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Tuesday, Feb 05, 2008 10:15am
Rogers intros unlimited data, makes iPhone possible
Confirming earlier leaks, Rogers Wireless today began offering its sought-after Communicate Value Pack, the first bundle plan to offer true unlimited web browsing with the Canadian provider. An improvement even on AT&T's $20 unlimited plan, the Rogers pack allows both unlimited browsing from the device itself as well as 2,500 outbound SMS text messages and 1,000 MMS sent picture or video messages. It also supplies caller ID, recent call history, and voicemail, according to Rogers.

The plan adds $20 Canadian (same in US dollars) to the cost of any existing cellphone plan and is limited to 'feature' phones; PC cards as well as smartphones either running the BlackBerry or Windows Mobile operating systems are subject to different plans. A separate version of the pack with just the unlimited on-device web browsing is also available, though Rogers has not confirmed the accuracy of the $7 monthly fee leaked ahead of the debut.

While the new feature is in part meant to help compete against Bell's $7 HTC Touch plan, the now official unlimited data plan at Rogers provides an essential component for the potential release of the iPhone in Canada. Rogers has said it would carry the iPhone in Canada since early 2007 but has only gradually relaxed the costs of its cellphone data service, which at one point would have cost nearly $300 per month for just 512MB of data transfer and a fraction of the calling time of the base $60 iPhone plan from AT&T.