Much to my surprise, despite having a monopoly over cable internet access within their service area and, therefore, no incentive, Rogers is bringing 50 Mbps internet service to Canadian cities outside of Quebec. Toronto is the only city getting the service for now, though other large cities may get it in the future. Remember when I mentioned that I wasn’t going to buy my DOCSIS 2.0 modem to eliminate the monthly rental fee because it would soon be obsolete? Well, today’s the day: you need a DOCSIS 3.0 modem to use the new service.
The Extreme Plus service has also been bumped from 18 Mbps to 25 Mbps, the bandwidth cap has increased from 95 GB to 125 GB per month, and the price has dropped from $99.95 to $95.95 per month. Woah, wait a second! The 25 Mbps service is still $95.95? So how much does the 50 Mbps service cost? $149.99 per month.
Okay, try to breathe. I mean, yes, it does cost $60.04 per month more than Videotron’s $89.95 50 Mbps service that has been available in Quebec for years, but Rogers doesn’t compete with Videotron! The one and only advantage that Rogers’ new Ultimate service offers over Videotron is that the upload speed on Ultimate is 2 Mbps, while Videotron’s Ultimate 50 service only uploads at 1 Mbps. Rogers has become the first major ISP in Canada to offer a 2 Mbps upload service. Is that worth $60 per month? Of course not, but Rogers is a cable monopoly and if they decided to charge $200 per month, what are you going to do, move to Quebec?
Anyway, here’s the updated Rogers service list, with the much cheaper services from Videotron for comparison.
Rogers
| Service | Price | Speed | Cap | Overage cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultimate | $149.99 | 50 Mbps/2 Mbps | 175 GB | $0.50/GB |
| Extreme Plus | $95.95+3.00 | 25 Mbps/1 Mbps | 125 GB | $1.25/GB |
| Extreme | $59.99+3.00 | 10 Mbps/1 Mbps | 95 GB | $1.50/GB |
| Express | $46.99+3.00 | 10 Mbps/512 Kbps | 60 GB | $2.00/GB |
| Lite | $35.99+3.00 | 3 Mbps/256 Kbps | 25 GB | $2.50/GB |
| Ultra Lite | $25.99+3.00 | 500 Kbps/256 Kbps | 2 GB | $5.00/GB |
Videotron
| Service | Price | Speed | Cap | Overage cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultimate 50 | $89.95 | 50 Mbps/1 Mbps | 100 GB | $1.50/GB |
| Ultimate 30 | $74.95 | 30 Mbps/1 Mbps | 70 GB | $1.50/GB |
| Extreme Plus | $89.95 | 20 Mbps/1 Mbps | 30 GB | $7.95/GB |
| Extreme | $74.90 | 10 Mbps/900 Kbps | 100 GB | $1.50/GB |
| High-Speed | $61.95 | 7.5 Mbps/820 Kbps | 30 GB | $7.95/GB |
| Basic | $32.95 | 600 Kbps/128 Kbps | 2 GB | $7.95/GB |
So, a 50/2 Mbps service is finally available in Canada! Let’s see how that compares with Verizon’s FiOS in the United States.
Verizon FiOS
| Service | Price | Speed |
|---|---|---|
| Fastest | $144.95 | 50 Mbps/50 Mbps |
| Faster Plus | $69.95 | 20 Mbps/20 Mbps |
| Faster | $59.95 | 20 Mbps/5 Mbps |
| Fast | $49.99 | 10 Mbps/2 Mbps |
Interesting. So, for the same price as Rogers’ 50/2 Mbps service, Verizon’s service is 50 Mbps in both directions! Four cents less per month, and 25 times faster upload speeds. Jealous yet? Even their $59.95 “Faster” plan offers 5 Mbps upload speed — 10 times what I get currently — which would make me the happiest webmaster in the world. Their “Fast” service, which is identically priced to the Rogers Express service that I get, still has a 4 times faster upload speed. Once again, the slower upload speeds available in Canada are not technical limitations of the DSL specification or DOCSIS 2/3 standard, but are part of Canadian ISPs’ efforts to reduce costs by limiting file sharing speeds. I’m pretty sure that Verizon is making a profit, so this is really just a symptom of the lack of competition in Canada.
Finally, an interesting note about anyone planning to get Rogers’ new 25 or 50 Mbps services: Customers will reportedly be required to purchase a combination router and wireless-N gateway for $200, since many older routers appear to have problems with the new DOCSIS 3.0 cable modems. I suppose that’s not very expensive if you were willing to pay $100 or $150 per month for internet service, but it certainly should give any potential customer a moment of hesitation. If a piece of equipment is required to provide a service, the service provider should put that equipment in your home for free and take it back when you cancel your service. If you don’t return the equipment, then they can charge you for it!