ALERT: Rogers Lowered Speeds/change pricing AGAIN

[Pir8pete]

So I looks like rogers has once again played around with the pricing and speeds of their internet packages.

Example: they have taken the 500u and reduced it to 300u with the same upload.

on the last interval change/switch-a-rooo they moved the 250u to 150u with the same upload

and before that they change the 1Gbps to have 30 upload down from 50

and of course pricing has been manipulated in all instances, some going up some going down.  making some more of a rip-off and some alittle cheaper.  Rogers seems to change pricing and package speeds like underwear, and way more then Bhell.

https://www.rogers.com/consumer/internet

Whats your thoughts on all this?

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[BS]

Well, these changes are consistent with the general pattern that many call - less service for more money.

Keep in mind that these offers we see have noting to do with existing customers, and the packages available to us are unpublished, although you may be able to get different mixes in discussion with CSR's as an existing customer, customer relations or retentions/cancellations.

Another thing we see in this change over is the lower end Internet packages of the lower end packages of 5Mbs down and 1 up with cap of 25GB I think it was (one of our regulars uses this package - @User14 if I recall). and 30 Mbps down and 5 up Not sure the cap, again, there are some who have it and manage it quite well.  If I recall the price of these packages were in the 30-40 dollar range.  So a two family user like my family with never more than 2 devices on - an old next on 2.4 Mbs and prioritized on QoS for low signal, so not a factor - two phones that we do facebook messages, and gmail (no movies, no pictures, not texts - use our text MMS for that stuff) and all updates set for us to choose when - So potentially if we turned on all devices - we don't, we have two phones in standbye most of the time, two laptops off most of the time, don't stream, so the comparison they provide - none of the comparisons describe us as users - I might as well go a local wholesaler unless Rogers cuts the lower rates off from them, or go Bell Fibe with ADSL cable and a standard land line phone -  They have been pushing me in particular to cadillac service (let's say Mercedes instead) when I drive an impala or focus.

In the comparison of those packages, the lowest package which is 75, which I happen to have, but not unlimited, but I pay about the same package on current discounts for 1 year, so a bit better price, but still overkill for our family needs.  We are looking at downsizing everything, not upsizing, and they are pricing us with each change out of the Rogers market, but that is ok, there are options.  

The company usually grandfathers the package, but you often look at increasing rates.

So my own thoughts, they want to push out the lower end services out of the mix - with all the upgrades, will they be able to continue to support that reduced bandwidth and modems under the upgrades that are coming across the stystem, mostly to support Fibe and also push to to higher speeds, providing less demand on their services and calls on overages.  Plus a little more cost with simliar or less service, a big change for those who don't need supporat for 4-7 connections, moderate streaming, 3 users concurrently (we have two of us and we don't use internet much), download files like a move or large game faster - we don't do either, so who cares.

So when you consider my future plans to keep prices down where I am - local wholesaler - yes I own modem - brings their price to less than Rogers full price, plus I buy a router , which I have to do anyway - or Link system, which I would rather use my own for more power, a better device, better controls, full parental controls, more reliability with VPN's, and support from the local company, and from the router company in the first year.

Next, I go down to Starter digital with my existing owned equipment and put up a digital antenna and use some streaming to one TV, and a VOIP home phone.

So by removing the lower bandwidth account, they are wiping some of us out of the market for their services, and we saw a similiar game on public pricing on Digital TV, which they backed off after about a week.

So those who don't like these new changes and believe that they don't meet your particular usage needs, that Rogers is ''selling" options to us, which is their right, but we have the right to walk away, so we have to make our wishes for service choice and mix known to them loudly - maybe they will switch out like they did a couple of months ago on digital.

But this is status quo for Rogers - I just had this same discussion with a high rep in Rogers this evening and she agreed, it is valid given presentation that in my case, it is more costs, and less choice in services and less services, forcing my to consider just dropping services, as I have fixed budgets.  Rogers service model is now a luxury for me and I am sure others.  Kind of like the auto industry - since many people are buying trucks and upper end SUV's and Cross-overs with all the bells and whistles, and less are buying mid sized family, minus the bells and whistles, what my father and I have always called the car has the basics, an engine, a dry inside, heat and four wheels and transmission (manual by the way for years) and gets us from point A to point B.

That is what I am looking for in home services - in the middle, few bells and whistles - just plain old TV, a PVR for luxury and convience, a moderate Internet - 50 would do me fine with a lower cap, and a home phone for my wife's business needs - but that can go too.

When on fixed income due to disability and a home business for my wife that is highly flucuating with economy and customer wishes and choice with a fixed product, we have limited choice, and all I can hope is that when June comes, they will again look at the reality of what I can pay, not what they offer and find something that will work.

Under the current presentation of bundles and services, it means dropping a lot of things we like, but can't afford and if we have to start dropping the luxuries in the packages, then we will be dumping everything.

Just the reality of my life.

Long winded yes - buy you asked thoughts - but basic, another example of more cost, a range of less or more services depending upon what you choose, and one more change from what I spent many hours getting and many more hours fixing the implementation errors that have haunted me for 6 years with every change, and I don't want to play the game anymore.

So to each, way your options, remember that the listed prices are to the non-rogers users, that unspoken, unknown options are availabe depending upon what level of CSR and support staff you are speaking to and see if it interests you, and if not, I can assure you there are excellent and good alternatives out there.

By the way, to close, I just got off phone before reading this, and dealt with three staff, the first two who could do nothing with an ongoing error that I have been trying to get fully fixed since may last year - I just wanted to get it noted again and escalated again so it didn't get lost - the third person worked well with me, acknowledged that my experience over the last many months was unaccetable and provided some kind compensation, so we could close the whole thing and avoid escalating any further.  So if I leave, I will miss finding that magical rep who can think outside the box defined to them by Rogers procedures and took responsibility to say yes, I was wronged, and no solution had been provided, but lots of promises, and the person did a great job and I was also able to complement one of the staff from November - 3 of 7 staff in 6 months who could actually work with solutions.  Not great customer service, but it really is the only thing that keeps me.  

But definitely, if they stick with these models of service packages and pricing, I am priced out of their services.  As it is, I cannot bear any increase in my services, and most find reductions, so offering me "deals" on "improved services", like this new pricing mix model, and ignite is outside my budget.

Oh well, life goes on, but that is my two cents.

What else do people have to say - scream loud enough and politely enough and like the last attempt on dramatically changing digital packages, they backed off and changed it.

Happy shopping and negotiating your best price and mix.

Bruce

[BS]

I want to amend my past response a bit after searching a bit more.

I still hold by the reality that lower end users like myself of Internet services are being pushed out of the lower plans based upon the plans for new customers.  Will have to see what when I call in to consider a new plan whether I can go lower than 75 at lower price as I have to reduce prices.

But I was looking at bundles to new customers for Ignite and Digital, and at a glance, they are about equal, except for the install costs, and a nice thing that has disappeared is the  1 year discount with condition that prices may increase, while maintaining the same discount to the end of the discount term.  Now there is just one price listed, with no terms, so that takes us back to the old days of choosing our packages, and things stay the same unless they mix things up with notice as per CRTC and terms and we can choose to take the new plan or move on.

No longer do we have to work with that annual, let's start all over again to get to a package we want and can afford as has existed for about the last 3 or 4 years.  This will reduce the number of errors and misunderstandings, I hope, as the choices are greatly reduced (true the grandfathered plans are still there, but my advice is they give the task of those plan discussions to a dedicated appointment to work with the changes and who are specialists at grandfathered services and changes as well, obviously with attempting to market us out of the old plans into the new ones.)

So if I am correct in reading this, it appears that digital and ignite at the 150 price level are fairly similiar.  There are different options on Internet mixes, features of Anyplace TV, the reality that the digital boxes are getting old and once the supply starts running out, replacements may become hard to get, and the channel mixes and channel offers differ from Ignite, but that is for each person to look at the whole mix of services and figure out what they want to pay and want to receive with more flexibility on Ignite with the flex channels of moving things around now that the Bonus Channels for new plans seem to be gone. - correct me if i am wrong on that.

So, what do I see going on here - an attempt for Rogers to move the bottom tiers of Internet out of the mix - not surprising since they have to maintain specific modems for that mix and network configurations that are not part of their future, so I expect they will deprecate it sooner or late anyway - a push to move us through removal of choices like bonus channel choices on renewed plans, removal of incentive discounts at end of term with a new set of services and rates to choose from - and as they move us to Ignite, moving us from some of the advantages of digital and home phone, such as battery backup and voicemail and call display on our TV screens.

But definitely I appreciate this move to remove any terms and the discounts - just give us a fair price and package mix to choose from and leave us alone until we decide we want to change, or price increases as we expect move us to reduce services.

So a bit of a good and bad mix.

Anyone who renews a current plan expiring this month and Feburary, let us know how it goes if you can.

Good night everybody.

Bruce

[BS]

Just popped to take a peep.

Year later after that post less services, fewer choices. And my funds were fewer. Life made the decisions for me. Medical treatment car and house repairs and others or Roger's increase. Easy decision.

Went looking. Found a perfect mix for me. No terms, better TV mix, prices I could afford and internet speed I wanted and home phone and long distance north America wide. All for less. Got a call day of install of new services. Two techs 11 hours as old wiring was replaced at no cost and a few technical issues to deal with. No call backs for support in 8 months. No surprises. Great technical and account support. Got access ability support for my exact issues and now I call access ability and after they figure out what needs to be done they conference we appropriate staff and use opportunity to monitor and train on accessibility supports for me. No more training.

2 courtesy discounts time limited but original prices only change with annual market changes.

Easy peasy.

Took my cell phones in November last year to a second tier. More data small amount all we needed and identical feature set plus one free one that cost us with Roger's as an add on. Dropped one feature to lower price a bit and new phones on black Friday deals. Overall more service less money better price on phones and rates fixed unless we change service mix or market increases c

Back to home services. Web page price for all. New customers call in and get limited and ongoing discounts. Current customers can do everything on line or call in at cost. Due to my challenges accommodation is they talk me through web process and confirm it is expected.

Rates for current prices are a single fixed discount for all. Or you can just take the market price. Little differences. So kind of factors your time.

Back to Roger's customer service 8 follow up calls on three issues. Refund "in the mail" for prepaid services I cancelled. Working with that one still 4 months later. Guess the mail is slow. Call back in 2 weeks with saved chat for docs.

So we are happy. Still have to cut. Some of the extras we added to TV, the land line Re on the chopping block. And sell house and get equity left over from sale to move to smaller town.

Life is choices. Long run with Rogers. Almost 40 years. But things changed in the last few years. Our side and theirs.

There are definitely choices but you may have to change up mix give up luxury items or completely change companies cord cut and so on.

By coincident 9 family members switched out of Roger's. I wasn't aware. It came up in a family friend gathering.

1 went to Roger's but now says he regrets it and spouse is furious with the switch. He said no choice but switch. Happy spouse happy life.

It was good for 30 years and gradually life said time to go.

Simple closing. We have choices and put up with poor customer service as much as you are willing and consider change if you need.

Farewell my friends. It has been fun.

[RogersYasmine]

Good morning @BS,

Thanks for your detailed post outlining your experience with Rogers! I know you've had some hiccups here and there, but we hope it was mostly good. Thank you for your 40 years of loyalty to our company, we are so very appreciative! I do agree that things change and evolve with time, however, we are still sad to see you close this chapter with us. Perhaps we will be able to come back together at some point if fate permits! 😊

Thank you for all of your contributions to our forums over the years and we hope you will continue to visit and chime in with your thoughts if you see fit. Please take care!

Kindest of regards,

RogersLaura