New affordable Rocket Hub plan?

[Geezer]

We in Rural Milton just got a community newsletter from our town counselor in which it was mentioned that new Rogers Rocket Hub plans for rural customers would soon be offered. For too long we have been hammered with ridiculously expensive data plans and have no option but to bend over and take it. But when this was mentioned it seems to give us hope that we might be getting a price break that will bring us high speed Internet at prices approaching city dwellers. As yet I have not seen any evidence of this happening any time soon. 

What is the story here? Is there any news from Rogers yet on this announced policy?

***Edited Labels***

[RogersZia]

Hi @Geezer,

Thank you for posting in the Community forums.

Was it a Rogers advertisement or just a note from the local council? If there are new Rocket Hub plans we will update the Community. In the mean time, you can review the Mobile Internet plan options here. 

RogersZia

[Geezer]

Hello RogersZia, thank you for the reply. I will copy the section from the community newsletter article (a weekly newsletter composed and bulk mailed by a city counsellor to residents in the Nassageweya area of Milton) and paste it here:

Rural Internet – I heard through the grapevine that Rogers and possibility Cogeco have significantly lowered their prices for the hub service. This has not been advertised. If you have this feature, it may be worth a call to their Customer Service. (Let me know what happens.) 

I would certainly like to know when this will be happening.

[cox_sp]

Other posters have indicated that the Flex Heavy plan has been available since July. It would be nice if Rogers were the sort of company that voluntarily told you that money saving options were available. I was just about to switch to Xplornet's 25GB for $74.99/mth. Xplornet upload is faster, download is about 1/3 of Rogers, but the savings (I've been paying Rogers $126/mth for the last 5-6 months) may make it worth a try.

[zbign1]

I too feel your pain. The heavy usage flex plan will help a bit but it is still a gouge. I use the rocket hub and I live just outside london. Unfortunately the gouging doesnt end.

In the last couple months both Fido(rogers) and virgin ( bell ) have been offering wireless home internet unlimited for $60.

That is a home based wireless plan with UNLIMITED usage for $60

What really bothers me is that this proves there can be a better price. Also, these plans are being offered to those in cities where they already have multiple options.

I am tired of this discrimination. The networks have been built out for years. There are no excuses left.

[cox_sp]

Fido and Virgin coverage maps both indicate service in my area (the Fido map is identical to Rogers, same colour scheme and everything), but when I called they both said it isn't availble in my area (I contacted Bell well over a month ago and was told there is no service). I suspect there may be a non competition agreement between companies (or a corporate strangle hold, whichever).

[markymarkl]

Telus has made a start towards affordable home internet in Alberta I am hoping Roger follows!

Get the ZTE MF725R Smart Hub for FREE on a 2 year term with all plans. No term fee is $300.

50 GB monthly data

$60

per month

250 GB monthly data

$75

per month

500 GB monthly data

$110

per month

[kco]

Thanks for the information on the new Telus plans, markymarkl. In BC Telus had by far the worst Flex Hub Plan with Bell 2nd worst. The plans you mention are not apparent unless one uses the "5" link you provided. Telus and Rogers have their radios on the same Vernon BC hotel roof which feeds me 30 km away.

If I enter my address or any other nearby address the Telus site says it cannot determine if it can serve me. But it provides a link for a self-test to see if you can receive LTE in your location.  The Telus LTE map does show service is available for me, which I would expect since I get great service from Rogers from the same location.

I am very happy with Rogers service and will do some more checking to see if they are altering their plans. Perhaps some of this was setup in advance with the providers having a good idea about last week's CRTC ruling calling for more options for rural customers.

I intend to call or write to Rogers to see if they are altering their plans. I also need to research Telus more to make sure they have a good 700 MHz LTE installation at the site serving me. I need 700 MHz due to the distance and trees.

One concern with the cellular high monthly GB offerings is that it may saturate some installations and speed could suffer.   My download speed averages around 15 Mbps now but that is not super important. We set Netflix and YouTube on fairly low quality settings to limit our monthly data under 50 GB.  But with higher data allowances, we would be tempted to raise the picture quality and could contribute to slowing down the system.

I like the Rogers service and will do all I can to stay with it.

I thought the ZTE MF725R Smart Hub might be a "typo" error for the present ZTE MF275R.  But no, it is a different hub. I could not find a manual for the MF725R. It looks similar to the MF275R.  I need my hub to have ethernet ports and external antenna connectors.

It is encouraging to see a higher GB/month offering at a good price.  Hopefully, Rogers will come up with a similar solution.

[markymarkl]

I like Roger so far as well except for billing me 60.00 bucks for 1 day of service! But they sort of fixed that. I have sent emails to Rogers management and I quote thier answer below.

"The reason that wireless Internet rates are more expensive is due to the availability of space: wireless bandwidth is much more limited at this time than cable bandwidth, so access to it comes at a premium rate. No one is able to offer wireless Internet at the same rates as hard-wired."

"Thank you for forwarding that information. Please keep in mind that Telus has a very robust wireless network out west, and the population is much smaller than it is here in southern Ontario. This is why it's only available in AB and BC right now. As our LTE coverage expands and we are able to support more bandwidth on our network, I'm sure that prices will come down on our end as well."

[markymarkl]

I dont know why they advertise the super fast speeds if they dont have the capacity to handle it? Why up your speed and spend all that cash on a system that cant handle the traffic. A local tech siad to me we have 3 towers within 7 kms of my house we should glow at night LOL. And there is tons of capacity and all of the big guys are taking advantage of underserviced areas! So until one of them comes up with an affordable plan we in the country will continue to see extremly high interent rates.

[terra3]

http://media.tefficient.com/2016/12/tefficient-industry-analysis-5-2016-mobile-data-usage-and-pricin...

Page 12 . . . . . . . . 'revenue per Gigabyte' . . . . .

Not the be all answer, but certainly a strong suggestion that data service is a 'very' lucrative business in Canada.

[markymarkl]

Very good article! And very true the big guys are making a killing on data. My issue is the excuses that they use to say the cost is justified. 

"The reason that wireless Internet rates are more expensive is due to the availability of space: wireless bandwidth is much more limited at this time than cable bandwidth, so access to it comes at a premium rate. No one is able to offer wireless Internet at the same rates as hard-wired."

I think he missed the RURAL part of the conversation. They all have the same excuse and if you dont like it then leave he made that statment very clear!!

[terra3]

By the way, thanks for that Telus link . . . . seeking out info in the next couple of days from Telus and if available (which I 'do' have tablet access to Telus LTE out here as reasonable speeds ~ 25 Mbps DL/5 UL) will likely switch.  Speeds/performance slightly less than what I'm now routinely getting with Rogers (of late 'very' good performance from that Rogers Hub!), but Rogers is simply sitting on their pricing and its too expensive to be spending $160/month for anything between 50 - 100 GB in the heavy use data plans (and that absurdly high $5/GB overuse rate!!).

Sorry Rogers, but you're sitting tight and by doing so might just let opportunities pass you by if others step up to the plate and offer more economical data use plans.  That said, again, I'll have to see about this Telus data plan . . .

[terra3]

Update . . . .

Waiting on delivery of Telus' Hub and subsequent setup.  As above, rate is $75/month with 250GB cap.    For comparison, last Rogers bill:  $160 for $101GB.  My bill after that (pending and may indeed be my last) will be $225 for 113GB.

[terra3]

Update . . . .

Well, Telus hub received and activated.  Here's a brief comparison between Telus and Rogers conducted today over a period of time (speedtest.net . . . . might not be absolute rates- I don't care so long as a relative comparison of performance) . . . .

Rogers  Avg 70Mbps D/L - 5.5 U/L

Telus     Avg 50Mbps D/L -  12 U/L

And for costs (Rogers historic/current and Telus contract rates):

Rogers

$160/101GB

$205/116GB (flat $5/GB overlimit rate)

$90/13GB (pending and will likely be final . . . )

Telus

$75/250GB (flat $10/5GB overlimit rate)

So see how performance is over the next week and then make final decision, but as of midday today, Rogers hub denergized and disconnected from my network as with price/performance like this, no need at all for consideration of anything other.  And certainly not the overpriced plans that some hold tight to.  Despite my cynical nature, industry 'is' moving forward on offerings and value, at least in my area.

And Rogers, don't get me wrong.  I don't consciously try and stir things up, but I overpaid significantly on this needed utility and if I could steer others to a more economical option when options are limited to start with (as they were in my area), I will.  I will give you folks at Rogers a nod though . . . . beyond good performance of your offering, it takes courage to have someone post in your own forums honest discussions such as this.

[cox_sp]

That's great news for you (that upload is phenominal), but there's no other mobile carrier available in my area, aside from Bell (I mentioned previosusly the likelihood of an organized monopoly between carriers. Conspiracy anyone?).

I cancelled Rogers and switched to Xplornet 2 nights ago, the speeds are sucky, but it's a price I can live with (50GB/$85). Xplornet has two tiers of service Xplore5 (up to 5Mbps up/1Mbps down) and Xplore10 (10Mbp up/1Mbps down). On the 10Mbps plan I see they offer 200GB for $79.99, again it doesn't seem to be available in my area (I don't know where you'd have to live to get it), but it may be something for others to consider.

[markymarkl]

I wish you the best of luck with Xplornet had them will NEVER go back I will pay Rogers WAY overpriced service at least it works and works VERY well. After your 30 days your service may or may not work so stay on top of it please.

[markymarkl]

If Rogers offered a fixed wireless plan in our area the would make a killing!!!! Say 200 gig for 100.00 bucks a month. They would corner the market. The locate WISP offer 3 meg down and 512K up for 50-60 a month with no limits but you can downlaod much at those speeds and they dont have the network to handle any speeds. Xplornet has stop selling because they have way oversold thier towers and dont have room for more subs. So if Roger got it together they could scoop a pile of $$$$$ in our area.

[terra3]

Xplornetwas the only other option in my area.  It was going to be a crapshoot if I had reasonable line of sight and all bets were off the table by them when they checked out my place.  I was willing to try 'but' I couldn't find one person in my area with anything remotely positive to say about the service.  That is how I initially found out about the Rogers hub service.

[markymarkl]

Watch xplornet please they will tell you its all your fault bad router-cable-lunar orbit!!LOL Keep an eye on it and cancel before the 30 days is up and DO not use the auto bank debit system they will over charge you!!!!

[cox_sp]

I didn't say Xplornet was the be all and end all, I said the speed sucked; but it's a reasonably priced per GB compared to Rogers. The dish installer had an ad in the local paper stating up to 25Mbps download with the new satellite. When he came back to install a $30 router he sold me for $60 (another story), I had the wife ask when/if it would be available in our area, he said March or April.

I've had a rocket hub since 2011, and I had a rocket stick prior to that. Back then the forums were full of people complaining about slow or intermittent connections, congested networks etc. I didn't really experience any of that, excepet when I first got the stick. I signed up in late fall because I saw a notice that a tower would be constructed nearby. The stick worked great all winter until spring; once the snow melted and the leaves started coming on, it stopped working. When I called Rogers they said there wasn't a tower within 30km of me and that I had to be within 5km of a tower for the stick to work. I was allowed to return the stick and I had to wait 2 years before the tower was actually built.

In the end, each network will go through growing pains and the customers may suffer, but I hope Xplornet goes on to great things. I hope the same for Rogers and that prices will soon come down for others; it was a great service for me, it's just not affordable any more.