Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Rogers Announces iPhone Plans in Canada

caller Id and early evenings need to be included. They should separate the voice and data.

I would pay 60 a month for regular phone type plan and maybe 200 mb of data, without hidden fees. ....... No way am I spending 90 bucks a month for a crippled plan.


Rogers had a chance to dominate the Canadian market with this phone, instead they're getting boycotts and pettitions.
 
BRLawyer said:
It's simply AMAZING that you guys in the US and Canada still have to pay/bill received calls...this is so 1990s and unbelievably lame.

Another proof that Europeans, Brazilians and most major civilized markets are WAAAY ahead of those two markets in mobile telephony. You really need to step up the cause with your politicians, because your conditions are worse than Africa's...really.
Click to expand...

Singapore and Hong Kong are quite civilized and use the same system. It has generally served us well -- where can you get an unlimited plan (text and voice) for 67€? T-Mobile offers it in the US ($99), add on unlimited data to get to about 80€ ($119). It's standard in US contracts to have free nights and weekends and texting is extremely cheap. In contrast, the European market is extremely expensive, and you have to think twice before you dial someone because you have to pay more if they're on cell or not, which for locals is easier but if you're visiting you might not know the numbering system to identify mobiles.

In any case, the proof is in the pudding. That and the EU will be switching y'all over to our system within a few years.
 
Here's a list of 'demands' I emailed to the Rogers execs before I even consider a contract with them:

1. Contracts should only be 2-years since that is what they are everywhere else around the world concerning the iPhone. 3-year contracts don't make any sense because of the face pace of today's technology. An iPhone purchased today will seem like a dinosaur in 3 years. Let's be realistic - you are still going to make boatloads of money on 2-year contracts.

2. Caller ID should be included free with any plan. It is nearly ubiquitous these days and most people expect it.

3. A minimum of 100 text messages should be provided, but preferably unlimited. Text messages take up a TINY amount of data and the cost of them is unjustified.

4. A minimum of 200 minutes voice.

5. Visual Voicemail.

6. 500 MB data (preferably unlimited).

7. Unlimited evenings should start at 6 PM. Who in their right mind seriously believes evenings begin at 9 PM??? GET REAL!

8. Ditch the system access fee since it is a bogus add-on charge that isn't advertised. Nowhere on the iPhone voice & data plan does it mention the system access fee. Plus, what does the monthly contract fee pay for if it isn't 'system access'?
 
Its hardly surprising Rogers isn't offering Unlimited data. They don't even offer Unlimited use for the high speed internet service. I pay $60+ a month and I'm limited to 95GB of "usage".
 
Here is a reply email I just sent!


Thank you for the email regarding the data allowance, which had nothing to do with my concern. Please READ my concern and provide a RELEVANT answer.

My concern was in regard to Rogers not including name/call display in the plans. One of your representatives was quoted in the Calgary Herald this morning, saying these plans provide the FULL iPhone experience. Past advertisements for the phone CLEARLY show how the phone displays who is calling... I have NEVER seen another iPhone provider exclude the caller id feature.

I have read that it may be possible to only add the caller ID to the plan for $5-7/mth. This should be included for ALL iPhone users in the proposed prices. The nickel and diming going on here make Rogers look like used car salesmen, instead of a leading-edge company.

I'm surprised that most of the media coverage is ignoring your system access fees and calling the cheapest plan $60 instead of $67. This practice is also shameful and should be outlawed.

In summary, if Rogers were to include the name display, I WOULD get an iPhone. The system access fee is already an extra hidden charge - doing the same for caller id is atrocious.

It would also be good for Rogers to allow users to switch plans retroactively without penalty since I have no idea how much data I would use a month.

A reason lots of people are screaming is because Rogers is going around waving $60/mth and unlimited evenings, which is high but not outrageous, until you look into the details to see that evenings start at 9 PM!!!!! and no caller id... WOW makes it look like Rogers is out to get you if you aren't watching! I'd be paranoid to use this phone with you!




On 28-Jun-08, at 9:24 AM, Rogers Wireless Customer Service wrote:

Dear xxx,

Thank you for taking the time to write to us, we appreciate your use of
online customer service.

In your recent email, you have informed us that you are dissatisfied
with the price of our iPhone plans.

Rogers has designed a pricing structure that offers high-value, flexible
voice and data packages so that Canadians can make the most of their
iPhone 3G experience.

The majority of carriers offering iPhone 3G worldwide do not have
unlimited plans for this device. Some carriers have implemented a soft
cap so the plan isn?t truly unlimited. For example, in France the soft
cap is 500MB where we have a plan that includes 4 times that amount in
your bucket. Unlimited plans could end up costing you more for what you
don't use.

Based on reports that the average usage for the first generation iPhone
was less than 100MB per month, our iPhone 3G plans more than accommodate
the vast majority of customers. Rogers and Fido customers get 4 times
the data on our $60 entry level plan (400 MB) and 20 times the data on
our most comprehensive plan.

We apologize ...

Regards,
Grant C.
Rogers Online Customer Service
http://www.rogers.com

Original Message Follows:
------------------------
*** Your Cellular General Inquiry ***

Subject --> Your Cellular General Inquiry

Comments --> I am very disappointed in your new iPhone 3G plans. I was
planning to line up on July 11 to purchase this, to replace a phone from
Bell that I have from work. I will NOT be purchasing the phone now. At a
minimum, the quoted "VALUE PACKS" should be included in the plans - how
could you even conceive offering the iPhone 3G w/o caller ID? $93/month
is the cheapest plan w/Call ID advertised (the REAL price/month)????
Wow!!!!
That's brutal!

The massive potential Rogers had to promote the iPhone 3G and their
network in Canada has been ignored by this pricing. Good luck.
 
adam1185 said:
Here's a list of 'demands' I emailed to the Rogers execs before I even consider a contract with them:

1. Contracts should only be 2-years since that is what they are everywhere else around the world concerning the iPhone. 3-year contracts don't make any sense because of the face pace of today's technology. An iPhone purchased today will seem like a dinosaur in 3 years. Let's be realistic - you are still going to make boatloads of money on 2-year contracts.

2. Caller ID should be included free with any plan. It is nearly ubiquitous these days and most people expect it.

3. A minimum of 100 text messages should be provided, but preferably unlimited. Text messages take up a TINY amount of data and the cost of them is unjustified.

4. A minimum of 200 minutes voice.

5. Visual Voicemail.

6. 500 MB data (preferably unlimited).

7. Unlimited evenings should start at 6 PM. Who in their right mind seriously believes evenings begin at 9 PM??? GET REAL!

8. Ditch the system access fee since it is a bogus add-on charge that isn't advertised. Nowhere on the iPhone voice & data plan does it mention the system access fee. Plus, what does the monthly contract fee pay for if it isn't 'system access'?
Click to expand...

I think you're taking a step in the right direction by emailing Rogers with this kind of suggestion; however, 200 minutes minimum is only 50 more than the current plan, and you only really added 100 mb.

I think a better suggestion would be on the cheaper plan, 300 minutes, and 1 gb (1000 mb) of data. Otherwise, it's not really THAT different.
 
How Do I Contact Rogers and Tell them How I Really Feel??

https://your.rogers.com/contact/contactus_main.asp

Ted Rogers trogers@rci.rogers.com

J Innes (VP) jinnes@rci.rogers.com

Jane Haitsma jhaitsma@rci.rogers.com

Apple (Thanks Stogats from HoFo)
Simon Atkins (Canada)
satkins@apple.com

The head corporate media guy in the USA
Steve Dowling
dowling@apple.com
(408) 974-1896

and the BIG honcho at Apple for communications is :
Katie Cotton
katiec@apple.com
Vice President of Worldwide Corporate Communications
 
adam1185 said:
Here's a list of 'demands' I emailed to the Rogers execs before I even consider a contract with them:

1. Contracts should only be 2-years since that is what they are everywhere else around the world concerning the iPhone. 3-year contracts don't make any sense because of the face pace of today's technology. An iPhone purchased today will seem like a dinosaur in 3 years. Let's be realistic - you are still going to make boatloads of money on 2-year contracts.

2. Caller ID should be included free with any plan. It is nearly ubiquitous these days and most people expect it.

3. A minimum of 100 text messages should be provided, but preferably unlimited. Text messages take up a TINY amount of data and the cost of them is unjustified.

4. A minimum of 200 minutes voice.

5. Visual Voicemail.

6. Unlimited data.

7. Unlimited evenings should start at 6 PM. Who in their right mind seriously believes evenings begin at 9 PM??? GET REAL!

8. Ditch the system access fee since it is a bogus add-on charge that isn't advertised. Nowhere on the iPhone voice & data plan does it mention the system access fee. Plus, what does the monthly contract fee pay for if it isn't 'system access'?
Click to expand...

Good list but needs one change.
 
I can't believe the prices these carriers charge for Canadians.

We pay such high prices and have poor plans and services.

We only have 1 provider with GSM phones in Canada... we can't even take our phones to another provider.

Apple should leverage itself and require service providers to have REASONABLE rates when they are carrying the iPhone. Who would dare use an iPhone on a plan such as this?
 
who are the 77 people who voted this article as positive? i guess there's a group of Roger's Nazis on these boards... either that or people who are playing Roger's down on the markets...
 
Darkroom said:
who are the 77 people who voted this article as positive? i guess there's a group of Roger's Nazis on these boards... either that or people who are playing Roger's down on the markets...
Click to expand...
Actually, you may have something there. There were 56 negatives last night when there were less than 600 positives. I'm sure a few Rogers employees are trying to try to put a good face on this. If they're continuing to follow the thread, however, I hope they are realizing the truth about the matter.
 
The response confirms what I thought. The unlimited plans are not really unlimited and the provider will go after you if you are a consistent abuser of the service. The purpose of the cellular network is first and foremost for providing voice calls and data services are of a secondary priority.

I would love to have seen cheaper plans and higher caps but people should be taking advantage of the unlimited access to WiFI provided by Rogers and Fido for their heavy data needs while away from the office or their home.

I have see reports from quite a few heavy email/browser users of the first generation iPhone reporting that their monthly usage was between 100-300MB. Now that would fit within the 60 dollar plan.

I would also like to point out that some long time Rogers customers receive a loyalty discount with their current plan and it is possible that Rogers might be convinced to honour it with the iPhone plans. This might make it possible for some customers to either get the 75 dollar plan for 60 or get the 60 dollar plan plus the 15 dollar value pack for 60 bucks.

Quite frankly, I have little sympathy people who expect that everyone should be sucking up the bandwidth our finite cellular network watching Youtube videos on 3G. Streaming video is best done with your computer or while at a WiFi hotspot. I want to be able to have the bandwidth for voice or data when I really need it but that is not going to happen if everyone is downloading streams of video now is it?

Please try to think of the big picture.

The fact of the matter is that Canada is too spread out to expect unlimited access on the 3G network and the caps are designed to discourage everyone from having a free for all reducing quality of service for everyone.

I'm going to get the 75 dollar plan and hope that I can negotiate a package deal for that price. Instead of whining, think about trying to haggle with Rogers instead.

PS. I decided to neither vote positive or negative on the story because I'm a realist.
 
Darkroom said:
who are the 77 people who voted this article as positive? i guess there's a group of Roger's Nazis on these boards... either that or people who are playing Roger's down on the markets...
Click to expand...

Uhm... no. There are some of us who think 400MB is more than enough for one month. The only thing wrong with the rate plan is that Caller ID is not included. As I said (maybe here, maybe somewhere else) it's really not that expensive:
$60 + $6.95 (System Access Fee) + $6 (Caller ID) + $0.25 (911 fee) is not a lot of money. It's only $73.20/month - a couple dollars more than AT&T's plan.

So far, the complainers against this plan have not presented a good argument why they need more data than that. I'm sure there are, but everyone here can't seem to come up with something better than "Gimme gimme gimme!"
 
Surely said:
If Rogers has to admit that they made a mistake about their price plans, the people who came up with said plans would probably be fired for making Rogers look bad. I wasn't talking about massive layoffs.

And regarding your 'oil crisis' example:
1. That's not how it works. No.
2. What a horrible anaogy.
Click to expand...

No need to get defensive over this, Surely.

The circumstances are completely different, but I feel like Canadians are getting screwed over here just as they are regarding the oil prices.

Oh, and I'm sure it's "just a few people" who came up with the plans and not a whole team of executives....😕
 
Darkroom said:
who are the 77 people who voted this article as positive? i guess there's a group of Roger's Nazis on these boards... either that or people who are playing Roger's down on the markets...
Click to expand...

Yeah i would definitely not vote this as positive.
Thing is though... Lots of Canadians have been wanting an iPhone since it first was introduced in June 07. Weve been waiting desperately for the iPhone to come to Canada. I aint gonna wait for another year hoping for cheaper plans. Rogers might lower prices a little bit till its launch on the 11th. Most likely though...that aint gonna happen. So screw it...Im gonna get myself one of those bad boys...
 
aristotle said:
The response confirms what I thought. The unlimited plans are not really unlimited and the provider will go after you if you are a consistent abuser of the service. The purpose of the cellular network is first and foremost for providing voice calls and data services are of a secondary priority.

I would love to have seen cheaper plans and higher caps but people should be taking advantage of the unlimited access to WiFI provided by Rogers and Fido for their heavy data needs while away from the office or their home.

I have see reports from quite a few heavy email/browser users of the first generation iPhone reporting that their monthly usage was between 100-300MB. Now that would fit within the 60 dollar plan.

I would also like to point out that some long time Rogers customers receive a loyalty discount with their current plan and it is possible that Rogers might be convinced to honour it with the iPhone plans. This might make it possible for some customers to either get the 75 dollar plan for 60 or get the 60 dollar plan plus the 15 dollar value pack for 60 bucks.

Quite frankly, I have little sympathy people who expect that everyone should be sucking up the bandwidth our finite cellular network watching Youtube videos on 3G. Streaming video is best done with your computer or while at a WiFi hotspot. I want to be able to have the bandwidth for voice or data when I really need it but that is not going to happen if everyone is downloading streams of video now is it?

Please try to think of the big picture.

The fact of the matter is that Canada is too spread out to expect unlimited access on the 3G network and the caps are designed to discourage everyone from having a free for all reducing quality of service for everyone.

I'm going to get the 75 dollar plan and hope that I can negotiate a package deal for that price. Instead of whining, think about trying to haggle with Rogers instead.

PS. I decided to neither vote positive or negative on the story because I'm a realist.
Click to expand...

That's all fine and dandy, and I might have even gone for the 400MB plan if the $60 plan included Caller ID, and Voicemail. When all is said an done, if you want the $60 plan with CID and voicemail, you're looking at like $96 total after the SAF and taxes. That's for the cheapest plan with CID and Voicemail!

To say that Canadian cellcos cannot afford to offer unlimited 3G data, is to ignore the fact that both Telus and Bell have recently begun offering unlimited data on their EVDO networks (which is faster than HSDPA by the wa) for $30/month.

Why can they afford it? But Rogers (which is Canada's most profitable carrier on a per-client basis) cannot?

Why is it that Telus has a more expansive 3G network in Canada than Rogers does, and they can afford unlimited data for $30?

I'll tell you why they can afford it: because they NEED to compete with Rogers. So no, it's not a matter of what they can AFFORD to offer consumers, it's a matter of what they THINK they can charge given the market conditions.

Rogers knows it has a monopoly of GSM phones, and it's milking that monopoly. And yes, that's something for Canadians to be upset about.

Why? Because we lease Rogers our public spectrum. We give them the right to OWN public frequencies so that they may operate their network.

The competition bureau also permitted Rogers to buy out the only other GSM carrier (Microcell/Fido), thereby eliminating any competition in the GSM space. The only reason this was allowed, was because Fido was not making any money. For them: it was either be aquired or go out of business, so the competition bureau had to take the lesser of two evils.

Fido was particularly disadvantaged by being a one-trick-pony; the other three telecoms had large ancillary business units which give them a lot of leverage to engage in large capital expenditures, such as mass network expansion. In this climate, Fido just could not compete.

The fact of the matter is, Rogers has bought Fido, a whole bunch of television and radio stations in the past couple of years, spending billions of dollars... and they still made a profit of $0.46 a share last year. This isn't about the economics of cell towers spread across a dispersed population... it really isn't... cell towers are very cheap to deploy for one, and adding up their capital costs associated with the deployment of their HSDPA network vs. revenues did not even result in them having to amortize the cost over multiple years.

The high costs just patently have nothing to do with any of the facts that Rogers, or Rogers defenders claim it does. Any telecom market analyst will tell you, that Rogers has extremely high margins for a telecom company (the biggest in North America), they are laughing all the way to the bank... and there is nothing to stop them.

So given the lack of adequate competition, I would say that consumer outrage (which this is) is the only way to adjust what Rogers thinks it can charge.
 
hayesk said:
Uhm... no. There are some of us who think 400MB is more than enough for one month. The only thing wrong with the rate plan is that Caller ID is not included. As I said (maybe here, maybe somewhere else) it's really not that expensive:
$60 + $6.95 (System Access Fee) + $6 (Caller ID) + $0.25 (911 fee) is not a lot of money. It's only $73.20/month - a couple dollars more than AT&T's plan.

So far, the complainers against this plan have not presented a good argument why they need more data than that. I'm sure there are, but everyone here can't seem to come up with something better than "Gimme gimme gimme!"
Click to expand...
Some web pages take up 1MB by themselves. That would only allow access to 13 such web pages per day on average. Rogers' estimate of 176k for a web page would cover only the most basic of web pages.

And yes, the plan is not much more than AT&T's, but there is NO unlimited data, and there is NO family plan on Rogers. I have 3 phones in my household, and there is no way I will pay $220/month for even the most basic iPhone service. On Bell with an HTC touch, I could get unlimited data for less than half the price, with free anytime calling among my 3 lines (which is my primary use of the phones).
 
hayesk said:
Uhm... no. There are some of us who think 400MB is more than enough for one month. The only thing wrong with the rate plan is that Caller ID is not included. As I said (maybe here, maybe somewhere else) it's really not that expensive:
$60 + $6.95 (System Access Fee) + $6 (Caller ID) + $0.25 (911 fee) is not a lot of money. It's only $73.20/month - a couple dollars more than AT&T's plan.

So far, the complainers against this plan have not presented a good argument why they need more data than that. I'm sure there are, but everyone here can't seem to come up with something better than "Gimme gimme gimme!"
Click to expand...


it's the 9pm evenings and 150 minutes and $90 dollars a month, with caller id.

No in-network calling sucks.

And why bother with the ring tones crap.

as far as their website estimates....mac rumors is 3 times their estimated webpage size...cnn is 6 times.

And the iphone doesn't cache pages, correct me if I'm wrong, but I think it reloads the page when you hit the back button...doubling the data you need for basic navigation.
 
so what about gps? doesn't it keep loading maps while you are using the app for the gps? soooooo then i can only use the gps for about a couple of days a montsh or else i will have to pay for more data?.... ridiculous
 
Positive Action

Perhaps we should organize information sessions at Rogers outlets. I am sure people will be lining up waiting to get iphones on the 11th or just before. What if we had people at the outlets handing out fliers or telling people what they are actually getting and what the actual costs are and urging them to reconsider their purchase until such time as Rogers offers real and compelling value for their fees?

Tell people what the real cost of the plan is once they pay the SAF, caller id, value added plans, taxes etc. And then tell them how much talk time and data usage they will really get. With the minimal plan at $75 or so they get 150 minutes of talk time equals about 5 minutes a day, no caller id, 75 SMS (2.5 per day). Do they really talk only 5 minutes per day? Send less than 3 SMS per day? For 400MB with real world web pages being about 1 MB they can access an average of 12 to 13 web pages per day. That's not including emails or other data usage.

Pony up $150 or so each month and you get a whopping 26 minutes per day of talk time with caller id and essentially unlimited SMS. You get about 67 or 68 web pages per day if you don't do emails or other data related activities. Do any emailing, especially with attachments sent or received and that will eat up surfing time. Visit iTunes or the app store over 3G and that will use All this with a 3 year lock in on a type of device that will probably receive significant upgrades and updates every year.

Let's tell the uninformed going into Rogers what they will really get and see if we can prevent these people being raped by Rogers. That will hurt them financially which is the only way to make them take notice. Just think about media coverage if these information protests are held at large outlets where the media is covering the line ups on the first day sales etc.? I think if potential customers are informed as to the real all in costs and what they are actually getting for that cost they may rethink their purchase. otherwise many will buy in to Rogers bull***t that they are paying $60 and getting great value for potential use of their phone.
 
queshy said:
No need to get defensive over this, Surely.

The circumstances are completely different, but I feel like Canadians are getting screwed over here just as they are regarding the oil prices.

Oh, and I'm sure it's "just a few people" who came up with the plans and not a whole team of executives....😕
Click to expand...

I wasn't being defensive, I was expanding on my prior comment and explaining to you why your analogy doesn't make sense. I didn't know that Canada drills for iPhones and wireless plans in Alberta too.

Why do you have "just a few people" in quotes as if you were quoting me? I never said it would be just a few people. I just said it wouldn't result in mass layoffs. Where did you get that quote from?

If Rogers deems this to be a gross miscalculation (which they won't), and they decide to change the plans (which they won't) they would have to blame someone for the decision to go forward with these rate plans. They won't fire dozens or hundreds of people- they would fire or discipline the people or person in charge of those groups. The ones that approved the plans. So, as I said before, there wouldn't be mass layoffs.

Please keep in mind that I agree that these plans aren't fair to Canadians living in Canada (as I am a Canadian living in the U.S.), but also keep in mind that I don't think there's a chance in hell that they will change said plans any time soon.

I think that there's a better chance of the Leafs winning the Stanley Cup this upcoming season. GO LEAFS!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back