Canadian iPhone 3G plans lack unlimited data
It will cost you north of the border.
(Credit: Apple)If you think AT&T's iPhone 3G service plans are expensive, just consider what Rogers is forcing on our Canadian friends.
Friday, the carrier announced its service plans for the iPhone 3G, none of which include unlimited data use. Instead, Rogers will cap data each month at a certain amount, which will range from 400MB for the cheapest service plan ($60 Canadian or $59.23 U.S.) to 2GB for the most expensive plan ($115 Canadian or $113.64 U.S.).
Though 2GB is a lot of data, we're not sure how a customer is supposed to know what 2GB even means in real-world use. True, you can track your data use on the iPhone, but it's not like tracking calling minutes.
In its press release, Rogers does provide a convenient chart to gauge your data usage--apparently, 2G amounts to 16,000 Web pages (who knew?)--but we don't approve of such an arrangement at all. The iPhone's Web browser is one of its top attractions, particularly on a 3G network, and asking users to limit their data certainly isn't putting the "Internet in your pocket." Rogers is offering unlimited Wi-Fi access at all Rogers and Fido hotspots, but that in itself is limiting if you have to be in one place.
What's more, the data restrictions aren't the half of it. While AT&T's cheapest iPhone 3G service plan ($69 per month) includes 450 anytime minutes, the cheapest Rogers plan (the one with 400MB of data) only gets 150 anytime minutes. Ouch. Similarly Rogers' most expensive plan includes only 800 anytime minutes while AT&T's priciest plan ($129 per month) includes unlimited anytime minutes. Double ouch.
Come on, Rogers, you have to give your customers a little more. Especially when your contracts run three years.
Kent German is a senior editor for cell phone reviews at CNET. When he's not testing the newest handsets on the market, he's blogging about cell phone news for Crave. In his On Call column, he answers reader questions and gives his take on the rapidly changing mobile industry. E-mail Kent.
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Come on people. Say NO to Rogers and demand a fair price for the iPhone. After all what's the point of having an iPhone if you will be limited in exactly what the iPhone is for, a portable internet device and a phone.
After waiting anxiously a full year to get an iPhone here in Canada, I'm sad to say I'm not getting one. I'm buying an iPod Touch and doing my part in saying NO to Canadian cell prices. It's really frustrating also as a developer as I was hoping to get my hands on the iPhone and start developing some cool applications for it. Not in Canada though.
According to your calculation Rogers Makes 200%+ on the plan and i am pretty sure that their cost is closer to like 2$ or 3$. Rogers as lost the little cridibility it as left. i will never ever buy any rogers product of any kind. ROGERS IS STEALING MONEY FROM CANADIANS PERIOD. Canada as the most expensive dats rate for cel phone in the UNIVERSER and it does not make sense!
I sure hope the iPhone is a total flop in canada. (anyone paying those CRMINAL rates for a cel phone as a IQ in the single digit).
Rogers need to be fined multi-billion $$ for attamps at scaming a whole country.
Personally, I don't even see why you would need to be able to transfer so much data on your mobile device (over the Internet anyway). People these days walk around with their phones and are becoming more oblivious to the world around them, and not only that, are becoming so damned dependent on these gadgets. I'm 22 years old and am pursuing a career in IT (software development more specifically), you'd think I'd have one of these by now. The reason I don't is because I have a phone at home, and don't need to be constantly "connected" to the world 24/7. If someone needs me, they can leave a message at my home and I'll return their call at my leisure.
Maybe this is a good thing, a deterrent of sorts for people to stop using their damn celled phones so much and actually interact with some people in the world around them.
100 minutes is a hell of a lot of time too (to me). But then again, I'm not one of those people who spends hundreds of dollars on a cell phone bill so I can chat about nothing while shopping in a store and then be one of the same people that complains that the price of something else in life is too high. Rediculous.
You have the plans off by a bit.
iPhone 3G Price Plans at Rogers Wireless
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Sent Incoming
Text Text Visual
Price Voice Data Messages messages Voicemail
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$60 / 150 minutes + unlimited 400 MB 75 Unlimited Unlimited
month Evening and Weekend
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$75 / 300 minutes + unlimited 750 MB 100 Unlimited Unlimited
month Evening and Weekend
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$100 / 600 minutes + unlimited 1 GB 200 Unlimited Unlimited
month Evening and Weekend
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$115 / 800 minutes + unlimited 2 GB 300 Unlimited Unlimited
month Evening and Weekend
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We, its 150 minutes instead of 100 lol yea not much a difference but still
I agree with all the postings.
Rogers is charging waaaaaay too much.
I'm considering going over to Bell because they have cheaper plans.
Unfortunately, they have CDMA
Who really wants to use that?
So, this iphone thing is just another aspect of the same matter and Rogers is just part of the mechanism, take for example ADSL/internet/TV connections, again here prices are higher but why ? Once more lack of competition...
But do not despair, rents are lower, hosues are cheaper, petrol is cheaper(about half price), electricity is cheaper(about 1/3) the air is cleaner and Canada is a beautiful country :-)))
W Canada !
just to make you feel a bit better here is the comparison prices for the Finnish customers:
You can pay 50 dollars monthly for 100 minutes of phone time, 100 SMS and 100 MB of data download. You must pay 251 dollars for the 8GB model and 386 dollars for the 16 MB model.
The largest plan includes 1000 minutes of phone time, 1000 SMS and 1000 MB of data. You pay 1 dollar for the 8 GB model and 134 dollars for the 16 GB model. If you should use say 2 GB of data then all the data above the 1 Gb will cost 2,24 dollars per MB !! so should you use that 2 GB you would pay a whopping 2384 dollars for that one month !!! Otherwise the model used in Finland is a bit different to at least USA because we don't pay for receiving phone calls. Also the calls are flat rate no matter what time they were made.
1 - GPS
2 - YouTube
3 - iTunes
Each song from iTunes is roughly 3mb and that doesn't include browsing for the song and sampling the 30secs. YouTube has videos that run upwards of 10mins; once again heavy data usage. Lastly, the GPS; I guess we can't rely on using the iPhone as our main GPS while traveling.
I ran the Facebook test on an unlocked iPhone and Main Page + 1 Profile page = 1.7mb and that is with custom iPhone Facebook page. Other then being angry, it is frustrating as a consumer that one of the greatest releases of personal technology in Canada is overshadowed by greed.
1) The Cdn cell phone industry is the worst, most price-fixed, least competitive industry I have ever seen. I routinely pay >$400 on a monthly cell phone bill for 1 phone only (roaming is +expensive+). It doesn't matter which provider I use, they all are basically identical. The cell phone plans are bafflingly complex to navigate; and i just don't have the time nor the PhD to figure out which is the right plan.
2) WE NEED AN ECONOMICAL, UNLIMITED VOICE AND DATA PLAN. This is basic, simple, and about 10 years overdue.
3) If the Canadian companies can't do it (i.e. they are milking their customers' $ for all they can, and are too complacent to compete with each other) then PLEASE BRING IN A US cell phone carrier to bring some capitalism into this equation. Incidentally, many years ago one Cdn company did offer a somewhat unlimited plan (FIDO), but this was viewed as too much competition by Rogers, who instead of COMPETING with them on price or service, simply BOUGHT Fido and discontinued the offering. SO infuriating for consumers; this is monopolistic practice at its ugliest.
(amusingly, there's a thriving black market for these surviving contracts!)