Cogeco to launch metered billing
p2pnet news view Freedom | P2P:- On the heels of Time Warner Cable’s announcement that they’ll be, “expanding metered billing trials in the States, Canadian cable ISP Cogego has dropped the news on customers in our forums that they’ll be imposing metered billing on users,” says Karl Bode on dslreports, going on:
“Bravely taking the brunt of the user complaints directly, Cogeco network engineer Krispy See Profile is fielding questions from users about the new shift.”
And heeeeere’s Krispy with his dslreports forum post from yesterday »»»
Ok I`ve got my flak jacket on and buttoned up tight but before I dive in please remember Chelle`s comments and try to keep your comments constructive as otherwise they`ll get ignored and/or deleted and you won`t get your point across even venting can be done in a constructive manner.
Here`s your officially unofficial notice that shortly you will be receiving a letter informing you of a change to bitcap policies as Cogeco begins usage billing note that there will be a 2 month monitoring period where numbers appear on your bill but NO MONEY IS CHARGED TO YOU during this 2-month period, this is to help customers understand what the impact will be to them BEFORE we start to bill. The letter will have full details but basically the gist is that there`ll be a per Gigabyte overage charge dependent on plan with a maximum charge, for example here`s the residential packages and overages,
Lite 10GB/mo bitcap – $2.50 per GB over to a maximum of $30
Lite Plus 20GB/mo bitcap – $2.00 per GB over to a maximum of $30
Standard 60GB/mo bitcap – $1.50 per GB over to a maximum of $30
Pro 100GB/mo bitcap – $1.00 per GB over to a maximum of $50
Now I`ll try and proactively answer questions I can think of,
1. When?
For April and May you`ll see usage charges on your bill BUT they`ll be credited back to you which means we will not start charging until June 1st. This is to give you all an idea of what your usage is to help you prepare
2.Will you warn me before I go over?
Yes, we will send a notice to your Cogeco email address before you go over and then as you`re going over we`ll redirect you to a webpage before we start charging so that you`re aware
2a. Can you send the notification to a non Cogeco email address?
Not right now well we could but we actually care about your privacy so we want to ensure we have a system in place that will properly vette those email addresses so we`re not sending the notices and your info to whomever. I have no ETA for this feature right now but I will let you know when I have more
2b. Can you forward my Cogeco email address to a non-Cogeco email address since I never check it?
Again, not right now but I`ll see if we can maybe implement this faster than 2a and get back to you all
3. Are you raising the bitcaps?
There are currently no plans to raise the existing bitcaps
4. What happens if I download lots even though I`ve hit my maximum charge?
If the activity is degrading the service to other customers we`ll temporarily interrupt your connectivity like we do today
4a. But what if I WANT to download lots more over my maximum charge without degrading other people`s service?
You should probably investigate a higher tier of service as you`re probably on the wrong plan for your usage requirements.
5. At what bitcap will you charge and how much will you charge?
Lite 10GB/mo bitcap – $2.50 per GB over to a maximum of $30
Lite Plus 20GB/mo bitcap – $2.00 per GB over to a maximum of $30
Standard 60GB/mo bitcap – $1.50 per GB over to a maximum of $30
Pro 100GB/mo bitcap – $1.00 per GB over to a maximum of $50
6. What about commercial?
Currently commercial accounts are not in scope for June usage billing. I don`t have a concrete ETA on when it will be implemented for commercial but I will give an educated guesstimate of not much longer.
6a. What the heck so commercial customers get a free ride?
Not really, it will be coming for them shortly as well but in the interim see my answer to #4
7. What`s considered billable traffic?
Everything that passes through your modem except Cogeco VOIP traffic
8. Where can I check my bandwidth?
»https://selfcare.cogeco.com as you`ve seen in other threads we`ve got a new meter which will hopefully meet your needs a bit better than our older version, that should be fully operational shortly once we resolve issues discovered yesterday
9. Why are you doing this?
There`s no possible way I can answer this question in a satisfactory manner for 100% of people or answer it in less than 30 pages and I`m sure someone, somewhere will likely violently disagree with me anyway but reality is that bandwidth is not free. While transit may appear cheap the reality is a network like this takes continual maintenance and upgrades to get the transit to and from you and the internet is becoming more and more media rich every year so it`s just a natural evolution of the technology. You can scream it`s a money grab and that`s your right to have that opinion but if you want my opinion it`s not a money grab and personally I`ve been saying this is the direction the industry is taking since 2000 and long term I personally feel this is for the best as we will all be paying for what we use and not the usage of others that may have drastically different online needs and habits.
10. Cogeco is [insert negative comment]
Well technically it`s not a question but I figured I may as well proactively address the negativity that will likely ensue plus I wanted a #10 to balance the list out! Seriously though, I fully understand that some of you are not going to be happy about this and it may indeed prompt you to investigate other options while I hate to see customers leave I understand that you need to find the best solution for your online needs and while I personally do not feel there will be the mass exodus that many envision only time will tell so maybe time will show me as being entirely wrong. I will tell you that I`ve been looking at these bitcap numbers since about 2001 and reality is those people that exceed current bitcaps are in the minority by a LONG shot so personally I don`t anticipate usage billing to impact the majority of customers except maybe to cause some unnecessary concern or confusion in the short term.
So there you go, that`s the deal, you`ll be getting the official letter in the mail shortly. Please respect BBR and the moderators if for no other reason than your voice won`t be heard if you don`t if you REALLY need to scream and yell at someone send me a PM so you can direct your anger at me and avoid hitting innocent bystanders in the forum. As always there are many Cogeco employee eyes on the forum so they`ll be tracking it and we`re always open to good ideas so we are listening however I will be bluntly honest with you and tell you I do no foresee any change to this policy and usage billing disappearing but maybe time will show me as wrong and you`ll all get the joy of pointing and laughing at me.
Stay tuned.
(Thanks, Marc)
dslreports – Cogeco Drops Metered Billing On Users, April 2, 2009
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April 2nd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
heh “Ok Iâve got my flak jacket on and buttoned up tight but before I dive in”
Although I see Cogeco jumping on the B/W payola bandwagon like Bell, Rogers and videotron, at least there was honesty there.
And no I don’t believe for a second that these costs just cover whats needed.
An average 1.75$/gig to a ceiling max. This is the exact game Bell is playing. Its a rip-off.
April 5th, 2009 at 4:12 am
We’ve had metered billing in Australia ever since broadband first came out. No biggy! If you think $1.75/gig is alot, get over it
Some ISPs here charge very highly (example: $150) per extra GB, although most cap the cost to around $70, depending on the plan you’re on.
October 3rd, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I think that the cable companies know that I can choose to not subscribe to their tv package and just watch my TV or media over the internet so they loose out on $. so if they cap my internet useage, it makes it tougher to watch my tv online. It is also not my fault that their system can’t handle the usage. Once again it is the customers fault and therefore we have to pay extra out of our pockets. It seems every phone or tv company wants this price per usage concept in place. This is not in the customers best interest as they would have you believe. They are saying… Why should John have to pay for Mary’s excessive usage etc. When the fact of the matter is that we as customers should ahev the best possible service at the cheapest cost across the board. The only difference being business versus residential because of the volume per address…
October 3rd, 2009 at 3:43 pm
If I go over my group rating, I.e. Lite or Lite PLus or whatever they call their usage groupings, then I hope that they just bump me up into the next usage group instead of trying to penalize me per gigabyte. If they did try to penalize us per gigabyte then this would lead me to believe they are not looking out for their customers best interests as they are trying to state that they are. I suggest that they set their group limits, i.e. lite = <10GB or Lite pplus =<20GB, etc., and then whatever I use they put me in that category. so lite is 12.95$ per month and then Lite Plus would be, say, 19.95$ per month.