All the negative backlash that Rogers has received over the recently announced iPhone rate plans, plus the rumors that Apple is diverting iPhones to other areas because they expect Rogers sales to be minimal have caused the company to rethink their data plan strategy…but they still just don’t get it.
The company has decided to offer a $30 monthly plan that offers over 6GB of data per month, which should be enough bandwidth to watch approximately 105 hours of YouTube videos a month.
Visual Voicemail, however, is considered SEPARATE from the data plan and will cost users an additional $8 a month.
This limited time plan is only available through August 31st. After that it’s back to the regular plans Rogers has already announced.
In short – THIS IS A TRICK. Rogers wants to get you in the door, lock you into a contract, and then beat you about the face and neck with increased prices down the road. This is not a solution to the problem. Rogers needs to catch up with (most of) the rest of the world and offer a reasonable plan.
These plans are absurd, and I highly encourage any of you in Canada to boycott this company until they actually offer something resembling a fair deal. Grab an iPod Touch and enjoy the new App Store over wi-fi – because Lord knows you won’t want to download something off the Rogers 3G network even if you have an iPhone.
There is no reason to let this company get away with this. All you have to do to send a message is NOT buy an iPhone.
Frankly nothing would make me happier than to hear that Rogers didn’t sell one single iPhone on Friday. I seriously doubt that will happen – but if it did, it would be the best iPhone related news I’ve ever heard.
16 thoughts on “Rogers offers new “limited time” plan – but IT’S A TRICK – don’t do it!”
“I’m sick of wanting to check my email quick, or find somewhere on google maps and being just a few feet out of range, I’m tired of having to lean against my garage door just so I can get my wireless signal to come through. ”
I’m trying to figure out how exactly this helps your case.
“I agree, that it’s better than what you had before – but being valedictorian of summer school doesn’t make you a great student.”
LMAO
What is with you man, did Rogers steal your girlfriend or something? Their plans aren’t that bad, like you said, “most of” there are other countries where its much worse. All things considered Rogers is looking pretty good these days in Canada, especially with Bell and Telus now charging 15 cents per incoming text message, Rogers they are free. The data plans aren’t spectacular but they are far from awful.
As for your plan to boycott it and buy a iPod touch (which is twice as much) and only use wifi (which is no where near as widespread as you seem to believe) I’ve done that since the first iPhone release, I’m sick of that now. I’m sick of wanting to check my email quick, or find somewhere on google maps and being just a few feet out of range, I’m tired of having to lean against my garage door just so I can get my wireless signal to come through. Their plans aren’t nearly as good as AT&T, but your plan to boycott them is idiotic. Right now their plans are the best ones we’ve had in canadian history, its a step forward, you sound like a child who’s upset he can’t have 2 toys and he can only have 1. Its a big improvement from what we are used to, its not as good as it could be, but its definitely not to throw a hissy fit over.
But as far as telling everyone not to buy one, yea I hope they listen to you, just makes the limited stock all the more likely to land in my hands. On a side note, how much data do you really use each month, check your iPhone and let me know the usage because I highly doubt your going through multiple gb’s
I know Steve and he is an employee of Rogers. The employees in the iPhone unit have been asked to respond to negative press by in all blogs and web posting. I don’t believe in it and won’t be doing this myself. The internet is heavily scripted.
I guess one upside of being locked into a contract for 3 years is that Rogers locks you in at that rate for 3 years. So you could take the deal and then hope in 3 years they get their act together. And hope that the mobile scene in 3 years is a much different one. You can also switch your plan at any time if they come out with a new one. But you’ll probably be locked into a new 3 year plan. Very frustrating.
If Rogers raises the price or changes other terms of your agreed-to contract, then aren’t you allowed to end your contract? In other words, once you get the 6GB for $30/month plan, that’s the cost for the next 36 months. If they change the rate (or anything else for that matter), then aren’t you free to leave (without termination fee)?
That’s the way it is in the US.
Boycott them! Not wanting to protect Rogers but their plans could be worse. As they say, one iPhone in the hand is better than two whiners on the web.
David, you don’t know me. Michael knows me as I’ve followed his site since I switched to OS X. I don’t work for Rogers (thank god, I’d blow my brains out)
The idea that Rogers would tell their employees to post on blogs is ridiculous too, a little too much twilight zone maybe?
I may have come on a bit strong in my first post, but so did Michael. Their plans could be much better and much closer to AT&T’s considering we are right next to each other and our currency is roughly the same, just because we are on one side of the boarder doesn’t mean we should have to pay more.
The reason I defend Rogers is because I’ve had to pay more for a lot less, so this is a definite improvement for me, it could be better ya, so could the iPhone. Point is its a lot better than it used to be so we shouldn’t be complaining. At least not yet.
[Whoops! the comments can’t handle URLs, feel free to dump my 1st attempt. Edited version:]
Stop yer bloody moaning will ya. If you want lousy iPhone plans go to NZ’s Vodafone site (vodafone.co.nz). They’ll make your teeth curl.
How about the the cheapest iPhone/Plan at NZ$550 up front then $80 a month for 2 years for a 250MB data cap ($2469 total) or the best offering of $349 for the 16GB plus $250 a month for 1GB (NZ$6349) The NZ$ is currently exchanging at 1.32 to the US$ and 1.30 to the C$.
Blow out your data cap with 4.5 hours of YouTube…..
Of course if money is no object, you can have 6GB a month, for an additional $150 a month, $3600 for the contract period. And that’s cheap. On the El Cheapo plan 6GB will set you back $575 a month or $13,800 until you can get out of bondage.
In Mexico they have 24 month plans, the unlimited voice/data rate plan @ $77/month the iPhone costs $75 to buy instead of $199. NO system access fee and of course call display and caller id are included. The Rogers plan all in for their best plan will cost you over $6,000.00 and that’s if you never go over plan. Moderate overages on a monthly basis could double that cost easily.
Ted Rogers seems to like to screw everyone with his monopoly.
I hope his company is put out of business and Ted is seen for the conniving greedy bastard he is.
@Steve
Hey Steve, I didn’t check your email address – so I didn’t know if it was regular Steve or another Steve (you gotta get a Gravitar man!) Let me start by saying that I don’t think I’m over reacting here.
I HATE that you guys have to put up with plans like these, and the only way to get fair plans is to NOT give in to the plans that they’re offering when they aren’t good enough.
If I didn’t get upset about this kind of stuff I wouldn’t be able to do this job everyday. I get extremely happy about some stuff, and extremely bent out of shape about other stuff.
This is one of those things that I’m really bent out of shape about because it’s a deceptive tactic on the part of Rogers. They want to shut people up right now so they can have a big launch so they’re throwing that $30 carrot out there with 6GBs of data a month.
I will grant you, I do not use 6GBs of data on my iPhone right now. Right now there is nothing more than web pages and some video to view, and – for now – I seriously doubt you’ll be able to go over the 6GBs a month.
However, this contract is for 3 years.
The App Store is coming out with the iPhone 2.0 software launch. Suddenly, there will be a lot more stuff to download over your phone. In 3 years time the landscape of video on the web will b completely different than it is now, and with faster 3G speeds people will be downloading more of it, and file sizes will be getting bigger.
I think it is very likely that 6GBs a month will not be good enough a few years from now…maybe less time than that. I think Rogers knows that too.
What’s going to happen is that you’re going to get stuck either having to buy a new plan at a non-discounted price, or not using your iPhone for those downloadable services.
The other thing is that there will be new iPhone this time next year – and probably another the year after and another the year after. At some point before 3 years is up, your iPhone is going to need to be replaced, and when that happens, you’ll more than likely get hit with these higher rates.
I know that you’ve been waiting for what seems like forever for the iPhone to come out in Canada, but if the Rogers launch is unsuccessful right now, it doesn’t mean that the iPhone will not be in Canada, it means that Rogers will have to rethink what they’re doing.
I don’t think this is a good deal for Canadian customers. I agree, that it’s better than what you had before – but being valedictorian of summer school doesn’t make you a great student. You know?
Just because they’re doing better doesn’t mean what they’re doing is actually good. I do think Canadians should still be complaining – it’s already been proven by this new plan that the complaining is getting results. Right now its getting a short term “fix” result to placate customers. If they see that the complaining isn’t going to stop unless there is a long term solution here, then they may be inclined to do it.
That’s my opinion on it, anyway.
You also missed the fact that the Wifi is not a part of this and that call display is an extra $15 and there is a $6.95 a month access fee on all Rogers plans. Also the 6Gb is not a guarantee for the life of the contract. They are also hinting at charging for incoming text messages just like Telus and Bell.
@John
Holy crap, that makes it even worse.
@ Drew, what I was referring to was having to use WIFI to quickly access something whereas now I will be able to use 3G, instead of trying to find a wifi signal to check something.
@ Michael, I’ll get a gravitar just for you 🙂 and I do agree with you it should be better than it is, but I’m happy with my plan because I’m actually saving money and getting a way better phone/deal. The specific plan your talking about here, the 6GB that is a massive ripoff and I will completely back you on that. Especially because you can’t lock in that deal as a contract, it expires and plans shift back to to the way they were before. Plus the fact that you need to add all the extras separately is a joke. I’m still pissed off I need to buy one of their value packs just so I can get caller display, I don’t care about the other crap it comes with but its the only way to get it. The 7$ access fee is also a joke, but there’s a bill going through the government now to get that changed, lets hope it wins.
I must admit Steve’s replies do look like a sales pitch. He seems a bit to egar to convince people that it’s not a bad deal, who else execpt an employee would be this dedicated to contradicting anything negative?
“The idea that Rogers would tell their employees to post on blogs is ridiculous too, a little too much twilight zone maybe?”
You got to be joking. This is standard business pratice for a lot of firms!
I’m just glad I live in England. Free unlimited data access 🙂 Yipeeee…
Then again you have to compaire it to the local alternatives but I can’t blame Apple for not wanting to support Canada with many phones as it’s obvious these high fees will affect sales like the lack of G3 did in Europe for the first gen phone.
Whew … July 12th and I’m still holding strong. 🙂