nydwarf1
@gpc.ca
| [Niagara] Cogeco Bitcaps
Well it's official Cogeco is now joining other cable companies in enforcing hard bit caps on uploads and downloads as well. Did anyone get a redirect to their security page saying this is the third time their account has been suspended and that they tried to reach you by email yada yada?? I got their yesterday even though my account has never been suspended (which Cogeco told me over the phone) and I never received any kind of warning whatsoever.
Cogeco has been a great service the whole time I've had it which is just over 7 years but I think this is a pretty shabby way to introduce what I am sure will be a very unpopular policy change. I know they've had it in their AUP all along but until now they've only enforced the bit cap on the upload which has a greater impact on the service than the download does.
Does Bell Sympatico currently have a hard bit cap on their service? I'd like to know if their are some alternatives to Cogeco since they clearly might not want my business in the near future. |
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domh
@cgocable.net | Same situation here. Got two emails/warning yesterday, and then early this morning (1 am) suspended. The bandwidth they say I used is way too high. My firewall gives me a much lower number that I feel is right. |
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urbanriot
join:2004-10-18
St Catharines, ON
 ·Cogeco Cable
| Policy change? It's been around for years and if you had checked your Cogeco email you would have read multiple warnings indicating that you are over your bitcap. The truth is most likely that you've uploaded too much - lower your uploads and you'll be fine.
If you don't believe me, do a search through the forums, someone posts about this at least once a month. |
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manderson4
join:2002-07-05
Hamilton, ON | reply to nydwarf1
I got the suspension yesterday as well. Yes I am over the 60 gig limit and the Tech person I talked to also checked my upload and said that was reasonable. I didn't get a email or the redirect page. |
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urbanriot
join:2004-10-18
St Catharines, ON
·Cogeco Cable
| said by manderson4  :I got the suspension yesterday as well. Yes I am over the 60 gig limit and the Tech person I talked to also checked my upload and said that was reasonable. I didn't get a email or the redirect page. Maybe there's something funny going on then... or a mistake was made somewhere. |
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urbanriot
join:2004-10-18
St Catharines, ON
·Cogeco Cable
| reply to manderson4
said by manderson4 :Yes I am over the 60 gig limit and the Tech person I talked to also checked my upload and said that was reasonable. What was your upload, anyhow? |
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neko
All Hail Canada
Premium
join:2006-08-11
canada | reply to nydwarf1
What where your upload & download numbers. I am worried I may get suspended too, as I download approximately 100Gb a month on the standard service. I don't upload too much, though; typically less than 20Gb. |
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manderson4
join:2002-07-05
Hamilton, ON
| reply to nydwarf1
The Tech I talked to said I had 110 gig down and 4 gigs up. When I asked him when they started enforcing the bitcaps he told me Cogeco has always enforced them. And after checking my stats on Cogeco's self care site my download is much lower then it was last months. |
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nydwarf1
@gpc.ca
| reply to urbanriot
Right as I said it's been in their AUP all along but they've only been enforcing the upload Bit Cap. I know my upload is nowhere near the cap it's my download and they confirmed it.
As for a warning, the only warning I received was the actual notice that my account was suspended. I received no warnings prior to that via email and my account has never been suspended. |
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nydwarf1
@gpc.ca | They started this new "enforcement" on Monday, Sept 17th, 2007. That would be yesterday. The first tech I spoke with when my service died confirmed that as well. |
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Sham
@cgocable.net
| reply to nydwarf1
I got a warning as well and I have less than 18 Gigs upload and less than 65 Gigs download. I have the standard package. I've never ever gotten a bandwidth warning from them for 8+ years now even when I've uploaded / downloaded more than 18 / 65 Gigs in the previous years.
If I get another warning, I'm going to start looking for another ISP. Bandwidth is supposed to be getting cheaper, not more expensive. |
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diskdocx
join:2005-09-26
Burlington, ON
·Cogeco Cable
| reply to nydwarf1
I'd be interested to hear if anyone is getting these warnings with a pro account.
In fairness, if you are using upwards of 100gigs/mo you should be on that account, not standard.
I guess the question is, if you are paying for the highest tier service, and require more bandwidth, what options are available. Sympatico doesn't want high users, now if Cogeco doesn't either, then I guess the internet is only available for the seniors wanting to surf.
Personally I use ~100gigs/mo, but would be more than willing to pay for a higher package, if and when I need it.
But no one offers a higher package....
So much for streaming HD movies from the internet to a set top box. |
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neko
All Hail Canada
Premium
join:2006-08-11
canada
 ·Callcentric
·Cogeco Cable
·Future Nine Corpor..
 ·TekSavvy Solutions..
| reply to nydwarf1
I do about 100 gig a month on standard. I haven't received a warning e-mail yet. When will I receive one do you think?
I am surprised you got a warning at "less than 18 Gigs upload and less than 65 Gigs download". That's got me worried about my usage, which I don't think is excessive.
I never knew they officially started to enforce hard caps, when did this start? Any comment from any of the cogeco techs on this? I never saw this coming...
I think Techsavvy does truly unlimited bandwidth for approximately $30 a month for 5 Mbit DSL. It is slower than cogeco but if you are into downloading, who cares if it takes twice as long to download, as long as you get your files & with no cap.
If I do get a warning e-mail, I will have to think long & hard about getting the pro package just to keep my usage pattern. As I mentioned, Techsavvy does unlimited DSL & at a much lower price & with no caps; I would seriously have to think about it.
I would love to hear others thoughts on this matter... |
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diskdocx
join:2005-09-26
Burlington, ON
·Cogeco Cable
| reply to nydwarf1
My only thought would be, that standard is 60 gig cap, and pro 100gig cap.
Today is Sept 17, so if you are even 15 up and 60 down, that's already 75 gigs, and only just over half way through the month. Prorated, you will be well over the 100gig mark for the month.
I would guess, and maybe wrong, that if you are on standard, Cogeco may be willing to allow you up to 100gigs/mo.
But, if you are exceeding the 100gig mark on standard, its probably time to either pony up the cost for pro, or look at another service.
I'd be more interested with what Cogeco does with the Pro subscriber wanting more than 100gigs/mo, which might not be unreasonable in the near future with evolving legit high def content downloads.
Its hard to punish someone for exceeding a cap, if you won't offer a legitimate alternative. |
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neko
All Hail Canada
Premium
join:2006-08-11
canada
·Callcentric
·Cogeco Cable
·Future Nine Corpor..
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| said by diskdocx :I'd be more interested with what Cogeco does with the Pro subscriber wanting more than 100gigs/mo, which might not be unreasonable in the near future with evolving legit high def content downloads. Its hard to punish someone for exceeding a cap, if you won't offer a legitimate alternative. I too would want more information on this. Joost, which is still in beta, offers internet TV. If a user subscribed to joost & used it frequently it would use a lot of bandwidth. I currently use Miro for podcasts, but there are other services, such as Satellite TV for PC Elite Edition. More of these IPTV services are going to evolve & use considerable bandwidth...
There are download services which are going to offer hi def & standard def download, such as itunes & amazon's unbox; These too would use a lot of bandwidth. I would like to know what cogeco is going to do about these new, evolving services & if they would offer a tier with a higher download cap but the same speed, such as standard speed but with a higher cap. |
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Snickerdo
Premium
join:2001-02-28
Niagara Falls, ON
| reply to nydwarf1
I'd take this all with a grain of salt. I highly doubt anything has changed, regardless of what a few anonymous users are saying. I always download more than 60GB per month (usually 4-5GB/day) on my Standard service and have never had a problem, nor do I believe I will have any problems in the future.
--
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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manderson4
join:2002-07-05
Hamilton, ON | reply to nydwarf1
After looking through some of the packages and the pro I also looked at the business packages and their one business package is the same price as the pro but has a extra twenty gigs can residential customers get the business packages. |
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DrDog
VIP
join:2006-07-28
Fort Erie, ON
| There is a reason why they send out suspensions and the such, and it is not normally after one infraction. I was at a call at a house where they had gotten their account suspended in a week, as soon as it was installed they went crazy and downloaded I think the entire internet, warning emails were fired off, but they did not check their "primary email"
Now I am sure that bandwidth increases are forthcoming, when I don't know, how much I don't know. But I was at a meeting where the topic of Streaming Hd and stuff came up. 5 Years ago, users did not really need 60/100 Gb, now they do, As more and more people require more and more cap space, it will happen. |
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neko
All Hail Canada
Premium
join:2006-08-11
canada
·Callcentric
·Cogeco Cable
·Future Nine Corpor..
·TekSavvy Solutions..
| said by DrDog :Now I am sure that bandwidth increases are forthcoming, when I don't know, how much I don't know. But I was at a meeting where the topic of Streaming Hd and stuff came up. 5 Years ago, users did not really need 60/100 Gb, now they do, As more and more people require more and more cap space, it will happen. When was this meeting, DrDog? Was it recently ?
I am really worried about the caps as I am thinking of buying Satellite TV for PC. I was also thinking about using Joost. If I did, I would certainly go over the caps.
I think the 60GB/100GB caps are way too low considering the evolving technologies that the Internet provides. |
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urbanriot
join:2004-10-18
St Catharines, ON
·Cogeco Cable
| reply to diskdocx
said by diskdocx :My only thought would be, that standard is 60 gig cap, and pro 100gig cap. I did hundreds of gigs down on standard and never had any disconnection issues (unless my uploading was too high).
I am concerned if Cogeco is going this route and would like to hear something official if the soft enforcement policy is being replaced by a hard enforcement policy. I'd like to keep the advice that I give people as accurate as possible. |
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