All Articles Tagged canada

The iPhone 3G on Rogers saga continues! Crazy Canuck Rogers Rumor du jour? Apple, upset about Rogers disgustingly high price plans for the iPhone 3G and the negative press towards what should have been a triumphant launch for both parties, is cutting its losses and giving Rogers the same shaft Rogers has given Canadian consumers.

How so? By redirecting much of the iPhone stock once destined for Canada to Europe, leaving Rogers embarrassingly short on launch day, causing them to lay off the temp staff they’d lined up.

Caveat: So far this is only coming from a single blogger with no named sources and no history of iPhone or Rogers rumors, true of false. We’re also only a few days from launch, the peak time for hoaxes and attention seeking.

And lets not forget media manipulation. Couldn’t Rogers just as easily be panicking over the negative press and, desperate to make sure they don’t lose fence-sitters or people who might have held out on the first day just to make a protest. Nothing like false scarcity to scare up some business, eh?

Either way, we’ll probably only know for sure on Friday. Though nothing (but lack of common sense) stops Rogers from stepping up and introducing some reasonable rates before then. Monday will do. $30 on top of voice for unlimited data.

Make it so.

Read

Thanks to reader, Adam R. who wrote in to let us know Australian rates have been revealed, and his Blackberry can now “go the way of the dodo”.

First up is Optus who’ve announced both pre-paid and post-paid plans. Pre-paid Turbo Caps start at AUS$30 for an AUS$30 “mycredit”, AUS$110 “mybonus”, and AUS$30 “mytime money” — but no “mydata”. At AUS$100 you get 100/800/100 and Plus 1GB “mydata”. On these plans, and 8GB iPhone 3G will run you AUS$729 and 16GB, AUS$849. Not confusing enough for non-Ozzies, plan rates weigh in at AUS$0.78/min. for national calls,AUS$0.35 per “Flagfall” call, and AUS$02.2/KB weekdays and AUS$1.1/KB for “iZoo Browsing”.

Read on for Post-paid, Telestra’s first statement, Canadian craziness, and some Swedish relief!

Read the rest of this entry »

Sister site WMExperts brings word that T-Mobile is raising the a la carte price of SMS text messages to an exorbitant $.20 per 160 characters (sadly, an industry average…) While they have their theories as to why tiny text qualifies for thousands of dollars per meg of data charges, others only really care about one thing:

A change in the terms of service may — just may — be a way for those of you stuck on contract with T-Mobile to get out of jail and into a sexay new iPhone 3G.

Whether T-Mobile lets you out or not will likely depend on who you talk to and how much you scream, but a chance is a chance. And could T-Mobile have had worse timing in providing that chance?

Nope.

On the Canadian front, GSM monopoly Rogers is still amending their iPhone info, after correcting the embarrassing typo that made it seem like the early termination fee was $1100 ($100 turned out to be correct). Now it’s info on non-iPhone specific plans, and warnings galore on off-plan data usage ($0.05/KB!) and roaming ($3/MB on plan). Clarified, however, is that using Visual Voice Mail won’t count towards your minutes or your miserly data cap.

Also interesting is the inclusion of anti-Jailbreak/Unlock verbiage:

Your iPhone is restricted to use on the Rogers network, unless you are roaming. If you attempt to unlock your iPhone and use it on another network, it may become permanently unusable. Making unauthorized modifications to the software on your iPhone violates the iPhone software license agreement, and any resulting inability to use your iPhone is not covered under your iPhone’s warranty.

UPDATE: Rogers has posted early-cancellation fees for their already ridiculously expensive iPhone price plans, and not surprisingly they appear at first glance to be stratospherically high: (ii) $1100 or (iii) $220 per month remaining in the service agreement, to a maximum of 400

The 400 there, as well as this thread on iPhoneinCanada.ca, makes it look like a typo — ironically Rogers money grabbing reputation is what probably made people think otherwise initially.

UPDATE 2: Yup, it was a typo. $100 and $20 were (and now are) the correct figures. Ouch. Could Rogers have picked a worse time to be sloppy about their dollar figures? If nothing else, it certainly increased the scrutiny they were already under.

Now, if only Rogers would fix the typos on the data rate plans. I’m sure it’s not really supposed to read $115 for 2GB, but $30 unlimited, right?

Thanks to rwwilliams for letting us know they fixed it!

Confederation Day, the day when everyone from Pacific to Atlantic, from frozen north to the US border, came together and voiced their common disgust for… GSM monopoly Rogers/Fido iPhone 3G data plans.

We’ve already covered them, of course. And the reactions to them, domestic and in news reports from the US and Europe. And Rogers’ PR panic, involving everyone from their VP to outside contractors sending out spin as ineffective as it is impenetrable. Heck, even Crackberry.com is feeling our pain!

One local petition, ruinediphone.com, hoping for some rate plan redress, has now reached 22,000+ signatures (though it did go down, and has since come up, though scattered reports indicate those who use Rogers for their internet connection can’t get to it… hmmm…)

Will it have any effect? Common sense and international embarrassment hasn’t, but there’s still just over a week until launch day on July 11, so there’s still time for Rogers to come to their senses.

Little help, Ted?

And for those non-Canadians curious about our holiday, those who appreciate pointed humor, or just those who want to skip to 3:25 for a healthy dose of Rogers hate, please enjoy the video following after the break:

Read the rest of this entry »

Given the massive, and increasingly — embarrassingly — international outcry over Canadian GSM monopoly and thus de facto iPhone 3G exclusive carrier, Rogers’ expensive and decidedly limited pricing plans, is it any wonder they’ve gone into full blown PR panic mode?

(If the below is legitimate, of course).

Thanks to sister site’r Crackberry Kevin for sending this our way!

Hello. My name is [redacted] and I’m writing on behalf of Rogers to give you some additional information about the Rogers rate plans available for the iPhone. The iPhone 3G bundles released June 27 are not the only price plans available to customers, they are the high value plans that allow Rogers customers to use the device to its fullest and offer considerable savings over separate voice and data plans that exist in market today.

Keep reading for the rest!

Read the rest of this entry »

We’ve done our share of protesting the plan rates released by Canada’s GSM monopoly, and therefor de facto iPhone 3G exclusive carrier, Rogers Wireless. But we’re hardly alone. Reports have even surfaced of angry consumers egging Rogers retail stores.

Now CNN/Fortune have cast their spotlight on it, focusing one what was originally the explicitly, if sincerely named [redacted]rogers.com, now more safely (if less satisfyingly) rebranded ruinediphone.com.:

What’s wrong with Rogers’ rate plan? Both AT&T (T) and Rogers offer calling, data and text messaging at $75 a month, for example. But for $75 Rogers offers a third less calling time, half as many text messages, and puts a 750 MB cap on 3G data usage — with steep fees for users who go over their monthly limit.

In addition to ruinediphone.com’s petition, would-be-Canadian iPhone owners should head on over to David McGuinty’s petition for House Bill C-555 to promote transparency and fairness in Canadian telcos. and the Competition Bureau of Canada

I hate to say I told you so. I hate to have told you so. But mostly I just hate Rogers’ breathing guts for telling us all so: No unlimited data for Canadian iPhone users and — wait for it — no reasonable data rates beneath the meager caps either! (But then, maybe I just hate myself for ever daring to hope the GSM monopoly would ever move off the worst data rates in the data world!). Not even the 5/6GB options available to BlackBerry and WinMob/Palm users?!

Thanks to Cherryhead25 for the tip!

UPDATE: Via Engadget’s comments, here’s the direct link for the Canadian Competition Bureau, where complaints can be registered:

http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/epic/site/cb-bc.nsf/en/01260e.html

UPDATE 2: Via HoFo, here’s the link to Rep. David McGuinty’s petition for House Bill C-555 to promote transparency and fairness in Canadian telcos: http://www.davidmcguinty.com/english/TakeAction/PetitionTheHouse/PetitionC555Fraisdacces.html

Plans, similar for both Rogers and their Fido sub-brand, after the break!

Read the rest of this entry »

This morning I mentioned the so-called “leaked” Rogers memo, which outlined almost find-and-replace identical data plans to those AT&T is offering for the iPhone was too good to be true, and now Kevin from our sister-site Crackberry.com brings us a Rogers presentation which puts another nail in the “we hope for fair data rates” coffin:

Non-flex plan: $15 for 2MB (hitting the YouTube button once?), $25 for 4MB, $30 for 300MB, $60 for 1GB, $80 for 3GB, and $100 for 6GB?!

Flex plan: $50 for 500MB, $65 for 1GB, $85 for 3GB, and $100 for 5GB?!

(Remembering the US in $30 for UNLIMITED!)

A 5GB cap, similar to caps some European countries have put in place for the iPhone 2G is annoying enough, but charging 3.33x more money along with the cap? Outrageous.

Kevin points out that Rogers currently charges $60 for 25MB, and this is better. But being slightly less @#$%-up is not really better. Sadly, unlike Vader or the Hulk, my hatred renders me no more powerful.

I hope these aren’t the iPhone rates. I hope we get something better. But this stinks to high heaven of Rogers historical behavior, and there’s no better indicator of future behavior than that.

UPDATE:

Engadget Mobile is saying there will be exclusive plans for the iPhone on Rogers.

X1Zero over on the iPhone in Canada forum has posted the following under “tasty” news, based on what he claims is new Rogers training material:

Here were the prices listed for [iPhone] plans [including voice and data]: “$60, $65, $70, $75, $80, $85″. What I gather from this is as long as you have at least a $30 voiceplan, you then pick your poison of either $30 or $45 iphone data, and youre golden.

Gander at the original Rogers slide in question (after the break)…

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s a memo being circulated everywhere from TiPb’s comments to some of the biggest sites on the blogsphere, that purports to contain leaked information on Rogers — the GSM monopoly with de-facto exclusive iPhone 3G rights in Canada — rate plans, including data rates, which have historically been a HUGE issue for Canadians.

The information in this memo gives the impression that Canadians, at long last, might just get the same data rates as AT&T. In fact, the memo seems nearly identical in almost every find-and-replace way to the AT&T memo that leaked a while back. This has led many, myself included, to believe it’s just another hoax, another way to toy with the battered-consumer syndrome sufferers north of the border.

(Of course, none of this would be possible if Rogers would just release their own plan info — like almost every real carrier has already done!)

UPDATE: There’s a second theory circulating which suggests that the memo may be both legit, and also an almost find-and-replace match for the AT&T memo, reason given Apple influence/wording or just similar contract terms agreed to with Apple.

I’m still not sure. This would be such a radically good departure towards fairness and competitiveness that I just can’t bring myself to believe Rogers would do it. Please, PLEASE, prove me wrong! $30 unlimited for data, even given the more-evil 3 year term, would be industry-shifting good.

Sure, those on the twisty-turny AT&T train have looked on at free iPhones in the UK and €1 iPhones in Germany with some lust in their wallets. We get that. But those of us in Canada gaze longingly at all of your clear plans and reasonable data rates with something akin to battered-consumer syndrome.

Rogers, the GSM monopoly in Canada, until recently charged $100 a month for 200MB of data, making us the disgrace not only of the industrialized world, but of pretty much the whole world. They’ve changed slightly over the last few months, but in only the most confusing, impenetrable, and still ridiculously over-priced manner possible. So, with the iPhone 3G coming, many of us Canadians have been stuck in a Schrödinger-esque quantum state somewhere between thrilled at finally getting the device, and terrified at what it might cost.

As always, Rogers provides nothing in the way of lifting the box:

[Rogers Wireless president Nadir] Mohamed explains that the plans will be “easy to understand” as well as more adaptable and encouraging for users who want mobile data. [... He] adds that he expects the average revenue per use to go up with the launch of the iPhone 3G. A typical Rogers customer pays approximately $63 per month for a combination of voice, messaging, and data features, but an average iPhone subscriber should boost that figure to approximately $90 per month, Mohamed says. Most of the increase should come from increased data use.

Here’s an idea: Why not just post the Rogers iPhone 3G data plans, the way AT&T, O2, T-Mobile, and real telcos the world over have begun to? And please, pretty please with a cherry on top, make the data rates on par with the rest of the world?

Read