Anyone in NB get the speed increase from Rogers?

[habskilla]

Wondering...

[Danster]

How fast are we talking about? I'm still below 6 megs on extreme...

[57]

I assume he's talking about the following thread where Express and Extreme both went up 2 Mbps download and some upload too.

http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?t=63153

Don't forget to reboot your modem - unplug for 10 seconds, replug.

On Speakeasy NY, I just got the following (In Toronto on Express):

Download Speed: 6635 kbps (829.4 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 471 kbps (58.9 KB/sec transfer rate)

For me, this is roughly 40% faster than before in both directions. Price for Express is $44.95 before bundle discounts. I joined Rogers@Home in 1999 and I'm paying less now than then and my speed is many times faster. Rogers@Home was about $40/mo in 1999.

http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest/

[Danster]

Well I did just that, removed the power from my modem, waited a bit and replugged it: no increase in speed whatsoever. We are once again, behind any new upgrades....

[habskilla]

Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet: Automatic speed increases for customers who subscribe to Ultra-Lite, Express, Extreme & Portable Basic services begins May 3, 2007!
What's Happening?
Rogers is improving the speed for customers who subscribe to our Ultra-Lite, Express, Extreme and Portable Internet Basic products. The new speeds of these services will put Rogers at a competitive advantage and improve on the customer experience.
This re-speed is proof of Rogers' commitment to providing customers with the tools and services so they can get the most out of the Internet.
Re-speeds will not be announced until late May - early June. Rogers.com and other sales materials will remain as-is until that point.
Background:
1. Speed Increases: Product Original Speed New Speed Download Upload Download Upload
Ultra Lite (Cable & DSL modems)
From:
128 Kilobits/sec
64 Kilobits/sec
To:
256 Kilobits/sec
64 Kilobits/sec
Express (Cable modems only)
From:
5 Megabits/sec
384 Kilobits/sec
To:
7 Megabits/sec
512 Kilobits/sec
Extreme (Cable modems only)
From:
6 Megabits/sec
800 Kilobits/sec
To:
8 Megabits/sec
800 Kilobits/sec
Portable Internet Basic
From:
128 Kilobits/sec
64 Kilobits/sec
To:
256 Kilobits/sec
64 Kilobits/sec
2. Timing:
Cable re-speed begins May 3 and completes June 21. Cable customers can receive the new speed anytime after May 3 by restarting their modem. New cable customers will receive new speeds starting May 3.
DSL & Portable re-speeds begin early June, complete June 21.
3. Availability: All areas where Ultra Lite, Express, Extreme and Portable Internet Basic are currently available

A little messy, but I guess NB will get the speed increase by June 21.

[SensualPoet]

Availability: All areas where Ultra Lite, Express, Extreme and Portable Internet Basic are currently available

That sounds fairly comprehensive. I notice Lite isn't in the mix; guess it stays as is. In any case, I have a faster speed. Since Rogers isn't "messaging" this in the marketplace for another 3 or 4 weeks, I guess that's because some modems can be switched right away, and others will take extra time. However, "all areas" sounds like it covers ON, NB and NL. Wow. 7 mbps in St. John's, NL -- that wil give local Aliant a bit of a run for its money where some areas max out at 1.5 mbps and 3 mbps.

The June 21 date, btw, refers to DSL and wireless Portable Internet. All cable is set for May as per the announcement above.

[Danster]

I don't think it's "turned on" in NB...I just tried 57's speedtest link and don't even get past 6 megs d/l and 793 u/l. Maybe I should call them...

[SensualPoet]

The only caution with the speedtest link ... neither Rogers, nor Aliant nor Bell nor any other provider ... quotes speeds OUTSIDE of their own network. That test takes you form your home, to Rogers (or Bell, or Aliant, etc), and then to the outside world. No ISP has control over the network past their internal routers: you might as well blame the weatherman.

The key test is whether you get faster speeds from your house to Rogers than you got before you rebooted the modem. Even that can be subject to other factors -- but the average time of a few tests should be 5 mbps(ish) before and 7 mbps(ish) after the re-speed with the Express product.

As someone who once owned a 300 baud modem and connected to a local BBS with it, 7,000,000 baud some years later is a big improvement. And moving from 5,000,000 baud to 7,000,000 baud -- 40% faster -- without any increase in cost is a welcome plus. I well remember the glee at move from 300 to 1200 to 2400 to 9600 baud ...! (And each time I had to buy a new modem -- that was the days of $300 or more every time!)

[Danster]

You wrote "without any increase in cost is a welcome plus" but you and I know we will have to pay somehow at one point. There's no such thing as free with ROGERS....

Like you said, I should see an increase in speed of some type when they put the switch to on but right now, it's the same old speeds that I have had for the past months.

[SensualPoet]

Going back four years or so, it seems to me we were getting about 1.5 mbps top speed. Now we're getting 8 mbps on Extreme and even more on Extreme Plus. The low end Ultra-lite was 64 kbps; now it's 256 kbps.

Competitors have not led but instead been dragged along by Rogers. Prices have gone up a little over the past four years but nothing like the four time speed increases. 25% increase perhaps? On the bottom end $20 --> $25 and 7 mbps Express from around $40 to $47?

And now you get 2 GB e-mail on each of 9 accounts; up to 20 MB attachments; a full suite of anti-virus, firewall features; 15 MB webspace; Yahoo! Launchcast radio; unlimited storage for photos ....

Why the constant dig at Rogers when it's obvious competitive pressures are driving much more value into the product, and the competition's product, every year?

Rogers isn't perfect but looking at the bigger picture they seem to be doing a pretty good job vs. Bell or Aliant.

[que3jxp]

Why the constant dig at Rogers when it's obvious competitive pressures are driving much more value into the product, and the competition's product, every year?

Because Rogers all but ignores New Brunswick. We pay EXACTLY the same price as Ontario except on the PVR rental and yet we have NEVER got the same service at the SAME time.

And in reference to High Speed in NB, when Rogers first rolled the HSI red carpet out, they WAY under provisioned for NB customers and because of it, we went nearly 3 months with craptastically SLOW service.

And for the record, I have "checked" my modem as well and I am still getting the same old speed too.

[Danster]

Not wanting to turn this in a ROGERS bash cause I do acknowledge the fact that they have done a lot of good in NB, HOWEVER, everytime that a new product is launched, NB and NF always seem to be the last ones to get such "goodies". This speed increase is no different. Yes it seems like yesterday, we were at lower speeds but today, I'm still at the sames speeds before the increase. The last time ROGERS came up with a new product, Ontario had it for quite a while with free preview and what not, NB, we got it much later with no preview but a price increase. So my firend, that is why I kinda resent the new speeds that are available for "free" for Ontario knowingly that without a doubt that once WE get it, there will be an increase in price. Trust me.

[SensualPoet]

Of course, you are complaining about a so far unofficial speed increase.

And don't forget: 95% of Ontario doesn't have the speed increase yet either; the stated time period was end of May.

I don't see anywhere denying the key premise of my argument: the Rogers Internet service you have today is WAY better than four years ago in terms of features, added value, speed; costs only around 25% more; has driven the local competition to get better; and still leads the market in product definition.

Sure, Aliant is around the same price, maybe a little less, and slower: add their security services and that's another $11.95/mth or add speed and security and you're up to $54.95 -- taking it well beyond the Rogers price. And the features are less: 5 e-mail accounts and 5 MB of personal web space, for example.

[Danster]

Alrighty then, I would like to know the source of this announcement. Surely it just wasn't made up, I hope.

As for Helliant (bad word to use in NB ) I can't say because I went from dialup to cable....and it's been about 4 or 5 years since I've been with ROGERS hi-speed. I had already stated that ROGERS have in fact been pretty good for us in the Atlantic....but the cable tv side of it, that's a whole different thread altogether.

[habskilla]

fyi,

read this over at Broadband

hey guys if you call them as ask them to "push your account" it will work. it will deprovision your modem on the network then when it gets provisioned again, it will need to download the new config file.

and yes, this works in NB too!

Report back if this works for anyone.