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The problem is that the internet providers NEVER charge what it's actually worth. Their business model works on overselling. I have a town with 100 customers. They all get at least 1.5 mbps connection. We supply this town with a 10 mbps connection and it works fine. If we had to provide 150mbps for this town, they'd never have service. Also, if you put 10 guys here that download 24/7.. we're going to have real problems.

Within reason is relative.. 40 gigs a month may be reasonable to you and the provider.. some people think 200 gigs a month is resonable. It's not from the providers perspective.. and bandwidth is expensive.

Rogers cable in Southern Ontario used to routinely punt the top 5% or so of their users because of overuse. My only issue with that is that they would never actually admit it or tell anyone what the soft cap was. This website was basically started because of this issue: http://www.rbua.org/ and to try and keep Rogers fairly honest.. good luck with that...

check out the RBUA forums for lots more rogers stories from hell..

Rogers has been doing this to a lot of my friends, I haven't gotten 'the letter' yet.

The facts:
1) The service is advertised as 'unlimited'
2) They are unwilling to tell customers how much they've transferred
3) They are unwilling to tell customers what would constitute an acceptable amount of bandwidth

Judging by postings here, they seem to be going after some areas and no others. Here is an interesting thread.

Rogers has been doing this to a lot of my friends, I haven't gotten 'the letter' yet.

The facts:
1) The service is advertised as 'unlimited'
2) They are unwilling to tell customers how much they've transferred
3) They are unwilling to tell customers what would constitute an acceptable amount of bandwidth

Judging by postings here, they seem to be going after some areas and no others. Here is an interesting thread.

Here in Canada, Sympatico's ADSL is already capped at 5GB up and 5GB down per month. Roger's cable will be following suit soon, but still no official word. Any info that's available now can be found in the Residential Broadband User's Assocation forum at http://www.rbua.org/board.

On top of the transfer caps both have increased the price of their service by $5/month, and apparently Rogers will be changing from a 3Mbps service to a 1.5Mbps service.

I thought technology was supposed to move forward.

It would cost you a lot more than $80 for a T1 or something of that variety.

But yet this is what people seem to expect. Spend a little time on the Residential Broadband Users Association message board and you will see what I mean.

My Rogers service in Toronto has been laughable for the past 2 months. Hardly worth the ~$40 I am spending on it. But at the same time, I am not demanding 2+ Meg down constantly.

People want T1 type speeds, ability to run servers, and static IP addresses - All on a RESIDENTIAL service.

"I'm not sure what speed Rogers is offering, but say its 512Kbps"...

It's a damn sight more than that: try 3Mbs/400Kbs. Of course, when I tried them, I only saw 200+KBs at 4am.

BC Shaw only allows 60kb/s MAX upload and download between 30kb/s and 100kb/s, although on crazy fast servers I have seen 700kb/s too. The higher speeds you see are probably due to lower populations in Sask/Alberta.

The thing that makes me mad is that Shaw will advertize "unlimited internet access and the ability to download music and full-motion video", all the while peer-to-peer services, and IRC f-serves, violate the AUP. The max uploads per month are not explictitly set in the AUP allowing them to arbitrarily define them when ever they want. So in effect the more users that sign up the lower your download and upload rates can be manipulated.

If your an extensive bandwidth user, especially in the outgoing direction, expect an email telling you to stop, then a phone call, then a week long ban from the service if you didn't comply.

Check out the RBUA for more griping and Shaw/Rogers news.