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story category Rogers Starts Billing For Overages in July
Three month grace period coming to an end...
11:06AM Monday Jun 09 2008 by Karl Bode
tags: business · bandwidth · cable · world · caps · Rogers Hi-Speed
If you're looking to see the impact low caps and per-byte billing has on a customer base, look no further than our neighbors to the North. Back in March I noted that Canadian cable provider Rogers was implementing a cap and overage fee billing system, where users face a 60GB monthly cap and fees up to $5 per gigabyte should they consume more than that amount. The caps Rogers is using, for those interested:

Ultra Lite – 512kbps, 2 GB monthly cap, $5.00 per additional GB
Lite – 1Mbps, 25GB monthly cap, $2.50 per additional GB
Express – 7Mbps, 60 GB cap, $2.00 per additional GB
Extreme - 10Mbps, 95 GB cap, $1.50 per additional GB
Extreme Plus – 18Mbps, 95 GB cap, $1.25 per additional GB
The company began tracking user consumption in March, and using a new banner page injection technology to alert customers to their usage. Starting in July, they'll actually start billing users for consumption, so keep an eye on our Rogers forum if you're interested in user reaction to these new charges. Will the meter work? Will bills be accurate? Will consumers have any recourse to contest incorrect metering? Stay tuned.

Related:
  1. Rogers Caps Getting Worse?
  2. Rogers Shows American Cable Users The Future
  3. Rogers To Degrade HD Signal Quality
  4. Time Warner Cable: Caps 'Make Your Internet Experience Better'
  5. Comcast Flips, Flops Way Around Throttling Lawsuit
  6. Rogers Uses Deep Packet Inspection for DNS Redirection
  7. Videotron Goes 'Fiber Deep'
  8. Comcast Expands New Throttling Tests
Forums » Rogers Starts Billing For Overages in July
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jvanbrecht

join:2007-01-08
Bowie, MD

Aside from the other issues involved...

The actual numbers are not way out there... I am a heavy user (FIOS though), but even I have a hard time hitting 20 to 30 gig a month... although I do not download music/movies (mostly ISO's for various BSD distros)
zod5000

join:2003-10-21
Edmonton, AB

Re: Aside from the other issues involved...

20-30 gigs isn't heavy usage.. lol!
jvanbrecht

join:2007-01-08
Bowie, MD

Re: Aside from the other issues involved...

Sorry, I should have explained that a little better... legitimate usage...... and that includes using Amazon unbox on my Tivo.. which admittedly is not HD yet, I am sure my content usage would go up at that point...
robertfl
Premium
join:2005-10-10
Mary Esther, FL
·Cox VOIP
·Cox HSI

Re: Aside from the other issues involved...

and what is this proving? the RIAA are the real pirates stealing from the artists.

this is about CONTROL and to remove a residential customer and only offer a business class and greed.

-Rob
--
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Smith6612
Premium
join:2008-02-01
united state

Re: Aside from the other issues involved...

I don't think the RIAA has anything to do with Roger's capping, if I'm not mistaken.

TZi
k1L0

join:2001-07-05
Miami Beach, FL

Re: Aside from the other issues involved...

said by Smith6612 See Profile :

I don't think the RIAA has anything to do with Roger's capping, if I'm not mistaken.
yup especially considering Rogers is Canadian, and the Recording Industry Association of America might have little pull in Canada but I could me mistaking since any Canadian artist of notoriety inevitably signs to an American label.... is there an RIAC????
--
128kbps too much, 100GBps never enough!

en102
Canadian, eh?

join:2001-01-26
Valencia, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
·DSL EXTREME
·DSL EXTREME


edit:
June 9th, @06:00PM

Did you know..
The lightest package, you can use your consumption in 1/2 day ?

Kbps KB/sec KB/day MB/day GB/day Allowance
512 64 5529600 5400 5.27 2.5 GB
1024 128 11059200 10800 10.55 25GB
7168 896 77414400 75600 73.83 60GB
10240 1280 110592000 108000 105.47 95GB
18432 2304 199065600 194400 189.84 95GB

It'll take you 1 day to download that Fedora Core ISO, and you will have used 2x your consumption .. sheesh. :uhh:

Lite with 25GB cap is somewhat more reasonable
10800MB/day, would at least give 2.5 days of continous download

--
Canada = Hollywood North

Froggy

@teksavvy.com
Huh? You can do more than 20 to 30 gigabytes in one day just watching a few high definition trailers. Heck you can do even more than that with your computer turned off for the whole month.

Guspaz
Guspaz
Premium,MVM
join:2001-11-05
Montreal, QC

Re: Aside from the other issues involved...

"a few"? Assuming 5mbit/s video, 30GB would take 819 minutes (about 14 hours). If we assume trailers are 90 seconds each, you could watch 546 trailers on 30GB.
chronoss2008
Premium
join:2008-03-29
·Bell Sympatico
·TekSavvy Solutions..


edit:
June 9th, @11:02AM

haha

Welcome to the high expenses
ENJOY that next bill
im going to laugh my butt off as the guy downstairs gets a bill for internet and goes AHHHHHHHH!!
20-30GB?
are you serious do you get tv from bittorrent as i do, its easy for me to do 130-150GB a month JUST for me watching tv
now tell me with the above pricing what I would pay and why Rogers just started doing it self out of business

90 extra GB = 180 $ for a 7 megabit account
WTF
they just made bittorrent or the net UNFEASABLE to get movies or buy anything
SMART MOVE ROGERS
over price the per GB by a factor of 3

Why is it i can buy a business server with 3 terabytes of data for only 80-90USD/month ( 80-90 Canadian )

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
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Grand Rapids, MI
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Re: haha

said by chronoss2008 See Profile :

Welcome to the high expenses
ENJOY that next bill
im going to laugh my butt off as the guy downstairs gets a bill for internet and goes AHHHHHHHH!!
20-30GB?
are you serious do you get tv from bittorrent as i do, its easy for me to do 130-150GB a month JUST for me watching tv
now tell me with the above pricing what I would pay and why Rogers just started doing it self out of business

90 extra GB = 180 $ for a 7 megabit account
WTF
they just made bittorrent or the net UNFEASABLE to get movies or buy anything
SMART MOVE ROGERS
over price the per GB by a factor of 3

Why is it i can buy a business server with 3 terabytes of data for only 80-90USD/month ( 80-90 Canadian )
Sounds like you should invest in cable TV and a DVR.
EPS

join:2008-02-13
Hingham, MA

Re: haha

Cable TV... from Rogers, of course!

Richard B
Fur It Up

join:2007-06-22
Portland, OR
·Comcast

Or be like me I buy the dvd set if I really like it I may keep it but most likely I resell it on eBay and get about %50 or more of the purchase price back. I advertise the fact this not a chines bootleg version this gives me a hug advantage. Use the money to buy another set new. I never buy DVD on eBay.

TigerLord
Resident Pentaxian
Premium,Mod
join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi
I highly doubt Rogers wants to encourage you in your illegal activities!

adisor19

join:2004-10-11
·Videotron
·Look Communications

Re: haha

said by TigerLord See Profile :

I highly doubt Rogers wants to encourage you in your illegal activities!
WRONG!

Downloading TV shows in Canada is perfectly LEGAL.

Adi

TigerLord
Resident Pentaxian
Premium,Mod
join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi

Re: haha

He said movies.

greendragon
Premium
join:2003-09-20
Stewartville, MN

Re: haha

quote:
He said movies.
uh huh... Really? Is that all he said?

quote:
do you get tv from bittorrent as i do, its easy for me to do 130-150GB a month JUST for me watching tv
Oh and:

quote:
I highly doubt Rogers wants to encourage you in your illegal activities!
I download movies all the time from Cinemanow.com that I BOUGHT!

Stop being an ass.

TigerLord
Resident Pentaxian
Premium,Mod
join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi
·Videotron
·Bell Sympatico

Host:
International Broa..
Videotron

Re: haha

How am I being an ass? For weeks, if not months, stories have been popping up about tier packages, enforcing caps, both in the US and Canada.

He said he did 150GB of bittorenting TV shows. All standard encodes are 350MB, 720p ones, which I get, are 1.5GB. Even if did get only 720p HD encodes of legal tv shows recording, that's a 100 hows, or 25 per week. That's hardly believable.

Last week, on another story, someone said he was disgusted at Comcast wanting to enforce caps and it was not sufficient for him as he did 400GB+ per month, or people whining about the throttling.

Look at it from a business' point of view and you might understand the logistics and costs. Hop on the Tekksavvy forums, where almost all canadian heavy users now are, and R0cky explained how it worked. A user doing 500GB per month, be it legal or not, is not solvable for a company.

Why are you surprised? Rogers is simply jumping on the bandwagon and it won't stop there for other ISP. Let us not by hypocritical asses and pretend that "we can easily do 200GB in Linux distros downloading and what else". Anyone who did not see it coming was shortsighted.

We have to adapt. There is Tekksavvy for those who refuse to lower their downloading habbits. If like you you want to download your movies (legal or not) instead of buying them, you'll have to buy less per month or find an alternative.

That's the way it is, sorry to disappoint.

Am I going to judge people's downloading habits? No. Not so long ago I also downloaded 200GB per month. But the money we all save from P2P, setting the legal debate aside, I find it very ironic people DARE to whine at companies trying to enforce caps, which is extremely logic.

As long as they do not breach contracts or try to kill their competitors like Bell is doing, it's all fair game.

greendragon
Premium
join:2003-09-20
Stewartville, MN

Re: haha

This is why:

quote:
I highly doubt Rogers wants to encourage you in your illegal activities!
I have a problem with statements like that.

Did you get a warning for flaming after posting your comment?

I understand the reasons behind the caps, but it does worry me. I don't have cable and instead have embraced "internet TV". I don't have to pretend to download linux distros while I'm dowloading/streaming content.

Good sites to look at:

Hulu.com
Netflix.com
revision3.com
dl.tv
cinemanow.com
joost.com (not my favorite)
abc.com, cwtv.com, nbc.com, etc.

Now, consider you have muliple people in one house hold doing the same thing I do. Useage will be huge without stealing.
--
Folding for our future!!

TigerLord
Resident Pentaxian
Premium,Mod
join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi
·Videotron
·Bell Sympatico

Host:
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Videotron

Re: haha

You are right that TV shows downloading is legal, at least here in Canada, and I even do it to get the HD episodes I do not get here in Canada! I average 50GB a month, with 7-8 shows a week, with 720p HD encodes. I'm not denying that.

But even then 150GB is a far stretch and the quality of episodes on sites like ABC, CTV, NBC, etc, the quality is around 500kbit/sec at those resolutions, you'd need even more than 200 viewings of shows like this to approach the 150GB mark.

I have to say though, I find encouraging those kind of DRM-media distribution sites is a worse offense on the moral code than downloading tv shows, even movies.

greendragon
Premium
join:2003-09-20
Stewartville, MN

Re: haha

I see what you are saying as far as 150GB being a stretch for most people. However, you should consider the internet TV migration in its infancy. In another 1-2 these caps will seem smothering to a lot more people.
--
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TigerLord
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join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi
·Videotron
·Bell Sympatico

Host:
International Broa..
Videotron

Re: haha

That I completely agree with.

Those caps aren't realistic for 15mbit connections.

The future lies in broadband media distribution. Hopefully soon we will be able to download DRM-free Bluray movies.

Things will need to change a lot before that happens!

pfak
Premium
join:2002-12-29
Canada
·Shaw
·Novus Entertainmen..

How is TV show downloading legal in Canada? There is no exemption for format or time shifting in the Canadian Copyright Act, nor is there a levy that pays production companies.

Our exemptions only apply to Music at best.

Please provide me a link or some kind of reference to prove otherwise.

TigerLord
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·Videotron
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Host:
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Videotron

Re: haha

You are allowed to digitally record something on a PVR.
You are allowed to digitally record something on a DVD using DVD Recorder for TV.

You are allowed to pass on that DVD to friends or acquaintances for their viewing pleasure, as long as you do not charge them for it.

So how is sharing it online any different from the above?

pfak
Premium
join:2002-12-29
Canada
·Shaw
·Novus Entertainmen..

Re: haha

said by TigerLord See Profile :

You are allowed to digitally record something on a PVR.
You are allowed to digitally record something on a DVD using DVD Recorder for TV.
Really, where? There are no fair use provisions in our current copyright act.

TigerLord
Resident Pentaxian
Premium,Mod
join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi

Re: haha

So because it is no covered in the act it's illegal?

It's a gray area if anything.

pfak
Premium
join:2002-12-29
Canada
·Shaw
·Novus Entertainmen..

Re: haha

said by TigerLord See Profile :

So because it is no covered in the act it's illegal?

It's a gray area if anything.
No, it's really not a gray area. It's called copyright infringement. Just because nobody has been prosecuted doesn't make it legal.

TigerLord
Resident Pentaxian
Premium,Mod
join:2002-06-09
Chicoutimi

edit:
June 9th, @04:43PM

Re: haha

So why do they allow the sale of PVR and DVD Recording machines in Canada then?

So all the people who taped shows to a VHS all those years were infringing on the copyrights of the shows?
davidbrown

join:2005-05-31
Toronto, ON
·Bell Sympatico

said by pfak See Profile :

said by TigerLord See Profile :

So because it is no covered in the act it's illegal?

It's a gray area if anything.
No, it's really not a gray area. It's called copyright infringement. Just because nobody has been prosecuted doesn't make it legal.
LOL.

Your not grasping the concept here are you.

If there is no law against something its not illegal and only becomes illegal if a law against it is made.

Its the reason no one has been prosecuted.

pfak
Premium
join:2002-12-29
Canada
·Shaw
·Novus Entertainmen..

Re: haha

said by davidbrown See Profile :

If there is no law against something its not illegal and only becomes illegal if a law against it is made.

Its the reason no one has been prosecuted.
The thing is, there is a law against it. You are not permitted to redistribute copyrighted works without written permission of the copyright holder.

There is an exemption for Music, there is no exemption for TV shows or Movies.
davidbrown

join:2005-05-31
Toronto, ON
·Bell Sympatico


edit:
June 10th, @02:07AM

Re: haha

said by pfak See Profile :

said by davidbrown See Profile :

If there is no law against something its not illegal and only becomes illegal if a law against it is made.

Its the reason no one has been prosecuted.
The thing is, there is a law against it. You are not permitted to redistribute copyrighted works without written permission of the copyright holder.

There is an exemption for Music, there is no exemption for TV shows or Movies.
Ohh you mean the one were the broadcasting rights belong to owners in the states?

Bell actually owns none of the programing rights and the same goes for rogers.

Its actually their own fault in how they worded it and none of our present copyright laws cover the present state of things.

Its the same basic problem that happened with small amounts of weed sometime back, thanks to the goverments foolishness we ended up with no law that covered things.

Not to say local broadcasts aren't covered but for the most part they tend to be free anyway.

jonnyz
Premium
join:2003-03-20
Canfield, OH
clubs:
·Armstrong Zoom In..

said by pfak See Profile :

said by davidbrown See Profile :

If there is no law against something its not illegal and only becomes illegal if a law against it is made.

Its the reason no one has been prosecuted.
The thing is, there is a law against it. You are not permitted to redistribute copyrighted works without written permission of the copyright holder.

There is an exemption for Music, there is no exemption for TV shows or Movies.
You missed a part - you need written consent if it involves public viewing, multiple copies/mass distribution, or any monetary gain. If it is only for personal use, you're fine. As for sharing it, you must have never lent anything to anybody in your life, because there's nothing wrong with that in my eyes.
--
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mordin
42 inches of 1080p
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join:2005-05-28
Moncton, NB

said by pfak See Profile :

How is TV show downloading legal in Canada? There is no exemption for format or time shifting in the Canadian Copyright Act, nor is there a levy that pays production companies.
We pay a levy on ALL recordable media, blank CDs, DVDs, tapes etc. The music industry in Canada went to court to try and get judgements like in the states. The court ruled that since they got the government to impose the levy they were being compensated for music downloads and couldn't go after downloaders. The ruling covers downloading music. Movies & TV shows became a gray area that got lumped in as 'sort of' included. As of yet, no one has tried to test it in a Canadian court to get it overturned. As it stands about the only ones the police will go after is major bootleggers mass producing & selling their copies.
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deltasigma

@teksavvy.com
Four-person family, all with different tastes. That sound like a more reasonable reason to consume that much bandwidth?

That's what we've got here.
BF69

join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN

said by greendragon See Profile :

I download movies all the time from Cinemanow.com that I BOUGHT!

Stop being an ass.
I didn't know cinemanow.com make you use bittorent to download it's movies.

See 8 replies to this post

funchords
Robb
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Hillsboro, OR
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said by TigerLord See Profile :

I highly doubt Rogers wants to encourage you in your illegal activities!
That's quite an assumption.

I guess someone has to drink the Kool-Aid.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
HTTP is the new Bandwidth Hog...

Nightfall
My Goal Is To Deny Yours
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clubs:
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Re: haha

said by funchords See Profile :

said by TigerLord See Profile :

I highly doubt Rogers wants to encourage you in your illegal activities!
That's quite an assumption.

I guess someone has to drink the Kool-Aid.
Anyone downloading 130gb-150gb a month (via bittorrent) has to be downloading some illegal material.
backness

join:2005-07-08
K2P OW2

Re: haha

care to put your money where your mouth is?

Nightfall
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Re: haha

said by backness See Profile :

care to put your money where your mouth is?
What money? Where did I mention money or a bet? Oh, thats right, I didn't.
MicaTurbo

join:2001-08-27
Ottawa, ON

Re: haha

said by Nightfall See Profile :

said by backness See Profile :

care to put your money where your mouth is?
What money? Where did I mention money or a bet? Oh, thats right, I didn't.
Umm..he never said you mentioned money. He implied that you are spewing bs out of your mouth (or i guess ur fingers :P), and asking you if you'd like to back up your statement with cash..as in a bet..
backness

join:2005-07-08
K2P OW2
then shut up.

Don't comment on others download habbits, it's not polite.

jgkolt
Premium
join:2004-02-21
Lakewood, OH
clubs:

Joost is p2p tv fyi. VEOH is another online tv. All use a lot of bandwidth and are fully compliant. What needs to be watched is the emails and forced data usage from the provider. All email, and traffic from the isp needs to not be charged otherwise i see a lawsuit coming on here.
--
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BF69

join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN

said by chronoss2008 See Profile :

Welcome to the high expenses
ENJOY that next bill
im going to laugh my butt off as the guy downstairs gets a bill for internet and goes AHHHHHHHH!!
20-30GB?
are you serious do you get tv from bittorrent as i do, its easy for me to do 130-150GB a month JUST for me watching tv
now tell me with the above pricing what I would pay and why Rogers just started doing it self out of business
If you're geting tv from bittorrent that you getting your TV illegally. I'm not sure why I should feel sorry for people that are doing illegal things.

90 extra GB = 180 $ for a 7 megabit account
WTF
Pay for the 10 mbps tier and get an extra 35 GB, then each extra GB is $1.50 not $2. That would be $82.50 plus the cost differential between the 7 and 10 Mbps tiers. I don't know the cost difference.

they just made bittorrent or the net UNFEASABLE to get movies or buy anything
SMART MOVE ROGERS
Actually it is because they do NOT want you using bittorrent. If you were actually getting your movies and tv shows from LEGAL sources such as Amazon or Apple or XBL I'd might have more sympathy. On the other hand oif you can afford to pay for $180 GB worth of content you can afford the overgae fees too.

All that aside I feel those caps are too low. WTF is the point of the ultra light tier? 2 GB then $5 overage?

Why is it i can buy a business server with 3 terabytes of data for only 80-90USD/month ( 80-90 Canadian )
because it's BUSINESS account. You can get one of those if you like.

funchords
Robb
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Hillsboro, OR
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Re: haha

said by BF69 See Profile :

]If you're geting tv from bittorrent that you getting your TV illegally. I'm not sure why I should feel sorry for people that are doing illegal things.
Hardly! There is plenty of free TV to be had legally on BitTorrent. It depends on the IP rights ownership and licensing.

Because of the cost of bandwidth, if it's free and legal, it's most likely going to be on BitTorrent (or some other P2P). Only the ad-supported stuff or subscription content is going to be found on commercial servers.
--
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HTTP is the new Bandwidth Hog...
BF69

join:2004-07-28
Camden, TN

Re: haha

said by funchords See Profile :

said by BF69 See Profile :

]If you're geting tv from bittorrent that you getting your TV illegally. I'm not sure why I should feel sorry for people that are doing illegal things.
Hardly! There is plenty of free TV to be had legally on BitTorrent. It depends on the IP rights ownership and licensing.

Because of the cost of bandwidth, if it's free and legal, it's most likely going to be on BitTorrent (or some other P2P). Only the ad-supported stuff or subscription content is going to be found on commercial servers.
Yeah right. Please provide examples.
BarterFrost

join:2007-11-18
·TekSavvy Solutions..

Re: haha

said by BF69 See Profile :

Yeah right. Please provide examples.
I get almost all of my shows from revision3.org.
GroovyPhoenx

join:2006-05-22
Gloucester, ON
·Rogers Hi-Speed

The OP forgot to mention that most of those overages are CAPPED at 25$ maximum unless you have 2 price tiers that are grandfathered at 60gb for ultra light (no cap for price) etc... Full details would have helped this.

I do some downloading, online gaming and my kids download music.

We rarely hit over 30-40gb, but its also one reason why they are doing it, etra revenue, and extra funds and hopefully to discourage some (not calling you one) banwidth hogs.