# Appleinsider.com - Rogers unlimited data plan an inroad for iPhone in Canada?



## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

Story here

Canadian wireless carrier Rogers Communications, often criticized for its exorbitant data rates, has just introduced a $20 per month unlimited data plan that could knock out one more barrier to an official iPhone launch in Canada.


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The Toronto, Ontario-based carrier said customers could start adopting the new plan, dubbed the $20 Communicate Value Pack, beginning today. In addition to unlimited on-device mobile browsing, it also offers 2500 standard outgoing text messages, 1000 outgoing picture or video messages, call display and voicemail.

Although it's believed the new plan from Rogers is an attempt to combat a $7 unlimited data offering from local rival Bell Canada alongside its HTC Touch handset, many see the move as key step towards an official iPhone launch in the region.

Steep wireless data rates have been singled out time and time again as one of the primary reasons Canadians have not yet been treated to the Apple iPhone experience..........


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## G-Mo (Sep 26, 2007)

If you read the fine print for the unlimited on-device mobile browsing it states:

"Plan is available on select phones only (PDAs such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices, PC cards and non-Rogers certified devices are not eligible)."

Wireless Essentials

I take it the iPhone is a non-Rogers certified device!?


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## chas_m (Dec 2, 2007)

It is NOW, but not for much longer ... *squee*


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## imachungry (Sep 19, 2004)

There's considerable discussion of the both the plan and the exceptions on howardforums:

HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - Official FIDO $7 Unlimited Surfing & $20 Value Pack thread *Q&A in here please*


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

G-Mo said:


> If you read the fine print for the unlimited on-device mobile browsing it states:
> 
> "Plan is available on select phones only (PDAs such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices, PC cards and non-Rogers certified devices are not eligible)."
> 
> ...


And this is also in the fine print. 

"Data usage incurred on ineligible devices, incurred while tethering (using device as wireless modem for laptop) or incurred using non-Rogers (3rd party) applications downloaded to your device will be subject to pay-per-use charges of 5 cents/KB.

3rd party applications are applications like Yahoo! Go or Google Maps. These are non-Rogers applications which can be downloaded to the device and incur data charges at a rate of 5¢/KB.
"

What's the point with the last part? I feel like I would be in jail. I hope this is not the plan for the iPhone!!!


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## TheDirtyOne (Sep 5, 2007)

Joker Eh said:


> And this is also in the fine print.
> 
> "Data usage incurred on ineligible devices, incurred while tethering (using device as wireless modem for laptop) or incurred using non-Rogers (3rd party) applications downloaded to your device will be subject to pay-per-use charges of 5 cents/KB.
> 
> ...


It's not. It's Rogers giving all their customers who have Blackberries, PDA's and unlocked iPhones the finger.


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

imachungry said:


> There's considerable discussion of the both the plan and the exceptions on howardforums:
> 
> HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - Official FIDO $7 Unlimited Surfing & $20 Value Pack thread *Q&A in here please*


And the actual Rogers thread is here:

HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource - Q1 2008: Product & Service Changes


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## Joker Eh (Jan 22, 2008)

TheDirtyOne said:


> It's not. It's Rogers giving all their customers who have Blackberries, PDA's and unlocked iPhones the finger.


I sure hope your right.


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## madgunde (Mar 10, 2006)

A Rogers customer service supervisor informed me that the information on the website was an error and that they were working to get it corrected.

I wrote about the experience on my blog here:

Rogers website shows a $20 Unlimited data plan in error?

Seems I was one of the first to call them because they offered me 6 months of unlimited data for free as compensation for the error.


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## nasa25 (Feb 5, 2008)

the fine print on the plan (also available is the $7 mobile internet plan) states that you cannot use it on non-rogers approved pda's.....how did you get rogers to give you unlimited data (edge data) for 6 months? im a bit confused.


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## nasa25 (Feb 5, 2008)

just talked to Rogers.....the data dept could not guarantee me that the $7 unlimited mobile browsing plan would work with a non-rogers phone. Thing is that my girlfriend had the $10 10MB plan for a few months and she could use it with her iphone no problem. I want to get the plan but I don't want to see a thousand dollar phone bill arrive next month....im torn.


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## jhubert (Mar 12, 2000)

*unilimited data for iphone is now available!*

Hey everyone I just added the $20 Communicate plan to my rogers account and have unlimited data! YES!


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## Corvillus (Nov 15, 2007)

chas_m said:


> It is NOW, but not for much longer ... *squee*


I don't know about that...the iPhone would still fall under the "PDA" umbrella even if Rogers did carry it, so I doubt it will be any different than the crap data plans on the Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices (in which case...I'd rather have the PC card flex plans).

Oh well...here's hoping something materializes before April 19th...when my unlimited data under the good $18 value pack (which got discontinued with the launch of this crap $20 one) runs out.


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## Commodus (May 10, 2005)

Corvillus said:


> I don't know about that...the iPhone would still fall under the "PDA" umbrella even if Rogers did carry it, so I doubt it will be any different than the crap data plans on the Windows Mobile and BlackBerry devices (in which case...I'd rather have the PC card flex plans).
> 
> Oh well...here's hoping something materializes before April 19th...when my unlimited data under the good $18 value pack (which got discontinued with the launch of this crap $20 one) runs out.


Here's the thing: AT&T considers the iPhone a "feature phone" and charges $20 for its data plan, not the premium smartphone rates. There's no reason to believe Apple won't pressure Rogers to go for similar rates, especially when they seem to have just been put in place.


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## mpuk (May 24, 2005)

Update: Unfortunately, Rogers' new $20 Communication Value Pack is presently limited to just web browsing on cell phones with only those browsers authorized by Rogers for the plan. Browsing through other means, as well as use of email clients over the network, will continue to incur a 5 cents/KB charge.


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## madgunde (Mar 10, 2006)

mpuk said:


> Update: Unfortunately, Rogers' new $20 Communication Value Pack is presently limited to just web browsing on cell phones with only those browsers authorized by Rogers for the plan. Browsing through other means, as well as use of email clients over the network, will continue to incur a 5 cents/KB charge.


Rogers better update their website then, because this page which details the plan makes no mention of that, although it listed in the fine-print on this page. I don't think they can really get away with that, since there's no guarantee that a customer is going to see the page where the disclaimer is posted.


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

So what's the big deal? Unlimited data as long as you use Rogers' phone and Rogers' software? That's horse manure and no indication of an iPhone coming anytime soon. If you are a BlackBerry owner, install Opera Mini, you'll get charged 5 cents per KB. Rogers' sucks the bag. Yesterday, the only thing they could offer me for my iPhone was a 1GB data plan for $65. BOOO-JAYS!!!!


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## Sivak (Feb 4, 2008)

Guys, be aware of how this is worded.

"Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plans" 

The unlimited refers to accessing the device not the browsing. If you check out the plans there is 5MB and 10 Mb that don't look unlimited.


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## Corvillus (Nov 15, 2007)

Commodus said:


> Here's the thing: AT&T considers the iPhone a "feature phone" and charges $20 for its data plan, not the premium smartphone rates. There's no reason to believe Apple won't pressure Rogers to go for similar rates, especially when they seem to have just been put in place.


This is true. And you're right, there is no reason why Apple wouldn't demand the same bundles from Rogers. Unfortunately, there is also no reason for Rogers to sell a $65 plan for $20 AND pay a cut of the overall revenue to Apple, especially given that there's no other GSM carrier Apple can threaten to take their phone to. In the states, they're giving a $35 plan for $20 (which isn't significantly different than the "savings" provided by our value packs), and at the same time forcing an expensive $40 voice package on top of it, so AT&T is making off good by comparison. Plus, if AT&T didn't take it, T-Mobile would have.


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## rgray (Feb 15, 2005)

MACinist said:


> So what's the big deal? Unlimited data as long as you use Rogers' phone and Rogers' software? That's horse manure and no indication of an iPhone coming anytime soon.


If/when Rogers fronts the iPhone it would be a Rogers phone and then iPhone software would _de facto_ be Rogers software... so the plan would apply.

It might be more hopeful than surface appearances suggest. This $20 would be good for iPhone.


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## Corvillus (Nov 15, 2007)

Yeah...but even then, the iPhone IS a PDA, so it still likely would NOT be covered under that plan. Especially after the SDK comes out. I hope it does (and I hope even more that they decide to allow unlocked ones), but I can't see an iPhone plan in Canada being less than $30 for data alone (which I would gladly pay).


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## nasa25 (Feb 5, 2008)

I spoke with Rogers yesterday and they told me that if I wanted the $7 unlimited mobile browser plan, the best thing to do would be to add it to my account, use very little data for that day (i.e. load Google), and call them back the next day to find out whether that data was included in the unlimited package or whether it was billed. Thing is, my gf had the $10 10mb plan for a few months and it worked with her iphone (i used the internet.com-guest-guest APN settings). The only issue is that maybe Rogers wasn't doing IMEI tracking at that point so they let the iphone be included in that internet package. However, with unlimited browsing, I have heard that they will be ramping up their security (i.e. IMEI tracking for every phone on that plan). The thing that makes me wanna try it out is the fact that I know those mobile internet plans have worked with the iphone in the past, but maybe the free (or at least less expensive) lunch is over.


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## croatsensation (Jul 14, 2007)

Has anyone gotten the communicative pack yet? I just did and i did not tell them i have a iphone as far as they know i still am using my moto v360. I asked the rep. that i before got a error on my 10mb plan and if i can use my web on my cell phone for a day and see if i get charged . She stated that is not a issue and gave me a day grace period. So i will check it out and call them and see if they are going to charge me for my web use on the iphone.Not sure how they would find out anyway. :clap:


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## phuviano (Sep 14, 2005)

croatsensation said:


> Has anyone gotten the communicative pack yet? I just did and i did not tell them i have a iphone as far as they know i still am using my moto v360. I asked the rep. that i before got a error on my 10mb plan and if i can use my web on my cell phone for a day and see if i get charged . She stated that is not a issue and gave me a day grace period. So i will check it out and call them and see if they are going to charge me for my web use on the iphone.Not sure how they would find out anyway. :clap:


Only rogers imei phones will work with the plan. If you don't have a rogers imei, it will charge you 5 cent per kb.


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## MACinist (Nov 17, 2003)

phuviano said:


> Only rogers imei phones will work with the plan. If you don't have a rogers imei, it will charge you 5 cent per kb.


From my understanding, it is also sensitive to the browser and can only be used with Rogers' wap software. If it sees something like Opera, Explorer or in my case Safari, would it not charge as well?


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## RunTheWorldOnMac (Apr 23, 2006)

madgunde said:


> A Rogers customer service supervisor informed me that the information on the website was an error and that they were working to get it corrected.


Here's a fun fact about "Rogers customer service supervisor", my friends girlfriend is a Rogers customer service supervisor n the call center in Ottawa (no this isn't an iPhone rumour. A Rogers customer service supervisor is basically a regular customer service representative who has had university or college training in psychology or similar line of training.


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