Rogers Internet Review

In Canada, you have a bunch of ISPs or Internet Service Providers. 

Amongst them, Rogers stands tall in the lead along with Bell, Shaw, and numerous other players in the field. 

I am using Rogers Internet for more than a year now and this is my honest review covering everything about speed, reliability, service, and customer care support.

First, let me talk about the internet plan/package I have.

I’m using the Rogers ignite 100 Mbps unlimited plan which costs me around $73 each month including taxes (It’s 64+taxes I think).

Anyways here’s the link to the plan I have for more details. You can find the plan 100u in the above link.

Rogers Internet Overview

First of all, Rogers uses a cable, which has been there forever, but interestingly enough, is a technology that keeps evolving over time using the same old thing, the coaxial cable.

Rogers is using the DOCSIS 3.1, which in theory allows them to deliver download speeds up to 10Gbps and upload speed of 1Gbps.

Since I first got their service, I had several different speeds, 100, 250, 500 and now 1Gb. The bad (really bad) side of Roger’s 1Gb connection is the fact that the upload speed is really slow compared to the download speed. It is only 30Mbps or around (3Mb/s).

The only thing I do every now and then is uploading some videos to my YouTube channel.

Since it is just a personal thing, and I don’t do it on a regular basis, despite disappointing me, that doesn’t bother me too much. I hope that if they eventually go Full Duplex DOCSIS 3.1, the speeds get symmetrical. I think having at least 100Mbps upload speed, would make it way better.

Another downside of cable is the fact that you are/could be sharing the same path of the data with people in your neighborhood.

Even though in a chat with a Rogers technician, he mentions that in some places, they are actually using fiber until your place, and converting it to coaxial just to go inside.

I’m skeptical regarding that, but if someone knows about that I’d like to know.

Bell on the other hand uses the latest technology on home internet (as far as I know) which is fiber and FTTH, meaning they take the fiber to your home.

Which is great, since fiber has no speed loss based on distance, you don’t share this “connection” (the fiber itself) with anyone else theoretically lower latency.

The good thing about fiber is that as far as I know, they don’t have any physical issue providing faster speeds, and it can be symmetrical if they want to. To a maximum download and upload speed doesn’t even come into consideration in this technology.

When I first got their service I had a 300/300 connection, and this second time I got a 1Gb/750Mb connection. The good thing about Bell, in my opinion, is the upload speed which is on a different level compared to Rogers, and their modem which is more user-friendly and has more tools and features, like sending your admin password via SMS, the possibility of connecting a backup battery.

Technology-wise, Bell wins over Rogers Internet on that.

My Experience Using The Roger’s Internet 

So here’s my experience with the Rogers internet plan so far.

In one word it’s good and not all that great.

The speed I am getting varies constantly around 50 Mbps.

Downtime is absolutely nil. I haven’t really experienced any downtime as such to date. Talking about customer support is the best I can say. Rogers’s presence in Toronto is unmatched.

I have previously used Bell Internet for some time, the speed was good and better than Rogers’s in-fact, but I found Rogers better because of the price lock for 2 years, reliability, and customer support.

Also, I have my cell phone plan with Rogers so it’s easier to get a single bill (and the bundled offer – for cellphone + internet package) so that makes managing my bill a lot easier and hassle-free.

Rogers vs. Bell Internet 

However, just to add Bell student plan Internet deals are damn good. Just have a look at it before you decide on something. You need a piece of your Student ID to get it. If anyone in your household is a Canadian student, you can leverage the student ID to get the Bell Student Internet Plan. It costs a lot less and the Internet speed is around 50 Mbps I think. Do check the website for more details. 

Even though Bell technically is superior being FTTH and having a much higher upload rate compared to Rogers, their download speeds on torrents always bothered me because they seemed too low. That was the reason it made me switch back to Rogers the first time and I was questioning myself to go back to Rogers again with an offer they gave me.

BTW even Fido offers good internet deals. In case you don’t know Fido is a subsidiary under Roger’s, it is a discounted brand and you can probably get a better deal whether it is cell phone plans or Internet with them. 

Fido is an MVNO (Mobile Virtual Network Operator). Meaning, it’ll use the network coverage from the parent company Roger’s. So do look out for the Fido Internet page before deciding. 

I have also seen other Internet plans before opting for this, but frankly, I think Rogers is good for speed and stability.

Let me know your thoughts in the comments below if you feel there’s something better out there in Toronto.

Rogers Internet Retention Offers 

Just call in to say your contract is up and you wanna know what deals they have before looking for another provider.

The rep will offer some meh deals. Say that’s not good enough and that you want to cancel, they’ll transfer to the retention dept. 

Rogers definitely has a program to renew or offer discounts to tenure customers because we know how easy it is to switch to other providers. We do discounts for a period of time, not contracts by the way! 🙂

The best course of action is to call Rogers directly. When you reach the first rep, explain the situation and that you would like to reach the Loyalty/Retention department. Call earlier in the day if possible, usually, there’ll be no wait time.

Be kind and courteous. You wouldn’t believe the things they’ve heard due to customers attempting to bully their way to an offer. It doesn’t affect them personally what discount they give you, and it’s in their best interest to keep you going.

Prices can vary from the province, region, postal code, and the type of building you’re in. Please keep that in mind. The best thing you can do is approach a competing provider and see what they have to offer. Be very specific with your needs (channels, internet, speeds, phone features, etc) with the other provider and see the price they give you. You’d be surprised how easy it would be for Rogers to match or beat it.

Roger’s Current Internet Promotions

The best way to get a good deal is to call and complain. Threaten to cancel and you’ll get transferred to the Loyalty Department, which has the authorization to do some great things for you to keep you as a customer.

I will also tell you before you call to shop around – find a comparable package at the cost you want and make your argument that you’ve been with them a long time but have had X issues in the past and you talked to X company who offered X discount to switch to earn your business so you wanted to see what they could offer. This has worked for me every time.

So had popular tv + North American calling and + 500u for 62.14 + 22.59 + 28.24 = 112.97 (taxes inc.) respectively. The best I could do after cancelations and ambassador team and a whole mess of a new account being created was Starter tv + International calling + 500u for 51.98 + 22.06 + 50.68 – credits = 109.97.

Another rep offered me 129.60 for the popular tv and said would credit $100 for March and $100 for May to make up the difference. The issue is I have to call again next year and don’t want to do that.

One takeaway, I strongly believe that the bundle puts you at a disadvantage as you are more profitable to them and they don’t want to give you the 29.99 net promos. It is probably better to separate the services rather than bundling. I am thinking of jumping my phone to Fido and canceling tv.

Bell vs. Rogers Internet

First of all, let me be clear, I am one of those that will go on the service that has the best price in the market, ride that until the term ends then go to the other. Because these terms run 1-2 years. I can qualify as a new customer (and get the new customer deals) each time I switch over.

I’ll also end up paying way less over the long run than start or teksavvy would give me – it is just a hassle every year or two to go see what the other side has.

That said I have used both Rogers and Bell Internet and can give you my inputs on my experiences on both of them.

Speed-wise both Rogers and Bell are pretty much the same.

Ignore the arguments from the Bell that you are on a shared service with Rogers. That is just Bell’s marketing BS. You are on a shared service with either of them! They are all shared when you get to the node.

If you have FTTH (Fiber To The House) one is as good as the other. Where they differ is upload speeds. Rogers Internet uses an Asymmetrical scheme where you get fast download speeds (90% of us mostly download) but the upload speed is 5-20Mb/s which pretty much sucks.

It should be ok for online gaming but if you do a lot of uploading and downloading from cloud services, this will suck.

Bell Internet uses a Symmetrical speeds system for all of its packages. If you get 50MBit, it will be in both directions up and down. There is a drop on their Gigabit package where their upload speed is only 940Mb/sec.

If you have fiber optic cabling to your house, you only need to choose the one that better suits your usage scenario and finances.

If you use cloud storage a lot, look at Bell Internet deals with its symmetrical service. Since most of us don’t upload a lot of stuff the question comes down to how much you want to pay and how fast do you want to go for your downloads. If you ask me, each ISP delivers the bandwidth promised, or a little more. So watch for the deals and jump on the one that gives you the best band for the buck.

Final Words

I’ve used Rogers Internet for a long time and I’m comfortable recommending it to anyone In Canada. If If you do not find any good deals right now, another alternative you can probably go for is with Fido Internet. Many of my friends who are students use Fido and their plans are actually pretty good and decent. After all, Fido is owned by Rogers. There’s absolutely no downfall here, you get the same services with Fido as you do with Rogers. Everything is the same. 

With Fido, the plans cost a lot less you get unlimited internet. So keep that in mind as well. Fido has a great brand value and presence in Canada as well. So do consider before you decide. 

Coming back to the topic in the discussion here, Roger’s Internet services are good, even though a bit expensive. The customer support is awesome. 

I know that there are a bunch of other ISP’s out there and I have pretty much seen all those before opting for Rogers. If there is something you know is really great for the price range or less than what I am paying for now, please let me know in the comments below. After all, sharing is gaining knowledge.  

Thanks for reading. Please let me know your thoughts and comments below. 

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