# Rogers High Speed



## wjrs (Feb 12, 2002)

I am a Rogers high speed customer and I just got a new eMac. I went to a
faster Mac thinking my high speed would be faster. I had a 7500 with a
233Mhz card in it and it was slow as molasses even with 512MB of Ram and
512K cache card.

I had Rogers check the modem and the lines. They told me it was my computer.
So I got the eMac and it is still SLOW slower than a friends High Speed lite
connection. My friend lives 2 houses up from me and had his cabling and
internet put in at the same time I did. Yet his seems faster than my full
high speed.

So why is my connection SO SLOW.
It takes me 10 minutes to download a 25MB file and it will NOT go any faster
than 20Kb/sec.

If I was to switch to another high speed supplier what one is good in
Ontario? Near Owen Sound and Collingwood. There is a new one. Called Grant
does any one know if they are any good?

Any hints?


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## simon (Nov 2, 2002)

The problem may not be your computer .. in Rogers case, they use a shared line system and it will slow down as it splits the service amongst it's users. Basically, the more customers on-line, the slower your node's connection will be. Rogers also has two service (I think) Hi-Speed and Hi-Speed Lite, each with it's own speed settings. 

For example, when I lived in the Waterloo area I basically had the whole line to myself and I got T3 speeds most of the time (this was also when Rogers had the static IP system and a better setup in my opinion) - when I moved to the Barrie region I went with Rogers (because this is what I had before) and man was I ever disappointed, the service literally sucked. I was getting unbelievable slow everything if and when the service was on. It was almost like I was on dial-up again.

The only way to correct this was to tell Rogers to stuff it and go to ADSL. I was able to find a reseller of ADSL services rather than going to Bell which was a little more expensive than Bell but better options and a static IP.

There was one other thing that I remember though. When I had a slow down on Rogers they told me that there was nothing wrong but every once in a while the service would just flake out .. what happened was that I split the cable to run a TV as well .. I only found out that this can cause major problems with the internet service as the splitter effects the signal.

I don't know if this helps but ...


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## Heart (Jan 16, 2001)

First lets get some real numbers from you and your friend.

Here are a couple of sites that can give you some readings.

http://checkip.dyndns.org/

http://msn.zdnet.com/partners/msn/bandwidth/speedtest500.htm

http://www.dslreports.com/stest?loc=2

http://www.dslreports.com/stest?loc=3

http://fastweb.sympatico.ca/test/ontario/en.html

Some others may have some more concrete ideas but good numbers are always useful.

You do have the Rogers High Speed and not the slower one right?


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## Heart (Jan 16, 2001)

> Hi-Speed and Hi-Speed Lite


- That't the point I ment...



> the splitter effects the signal


- Very good Point


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## Johnny (Nov 14, 2002)

I use Rogers regular high speed in Toronto. Was using a slower, 6 year old mac and internet was slow but downloads would usually be pretty fast. But they have been very reliable for a long time. When i upgraded to a new 17" imac Rogers, OS-X, and Safari Rogers has become fantastic - fast and reliable.

Some things that could be wrong, and should be checked out are:
Your modem - it got faster for me when my old one was replaced with a Terayon.
Internet settings on your computer - Rogers will review them with you over the phone, one by one.
Your neighborhood - As stated above, if there are too many Rogers customers in your neighborhood for the line you are on, then they will run another line according to some ratio they have - that should happen automatically but you might have to ask.

I assume that you are slow pretty well for all the sites you go to on the net and that you are using a recent browser. Some sites can be terrible for one browser and fine with another. I had serious problems with an older version of Nescape (v4.97) on some sites, and Internet Explorer was fine. Currently I am using Safari, and it is great for all sites on the net.

Good luck.


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## Traveling Wilbury (Dec 11, 2002)

Had the same problem in Winterpeg... compared to Oakville (where I worked for Cogeco Cable) the cable was terrible. It all depends on the backbone and the number of subscribers on your particular node. I switched to DSL and get 6 to 8 times the download speed. It certainly is not your mac I was running a simular speed Mac and never had a problem, what you have is a tech that has no working knowledge of Macs.


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## Kosh (May 27, 2002)

Rogers seems to have a few problems. Most of the time their speed is good, but when it isn't they don't seem to know what's going on with their own network. I've had times when I phone their support and they've got no idea what's going on. Ummm, my internet and TV are both down and you don't know what's going on? I wouldn't trust their support enough to buy a new computer because they say your computer is the problem. If you ask me, they should pay for your new computer since they told you that's what the problem was and it didn't fix it. Or at least give you free internet access for a year. Of course they have no written statement of what speed you should be getting either (this should be fixed, there should be a guaranteed bandwith), but 20Kb (your saying 20 Kilobits? - heck I get 60-70 Kilobytes when accessing fast servers) sounds terrible to me.


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## wjrs (Feb 12, 2002)

It is NOT the lite version its the high speed.
and yes there is a spliter but the guy from rogers who looked at the lines told me that there was no "lack of signal"

I agree this is exactally like it:" 

"It was almost like I was on dial-up again."

So whats a good one to go with? and are they expensive?


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## Destructo (May 15, 2003)

Like the Bell commcerical says, everyone in your neighbourhood shares your cable line.

Sometimes I get unheard of speeds here in Guelph, and some days, your going a 10k a second, but let me tell you one thing, it is not your mac. Like mentioned, make sure you don't have that line spliced anywhere in the house. If you want to best possible speed, it has to be a direct line to the rogers cable line. If you have more then one computer connected to a router, there is yet another bottleneck that kills your bandwidth.

It could also be all the hackers hacking into the joke which is the rogers security.  When I think of a Christmas tree, I think of rogers security. Once you get inot 1 place, you can go to anyone elses hard drive!!!
Buy that router and setup a firewall!....lol


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

This has nothing to do with sharing. Rogers doesn't share that much to slow it down as much as you describe. If 20K/sec is the fastest you get from any site, there's something wrong.

Besides, with DSL, all customers share the same pipe to the internet. That sharing argument is bogus.

If the signal is good, ask to try another modem. Also ask them to check the modem on their end - I had connectvity problems once and it took a bit of pushing to get them to check their modem. And sure enough, that was the problem.


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## oryxbiker (Nov 29, 2001)

DSL all the way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had cable and it was horrible, my dial was faster. I was getting pings of 600 with shaw and 400 on dial up and 100 an dsl. And dsl is a direct line, so it is much faster.


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## 8thDegreeSavage (Dec 3, 2002)

Bell ULTRA High Speed = KILLER solid 2.5 MEGAbits downstream
ROger's "High" SPeed = Garbage 400kb "usually" down, sometimes its slower.


If you live in a condo on the corner of Young and FInch that is.


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## Johnny (Nov 14, 2002)

Q. for 8th degree:

Please explain about this.

What is 400 kb - 400,000 bits or bytes? If it is bytes, then could we say that each byte is 8 bits, and therefore Rogers is 3.2 MEGAbits? 

And if it is, than Rogers at 3.2 MEGAbits is faster than "Bell ULTRA High Speed = KILLER solid 2.5 MEGAbits downstream". 

Johnny.


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

kb = kilo bits
KB = kilo bytes

k or K = 1024


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

> Bell ULTRA High Speed = KILLER solid 2.5 MEGAbits downstream
> ROger's "High" SPeed = Garbage 400kb "usually" down, sometimes its slower.


Apples and oranges.
Bell ULTRA hi-speed $69.95 / month, 20 GB / month

Bell hi-speed $44.95 / month, 10 GB / month
Rogers hi-speed $44.95 / month, unlimited / month

Bell has bit caps - i.e. limits on how much you can download and upload per month before being charged extra.

Rogers has no bit cap, YET.

Rogers is busier as more people access your 'segment'
Bell is worse, the farther you are from the 'hub'
Rogers is always online WITHOUT additional sfw. for OS 9
Bell requires "Access Manager" for OS 9

I use my Rogers mostly during the day and being in a residential area, I get good download rates, but of course download depends on the site you are downloading from and al the pipes in between you and the site.

I would suggest that one try one service then the other.
If you have trouble with your speed, call your provider and threaten to go to the competition. That usually gets them going. It is a very competitive market between the two. Play them one off the other.

Rogers does offer discounts for cable tv / cable internet bundles.

There, did I miss anything?


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

There's also the third party DSL providers - you get the same connection as Bell but you get different billing structures. http://www.istop.com is one of those providers.

The nice thing about the third parties is you can get a dedicated IP address, and they don't care if you host web or file servers, as long as it's not illegal.


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## simon (Nov 2, 2002)

> Bell hi-speed $44.95 / month, 10 GB / month
> Rogers hi-speed $44.95 / month, unlimited / month
> 
> Bell has bit caps - i.e. limits on how much you can download and upload per month before being charged extra.
> ...


I have ADSL with Bell and I don't. Bell is the only game in town for ADSL and they aren't ... Like the post above there are third party suppliers of Bell's ADSL service .. Golden Triangle Online in Kitchener is my ISP and service is very decent for the price I pay. I have a dedicated service, no "caps" on service, which is good because I run a few servers, a static IP address, and I don't have to run additional software. Of course I pay extra for this, but you get better options, the next level isn't so far away (as in Bell's case), and the personal service is usually better.

Where does this software issue come from? I was with Bell (Sympatico) before I went to the private ISP and I never had to use software to access it in OS9. I think Bell wants you use the software but you don't have to. I let the Asante router do the work, which by the way Rogers wouldn't work with.


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## Heart (Jan 16, 2001)

Kilobyte 1024 bytes = 1024 bytes
Megabyte 1024 kilobytes = 1,048,576 bytes
Gigabyte 1024 megabytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes
Terabyte 1024 gigabytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes
Petabyte 1024 terabytes = 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes
Exabyte 1024 petabytes = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes
Zettabyte 1024 exabytes = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bytes
Yottabyte 1024 zettabytes = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes

I would like Yottabyte download speeds ....


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## Heart (Jan 16, 2001)

> I let the Asante router do the work, which by the way Rogers wouldn't work with.


What?
Is this a special case?

I don't agree with that statement..... I _think_ Rogers does, but I don't use one either, but have seen may used.


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## betelgeuse (Jan 8, 2003)

wjrs, do you use a router or hub?


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## simon (Nov 2, 2002)

> quote:
> I let the Asante router do the work, which by the way Rogers wouldn't work with.
> What?
> Is this a special case?
> ...


Could be a special case, don't know, don't care anymore either. When I first got the router it refused to work with Rogers, so it sat in a box for over a year until I moved. Then I tried it again with Rogers (different city, different setup) - still wouldn't work. Rogers wouldn't/couldn't help me. 

I never got the router to work until I went to ADSL. I can't say if it was Rogers or me. The Asante's documentation couldn't help me, Rogers was indifferent, and I was stumped. Neither which matter anymore as both Rogers and the Asante are now history. I invested in a Cisco 827 which runs my internet connection to the private ISP a whole bunch better than the Asante ever did.


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

I have Bell ADSL and use a D-Link wireless router, never needed any of Bell's software...for 9 or X. I too let the router maintain the PPPoE connection. With OS X, PPPoE is built in, so even if you don't have a router you don't need any of Bell's software.

I had Rogers when it first became available, although I found the service very fast, I also found it unreliable, then there was the @HOME fiasco, then it got slower, then down for 4 days, then mail server went down, then......

No regrets about moving to ADSL.


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## MACSPECTRUM (Oct 31, 2002)

x^y = x raised to the power of y

Kilobyte 1024 bytes = 1024 bytes = 2^10
Megabyte 1024 kilobytes = 1,048,576 bytes = 2^20
Gigabyte 1024 megabytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes = 2^30
Terabyte 1024 gigabytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes = 2^40.....etc.
Petabyte 1024 terabytes = 1,125,899,906,842,624 bytes
Exabyte 1024 petabytes = 1,152,921,504,606,846,976 bytes
Zettabyte 1024 exabytes = 1,180,591,620,717,411,303,424 bytes
Yottabyte 1024 zettabytes = 1,208,925,819,614,629,174,706,176 bytes

"kilo" normally = 1,000 (base 10) as in "kilogram" = 1,000 grams
but since computers use binary (base 2), 2^10 = 1024 was the closest they could come and hence how "kilo" in computer-ease became 1024, and also how each successive term (eg mega, tera) became multiples of 1024


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## K_OS (Dec 13, 2002)

DO YOURSELF A FAVOUR SWITCH TO ADSL.

Rogers is terrible there service sux I've had to wait over an hour sometimes for some guy that knows even less about computers than me, also I use to be on the Shaw network when they switched my area to Rogers they didn't even bother to contact me and tell me that the logins and IP's had all changed. Recently there speed has gotten terrible I tought it was from the way I had my Linksys router configured, I switched it so the connection went straight into my computer and still got crappy speed, I know it's crappy my Fiance has ADSL and she gets great speeds downloading MP3's and video and other stuff on the net I get home try to do the same and it's godawfull SLOW. In the end I switched to Sympatico a week ago and have been loving ever since, I have convinced about 10 people here at work to do the switch to ADSL. So far no problems the Linksys router needed a firmware update and that was all now it's stable and Rockin


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## simon (Nov 2, 2002)

> Besides, with DSL, all customers share the same pipe to the internet. That sharing argument is bogus.


I have to strongly disagree - ADSL service and cable are two completely different animals. This is akin to saying your internet service is slow because somebody else is online.

Rogers is setup through neighbourhood nodes - you can actually see the others on your network if you know where to look. The more there are the slower the hookup - a proven (and experienced) fact.

ADSL is not a shared line, nobody else is sharing your phone line .. but speed will degrade the further you are away from the central station. When I was on Rogers here, my speed, if and when on, was horrible compared to what I was used to. (Rogers' techs blame the computer first and then when you complain for two weeks straight, they may send somebody out to investigate only to find out the installing tech made an error)

Right now I am getting 2143K down on ADSL - let's see Rogers get that speed now since they have limited the line to 1.5M (theroritical speed). I have to agree that 20K is bad even for Rogers but it is 5 times faster than dial up.


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

The performance of Rogers seems to vary depending where you live. I've had Rogers for three years and have had one outage. That was two years ago. I consistenly get 1Mbps+ (sometimes 3Mbps).

Also, it worked fine with the Linksys router I used to have, and works fine with my Airport Extreme Basestation.


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## anderal (Jan 21, 2001)

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don;t get me started on Rogers Hi Speed. The last time i heard anything good about it was......hmmmm.....oh that's right i never have heard anything good about it. Unfortunately i don;t believe you can get Telus ADSL there (check it out cause if you can it's the way to go) if not just go anywhere but Rogers (same goes for cell phones but that's a different topic)


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## hayesk (Mar 5, 2000)

Of course you haven't heard anything good about Rogers'. Nobody starts a thread with the subject "My ISP is workin' just fine." People only start threads to complain.

Well, now you can't say you haven't heard anything good about Rogers. I consistently get over 1Mbps from Rogers and only had one outage in three years. It works just fine, and there's no download cap per month unlike most DSL providers here. We don't have Telus DSL but there are other providers. I can't say service for Rogers is the same in all areas, but here, I'm quite satisfied.


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## sputnik (Jan 6, 2003)

I still use OS9 (I know,I know....its just faster on my machine) and updated the Access manager.Fun part is that after the install I trashed the access manager but left the configurations and extensions on.Now,connecting through remote access all the time I dont get that bloody E-net crash at boot anymore.
Here is what I'd like to know though.
D/L on Netscape 4.x is 105 k/sec
D/L on Explorer 5.1.2 is 80 k/sec
Same site,same D/L.


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## used to be jwoodget (Aug 22, 2002)

Although Rogers used to have severe continuity problems (which they blamed on the @home networks), their service has definitely improved over the past 18 months. They know there is competition. Their Mac support is minimal but who needs it? I was pissed off with their switchover since all the email addresses had to change (from @home to @rogers) and their Mac transition docs were almost non-existent.

I still can't get my son's PS2 network adaptor to work (I use a linksys router and an ethernet hub - the router is flashed with the latest software). Rogers techs were quite helpful - but the problem was never solved.

There are some advantages with Rogers in terms of their bundles. If you have cable TV, especialy the digital package, there are some good discounts. But people really care about dlownload speed and that can only be compared on a home by home basis.

In terms of measuring download speed, I'm not sure that some of the test sites give reliable data (esp. in OS X). I've gotten speeds of up to 3 Mb/s and that seems way too high. There again, sometimes downloads seem more like flash traffic! Of course, this isn't consistent.


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