Rogers (Canada’s Biggest Cable-ISP) breaks into your browsing session to tell you of using too much bandwidth!
written by: Michael Kwan | category: Tech News | posted: 12/12/07
Rogers ISP of Canada takes the action to break into your browsing session to give you a warning saying your bandwidth is approaching its threshold! I’m a Rogers’ customer and I think I would NOT want to see this on my browser. Personally, there are other ways to inform the client about their Internet traffic is too high.
- Traditional Email to the customers.
- During online payment from Rogers.com, give us a bandwidth usage info. Currently, you have to click, not in the bill.
Actually, thinking more about this overnight, this is probably even less of a privacy invasion or data sniffing than I originally thought. I asked how I would do something like this and the first thing that came to mind was a browser add-in that went to Rogers and checked my quota and expanded itself into a big message when it saw I was near a threshold…
And the reality is that the users probably agreed to this right from the getgo when they stuck in the Rogers setup CD and (probably blindly) clicked “I Accept” (Most of us clicked I accept without reading the full license agreement).
If Verizon or other ISPs follow this method to deliver bandwidth warnings, what’s your thoughts? Against or this is ok?
(2 votes, average: 4 out of 5)
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December 14th, 2007 07:32
I agree with Michael. I don’t think this implies sniffing, hijacking and injecting, too vague to tell, alos too much work in my mind. When you launch your web browser in any Hotel and try to go to http://www.anywhere.com you end up at their wireless login page. Is that intrusive? We as users don’t think because we want to get online… but yet they have just hijacked your browser and taken you somewhere you don’t want to go and displayed something completely different than you requested… but in this case you are OK with it. Hmmm….
April 5th, 2008 14:51
I respectfully disagree. I’m a Rogers Yahoo customer and have been for the past 10 years. Back in 1998, the was no CD to use and the ToS were much different; i.e. unlimited bandwidth.
On top of that, Rogers is in violation of the consumers right act, under the section of measurement. They have inaccurately claimed next to impossible download numbers, while not giving you a breakdown or how these numbers were reached.
Even worse is the hi-jack itself as when you click the agree button, you’ve essentially agreed (yet another) to a hidden contract. Again, I think this is illegal. For the record, no, I cannot subscribe to another ISP as they are not available in my area.
Anyway, sorry for the rant and thank you for posting this information.