06/27/2008, 10:20am, EDT
Friday, June 27thRogers/Fido show iPhone 3G plans, cap data
Canadian cell provider Rogers Wireless and its sub-brand Fido today listed their iPhone 3G plans, revealing the strategy for carrying the device in the country. All plans will need both voice and data and have finite data limits; unlike previous rumors, there will be no option for unlimited access with either service, though all will include Visual Voicemail as well as unlimited weekend and evening calling; incoming SMS messages are also unlimited, as is access to Rogers- and Fido-owned Wi-Fi hotspots.
Both Rogers and Fido plans are identical. A base $60 plan gives callers 150 minutes of air time, 75 outgoing SMS messages, and 400MB of data for use with any app; a $75 plan boosts call time to 300 minutes while almost doubling the transfer limit to 750MB and increasing the number of outbound messages to 100. A $100 monthly plan gives 600 minutes of calls, 1GB of data, and 200 messages, while an ultimate $115 plan supplies 800 minutes, 2GB of data, and 300 messages.
Additional data is 50 cents per megabyte through the first 60MB, but drops to three cents per megabyte afterwards.
Unique among most current iPhone plans are the ability to add Value Packs. A $15 pack adds Call Display, WhoCalled, ringback tones, 2,500 minutes of call forwarding time and increases the number of outgoing SMS texts to 2,500. A $20 pack both supplies 10,000 SMS messages and drops the 9PM evening calling threshold to 6PM for very frequent users.
Every iPhone plan requires a three-year contract; the company has already outlined pricing for the phones themselves, which match the US prices of $199 for an 8GB model and $299 for a 16GB version. Both the plans and the phones become available on July 11th.
The caps are already expected to be controversial for offering less to Canadian users than American counterparts but are considered improvements over recently unveiled BlackBerry plans, which offer 300MB of data for $30 on top of a voice plan.
Filed under: iPhone
Other story tags: iPhone 3G, BlackBerry, Rogers, Fido
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So a $2359 iPhone...?
...over 3 years with $199 down & $60/mo whatever taxes apply...?
are you kidding?
that pretty much seals the fate of the iphone's success in canada. thanks rogers. i suppose nickel-and-diming your customers is working well for you.
Unexpected?
I am not sure why people are surprised .. this is in-line with the monopolistic behavior of Rogers .. just check when evening minutes even starts !! 9 pm
This is a joke .. anyway .. Ziphone will take care of things !
Yup, wasn't too surprised
This is expected of Rogers. Why the hell be competitive when there is none to begin with? Well, I'll wait too see what Bell/Telus offers in conjunction with these plans, in which I expect big differences. Rogers is no longer on my list for wireless now.. The iPhone was the only thing that made decide against that. Now that its far too expensive to worth while..
Quite a premium
...from the $720 over 3 years I now pay for pay-as-you-go TREO access which seems about twice as much airtime (credit on account) as I might use...
Hopefully there may be a cash purchase unlocked option for those of us with more interest in a convergence device than a 24/7 phone...
joke
The voice plan equivalent to the cheapest iPhone plan would cost about $20, so in effect you'd pay $40/mo. for 400 MB of data in Canada, vs. $30/mo. for unlimited data in the US. Oh and, don't forget the 3-year contract. You could kill someone and be out of jail in less time than that.
I love the iPhone but absolutely refuse to buy one under these terms. I suspect that many other people will decide the same. But no doubt Ted Rogers will make out like a bandit all the same.
Count me out
Not for me. I'd considered switching from Bell cell/landline to the iphone, but can't think of why at this rate.
Telus/Bell are CDMA
"Well, I'll wait too see what Bell/Telus offers in conjunction with these plans, in which I expect big differences. Rogers is no longer on my list for wireless now.. "
If you do not plan on ever switching providers or using your phone outside of Canada and the US, then you could go with Bell, Telus or Virgin but your phone is permanently locked into the provider you buy it from.
The reason why we will never see CDMA phones is because they only work in North America and Apple would have to have a separate production run for each CDMA provider. Apple would akso get a lot of complaints from clueless customers who could not understand why they iPhone would become a useless brick after cancelling their Telus, Bell or Virgin contract.
balh
This is really disappointing. I think I might just stick with my unlocked iPhone 2G until Rogers fixes their data plans. I'm amazed Apple let them launch like this. I hope it's just until they get the network fixed up. Actually charging for overages on an iPhone is stupid, people are gonna be maxing out those limits without even knowing it.
Crooks!
No iPhone for me either, canadian cell providers are real crooks!