Rogers - Extremely High Internet Usage - Recent Crackdown

[lurker_test]

I have seen a few posts where Rogers seem to forcefully disconnecting customers with higher usage than the average Rogers internet user. One customer recently received a termination warning for uploading over 7TB within three months. I recall a similar policy back in the @home days, when Rogers was aggressively disconnecting high internet customers  to alleviate congested nodes because the nodes could not be upgraded fast enough to keep up with internet usage. Back then, Rogers refused to provide a fix usage number because the service is sold as "unlimited" and I have no doubt that the same stand will be made for these recent threats.

So my question is, what guideline is Rogers providing to ensure that their customers stay within the "Acceptable Usage Policy"? I am not asking for a fix usage number, as I know one will not be given. But, other than telling these customers to "stop using the internet" or "cut back on usage", are there notifications being provided when these customers are impeding the Rogers network? How can a user know when their Internet activity impedes the Rogers network? All I have seen so far is a threatening letter from Rogers that the customer's usage was higher than normal and that the service will be terminated if the usage was not reduced. There was no evidence given on how the network was being impeded and the data usage reference in the letter was well within the allocated bandwidth assigned for the Gigabit service.

Now, I am very familiar with networking and how the Cable network works. I know about the Cable infrastructure, SHUBs, PHUBs, Headends and the DOCSIS x.x specifications. So I am not asking about the network limitation and how high upload affects the network. I think a more production discussion, would be how to prevent users from impeding the network to begin with. These threatening letters are very unfriendly, offer bad publicity and is the hallmark for poor customer service.

***Edited Labels***

[RogersZia]

Hello @lurker_test,

Welcome to the Community & thank you for your post. 

Customers are expected to make normal use of their service as defined by the Rogers Acceptable Usage Policy (AUP). Usage which negatively affects the network or our ability to provide service to other customers is considered a violation of the AUP. The account holder receives a warning email at their contact email address when a violation of the AUP is identified.

For further information please refer to page 18 of the Rogers Terms of Service and Other Important Information. You can find all pertinent details under  Rogers Acceptable Usage Policy.

Hope this helps ~

RogersZia

[2tallredwood]

  Anyone else been through this? Not happy with Rogers. We pay for the Rogers Ignite 500 unlimited package. Yet just got a cease and desist notice saying we have exceeded our upload limit. If we don't stop they will suspend our internet. Checked out the fine print and it says nothing numbers wise just a generic " What we consider exceptional usage". Since when is unlimited not unlimited and how are people supposed to know when nothing is specified and your not aware of a problem until they threaten to cut you off? Rogers you need to spell it out.

[RogersMaude]

Good evening @2tallredwood,

Thank you for your post and welcome to the Rogers Community!

I understand that getting a notice letting you know your Internet service might be suspended due to your usage can be frustrating, especially if you have an unlimited plan.

Even if the violation wasn’t intentional, you’re still considered responsible because you are required to ensure your computer and home network are secured, as per our terms and conditions.

While there is no upload quantity specified in our AUP, you are being notified to make sure you are aware of the usage made on your account, prior to an eventual suspension. We inform you of the issue and the notification serves as a warning, so you can take the necessary measures on your end, to be compliant with the Rogers Terms of Service, that you agreed upon at the moment of the activation of your Internet service with us. 

You can find more information on our Acceptable Use Policy, here.

Hope this helps!

RogersMaude

[Gdkitty]

My personal guess.. 
At least a good portion of the time (or moreso in the past), a huge upload would usually denote that someone is say seeding on torrents, etc.  Which is what they were trying to stop...

Now a days though, with streaming, there are many people who are streaming TWITCH and other things, in high rez, could create quite a large upload.

Also businesses, could be doing larger uploads to clients, etc.

That may be something worth investigating in the long run as well.  Even if running out of ones house, if someone is using the internet for business (even if that business is say youtube and twitch), it may be worth looking at the business grade internet.
It may not have the same upload restrictions?  As well, usually the business internet has more guarantees on uptime, etc.

[barndoor]

Is the jist of the issue not that it is a service sold as unlimited  and it is NOT unlimited . It is a restricted unlimited with  that unlimited restriction being at Rogers's sole discretion  and no guidelines published for the customers  to assess what is the best product for them ?

[Gdkitty]

I agree.. 
And if there is a reasoning.. it should be listed in the letter sent to the user.

Its all speculation...
But my guess it might be something under the Acceptable Use  as follows:

Without limitation, you may not use (or allow anyone else to use) our Services to: 
xii. restrict, inhibit or interfere with the ability of any person to access, use or enjoy the Internet, the Services or any Equipment used to connect to the Services, or create an unusually large burden on our networks, including, without limitation, posting, uploading, transmitting or otherwise making available information or software containing a virus, lock, key, bomb, worm, Trojan horse or other harmful, limiting, destructive or debilitating feature, distributing mass or unsolicited e-mail (“spam”) or other messages, or otherwise generating levels of traffic sufficient to impede others’ ability to send or retrieve information, or to use the Services in an abusive manner in connection with any unlimited packages, options or promotions;

That while technically you have no 'limit', uploading a specific amount/rate, could put a burden on the upstream channels in an area, impacting OTHER peoples usage of their internet as well?

[2tallredwood]

 It is poor service to be this heavy handed. To jump straight to threats of suspension of service is not called for and as a customer of multiple services for over 30 years we resent this treatment. If Rogers is unwilling to commit to any definitive numbers then any issues should be dealt with in a progressive manner without the threats and with full disclosure of the impacts perceived. Yes we are heavy internet users but Rogers needs to realize when you push faster speeds constantly trying to get you to upgrade to better packages and then slam you for using it without spelling it out. There is a problem and it's not on my end.

[hiho]

Internet overage letter

k the other day i got the offical email telling me on my 500u unlimited package i have gone over on my upload?

To prevent suspension of your Internet service, your immediate action is required. We have identified that your Rogers Internet account has generated 7689 GB in upload usage over the past 3 months ending December 31, 2018. This represents over 40 times the average for a typical customer on our unlimited packages, higher than 99.9% of all Rogers Internet customers. This type of usage is, or is at risk of, impacting the Internet experience and performance for other customers and is in breach of the Rogers Terms of Service and Acceptable Use Policy (see details at rogers.com/terms). To maintain your Internet service, you must take all necessary steps to address this unusually high upload usage. In addition to reviewing your usage activities, you should also:

•     Ensure your home Wi-Fi network is password protected and secure from any unauthorized use •     Ensure you do not leave any peer-to-peer file-sharing applications running in the background, which may be uploading data without your knowledge •     Ensure all devices that access your Internet service are running anti-virus and anti-malware software

If your exceptionally high upload usage continues, your Internet service will be suspended as early as March 1, 2019. k so i phone rogers to find out if this was for real or not casue since being a cx since 1990 i have never heard of or seen this before so i did find out it was for real, so at this point i tried to find out what the acceptable upload is and after speaking with 3 diffrent peeps no one could tell me all they could say is that i need to lower my upload usage but i cant find out from anyone what i need to bring it down to so i dont get anymore emails that they will cut off my internet o forgot to mention allso got a copy of the email from them in may home mail box (paper copy ) i am not arguing the fact that my usage is high up/down but thats the point of having unlimited you dont have to worry about usage which i have been on unlimited for the past 10yrs+ i was told to go read the policy thing but to be honest after reading what i found about usage there wasnt a clear answer as to what it is set at just a general (rogers discretion) thingy... Hopefully some one here can advise me on what rogers expects from us unlimited users are supposed to cap our upload/download at so i dont get any more warnings like this TIA

[RogersCorey]

Hello @hiho!

I know uploading is very important to some of our customers, so perhaps we can look into what you're utilizing your upload for first before we can come to the best possible solution to reduce or manage your bandwidth usage. If you're using more than 99.9% of bandwidth than our average customer, you may be impacting the stability of your local infrastructure, bringing down performance for everyone on your node.

Are you using the upload for work or business-related purposes? Are you uploading 4K content? Please let us know.

Regards,

RogersCorey

[hiho]

use my bandwidth for personal

no 4k stuff

i use ftp to transfer files between my 2 computers

minimal torrents

So i am gueesing since yu didnt post an answer to my org question of what rogers expects me to cap my uploads/downloads at that its just a number that they pick out of their heads 🙂

[RogersCorey]

Good morning @hiho!

Unlimited means unlimited, until such time that your activities begin to impact the stability of our network for other users.

When you FTP, are you doing it locally or over the Internet? To reach approximately 2.5 terabytes of upload usage a month with no 4K uploads and minimal torrents, I suspect you're using the Internet to perform these transfers. If you're doing these transfers via the Internet, I recommend that you switch to doing these transfers locally within your home network. You could save a ton of bandwidth this way and avoid being flagged in the future.

Regards,

RogersCorey

[hiho]

KK got the ftp part makes sense unfortunatly i dont have win 10 versions that would allow me to netwrk 😞 thats why i was doing the ftp via internet...

that 7TB is based on a 3mnth period so thats roughly 2.5TB per mnth

k got that cleared up but i am still puzzled as to what the magic numbers are for us to use so that  we need to cap ourselfs at for upload/download is?

there has to be some kind of numbers that are used since rogers has sent me this warning about my uploads that way if i am aware of the number that rogers decides to send us a warning i can keep track of what i am doing and stay below the magic warning letter from them for using to much of my unlimited upload/download that i supposedly have.

[RogersCorey]

Good morning @hiho!

Unfortunately, there is no "magic number", it all depends upon traffic load in your area. If you were hypothetically the only modem active on your node, your activities would not impact other customers and you could technically use as much bandwidth as your heart desired.

These warnings are only triggered when your activities begin to degrade our network, impacting other customers in your area. 

Please keep in mind that with your upload speeds, you're spending roughly 200 hours (8 days!) a month just uploading to reach 2.5TB. That's a significant amount of energy and bandwidth usage. It would behoove you find a better solution for these transfers as you do stand to save money on your hydro bill too by reducing the number of hours your computers are active.

Regards,

RogersCorey

[hiho]

hydro is not an issue 

the whole issue is that email that i recived about cutting me off if i dont do something about my upload bandwidth which for the last 10yrs give or take is allways high and i live in a rural area with only about 150 houses within walking distance and i know for sure that on my street alone there is only 3 peeps out of 40 houses that use rogers and the rest that do use the internet use bell. Accually there are only 4 that are on my tap . and i would have to guess that in all there is prob only about 50 or so that use rogers for the internet/tv in my area by the amount of bell dishes i see 🙂

Any who with it all said and done guess i will just have to play the guessing game and have a 50/50 chance of getting another of these emails whenever rogers decides that i am using to much again...

o and by the way rogers totals for my usage is 10% higher on average than what my bandwidth usage programe reports but some days it exaclly the same but overall rogers is higher than what i am accually doing.

What amazes me is that they can be so quick about this but it took them over 1 1/2yrs to try and fix my internet which they say what i got is the best i am going to get.

[Gdkitty]

Hey Hiho.

If you want, can try and give you a hand in figuring out how to transfer between the two computers without doing it that way?

Generally, even if on different OS's, MAC/PC, etc there should be ways to do it without having to FTP.

[hiho]

thanks for the offer i appreciate it but ill just let things go  for now i am looking into getting one of my externals to wrk with rogers router CODA-4582U   so both putters can access it but not holding much hope on that from what i have been readings seems you have a 50/50 chacne of beign able to do that.

it seems that peeps who have wireless issues  have the best luck if they bridge the coda and use another router for an external hd ?

[BS]

---

@hiho wrote:

thanks for the offer i appreciate it but ill just let things go  for now i am looking into getting one of my externals to wrk with rogers router CODA-4582U   so both putters can access it but not holding much hope on that from what i have been readings seems you have a 50/50 chacne of beign able to do that.

it seems that peeps who have wireless issues  have the best luck if they bridge the coda and use another router for an external hd ?

---

As you say, my experience and others with the Coda for externals has not good.  Rogers does not support the feature on the modem for USB connection, so you won't get help from them.  I have been able to get one usb, small 2.0 to connect and shared, but that is it.  On the previous gateway, I ran two external usb hard drives and both worked fine.  So you can try it, but don't count on it.  If you do get it to work, let us know.

The bridge and quality external modem with USB ports for 2/3 USB external drives is your best option and can give you a lot more control over your network and often improved WIFI, more parental controls,  On a basic level, gateways save the customer money of not having to have two devices, modem and router, but all wholesalers use modems and customized routers in their setups due to the inconsistency and unreliability of the CODA modem.

My current solution, after trying to set up a NAS server on Linux didn't work well for me - Windows 10 unless you have the enterprise solution and a little better on Pro is an absolutely pig for sharing and connecting to a network.

I gave up on it a while ago.  Windows 7 was simple and worked well, 8.1 was worse, and 10 you practically have to be a network and backup engineer certified in the products to set it all up and get it stable.

My solution now is that I run backups to a TB USB 3 drive to my two laptops for backups and large file sharing, I just backup up the files using Macrium reflect - Microsoft has deprecated support in the last iteration of Win 10 for all backup features, (the old Windows 7 backup and restore), and file history features, so Microsoft MVP engineers are recommending online we go with Macrium, which you can get a great free copy, or the paid copy is a bit better.

I save the files I want to transfer to the drive on the one computer, then disconnect and recover on the other computer.  This is my current approach.  I used to use a 4 TB drive to copy files from one computer to the other.

I can't afford it, but my ultimate solution would be to purchase a NAS and hook up my drives to take care of backups, and file sharing/transfer.

Good luck, and unfortunately, you got caught in the vaguely stated fair use policy, which exists with all companies.  In some cases, they will state an amount, say like minutes of phone usage that is availabled under unlimited on phone calls for home use, using phones for data transfer and faxes, etc, but the Internet side is driven by algorithms, as is obvious by there ability to put your data in the form of total data and percentage compared to others.  Some algorithm triggers the email to go out, and you are left to trial and error figure out your solution, as they won't tell you, other than that you are outside the policy.

I can see why they have concerns over upload usage - their upload really isn't that good in the first place and I am sure would overload fairly quickly if too many people started lots of upload.  So even if you are the only one, they have to apply the policy equitability across all users, whether one or many.  And the criteria is definitely arbitrary, dependent upon if there is a potential impact on the bandwidth for the whole network impacted.  They could set a hard limit, and probably would if more and more people begin to use upload more and more - and in there is why they are targetting to improve their network to support higher speeds and bandwidth on the upload side.

I am sure it is really not a huge issue in general, so they probably have continue to keep it vague and then set hard limits if it is ever necessary.  Just my guess.

By the way, I have nothing to do with Rogers, other than a user just like you who gets afoul of vague policies now and then and them calls in or comes here to try to understand and find solutions.

\

Best of luck in your moves forward.

Bruce

[Gdkitty]

Another option, if you dont need any of the other options of the 3rd party router.. 
Going with a separate networkable NAS or drive might be an option as well.

Without going to a full NAS, even something like a WD mycloud drive work really well.
Very simple setup.. plug it, and find the IP (off the router, etc).  Then go to the page for it.  Can set up options, set up shares, etc.
I have two at my house, and both PCs, Mac, etc can all access it.

And can plug in anywhere that has a wired network connection.

[hiho]

Not sure if peeps here can help but i am trying to figure out if i do ftp  site to site transfers does the bandwidth count against my rogers up/down bandwidth, the reason i am asking this is that i have a prog that monitors my bw usage up and down and when i do site to site i see that i am using some up/down bw?

if i do use site to site and rogers counts the bw then i will get another no no letter saying i am using to much unlimited bandwidth 🙂

k think i may have not been to clear on what i want to do 🙂

i have 2 seedboxes and want to transfer files between them , so i fireup my ftp programe on my home computer and log into both of them so i can transfer files between them using my ftp programe as the middle man using 

my bandwidth to log into them but using their bandwidth to do the transfers with since nothing is comming to or from my home coputer just the 2 remote computers are doing the transfers...

the only thing that concerns me is that i have a prog on my home computer that shows i am using some of my rogers up/down bandwidth? which i am tryinhg to figure out if waht i am seeing is going to be counted against me or not, cause i thought that i shouldnt see any of my bandwidth used if i was doing site to site between 2 remote servers on the net

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @hiho.

Thank you for posting your query in the Community.

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@hiho wrote:

k think i may have not been to clear on what i want to do 🙂

i have 2 seedboxes and want to transfer files between them , so i fireup my ftp programe on my home computer and log into both of them so i can transfer files between them using my ftp programe as the middle man using 

my bandwidth to log into them but using their bandwidth to do the transfers

---

In the process you have described, the FTP program running on your computer is actually moving the files between those two seedboxes using your Internet connection thus counting towards your usage. 

You have to figure out another way to move files between those two seedboxes directly to avoid your bandwidth consumption. 

Community - any thoughts on this subject? 

Cheers,

RogersMoin