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Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

reuters.com

141–150 of 403 posts

Re: Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

#142
post #38

The Canadian telecom space is dominated by 3 primary companies -- Telus, Bell, and Rogers. They form an effective oligopoly that is quite detrimental to the Canadian consumer. In the ISP space, there is a bit more competition. Namely, Shaw provides additional coverage in some regions of the country. However, Rogers wants to buy Shaw. You can imagine how bad that will be for Canadians. I do wonder what the Rogers outa…

There's also Vidéotron and Cogeco but these are not Canada wide so .. yea.

Re: Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

#143
post #8

Interac is down because Interac uses Rogers' network. Interac's backup network also happens to be with ... Rogers. Canadians across the country can't use debit cards, regardless of their financial institution. Credit and cash only. E-transfers are unavailable. Fun for people trying to pay their bills online. And that's just the financial side of the situation. Millions of people have lost Internet and phone service.…

It's hard to understate the impact of this across all of Canada. As someone who uses Apple Pay for almost every transaction, this underlines the fragility of a "cashless society." Also, around half my team are unable to effectively work today. We all work remote, and half the team's home internet is on Rogers, which is down. Some people are tethering, but people who are also on Rogers for their wireless are out of lu…

applepay works fine. not on the interac network.

Re: Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

#144
post #34

In Toronto, here's a small and non-exhaustive list of affected services: - Point of sale machines. Supermarkets are accepting only cash. - ATMs. Several banks are incapable of dispensing cash. - Public transit ticketing systems. The TTC is effectively running for free, today. - Public bicycle rental stations. - Public parking locations. How long before the public realizes that we are not Rogers' customers, but its ho…

>How long before the public realizes that we are not Rogers' customers, but its hostages? Won't happen. The average Canadians are one of the most sheep like docile people out there.

Remember when we all banded together to prevent Verizon from introducing competition into our market because it would “take Canadian jobs” and “give our hard earned dollars to the states”?

That happened because of a hostile attack ad campaign by the big 3.

Re: Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

#145

The utterly inefficient and overpriced Canadian telecoms exist only because we allow one specific behavior: 1. A new local player comes to town, builds their own infrastructure (e.g. connects one building to fiber) and starts offering competitive service. 2. Rogers/Shaw/Bell/Telus immediately offer better terms for the residents of that building. 3. The competitor runs out of money and leaves. 4. The telecoms revert…

I also remember Air Canada or WestJet doing the same to some small air company offering cheap flights from Kelowna (?), but I cannot find the news piece. Does anybody here have a better memory than myself?

Re: Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

#146

The utterly inefficient and overpriced Canadian telecoms exist only because we allow one specific behavior: 1. A new local player comes to town, builds their own infrastructure (e.g. connects one building to fiber) and starts offering competitive service. 2. Rogers/Shaw/Bell/Telus immediately offer better terms for the residents of that building. 3. The competitor runs out of money and leaves. 4. The telecoms revert…

I also remember Air Canada or WestJet doing the same to some small air company offering cheap flights from Kelowna (?), but I cannot find the news piece. Does anybody here have a better memory than myself?

Are you thinking of Flair or Swoop? Never flown them out of Kelowna when I was living there, but I remember both being a big deal when they finally arrived.

Re: Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

#147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a lot of experience in both places. Americans may think think they do, but I don’t think so. As bad as Comcast and others are in the USA, I have found them to be far more efficient and competitive than Rogers or Bell in Canada. Same for banks in Canada. It’s unbelievable what they do and get away with. And airlines. Rather, Airline. I believe there’s a cultural element here: Canadians are more risk adverse and…

At least the Canadian banks and airlines have international operations. TD has more US than Canadian branches. But Rogers, Bell, Telus? Nobody has heard of them ex-Canada unless they’re an ex-resident with bad memories.

Oddly enough, Telus is a medium-sized but well regarded player in the fiercely competitive market for outsourced call centres in the Philippines.

Re: Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

#148
post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's hard to understate the impact of this across all of Canada. As someone who uses Apple Pay for almost every transaction, this underlines the fragility of a "cashless society." Also, around half my team are unable to effectively work today. We all work remote, and half the team's home internet is on Rogers, which is down. Some people are tethering, but people who are also on Rogers for their wireless are out of lu…

applepay works fine. not on the interac network.

Does Apple Pay work even with debit transactions?

Re: Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

#149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I also remember Air Canada or WestJet doing the same to some small air company offering cheap flights from Kelowna (?), but I cannot find the news piece. Does anybody here have a better memory than myself?

Are you thinking of Flair or Swoop? Never flown them out of Kelowna when I was living there, but I remember both being a big deal when they finally arrived.

They're still around

Re: Rogers network outage across Canada hits banks, businesses and consumers

#150
post #103
post #31

People in other countries probably don't understand just how powerful - and depended upon - the big telecoms are here in Canada. They have no presence outside the country - they are so bloated and inefficient they couldn't compete - but they are omnipresent here. There are lots of people who depend on Rogers for home Internet, home phone, mobile phone, TV, and home security, not to mention business services that cons…

Isn't that true in most countries? Is there any place in the world that can claim to have a diverse, competitive Telco market?

The model of separating the fiber network from the telcos that offer service on it can work of the incentives are well aligned. Many Asian countries, eg Singapore, do this.

Or you could put the fox in charge of the hen house and end up in Australia's situation, where local monopolist Telstra owns the phone network and is supposed to play nicely with its competitors.

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