Have read a number of posts regarding the cost of using the hub, and there seems to be some confusion here.
I'm a brand new user - still trying to make this thing work - and here are the prices as quoted by Rogers on January 29th. This is with a phone line by the way, which adds $5.
First 3 gigs, $50. 5 gigs $60. 10 gigs $75. 15 gigs $95. $10 a gig after that with a $100 cap on the "overage". In other words, 25 gigs will run you $195, plus whatever other fees Rogers might try to charge. I see they would like $2.35 to help cover some sort of government fees, although they are not required to collect this amount. Then they are asking $5 a month extra if I don't want a 24 month contract - this after an email stating the hub would cost ZERO $. It is replacing my old modem (that I paid for) but which will become useless as of March 1st, 2012.
Now I don't know if there is some technical reason that Rogers would need to charge this much, but it is far higher than the old modem which worked just fine at $50 a month for unlimited use.
The young lady at Rogers who I spoke with just looking for information told me that it was "about double" the cost of the modem on the Inukshuk system. If you work it out on a per gig basis, that is not so.
The first 3 gigs are $45 (no phone) so $15 a gig. The cheapest is at 15 gigs $90 (no phone) so $6 a gig.
What I cannot wrap my head around is charging $10 a gig over that, when the average at 15 gigs is $6. Why on earth does it need to climb another $4 a gig? Surely it should go down the higher you go, not up. In fact, it costs $20 for 5 gigs going between 10 and 15, so why not an additional $4 a gig over 15?
If you consider that you may have been able to use 25 or 30 gigs before for $50, that's $2 a gig or less. So this is a minimum of 300% higher in one fell swoop.
Unfortunately, there are many rural customers who are on the old Inukshuk system and we have been given no choice by Rogers but to use this Hub. It might not be so bad, but the hub has no range at all compared to the old modem. So, not only is our equipment - that we paid for - of no value any longer, but it appears from what I am reading that there will be an additional expense for a suitable antenna.
Yes, Rogers are giving us the hub as a replacement as long as it is ordered directly from them. Go to a dealer and it will cost you $150.
I am currently being assisted by a good member here, Skinorth, who is helping me navigate this minefield.
One thing I have not been able to determine, is just what the average, or normal use is for folks on this hub. Most of us old age pensioners are not able to simply cough up another $30 $40 $50 a month or whatever it might be.
If any of you have been on the hub for awhile, could you let us know what your usage is? Obviously I'm not a gamer, nor do I watch movies over the web, but I do like to watch the odd Youtube music video.
And what speeds do you get? My speeds have been very low between 100 kbps and 195 kbps. I expect that a good antenna may fix this issue.
As an aside, I did some research into internet costs across Canada, and it appears that this hub is by far the most expensive way to use the web. For example, a friend in Nova Scotia gets unlimited high speed for $50. She paid $100 for the installation of the Yagi antenna and booster and she connects via a cell tower about 10 kms away. There are other providers that go down as low as $25, but I do not know how reliable that may be. Many fall into the $30 to $45 range either for 25 gigs or unlimited.
