On Monday I got mail from Rogers that made me curse, and on Friday I got mail from Rogers that made me (for a microsecond) think they're not so bad after all. Only a monopolistic telecommunications company that owns you (and a sports stadium) could possibly pull this off.

So what do I have to whine about and cheer about? Paying more when exceeding bandwidth caps and free tickets for baseball games, apparently.

The bullshit:

I'm assuming this applies to all Rogers internet subscribers. In a letter sent my way this week (and as part of the ongoing saga of the big Canadian internet service providers essentially milking the masses in any way they can), Rogers revealed that they are soon going to be implementing "upcoming changes to help them meet our online needs". The long story short - if you exceed the bandwidth transfer cap for your service level (the cap varies from 2Gb to 95Gb depending on your package) come June, you "can pay for additional usage on a monthly basis". Wait a second, Rogers. I "can" pay? That's a really nice way of making this change look like a customer-empowering, positive change. What you meant to say is "if you exceed 60Gb monthly, you'll HAVE to pay us more."

It's a good thing I'm not video-download-happy and nowhere near my limit. Some of my friends, however, are not happy campers. Congrats on coming up with another creative way to milk more money from us, Rogers.

The baseball:

Did anyone else out there also get a voucher for free tickets to the Jays? Rogers values me as a customer, so much so that they want me to enjoy a baseball game on them. The seats aren't bad, and the selection of games is decent. Were I an avid baseball fan I might actually be excited about this.

More importantly though, is the timing. Is this free Jays game supposed to detract my attention from the fact that in addition to sucking about $250 from me monthly (for mobile, net, landline, and television combined) they'll also penalize me further if I download more than my service package includes?

Nice try, but the smell of the bullshit is sure to linger well beyond 9 innings.

UPDATE: Reader "David Toronto" has made the wonderful suggestion that we pool our free ticket letters and vouchers and donate them to a local children's charity (organization TBD). If you've received the free ticket offer and would be willing to donate your pair for such a charity concept, please express your willingness in a comment below (and use a valid email address so I can contact you). Thanks!