Having just announced their new “high value” iPhone voice/data plans in preparation for the July 11th launch, Rogers has managed to completely disappoint once again. Not only have they charged excessive rates for small amounts of data, they have LIMITED that data to low numbers. An unlimited data plan simply does not exist, even though they have existed in the past for other (lesser) phones. They have adjusted their rates so that we no longer are violated with $.05/kb charges, but even at the new levels the rates are, well, ridiculous. In a nutshell, if you want an iPhone you are going to be paying at least $60/month. $60 a month for a very stunted plan of 150 voice minutes, “free” evenings and weekends (if your evenings start at 9pm that is) and a whopping 400mb of data. Oh, and you can send a whole 75 SMS messages as well. On a phone that oozes text messaging and data.
But not to worry, if you want “more”, you can bump it up in small increments all the way to a lovely $115 a month. That’ll give you 800 minutes of voice, 2gb of data and 300 SMS messages. But you’re still living in the 9pm evening world, unless of course you want to kick in another $20/month for a “value pack”.
I currently have a plan that gives me 450 minutes and 10mb of data (yes their plans are that screwed up). This costs me in the neighborhood of $75/month when all is said and done. For me to go to the “new” plan I’d really have to go to the $100/month option as the $75/month option is only 300 minutes but oh so much data at 750mb… you do know I’m being sarcastic right? Just checking…
AT&T in the US provides data packages as simple $30 or $45 per month addendums to a voice plan. That’s UNLIMITED data for $30 or $45 per month (I’ll qualify that the $45 is not relevant as it is an Enterprise plan, so say $30). Voice plans from AT&T vary, but if I was to try to match Rogers pricing it’d be as follows:
| Minutes/month | Rogers Data | Rogers Pricing | AT&T Pricing |
| 150 | 400mb | $60 | NA* |
| 300 | 750mb | $75 | NA* |
| 600 | 1gb | $100 | $69.99** |
| 800 | 2gb | $115 | $89.99*** |
* AT&T’s starter plan is 450 minutes per month, so think $69.99 but you get a lot more for the money
** Includes the $30/month data plan
*** Includes the $30/month data plan and is actually 900 minutes per month
This provides unlimited data on top of being priced lower . It should also be noted that AT&T never charges roaming or long distance within the US and has rollover minutes, something that Rogers can’t even comprehend.
So what does this tell us? OK, fair enough that AT&T has a huge customer base compared to Canada. This is not relevant – their pricing is what it is because of competition, not because of customer count. They actually have competition in the GSM wireless space – Rogers/Fido does not. This allows Rogers/Fido to attack the consumer with impunity, gouging away and quietly saying “what are you going to do about it, go to the other GSM company?”.
It’s not only infuriating. It is a sad commentary on how controlled our country’s wireless business is. There is a non-competition bureau, I know it’s out there somewhere, yet monopolies continue to exist and thrive. It is not a fair statement to say that Bell, Telus and Rogers/Fido (among others) play on equal ground. They don’t. Rogers/Fido stands alone in its ability to provide GSM services to Canada. This is a monopoly and as such they can pull money from our pockets at any rate they choose.
I did at least send an e-mail to Rogers to tell them how I felt. Consider this an Open Letter to Rogers Wireless:
Rogers Wireless
Giant Monopoly Ave.To whom it may concern,
I have just read your proposed voice/data pricing for the upcoming iPhone launch and wanted to say I am extremely disappointed with your plans. I am not completely opposed to the pricing (although it definitely could be lower), however I would have hoped that unlimited data was at least an option and that it was in line with what AT&T in the US has adopted in order to provide quality service to their customers. Instead, you have elected to continually charge high rates for and limit something that should be a low-cost add-on feature. Seeing “unlimited browsing” functionality on lesser phones for very little cost (eg. $7/month at your sister company Fido) does not help to alleviate the sensation that Rogers/Fido are taking advantage of what will no doubt be a popular product launch. If other wireless companies can offer unlimited data for a reasonable rate why is that Rogers/Fido cannot – or chooses not to? I don’t believe it to be a technical issue as you tout your network to be the best in the country, so I’m very curious to know what sets this phone apart from others that have much more reasonable data rates. I sincerely feel this will strongly limit your expected sales of the iPhone. I also personally look at this as a retention issue. I am a long-term customer that continually pays ~$200/month for my wireless services and was looking forward to taking what I felt was a big step forward in wireless and data services by not only purchasing an iPhone from Rogers but electing to renew my contract as required. Instead, I’m being told that this new product will a) be expensive to use and b) be limited in a way that it was not meant to be. By adopting both of these guidelines you have caused me to not only reconsider my purchase but to reconsider my relationship with Rogers as well. I hope that you will consider retention an issue – not only for myself but for what will no doubt be many others that are disappointed with this offering. Please contact me at your convenience if you feel my retention warrants further discussion.
Sincerely,
Pissed.
Got this response:
Thank you for your inquiry. Due to an increase in email volume, it may take us up to 5 business days to respond to your email. We apologize for this inconvenience.
Ah, karma. It’s a bitch after all.
Linkage:
- Rogers.com iPhone voice/data pricing
- Rogers.com Contact Us page
- Competition bureau Enquiry/Complaint form (thanks Chris Magnusson!)
- John Biehler’s article
