information architecture in Toronto

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Quinn DuPont studies textual communication in cross-over disciplines such as typography, history, power, rhetoric, security, and technology. He has recently been studying information sabotage and developing a thesis about the social development of meaning. Quinn is currently an information architect in Toronto, Canada.

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  • Knowledge and Power: Toward a Political Philosophy of Science
    Knowledge and Power: Toward a Political Philosophy of Science
    by Joseph Rouse
  • On the Origin of Objects
    On the Origin of Objects
    by Brian Cantwell Smith
  • The German ideology, Parts I & III
    The German ideology, Parts I & III
    by Frederick Engels Karl Marx
« Email as push technology | Main | Rogers' traffic shaping »
Wednesday
Jul122006

Rogers Part II

And their reply:

We apologize for the delay in responding to your email.  We are
currently receiving higher email volume than normal, and are attempting
to answer all email as quickly as possible in the order they arrive.

We understand your concerns regarding issues you are experiencing with
your peer-to-peer (P2P) applications. To ensure a consistently high
level of service for all Rogers customers, it is necessary to put limits
on the amount of network bandwidth available for certain types of
applications. This process is called traffic regulation (rate-limiting,
traffic shaping, throttling).

As peer-to-peer (P2P) applications have grown in popularity, their share
of overall network traffic has increased dramatically. In particular,
the application Bittorrent uses all of the space available for uploads.
To ensure that a relatively small number of applications do not slow
service for everyone, Rogers limits the space available for P2P uploads.
This ensures all customers have a high level of service for
time-sensitive tasks like sending email, requesting web pages or voice
messaging.

Rogers does not block any type of Internet traffic or application. Nor
do we monitor the content of customer communications or activities on
the Internet. Our traffic regulation is based on the type of
application, not the way it is used.

We thank you for your understanding in this matter.

If you have any further questions or comments regarding our service,
please fill out the online form on our Customer Support page listed
below or contact us by phone at 1-888-288-4663.

Regards,
Gigi C.
Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet
Electronic Support Group

Customer Support: http://help.yahoo.com/rogers
Email: internetsupport@rci.rogers.com

Rogers Hi-Speed Internet Support

And then my reply:

Be this as it may, my End User License Agreement (EULA) does not suggest that my traffic can be purposively throttled based on my activities.  The EULA states that traffic cannot be guaranteed to be delivered in a timely manner, or ever at all, however, a lack of guarantee is a very different thing from purposely not providing me a purchased service due to my consumer habits.  On any reasonable interpretation of consumer law you may not sell a service that is purposely withheld.  Perhaps you should state in the EULA that all bittorrent traffic will result in termination of service, but then, of course, most of your customers would go elsewhere.  As it stands, you are selling me a service that involves false advertisement, I can not receive anywhere near my “max” download speed of 6MB/s, and this is not due to problems beyond Rogers’ control, instead it is being purposely restricted.

My next course of action will be to:

1) Post your reply on my blog (http://www.iqdupont.com/blog), and attempt to generate as much transparency and press as possible within the internet-savvy people.
2) Contact the Globe and Mail about exposing Rogers’ illegal behaviour.
3) Contact my legal representative about the possibility of a class action suit, and invoking the support of the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Should you wish start providing me with appropriate service, please feel free to contact me at [EDITED].

Sincerely,
Isaac Quinn DuPont

Reader Comments (5)

Shocking! -ro6leeg7

July 12, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterRoy

Wow, you actually are going to take them to court. That is most excellent.

July 13, 2006 | Unregistered CommenterBrad

I can't stand these companies that do this. I'm glad I live in the US for this matter, but right now I am on vacation at a relative's cabin and they have Rogers and yes, it sucks.

January 2, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterWillie

I am haveing problems with my phone, and there is no way to contact rogers by iinternet unless you have 1-an e-mail of course,2-you have a home phone and 3rd you have to have a wireless line as well,I have 2 of the three and there fore am unable to get them to address my phone problem.

March 9, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterDave Prince

Kudos to you! I'm experiencing the exact same problems with Rogers and found your post above while trying to research other ISP alternatives in Ontario. It pisses me off that we're paying for a service that we cannot use to its full potential.

Best of luck!

August 9, 2010 | Unregistered CommenterStephane

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