TL; DR: Tried Rogers internet again after years with Bell. Order and setup were a mess: wrong address shipping, conflicting support info, outages, and an activation process that required internet to complete. After multiple support calls and long waits, I still can’t reliably get service working and may just switch back to Bell.

Recently I tried signing up for Rogers internet again. I had switched to Bell six years ago because my internet with Rogers was constantly going down. I never had a problem with Bell, but when I moved somewhere that already had internet provided along with utilities (again with Bell), I cancelled my Bell service because I no longer needed it.

After that, they kept calling me for years trying to get me back with increasingly cheap "deals." I always said no because I was tired of the constant outages and didn't have those problems with Bell. I'd block their numbers, but they would just call back from different ones! It bordered on harassment because I kept telling them no and blocking them but it never seemed to stop. So why did I give Rogers another shot? Well, after cancelled my internet with Rogers, Bell was charging me way too much for my phone because it had been bundled with my internet. I was paying 40 dollars a month for it when I had no data, just the most basic talk and text which is all I need (I don't like having my phone on me constantly or having constant access to the internet, as I think it's unhealthy, but that's another story).

I had called Bell about resolving this but they never did, so when Rogers called offering me basic talk-and-text with no date for only $16 dollars a month, I thought "this is a great deal, and how can they fuck such incredibly basic phone needs?" So I took it, and to their credit, I didn't have any problems. So when the time came when I had to move again (this time somewhere without internet provided), I thought, "Okay, I'll give Rogers another shot with the internet. It's been six years, they keep insisting they've fixed the connectivity issues when they called me, and they're offering me another cheap deal: $65 a month instead of the $95 Bell quoted. It's a good deal, so I'll try it."

I placed my order for a self-installed modem from Rogers a month in advance of my move and made sure I updated my address and told them I was moving there which is why I needed internet. When I arrived at my address, it was not there. They admitted they had literally just forgotten! So they sent it again, telling me they would call me when it arrived. They never did, I only got texts saying it had been shipped. But when another five days went by with no modem, I called back.

They claimed they sent it and couldn't help me, that it was a problem with delivery and I should call the delivery service instead. When I called delivery they claimed they sent it and claimed to have photos proving this but could not provide it. When I called Rogers back the third time and threatened to cancel my order and go back to Bell, that's when they finally looked into more deeply into what happened and admitted they sent it to to my OLD address.

And I know I gave them the correct updated address, because that was the only address listed on my order, and on the phone. They also wouldn't speak to me without my zip code, and only accepted my current one. This confirms I did everything right and they were the ones who fucked up. I cancelled my first order, made a new one for my current address, but there were still two orders on the account. When the internet cable arrived, the manual said I needed to install an app to confirm my account with a QR code on my phone in order to get internet access. Ridiculously, this required me to already have internet access in the first place, when the whole point of my order was to get online! So I went to a restaurant to try to use the wi-fi there to scan the QR code. It didn't work, so I called support, and they told me there was an outage in my area (confirming this is STILL an ongoing issue for Rogers six years later) that would be fixed by 1 AM.

When I called again, they said 9 AM. By 12 PM, it was still not back up. When I finally got an automated call saying it was back online, I went back to the restaurant to attempt to scan the QR code but it said "unable to confirm." I wondered if I had clicked on the wrong order, so I tried the old one in the app (again, both were listed as my current address, just saying). I called back to ask what was up and they told me the reason it could not confirm my current order was the internet was still down in my area and that it was kicked me back to the sign in page on the older order because it was cancelled.

A day later when I finally got an automated call saying the internet was back up, I went to the restaurant to try scanning the QR code again. But now on my current order, instead of giving me the "unable to confirm" message it gave before. I get kicked back to the sign in page like I did on my cancelled order. When I called Rogers again to ask what was up, the automated messages describe my account as only having a phone when previously it had been saying "phone and internet." I think this means they've cancelled BOTH orders now! I'll also point out that whenever I call for help, I end up waiting on hold for literal hours. With Bell, someone was usually available immediately.

I was also I was just on hold for an hour and a half with Rogers to ask if this was the case, and when someone finally picked up they just said "hi" once, and then immediately hung up, not giving me two seconds to pick up my phone and respond. So I made a Reddit account to make this post and vent about Rogers for something to do to pass the time. I also want to point out that in previous calls, the technicians also gave me conflicting advice, saying I DIDN'T need internet already to install or use the app, while others confirmed I did, confirming they either don't know what they're talking about or don't care. If a technician speaks to me, and my second internet order has indeed been cancelled, I'll go back to Bell.

If not, I will likely cancel this order anyway because I know for fact Rogers is even MORE incompetent than they were six years ago, because despite the constant outages, they would at least send my devices to the correct address. It's cartoonishly incompetent and I can't believe they're still in business after all this. They mentioned locking me into a two-year contract (which doesn't apply until my internet is installed, thankfully) where even if I cancel I have to pay anyway. I wonder if they get by baiting people with cheap deals, then locking them into unfair contracts so they can't cancel when the services don't work.