be happy I was getting even that. When I told them I didn't have On Demand, they belligerently offered me the money, which I more than happily accepted. I'm biding my time, waiting until I try again. Hopefully they offer me more free movies that I can respectfully decline in lieu of cash!
I'm currently looking into alternatives to this service. Even dial-up would be more reliable than the farce that is Rogers as of late.
As for Bell...
What little information I've found regarding quality of service with Bell seems to point to the fact that you have to be a certain distance from their hub, or you'll experience connectivity or speed issues... but, you will also experience them during peak times regardless... so as eager as I am to switch to an alternative that's not piggybacking on Rogers' infrastructure, it seems the options are severely limited.
I will, as a new member, definitely be perusing these forums to see what my alternatives are, and whether or not they can even be considered alternatives.
As for Rogers...
As a long time subscriber to various services offered by Rogers, I'm insulted and disappointed in the manner in which they're treating myself and other customers regarding this ongoing issue. I truly hope that someone from Rogers reads this forum, and maybe... just maybe... one of these posts appeals to what little humanity they have left in them, and sparks a change.
Shame, Rogers. Shame.