I Finally Got Hi-Speed Again! Welcome to Rogers Portable Internet

Those of you who know me, readers of my blog and listeners of my podcast, all know that since I moved out to "the farm" I've been without high-speed internet access.  It's been terrible.  The fact that no ISP was providing high-speed internet access was killing me.  All my PCs were sent back to the stone-age of dial-tones and 40k connection speeds. 

Then I heard / read about a new offering from Rogers called Portable Internet.  What is it?

It's high-speed Internet with the flexibility to go with you. In fact, you can use your Internet service in over 20 cities across Canada. The signal travels through the air, allowing you to go online anywhere in the Portable Internet coverage areas. No phone or cable lines are required.

I ordered this immediately online.  3 days later a modem was shipped to me.  It looks like a regular cable or DSL modem with one exception.  No wires.  Instead it obtains access to the Internet over the Wi-Max network that both Rogers and Bell are deploying.  I put the modem on my desk, plugged it into the power outlet and then phoned Rogers to activate the device.  2 minutes later, the green lights across the top stopped flashing and I had signal.  I then plugged my laptop via Ethernet cable into the modem and I had a 1.5Mb connection to the Internet.  All good.  I took the device home last night, set it up next to my wireless router and connected the two devices.  I plugged it in hoping against all hope that it would work here too out in Caledon.  I was greeted by the comforting green lights that indicated that they had signal.  My PCs and laptops all connected immediately and instantly the mip household left the stone-age-dial-tone hell and re-entered the modern world of highspeed internet access.   

If you are in an area that doesn't have high-speed then this service is for you.  If you are someone who wants to be able to take their high-speed intenet connection with them....this service is for you.  I can, for example, take my modem with me when I travel.  Let's say I was going to Montreal on business and didn't want to use the hotel internet connection.  With my portable Internet from Rogers I'd have that great highspeed service with me. 

For more info or to order Portable Internet, just click here.

Comments

[Stephen]

Great to see the service working so well for you. You should really document the process in detail to highlight just how easy it was for you.

I forwarded your post to someone I know over at Rogers so that they can see the good coverage. Hopefully they will add some thoughts.

[TheBog]

Steven - can you also tell your friend at Rogers that there are several of us in Holmsville Ontario that don't know what High Speed is, and would gladly trade a few quarts of strawberries, several jars of zucchini relish and some hay to get the service on a tower near us!

A voltage inverter, a laptop and I have music in the tractor!

[Stephen]

I will get on it.

[Stephen]

Maybe MIP should go out to Homsville and test his out to see if it works and then you can order one from Rogers. I know I want to get one for my Dad for Toronto and Muskoka.

[Chris]

I was happy to A: find your blog and B: find that you have and are using the Portable Internet from Rogers.

I have a question as to how you are finding the service and do you feel that VPN will work over it?

1.5Mb is a good line but what’s it really like?

[mip]

Hi Chris,
Thanks for the comments/inquiry. The 1.5Mb is good. I've run speed tests and consistantly get the 1.5Mb. Would higher rates be better? For sure. But given there was no high speed out in the area I live in, the 1.5Mb is fantastic when compared to dial-up.

As for VPN, it works over the Portable Internet offing no problems. I've used it for VPNing into a corporate network with no problems.

[Mark]

Mip,

Greetings to a fellow Caledonian.

I've been lucky in that I have line of site to a transmission tower near Inglewood, so have been able to use Zing-Net's ptp "last mile" broadband for the last year-and-a-half. It's limited to 512/256 though, and 1.5M/256 certainly sounds tempting.

I'm down around Olde Base Line Rd. and Hurontario, which is outside Rogers coverage area. Based on your experience, do you think that area is covered in reality, if not in theory? Are you located within the theoretical coverage area?

[mip]

Hi Mark,
Thanks for you comment. Always nice to meet another Caledonian.
I'm in theory outside the coverage area, but the service works great. I keep it in my home, near a window facing south-east and get 4 out of 5 lights on the modem. The lights are like 'bars' you'd find on a cellphone. The more lights/bars, the better the reception. I live between Mayfield and King road as a point of reference. You seem to live further north so I'm not sure what the coverage would be like in that area.
Hope that helps.
mip

[Helen]

Hello:

I just heard of the portable internet service, I live in Mississauga and thought if i hv this, I only have to pay for one internet service rather than paying one for home and one for my business.

How's the service so far, given that you had it since the summer, are you still happy with it?

I have never had high speed, just use dial-up to check email, I don't download anything, but surf a lot on the internet to research on business and product opportunity ( for my business). is the 1.5/256 a decent speed for what I do?

I heard this speed is comparable to a Rogers Light cable highspeed, is it true?

Do you know if I can get a second hand anywhere? Rogers said if I can get one, they would still give me the service.

I have a P4 laptop, do I need anyother hardware to use this service? I have a Gcard in the laptop already, do I still need to buy the ethenet card/cable to connect with the modem?

Any feedback will be appreciated. Thank you.

[Helen]

Hello MIP:

I also want to know if I use the portable service, can I still use MSN, I heard either Bell or Rogers, it's one of them, do not support MSN, is it true?

[mip]

Hello Helen,
Thanks for your post and questions.
I've been really happy with the portable Internet offering from Rogers. The speeds are 1.5MB which isn't blazing fast but better than dial-up. Because I'm out in the country there was no highspeed offering from Rogers or Bell. The portable internet gives me a decent highspeed experience. You allude to using it at home and for your business. Do you mean you'd take the portable internet modem from your home to your place of business. You can of course do that which is what makes the portable internet offering from Rogers so nice. I primarily use it at home, but have on occasion taken my Internet with me. Case in point, my children take some art classes on the weekends, so for 2 hours I'm downtown waiting for them. What I do is bring my portable internet with me, plug it into an electrical outlet in a coffee shop and bingo, I have my Internet service.

When you ask, Can I still use MSN?, what exactly do you mean? Messenger or the funky MSN web browser that Microsoft launched a number of years ago? MSN Messenger you can definitely use - I use it all the time. As for the MSN browser/offering, I'm not really sure. My gut tells me you probably can, but I'm ot 100% sure.

Hope this answers some of your questions.
Ciao,
mip

[Andrew]

Hi there,

It's great to know someone is getting the most out of the portable internet service. I'm looking forward to when it will become available around Caledon's L7K 2B1 area. Right now we're not in the "coverage" area, so-to-speak, but after reading your comment about taking it to a caledon location and it working... it got me thinking. Do you think it would up as far as Charleston rd?

Glad to know it works wonders! I'll be looking forward to the Bell offering of a 3mb connection through wireless.

Thanks!
Andrew

[Michael]

Rogers offers 1.5MB connection and Bell offers 3MB. Rogers has 30G cap per month (or almost a GIG a day) and Bell is 10G (330Megs per day), Rogers is 50 bucks a month, Bell is 60.

Rogers wants you on for 1 year to get the 99 dollar modem. Bell wants you for 2! Otherwise you can just buy the modem from Bell at $249 and go month to month.

Rogers gives you 30 days to decide, Bell only 2 weeks!

1.5 is a decent rate and if you are an avid downloader then you'll want the 30G but it's only $1.75 per G over for Bell as well.

[Jo-Anne]

Hi MIP,
I was looking into the portable internet from Rogers but was told I am just beyond the 5Km distance from a tower. Do you know how far you are from your closest tower?
Thx

[mip]

Jo-Anne,
I'm not really sure how far I am to be honest. I do know that I am out of the boundary that the service is suppose to work. I am about 5km north of the area Rogers says would be covered and it works very well for me.
Where abouts generally are you located?
mip

[Nair]

Hi Folks

Thanks for all this great info, I have one q....Does anyone know if my VOIP phone will work with this portable modem?

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated

Thank you

[Carpes]

Hi Nair,

VOIP works on Rogers Portable Internet as long as your modem has the latest software release.

Cheers

[Andrew]

I'm just about to move to London ON from Dublin, Ireland. Rogers Portable looks like it might be an answer to my hi-speed requirement.

Does anyone know if Skype works with Rogers Portable - particularly the webcam and voice?

I need to have visual and sound connection with colleagues in Ireland. If Rogers Portable won't work in this situation, what do you suggest?

Thanks.

[Stack]

MIP,
I'm at Dixie/Olde Baseline and Rogers is telling me that they don't service that area (PC - L7C 2N4) even though they keep sending their flyers about the service to my house. If you're around Mayfield and King, you aren't that far off from me. You mentioned that your out of the coverage map...how did you get them to sign you up? They won't even sign me up as I'm out of their range.

Thanks,
Stack

[mayor]

it says in one of the comments that voip works with the portable internet as long as it is the new software release first of all it is a new product and, i was at a rogers store today and tried it on there demo version but it did not work

[Peter]

I have had the Rogers device for a couple of months. The mpron at Rogers where I pciked it up knew nothing. She said plug it in and it works, but gave me two boxes that she said contained CD ROMS that would allow me to set up accounts at Rogers. I told her I had my own internet at EOL and didn't want to change,so she said I didn't have to.
I am able to get on about 90) of the time, but the other 10% zilch. My Toshiba Satelite is fairly new, and I don't think its that, I just find Rogers hopeless in the service department, and wish that I hads bought gthe same prdcut through Bell, except they wanted a 2 year contract. Can't wait for the year to be up to dump this product.

[Neil Ellis]

I saw people asking about VOIP and SKYPE. If the download limitation is 10 gigs or 30 gigs; would it not be an expensive experiment to use one of these services over this portable network? My understanding is that usage could be around 1 meg per second when talking through a VOIP product, especially if you are transmitting and receiving video along with the audio. Any comments or clarification on this would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Charles]

For voice use, the usage rate should not exceed 200kbits per second (thats better than most MP3 quality!). If so, 30 GBytes translates to a minimum of 330 hours of continuous use. In reality it is probably a lot longer because the conversation is two way, and the bandwidth varies with the content. I expect that would be more than enough for most people.

Video is a different ballgame of course ... that wouldn't work well with a download cap.

[Andy]

Hey guys: Welcome to my nightmare
Having been through Bell Sympatico Unplugged, Bell WiMax, and Rogers Portable, the definate way to go is Roger's portable. Here's why:

1) Bell sell a 3Mb/s service and charge dearly for it. What they DON'T tell you is that you need 5/5 lights to get that speed. That is not always likely, so most of the time, you're surfing at 1.5Mb/s. At least Rogers charge for a speed, but guarantee it reasonably well within the coverage area.

2) NO CONRACTS: All of Bell's wireless services involve a minimum 24 MONTH contract! Forget it!

3) Installation. Bell INSIST that their WIMax (Outdoor antenna) system be 'professionally installed'. Well, after two weeks of waiting, the tech finally came around, walked the antenna around the house, and said "NOPE, it won't work here", then left. However, the Rogers folks SHIP you the outdoor modem and let you install it yourself - on the roof, up a tree, on a mast, on your head, whatever you want to get signal.
I'm on the VERY edge of the service footprint in Ashburn Ont, and I found 5/5 signal on top of my roof, but at street level, absolutly zilch. I have large foliage in my neighbourhood.

Hope this helps!

[Jim]

I did not see any mention of Bell High Speed Unplugged that I got in the spring, 2007 so I could have high speed in Muskoka and Oakville. I had to buy the modem for $99 and no contract and an introductory rate of 19.95 for six months. After that it was cheaper that my DSL in oakville. It worked like a charm for me in Oakville, Muskoka, markham, Halifax. Not so good in Moncton.
I am thrilled with the Muskoka connection. I have it plugged into my wireless router and Stephen, Mike and I can all be on at once. Skype workes great with it so life is great.
Another benefit was if it did not work I could get my money back on the modem in 30 days.
No more sympatico dial-up at the cottage.