Rogers announces iPhone 3G plans, unlimited data isn't one of them
By Thomas Ricker 
posted Jun 27th 2008 9:05AM
posted Jun 27th 2008 9:05AM
Here we have it, iPhone 3G pricing for our better mannered, gun-toting friends up north. All the plans from Rogers Wireless require that lovely, three-year contract and include visual voicemail, free evenings and weekends, and unlimited WiFi at all Rogers and Fido hotspots. The plans start at $60/month for 150 minutes of voice and just 400MB of data before topping out at $115/month for 800 minutes voice and up to 2GB of data. None of these plans offer unlimited data as previously rumored. See the details after the break. | Price | Voice | Data | Sent Text Messages | Incoming Text Messages | Visual Voicemail |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $60 | 150 minutes + unlimited evening and weekend |
400 MB (up to 200,000 text emails or 3,100 web pages or 1,360 photo attachments) |
75 |
Unlimited |
Unlimited |
| $75 | 300 minutes + unlimited evening and weekend | 750 MB (up to 380,000 text emails or 5,900 web pages or 2,560 photo Attachments) |
100 |
Unlimited | Unlimited |
| $100 | 600 minutes + unlimited evening and weekend | 1 GB (up to 524,000 text emails or 8,000 web pages or 3,500 photo attachments) |
200 |
Unlimited | Unlimited |
| $115 | 800 minutes + unlimited evening and weekend | 2 GB (up to 1,048,000 text emails or 16,000 web pages or 7,000 photo attachments) |
300 |
Unlimited | Unlimited |
Rogers Wireless will also offer two voice value packs for popular wireless features: a $15 monthly value pack including Caller ID, Who Called, Caller Ring Trax, 2,500 Sent Text Messages and 2,500 Call Forwarding Minutes; and a $20 monthly value pack including Caller ID, Who Called, Caller Ring Trax, 10,000 Sent Text Messages and 6:00 p.m. Early Evening Calling and 2,500 Call Forwarding Minutes.
Now I know what people mean when they say that Rogers sucks.
Leave it to Rogers to Buck the system.
Wow...60 bux + $7.45 in system fees + 13% in taxes....76 bux...thats $36 more than my current plan...
Yea, I would uproot my family and move elsewhere. 150 minutes for +/- $75 is about as stupid as, well i cant think of anything that stupid. Make a statement, and GTFO of there with all that nonsense.
It's not horrible when compared to other Canadian carrier plans when you factor in that the competition usually only gives you 4MB.
400MB would be more than enough for me, but the 150mins is kinda flakey.
I'm sorry, but I'm going to stick with my HTC Touch on Bell (sadly CDMA), but Bell classifies the Touch as a feature phone, not a smart phone (due to lack of keyboard), so their 'unlimited' $7 data plan is available for it.
I've used it to download about 700Mb worth of podcasts in one month, not to mention Google Maps and browsing with Opera 9.5 for over 1Gb of data in one month, and haven't heard a peep from them about overusing the data.
I really hate sounding like an ad for Bell, but that loophole is a pretty awesome one.
Wow, Rogers customers really "diggs" this crap?? Or it's just a bunch of Apple or iPhone fanboys coming in here and "digg" anything to do with the iPhone?
Rogers totally suck. Ted Rogers needs to go soon. This douche bag is charging people like crazy and the idiot bottle our limited monthly bandwidth to like 60GB a month.
So the Telco rape gauge goes like this?
Canada
Hell
US
Europe
HA! THOSE ARE EXCELLENT RATES COMPARED TO WHAT THEY HAD BEFORE!!!
Check out the Smartphone data rates before the new ones were announced, these prices were taken right off Rogers website:
Standard rate for Smartphone customers with Data plan
"Up to 5MB = $15/MB
5MB > 10MB = $10/MB
10MB > 20MB = $5/MB
more than 20MB = $0.50/MB thereafter"
So, adding it up from the above scale, this is what is costs PER MONTH for data usage on a Smartphone:
5MB per month, $75/month
10MB per month, $125/month
20MB per month, $175/month
100MB per month, $215/month
1000MB per month, $665/month
and for AT&T's 3G iPhone "unlimited data" which is limited to 5GB/month, Roger's customers would pay a whopping $2,665 per month
What kills me is that you need to add the $15 package just to get your visual voicemail to work properly - it relies on callerid which isn't in the base package! That's like buying a bike that comes with "optional" pedals.
Think that's bad?
O2 Ireland only includes 1GB of data and no visual voicemail - for 45 Euro a month, starting price.
Ok enough with the stupid euro comments. You all get PAID in euros for peets sake so its only 45 of your "dollars" which is the same as some one in the US paying 45 of their dollars /end rant
on a side note gawd that plan sucks i do apologize on behalf of your wireless provider price raping you
I know how you feel, i'm going to buy a pay as you go one and pop in my 3 sim card for a real service
Agreed... how can you say "think that's bad?" You pay a little more for far more data. Visual Voicemail is one of those features I could live without, and gladly would for an extra 600 MB of data.
("Agreed" = agreed with the stupid Euro comments...) And I'm not saying that your O2 plan doesn't suck, but that it's hard to say that it sucks more than the Rogers plan.
Think THAT'S bad? Here in Israel we actually have the highest cellphone/person ratio in the world (!) yet we won't even get the iPhone here for some undisclosed reason (while countries with just 1 million people, or 3rd world African countries would), though rumours say it's because the cell phone companies joined together to prevent it as they would lose money (an N95 through a phone company costs about 1500$ here, no joke)
So yeah, everybody start feeling real good about yourself because most of the world has it much worse.
The value of 45 Euros to Europeans is not necessarily the same as 45 dollars to Americans. The purchasing power of a currency is related to average price level of the products that can be purchased with the currency. So if prices in Europe are on average double to those in the US, then 45 Euro would have the same value to a European as about $22.50 to an American.
Umm...actually 45 Euros is more like $70 US, not $22 US.
you didn't understand what he just said do you..... European min wage is on average 1.5-2 times that of north America. but, living costs are higher as well. (cost of food, clothing ect). so, when the plan costs 45 euro and a can of pop costs 2$ in europe but that same can costs 1$ in NA, the phone plan can be calculated in "cans of pop" rather then Euros or $, ( which is completly dooable seeing as currencies are just ways of determining the value of different goods and comparing them to each other)
so, in the US a can of pop is 1$ which in Europe is worth 2$ -> ie 1 us$ has the same purchasing power as two euros ie the plan would be equivelent to 22.5 cans of european pop or 22.5 us $.
moral of story -> purchasing power is different then currency exchange rates. and in most cases give a much truer gage of international costs.
Damn you Rogers.
actually i think it would be
F&*& Rogers you *****
you as in rogers that you the person commenting***
ahh screw this
F&** rogers
there fixed
Yup......I have to agree wholeheartedly!!
FUCK YOU ROGERS!!!
iphone iphone iphone ... who cares anymore? most ppl got the sprint instinct anyways...
This is the reason we need more competetion in Canada. Rogers is the only GSM carrier in Canada and therefore can charge whatever the hell it wants for it's services. I can't wait for the wireless auction to be over and to get new carriers.
I wouldn't bet on that. I think that Shaw might be bidding on the spectrum, and there's some talk that they might just hold on to whatever they buy in hopes of flipping it for a profit in a couple of years. Guess who would probably buy that space? There a company out of Quebec as well, but no large national bidders. They should open it up to more foreign companies like T-Mobile to be able to come in, but since they're a bunch of retards, I heard they're not doing that. You might see a slight decrease in rates, but overall we're screwed. Not that this is anything new in Canada - just check out the situation with only 5 large banks. Business as usual.
Don't bet on any new competition in the GSM category on Canadian soil. First off, the spectrum auction is for frequencies that aren't already in use, meaning new handsets with new specs before that can be taken advantage of. Second, every fricking new start up over the last 5 years has been CDMA, instead of GSM, because they seem to prefer piggy-backing off Bell's network.
Compared to what the US gets for iPhone plans, these are crap... But for Rogers, I'm *almost* impressed. The fact that they include unlimited Wi-Fi at their hotspots *almost* makes up the lack of unlimited 3G data.
Deutsche Telekom is apparently bringing T-Mobile to Canada in 2009. Yak has also applied for a cell spectrum.
Once again us Canadians get absolutely raped by our telcos.
It's so bizarre. For a country with wired broadband access so much ahead of the U.S. (by North American standards) I can't understand why we can't get our acts together on wireless.
Rogers really sucks. And to think that this is the plan they came out with after Apple probably had to beat them over the head to get the prices down. I can't imagine what it would have been otherwise...
It's called a monopoly, they can do what ever the hell they want.
These plans do indeed suck. But hey, it's better (almost?) than anything we've ever seen from Rogers.
Funny how Rogers and rape both start with an "R". Also brings new meaning to "R" rated. I'm just glad there are at least 3 major wireless carries in the US and even the heavily lobbied government would never allow it to go down to just one.
because the telcos are somehow linked to the Gov :P biggest crooks!
Man this isn't just rape, this is taking it in the arse with no vaseline!
@ Todd
Bro, they're not even pulling your pants down first!
These plans are *worse* than I expected however. And the CRTC are total d!ck$ for doing so much less for Canadians than even the FCC does in the US.
What really needs to happen is that the government should remove the $.03/kb surcharge tacked onto US cell phones in Canada, and let Canadians sign up with AT&T. That's about the only thing that will force competitive Canadian prices. (Heck, even the threat of doing it would likely force competitive prices!)
I think you mean the general population of the world is once again being raped by the telcos. I tend to hate the way Apple locks you into their hardware + software model, but I can see it as a necessary evil when trying to keep together some form of sanity in the ever-changing technology industry. But when even Jobs isn't able to stand the way telcos lock you into their pointless, money hoarding models, you know there's something amiss. Though I do feel at least somewhat lucky that the US wasn't completely screwed over by AT&T considering they do have a 5 year lock on the phone.
rogers is a 3 contract instead of 2 as well!!
*year
F*cking Rogers... This is actually such a kick in the nuts - do I even want an iPhone with those plans now?
Not living in Canada.
But when ever I hear someone talk about Rogers and their data charges,
I normally the words very expensive, followed with a lot of profanities.
This is insanity for sure, but we should have expected nothing less. The beautiful thing for Rogers? they'll sell every damn iPhone they get for the next 6 months.
Congrats Rogers,
You have apparently made the mightiest of evil AT&T look like an angel. I commend you on your hard work.
Signed,
Holy S*** i feel sorry for you Canadians
I agree. I used to think AT&T were a bunch of greedy dogs, but when I hear the name Rogers... I spit.
Good luck if you can reach that cap on the Roger's Network.
I would hit it pretty quick...
i think he's alluding to poor bandwidth IT dude
Even after taking 10 minutes to digest this news, I'm still not over it...$115 for 2 GB!?
Hey, bytes are expensive! There may be a shortage of them someday. Just look at oil ;)
gosh dammit I hate Rogers and their monopoly power
Whoa! Calm down & watch your language there little dude. "Gosh"?
Cripes...
At that price, you can be SURE i'm not going to waste 3 years locked in a shitty over priced contract with Rogers. I'll stick with my iPod touch and a cellphone from Telus.
You're just like me!
I am curious as to what kind of data usage is realistic for the iPhone. How quickly will I get to 400MB of data usage?
fu%^ them Rogers can kiss my f$#$ a#$#
Most months I stay under 100mb. Checking email and grabbing the occasional map or google search doesn't really take up much data. I have it auto-check email every hour for 4 accounts.
With that, I think my heaviest data month was almost a gig, so it's very easy to use lots of data. I can only speculate that 3G speeds would increase my usage 1.5-2 times. GPS using 3G to pull map data would also be a huge addition to the data count.
I should also note I have lots of wi-fi coverage where I normally venture, which is not included in those numbers for obvious reasons.
If i were a parent of a kid who lived in the Great White North I'd be more afraid of that text message limit then data usage.
400MB is enough for surfing and email for the average consumer. I'm on an O2 iPhone plan, and with my old phone, I rarely went over 150MB per month. That said, EDGE availability, even in central London, was pretty poor. I was on GPRS most of the time, and often gave up trying to use the web.
Engadget's typical demographic probably isn't well described by "average consumer". Most people here will probably eat 400MB before they leave the store.
This is truly a shame. Rogers continues to run havoc. I am outraged at these prices. Canadians have to wait an extra year for the iPhone and now Rogers has increased the pain by gauging us with these unreasonable rates. Shame on you Rogers. Have you not taken enough from me with my HDTV box, cable modem and current wireless plan. What does loyalty give you? They should at least be bucking up for their current user base. This is a disgrace.
Telia in sweden sucks too...
150 dollars for 1 GB data, 1000 SMS, 1000 min talk, and the iPhone itself will cost about 368 dollars, this is for the 16 GB iPhone on a 18 month-plan.
know i dont know if i will buy one.....
I wanted an iphone. now i can see that it's not going to be worth it. Do the math: 200 + for the phone, then 60 per month for 36 months.... that's 4140.00 not including service charges or taxes. I would rather go to US of A, buy a phone, sign the contract, pay the penalty off (400, i believe) and come home... Use the phone as my cell device on a cheap plan and just use WiFi to surf.
takers anyone?
your math skills are a little off this morning. ; )
$60 x 36 months + $200 iPhone = $2360.... yet still a hefty chunk of change.
that's what i'm doing... rumored at&t buy it outright price is ~600 USD, that's what i'll do...
why not just buy a current gen iphone if your not using 3g?
Let's all be clear, folks: this is not the fault of Rogers. Rogers is just doing what every good monopoly should do, namely royally screwing over their customers. They are a CORPORATION answerable only to their shareholders, and their job is to gouge you for as much as they can possibly get away with. The true FAILURE here, and I mean ABJECT FAILURE, is on the part of the Canadian government for not opening up the wireless spectrum sooner to bidding from all kinds of different companies to avoid this type of problem. The only place we should be placing blame is on our government - they are the main and only reason that Canada is lagging behind most other countries right now in wireless adoption. Period.
That's total bullshit. Economies of scale dictates that Rogers would make much more money by lowering their rates & making wireless data accessible to everyone:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economies_of_scale
Rogers is artificially restricting profits by charging such exorbitant rates. I wonder how its shareholders feel about that.
Actually I would have to argue that the main reason we here in Canada are lagging in wireless tech adoption is pure geography...our population density is TINY compared to almost any other country in the world. That means it costs MUCH MUCH more per customer to offer reliable network service in their area compared to say, Japan, Korea, USA, anywhere in Europe, middle east, asia, just about anywhere else in the world actually.
It's not total bullshit at all. There is an optimal price point for every monopoly (or near monopoly) where they charge the maximum that they can get away with. What they can get away with is a number where (# of users) x (price charged) = maximum value for them. I am quite certain that they know roughly where that is, and it usually on the higher end of the spectrum for a monopoly rather than the lower end. So lowering prices to get "lots" more users isn't going to work, especially when a lot of people wouldn't even want an iPhone. They know what they are doing, trust me.
schmitty338, with respect, the "tiny population density" argument is incorrect. As you know over 80% of the Canadian population is hemmed into a narrow 100 miles corridor at the US / Canada border. Rogers et al do not cover the whole country evenly.
Further, take the look at this population density table:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density
Canada as you rightly say, on average has very low population density. But Australia's population density is even lower and they get a better deal in the iPhone.
It's not the physical landscape, it's the competitive landscape that matters.
Actually @schmitty338, "About three-quarters of Canada's population live within 150 kilometres (90 mi) of the US border" (ref. ), so you could service 3/4 of Canada with a single, long line of cell towers.
Truth be known, the wireless spectrum auction is supposed to introduce new competitors, but if you look up who's applying...Rogers is in there.
Rogers likes to tout that it built Canada's largest network. WRONG - they BOUGHT it.
I'm not comfortable with Rogers - they have too many fingers in too many pots. I wouldn't shed a tear if they crashed and burned.
If the iPhone becomes available for a CDMA network (Telus, anyone?) then I'll be happy. Until then...? No.
Well...if that's the case, then you're fucked. Let's look at the four parties:
Tories: Fucktards+capitalists
Liberals: Corrupt
Bloc: It's a bit of a problem that the country allows the existence a party whose sole intent is initiate the independence of a VERY large province (though I have other issues with the province itself)
NDP: Weak...further weakened by the fact that its non-Quebec-related ideals are also held by the Bloc, blocking out Quebec (there's a reason why they've only gotten only two people elected in that province in its entire existence).
Rogers does, however, take advantage of one huge situation of late: The parity of the dollar to the loonie (it's been stable right now at just underneath .98 USD). It makes the prices more ridiculous than necessary. If these prices were from four years ago, than they'd be comparable to US rates based on exchange.
Not to mention they try and screw you almost every billing period. I can't even count the number of times i've had to call in and ask what this extra charge is for, they are stealing peoples money!!!
Just try roaming - leave for a few days, come back to a $2000 bill. They are thieves, plain and simple.
Actually JS1 is correct. In fact, the govt should never have allowed Rogers to integrate with Fido. Fido was the BEST of them all.... 100 bucks per month for unlimited everything. a great deal. rogers took that away the first week...
Yep - when Rogers bought Fido it was an outrage. Somebody got paid off good in the government for that one, I can assure you.
Another question: does anyone know what the rates are beyond the 2 GB/month limit for data?
from the roger$ site (http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wireless-products/iphone_voice_data_packages):
Additional Data 50¢ per MB for the first 60 MB, 3¢ per MB thereafter
Additional Data
50¢ per MB for the first 60 MB, 3¢ per MB thereafter
Holy f*ck. Rogers just lost a customer. Oh how I wish Bell offered FIOS and IP TV where I live I'd switch to them for our Internet and TV in a heartbeat (we live in a condo so satellite isn't an option).
What a disappointment. I hope this stirs-up enough bad blood towards the sh!t company that is Rogers that people finally start voting with their wallets. This is just so God-damned *wrong* I hate Rogers SO MUCH...
Am I reading this correctly that I need to get a $15/month 'value pack' (no irony in that name at all) to get CALLER ID??
And to think I sold my iPod Touch when they announced the phone was coming to Canada ... brutal.
That's insane, I've never heard of a cellphone plan that didn't include caller ID. Even my POS Virgin Mobile access includes it.
Rogers go to hell..
waiting for fido...
God plz!!
Sorry, bucko - same company.
Yup, same sh*t... Confirmed: http://your.rogers.com/investorrelations/news_fido.asp
Fido have the exact same shit plan
Well, my decision has been made or me.
I'll just stick with my Ipod Touch and cell phone until someone with a better plan comes along.
Then I think Rogers will feel the pain when a mass exodus happens to move to the new guy. I guess they think they can continue to screw us until that day comes.
Fuhque (i mean thank) you Rogers for making my decision easier.
I think Rogers should include a bottle of lube with every new subscription.
hahahahaha agreed man, but even with the lube it will still hurt hahaha
Rogers doesn't care if you are lubed or not.
Lube? they'd probably just toss some sand down there instead.
Well.... i would be careful about Bell... some poor schmo up in the north got whacked big time with an 85,000.00 bill. after much complaining the bill went away, but i think that was mostly due to bad publicity.... "we'll drop the charges if you shut up about it!" kind of idea....
these Telcos might be in it for the money but there is a limit. You still should offer a service that is within the market range. our market range comparator is the US. are we even close? not at all.
and just so you know... that's eighty five THOUSAND dollars... for one month....
His $85,000 bill came from tethering and downloading torrents on his phone. Bell's $7 unlimited data plan would obviously not cover tethering when a tethering plan starts at $50+
Do someone know if we can stay with our regular plan and still get the iphone ? Or if we are forced to stick 3 years with these fu"$%$/" plans ?
Knowing rogers, I can assure you that you won't be able to get it without a 3 years contract.
FUCK YOU Rogers. If I leave Canada, it will be only for that reason.
Rogers...
F@#% you Rogers!!! How are people supposed to use a phone, in which half of its purpose is to surf the F@#%ING web with that kind of shitty ass Data Rates. Just because I live in Canada doesn't mean I should have to bend over for Rogers just to use a God-damned iPhone.
If only Apple had a CDMA version, Telus would of been the ideal carrier.. at least they dont rape their clients for using the internet on a mobile phone.. so much for Rogers saying they were going to create plans which reflected the increased use of data.. and so much for the couple of petitions floating around the web clearly showing Candians are FED UP with having to take one up the A$$ for being a Rogers Customer.... if Apple plans to sell lots of these phones in Canada.. I suggest they tell Rogers to smarten up!!.
well, that was my venting today8-). I might just wait and see what comes out on Telus before making the jump now.. at least that way I dont have to cancel my contract where I'm paying a reasonable $75 a month for unlimited text, web, and a sufficient amount of minutes for myself.. as well as using a phone where I can take videos and send MMS messages.. don't get me wrong, I LOVE my iPod touch, and I love the idea of an iPhone.. but c'mon, I'm going into university next year, I can't afford to get raped by Rogers just to have the internet in my pocket. Here's to hoping the current auction in Canada turns out to produce a decent competetor to Rogers Wireless and their monopoly!.
Sadly, these plans are still WAY cheaper than I currently pay for voice and data with my unlocked HTC smartphone on Rogers. Still too expensive for 3 year lockin though. Without unlimited data I would still use it for text email ony and the very occasional web browsing.
This Rogers plan is an absolute joke. They should be ashamed of themselves... I wonder what the Rogers sales reps will tell us if we asked them about this plan. When I approached them about the 3 year contract in Canada vs the 2 year contract AT&T deal they said that it due to 'different market conditions'. Can they even look at me with a straight face without cracking up if I ask them to explain this monstrosity?
I was really hoping for an iphone but now I'm going to find an alternative plan. Sigh....