I got home last night after Esperanto and I found a letter from Rogers Cable announcing that they’re upgrading their network and everyone with the following cable modems <insert list of model names here, one of which is mine> is eligible for a new one. Just bring your old one to the store and exchange it. And if you bring it in early, you get three chances to win in our excellent little contest!
They say they are upgrading their network for a 'better customer experience’with all their wonderful streaming content. Since Rogers started as a radio station and was in cable TV distribution when I encountered then, it’s not surprising that they tend to regard the internet as another form of television. They now have TV stations, cable networks, magazines, sports teams, their name on the domed stadium downtown, a cellphone network, CLEC status to compete with Ma Bell in the local phone market, etc, etc.
I’m just wondering… does anyone know what they’re actually doing, technically? Planning for 10 Mb/s cable to the home? Preparing for a system that will throttle non-Rogers content? Setting up to tracking ad usage? Something else?
Well, being a non-tech-geek, the first thing that pops into MY mind is that obviously they’re installing alien technology mind-control devices in everybody’s head that is trusting, or dumb, enough to show up hoping to win the raffle. This is exactly the sort of thing that got Donald Sutherland and whats-his-name in trouble in that movie, I forget the name of it.
But of course, I’m sure there’s some perfectly…rational…explanation, such as their antique 1990s modems couldn’t handle the blistering pace of data flow in the 21st century…
I’ll leave you alone with your thoughts now. Enjoy them while you have them.
[exits to Twilight Zone music]
After going to the dentist today (Yay Halloween! Dentist was dressed as a vampire!), I went to Rogers and exchanged modems. This took about 5 minutes, plus a 5-minute wait beforehand.
Going through the rules on their contest revelaled that they were swapping DOCSIS 1.1 modems like the old one for DOCSIS 2.0 modems. The new one is a Scientific Atlanta DPC2100R2, and a bit of googling revealed that it is a DOCSIS 2.0 modem capable of 10 Mb/s upstream and 30 Mb/s downstream.
Maybe Rogers’ll roll out some more bandwidth. 
Well, they’ve upgraded my service (without needing a new modem) twice since signed up. I started with 5mbit, which got upgraded to 6, and a few months ago got bumped up to 8. They also introduced an 18mbit service, though the bandwidth caps were smaller with that service.
They’re probably bumping the tiers again with the new standard. They already have an 18mbit tier above the “Extreme” level, but it’s a lot pricier and the bandwidth caps are harsher. I can see them bumping that to 20+mbit and maybe shifting my tier up to 10mbit or something. That would be cool.
I’ll have to trade modems if they do though. I still have the older Motorola Bitsurfr.
I’m on the second-most-expensive plan (“High-Speed Express”), and I think I get 5 Mb/s down. I’ll have to check. They upgraded my speed a few months ago as well.
Make that the third-most-expensive plan, and 7Mb/s. 