iPhone To Be Rogers Exclusive In Canada

[MacRumors]

DailyTech is reporting that an email sent to Rogers customers confirms suspicions that the Canadian wireless carrier would be the exclusive provider of Apple's iPhone in Canada.

Rogers is currently the only GSM operator in Canada, and therefore a Rogers-exclusive agreement is not unexpected. A launch date and pricing is yet to be determined, however the launch is expected before the European launch in Q4 2007.

[Stella]

Well, there is Fido .... who is owned by Rogers! :-D
( Who, IMO, Fido, have better packages than Rogers - re: monthly )

I wonder if Fido will get the iPhone too - or will Rogers just hoard it to themselves.

[adamfilip]

I hope it does

i just signed a 3 year contract with fido 2 months ago.
so im stuck for now

Hope Iphone shows up at fido

[bradallen]

i'm from the east coast so aliant is "better" than rogers when it comes to wireless, but i'll take it because rogers is more wide spread.

[fall3n]

wouldn't it technically make sense for Fido to support it too seeing as Rogers owns Fido and therefore it opens up to a larger consumer base?

[LaDirection]

Originally Posted by Stella

Well, there is Fido .... who is owned by Rogers! :-D
( Who, IMO, Fido, have better packages than Rogers - re: monthly )

I wonder if Fido will get the iPhone too - or will Rogers just hoard it to themselves.

When Rogers bought Fido they merged the 2 network and disbanded Microcell Connexion. There is now a single GSM network operated by a single carrier and a single billing department. Fido exists only has a brandname.

As for Alliant, they rent someone else's network. Wether it's Telus or Rogers, I don't know them, but they do not have their own network.

[X5-452]

Hmmm. The article says Roger's sent an email to customers. I still haven't gotten anything, but if I do get something I'll put it up.

[X5-452]

Originally Posted by LaDirection

When Rogers bought Fido they merged the 2 network and disbanded Microcell Connexion. There is now a single GSM network operated by a single carrier and a single billing department. Fido exists only has a brandname.

As for Alliant, they rent someone else's network. Wether it's Telus or Rogers, I don't know them, but they do not have their own network.

The Aliant company here in the east is just a division of Bell Mobility.

[uv23]

A good reason for me to finally ditch &@!$%# Telus .

[boxlight]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

[url=http://www.macrumors.com]
Rogers is currently the only GSM operator in Canada

Curious, what is "GSM" and why does iPhone need it?

[tvguru]

Originally Posted by boxlight

Curious, what is "GSM" and why does iPhone need it?

This has to be the easiest way to explain it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GSM

[jono_3]

perfect my 2 years with rogers is up in a month, which means more subsidy on the phone of phones

[icloud]

my apologies for lack of critical content in this post but:


YAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!

this excites me oh so very much...im with fido, but my plan is up in q4 07

[brendanryder]

Originally Posted by uv23

A good reason for me to finally ditch &@!$%# Telus .

most deffinatly

[quigleybc]

ahem ahem....cough...allow me to clear my throat

ok



WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTT !!!!!!!!!!!!!


I friggin KNEW it....when Rogers got the Rokr first and it seemed like out here in BC they got the RAZR first, so I knew Rogers was the one for me if the iPhone ever did come out....

Originally Posted by X5-452

Hmmm. The article says Roger's sent an email to customers. I still haven't gotten anything, but if I do get something I'll put it up.

Ya I didn't get no stinkin e-mail either....

[JoeCanadian]

Originally Posted by Macrumors

DailyTech is reporting that an email sent to Rogers customers confirms suspicions that the Canadian wireless carrier would be the exclusive provider of Apple's iPhone in Canada.

I sent Rogers customer service a message shortly after Macworld, and I received one of those emails on the 15th. The body of the email is posted here:

http://www.ehmac.ca/showthread.php?t=48730

[Keebler]

Originally Posted by X5-452

Hmmm. The article says Roger's sent an email to customers. I still haven't gotten anything, but if I do get something I'll put it up.

i think it's great to having the iphone coming here, but i'm not surprised at the no email from rogers. their back end systems, customer service and client account details pretty much suck.

but they're better than fido and bell isn't offering it so giddy up
if it has some mapping ability like taking google maps...i'm in.

[SilvorX]

Originally Posted by LaDirection

When Rogers bought Fido they merged the 2 network and disbanded Microcell Connexion. There is now a single GSM network operated by a single carrier and a single billing department. Fido exists only has a brandname.

As for Alliant, they rent someone else's network. Wether it's Telus or Rogers, I don't know them, but they do not have their own network.

Not so much integrating the two networks together, Fido users now have the ability to access the Rogers network, but not vice versa from every Rogers employee/etc I've ever talked to/known.

But I could've told you that Rogers was going to be the exclusive carrier in Canada the day the iPhone was unveiled, because there's no way the iPhone would come to Fido, sure I think the Sidekick came to Fido, but that's about it for anything "high tech", you don't see Treos or Blackberries or HTC's being sold through Fido anyways.

Coverage wise and plan wise, I prefer MTS much much much much more than Rogers, but phone and Customer Service wise, Rogers, plus all of my MTS friends had billing errors on their last bill where they ALL owe their last few bills although they already paid all those bills.

But MTS does have $0 Moto Q with a 3 year contract.. that's mighty tempting right now..

[Eaon]

Originally Posted by SilvorX

Not so much integrating the two networks together, Fido users now have the ability to access the Rogers network, but not vice versa from every Rogers employee/etc I've ever talked to/known.

But I could've told you that Rogers was going to be the exclusive carrier in Canada the day the iPhone was unveiled, because there's no way the iPhone would come to Fido, sure I think the Sidekick came to Fido, but that's about it for anything "high tech", you don't see Treos or Blackberries or HTC's being sold through Fido anyways.

While it's true that Fido doesn't carry Treos and Blackberries and such, the thing with Fido is they really seem to be Roger's "fun, consumer-oriented" brand. Rogers is stodgy and business-y, Fido is consumer. The iPhone is consumer, IMHO. People complain that it doesn't do this or that the a BB does, but I don't think that's the point of the iPhone. Regular humans don't buy BB's. They don't care. They can wait to get home to check their email. iPhone seems to be aimed at normal humans. Fido is a normal human brand. So I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the iPhone available through Fido.

As for the integrating networks, that sounds about right. I went into a Rogers store around Christmas because their selection of phones is a bit more extensive than what Fido offers, and I asked if the phones worked between the networks and the guy said no, they are still locked to each individual network even though they're the same company. Both Rogers and Fido people have told me they may be owned by the same parent company, but they still run them as two separate entities. That being said, when the iPhone was launched, I emailed Fido customer service (as you may have guessed, I'm a Fido customer), and I got this response:

Rogers Wireless and Fido are the only GSM carriers in Canada and while there are many GSM handsets on which we can provide you with information, we do not comment on products that we do not offer.

Interesting how they lumped themselves together with Rogers in that sentence even though they always act like they are their own company still. The unfortunate thing would be if the iPhone came to Rogers and not Fido, since, as mentioned, they still lock their phones to their own networks. If that happens, we'll just have to see how the unlocking industry gets on with it.

[BlueRevolution]

Originally Posted by Eaon

While it's true that Fido doesn't carry Treos and Blackberries and such, the thing with Fido is they really seem to be Roger's "fun, consumer-oriented" brand. Rogers is stodgy and business-y, Fido is consumer. The iPhone is consumer, IMHO. People complain that it doesn't do this or that the a BB does, but I don't think that's the point of the iPhone. Regular humans don't buy BB's. They don't care. They can wait to get home to check their email. iPhone seems to be aimed at normal humans. Fido is a normal human brand. So I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the iPhone available through Fido.

I would be. I agree with your points about the purpose of the thing, but I can't see a $700 phone being terribly consumer-oriented, iPod or no. Which is precisely why Apple may find it a hard sell at first, until they start dropping prices.

Although I'm buying one.

[SilvorX]

Originally Posted by Eaon

While it's true that Fido doesn't carry Treos and Blackberries and such, the thing with Fido is they really seem to be Roger's "fun, consumer-oriented" brand. Rogers is stodgy and business-y, Fido is consumer. The iPhone is consumer, IMHO. People complain that it doesn't do this or that the a BB does, but I don't think that's the point of the iPhone. Regular humans don't buy BB's. They don't care. They can wait to get home to check their email. iPhone seems to be aimed at normal humans. Fido is a normal human brand. So I wouldn't be at all surprised to see the iPhone available through Fido.

As for the integrating networks, that sounds about right. I went into a Rogers store around Christmas because their selection of phones is a bit more extensive than what Fido offers, and I asked if the phones worked between the networks and the guy said no, they are still locked to each individual network even though they're the same company. Both Rogers and Fido people have told me they may be owned by the same parent company, but they still run them as two separate entities. That being said, when the iPhone was launched, I emailed Fido customer service (as you may have guessed, I'm a Fido customer), and I got this response:



Interesting how they lumped themselves together with Rogers in that sentence even though they always act like they are their own company still. The unfortunate thing would be if the iPhone came to Rogers and not Fido, since, as mentioned, they still lock their phones to their own networks. If that happens, we'll just have to see how the unlocking industry gets on with it.

It would be awesome to see Fido get the iPhone, but Rogers really limits its Fido brand for phone selection now, for a very long time the RAZR wasn't even being sold by Fido, and even now it's only V3 (no iTunes meaning). If Fido had never been purchased by Rogers, we may have seen a different path and possibly Fido would have been a good choice for the iPhone.

Fido phone selection: http://www.fido.ca/portal/product/product.do
Rogers phone selection: http://www.rogers.com/phones

There's many consumer based phones on the Rogers site that Fido should get, but sadly probably won't get. Per second billing still makes Fido > Rogers and same with some of the plans. The response from Fido is the same old generic cut and paste message that Rogers/Fido always gives out, but there IS one more GSM carrier in Canada, although it's only a local carrier, called [http://www.icewireless.ca/]Ice Wireless[/url] Imagine if they got the exclusive rights to the iPhone, that would suck for Rogers-Fido customers.

It will only be a matter of time until someone finds a way to unlock the iPhone, I know someone will be able to unlock it, it will just take a while for it to happen.

I might buy an iPhone if:
1) It doesn't require a 3 year contract, a 2 year I can live with
2) Rogers doesn't find a way to remove the Wi-fi feature on it
3) Doesn't require a data plan.

However, as I probably said before, Rogers requires a 3 year contract on simple stuff such as plans now, if you change your plan, that usually requires a renewal of the contract, such as if you want Unlimited Local Incoming Calls and 6PM Nights/Weekends.

[Eaon]

Originally Posted by SilvorX

There's many consumer based phones on the Rogers site that Fido should get, but sadly probably won't get. Per second billing still makes Fido > Rogers and same with some of the plans. The response from Fido is the same old generic cut and paste message that Rogers/Fido always gives out, but there IS one more GSM carrier in Canada, although it's only a local carrier, called [http://www.icewireless.ca/]Ice Wireless[/url] Imagine if they got the exclusive rights to the iPhone, that would suck for Rogers-Fido customers.

Inuvik and Yellowknife? Now that would show some serious dedication to Apple for someone to go for that. "Ya, I've got a great career, this is where my family and friends live, but I'm moving to Inuvik so I can get an iPhone."

(Inuvik, NT, for those of you wondering why this is funny)

[unigolyn]

Originally Posted by SilvorX

such as if you want Unlimited Local Incoming Calls and 6PM Nights/Weekends.

Gah, this is why I'm never switching to anything but Fido. Moving to Canada from Europe, the concept of charging for INCOMING calls is bad enough, but the fact that people stand for complete BS like "Local Incoming" is beyond me. Just how is accepting an incoming call from a local landline less costly to Rogers than accepting an incoming call from anywhere else? Answer: it isn't. People are used to local calls being cheaper than long-distance ones, but somehow they don't realize that this only applies to calls you make, not ones you receive. And per-minute charging is something we got rid of back in 1995 or something like that. God almighty I hate cell phone providers in North America. I really really do.

[generationxwing]

Originally Posted by unigolyn

Gah, this is why I'm never switching to anything but Fido. Moving to Canada from Europe, the concept of charging for INCOMING calls is bad enough, but the fact that people stand for complete BS like "Local Incoming" is beyond me. Just how is accepting an incoming call from a local landline less costly to Rogers than accepting an incoming call from anywhere else? Answer: it isn't. People are used to local calls being cheaper than long-distance ones, but somehow they don't realize that this only applies to calls you make, not ones you receive. And per-minute charging is something we got rid of back in 1995 or something like that. God almighty I hate cell phone providers in North America. I really really do.

Local incoming means any incoming calls you receive while in your local calling area. Leave that calling area, and then any calls you receive aren't local any more.

[dmz]

Enough already - Rogers has not officially landed anything. Yes, it's very likely they will end up with the iPhone, but NOTHING official has been announced - there was no "e-mail to customers", this whole story is fabricated. Yes, Nadir Mohamed said Rogers is the most likely candidate, and that Rogers would love to get the deal, but they just HAVEN'T. AppleInsider, and any others who have reported this nonsense should shake their journalism 101 textbooks for the missing pages on verifying sources. You need at least one direct source, and one corroborating source before you should go to print, and no one has neither. Shame on MacRumours for carrying this rumour, and Andrew Escobar who is quoted as the "authority"- I won't be visiting his blog in the future.

I realise this is, after all, a rumour site - but fabrications (read "lies") are not a defining charcteristics of a good rumour.