In 2013, we mentioned the low cost internet program for people living in geared-to-income housing in Toronto that Rogers was a part of. That program has now been expanded to cover Rogers’ entire service area, which is pretty nice.
Rogers is investing in communities by expanding its Connected for Success program, which started in Toronto in 2013, to everywhere it provides internet service. This means families and individuals living in rent-geared-to-income non-profit housing in Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland & Labrador will now have the opportunity to benefit from very low-cost internet access to help them fully participate in the digital economy.
“We’ve had a tremendous response to our pilot project with Toronto Community Housing and are thrilled to expand Connected for Success to our whole cable internet footprint,” said Deepak Khandelwal, Chief Customer Officer, Rogers Communications. “From kids connecting after the school day is done to seniors staying in touch with their friends and using banking or government services, internet access isn’t a nice to have – it’s a necessity in our digital world.”
The expansion is kicking off in Ottawa, in partnership with Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation and other non-profit housing agencies. The service is available for $9.99/month and includes speeds of up to 10 Mbps download and up to 1 Mbps upload.
“We’re really excited that our tenants will be able to take advantage of this offer. It’s especially important that kids will be able to access the internet from an early age so they can learn and not fall behind,” said Debbie Barton, Manager, Rental Department, Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation. “We thank Rogers for expanding this program and look forward to a great partnership.”
533 non-profit housing agencies across Ontario, New Brunswick and Newfoundland & Labrador are eligible to enter into a two-year partnership with Rogers as part of the Connected for Success program. All of their residents in rent-geared-to-income units are eligible for the offer.
A recent Ipsos-Reid study found that while 91% of Canadians currently access the internet at home, that number drops to 70% in households with an annual income under $25,000.
Rogers has also launched Internet 5, a new low-cost service for $24.99 (Modem rental $8/month extra) that is available to anyone within Rogers’ internet service area.
Since they don’t bother explaining what internet 5 actually is, I’ll do it. It’s pretty much the old Lite package they used to sell. You get 25 GB of usage, which doesn’t sound like much but is probably going to be plenty if you’re the kind of person who can survive on maximum 5 MB down and 1 MB upload speeds since those don’t really lend themselves to streaming a whole lot of video anyway.