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news

Rogers Gives iPhone Coveters a break

By David Topping

Rogers has just announced that they will sell a $30 6 GB data plan for the iPhone that can be added to any voice plan, so long as customers sign up on or before August 31. The Rogers Plus store at 112 Dundas Street East will be open early at 8 a.m. on Friday to sell the phones; they will be sold at other Rogers stores during regular business hours, but will not be sold at Apple stores. (The rumour is that Apple was “disgusted” with Rogers’ plans. Rogers declined comment.) The new offer on the table isn’t perfect, but it’s something.

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  • paigesix

    Better line-up now; rumor is there will only be 10-30 handsets for sale at each Rogers location. whon whon!

  • Marc Lostracco

    If you consider something that costs an additional $30 on top of a $67 monthly plan and which is only available to consumers for six weeks a “break.” It hardly makes any difference to their bottom line, except that it likely will get more people locked into that 3-year contract over the next month. This is aimed at the fencesitters. After August, business as usual.

  • Marc Lostracco

    And by fencesitters, I probably mean me, and their nefarious plan to drain my bank account will probably be successful.

  • deadrobot

    Well that’s a start. I figure the two of us in our house go through 6-7G total per month, of downloads, surfing and stuff. So that’s not too bad.
    Still we’re getting raped, though. Don’t forget to add stuff like Call Waiting and crap you thought was free.

  • nib

    and the thing is AT&T’s plan in the states that is called “unlimited” is actually a “soft cap” at 5GB, which, to my understanding, means if you repeatedly go over 5GB per month you get some sort of slap on the wrist or something. the exact consequences i’m not positive about, my point merely being that “unlimited” doesn’t necessarily mean unlimited, as you guys have outlined quite clearly in the past. but please correct me on this point if you know better.
    plus in reading through the comments on the gizmodo post about this, most people seem to be saying that 6GB is actually quite a bit for regular surfing. and especially considering that more and more sites are coming out with skimped-down content-only smartphone-specialized versions, it should be all right. plus factor in that a lot of the time there’ll be some unsuspecting person’s wi-fi to leech off of, and all of a sudden it doesn’t seem so bad.
    and rogers knows what apple fanboyism is all about, so one way or another, people are going to just shovel over their money month after month regardless. they just did this to appease, as marc said, a lot of fence sitters, and to sway former iphone devotees who decided not to get one for spite.

  • Miles Storey

    Why don’t they just keep this plan for everyone? It’s all people are asking for, 6gb is enough. Doing this as an short-term offer won’t stop the general criticism.

  • Jill Murray

    Ooh. That could get me off the fence too. I have this crazy business plan that starts at $25 and doesn’t really exist, but they had to give it to me due to some problems with the factuality of their advertising and my yelling at them for an hour– so I can NEVER give that up. But adding $30 for data is totally doable. I will shake hands with that Man.

  • David Topping

    Yeah, I’m definitely getting an iPhone now, too. I am also have one of the aforementioned “crazy business plan[s],” but I swear mine’s on the level. This $30 deal puts the iPhone within the realm of affordability for me now.

  • rek

    It’s a trap.

  • MariaPD

    I agree with Rek, be afraid, be very afraid.

  • Marc Lostracco

    It doesn’t change the fact that you’re still paying about a thousand bucks a year for the plan—minimum. It’s the cost, and it’s always been about the cost. So they bumped up the data rate to a totally reasonable 6 GB for “early adopters” of their exorbitant plans…it’s basically the equivalent of just adding a bit more lube so you think it hurts less, but it doesn’t change what they’re doing to you in the first place.

  • azelunka

    http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wireless-plans/data_service_plans
    $30 is for 300mb of data its $100 for the 6gb.

  • David Topping

    The 6 GB iPhone plan that was officially announced by Rogers today is not a regular data service plan (or priced at a regular service plan rate); it’s a limited-time offer until August 31st for early adopters. I’m not sure if Rogers will lower those costs, though, or if those even apply to the iPhone (you can, Rogers has said over and over again, mix and match voice and data prices).

  • jpjd

    Here’s an interesting comment from Rogers Vice president and a follow up translation from a ruinediphone.com member.
    John Boynton, the senior vice-president and chief marketing officer of Rogers Wireless, commented on the tens of thousands of people that have taken a stand on cell phone prices. (in reference to their new improved limited time $30 plan)
    “What we’re trying to do is satisfy a very small group of people, the early adopters,” he said. “When those customers are done, we’re back to our basic user.”
    (Source: http://www.thestar.com/article/457180 )
    ——
    Direct translation:
    “What we are trying to do is get a very large group of people to SHUT UP. JUST SHUT THE HELL UP. AHHHHH YOU ARE RUINING MY COMPANY AND ANNOYING MY GROUCHY BOSS,” he said. “When those customers have been satisfied, even though I hate them and want more money from them, its worth it because after I give them what they want we will go back to abusing the average lemming customer.”

  • e3000

    I was enamored with the iphone when it was first released. I had a plan for a friend to get me one in vegas that i could just sim unlock and jailbreak once I got my hands on it. Well instead of waiting I ended up buying an ipod touch. Using the internet on it, while infinently better than on any other phone, mostly due to the GUI, is still pretty slow and that is using my crisp wifi at home. Out in the wild trying to snag some chump’s wifi is a useless endeavor. I can’t imagine the agony of surfing on 3G let alone on egde the odd time I’m out of 3G coverage. I’ll pass. Rogers already gets enough of my money.
    Sidebar- I wonder is Rogers will try to cripple the native firmware of the iphone like they do with all their other phones. Example; I have an LG Shine which has a fine imbedded music player but for some reason Roger decided to rob me of my 2 softkeys my permanently by making them goto the shit Rogers music player and Vision menu respectively.

  • e3000

    Please excuse the above typos… I’ve been drinking.

  • woneill

    So is it true that there are barely any lineups at Rogers stores? That’s what I’ve heard so far this morning…
    Honestly, the 6 GB is enough, but people are just so disgusted.
    Anyways, here’s my usual plug – a funny new video about what we’ve all been through with Rogers throughout this whole affair: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUK2X3HK0i8