# Rogers to charge for tethering



## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

Just heard that Rogers will be charging $10 per month for tethering effective May 3.
This is a blatant ripoff of course.

I'll simply go back to putting my sim card into my novatel stick...disadvantage being that I will not be able to use my laptop and send and receive phone calls at the same time. 

Looks like this:

Customers on the $30 1GB / 6GB will lose their free tethering abilities. 

A new $45 for 2GB plan will launch and include tethering.

For customers on the 6GB, a $10 addon will be available (total $40) to reenable tethering.

For customers on the 3GB ($60) and 5GB ($80) data plans, tethering will remain free.


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

That's some bs right thurrrr.


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## cowasaki (Feb 13, 2008)

We should be allowed to break our contracts because of this change of terms. Of course we are not allowed to because of the fine print.

So I guess we just suck it up or cancel our plans.

On a side note Telus called me today (currently with Fido) and offered me a great deal...I mean really fantastic. I asked why they didn't offer me this deal when I was considering leaving, to which she said "It was not available".

Long story short...I'm still with Fido, she couldn't understand why I wouldn't leave.

Principal perhaps...Regardless,

Enjoy the new charge and open our wallets!

H


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## wonderings (Jun 10, 2003)

jimbotelecom said:


> Just heard that Rogers will be charging $10 per month for tethering effective May 3.
> This is a blatant ripoff of course.
> 
> I'll simply go back to putting my sim card into my novatel stick...disadvantage being that I will not be able to use my laptop and send and receive phone calls at the same time.
> ...


Where did you hear this from? Obviously less then good news, I really like the tethering option, but its not worth it for me to add anymore to my bill.


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

jimbotelecom said:


> Just heard that Rogers will be charging $10 per month for tethering effective May 3.
> This is a blatant ripoff of course.
> 
> I'll simply go back to putting my sim card into my novatel stick...disadvantage being that I will not be able to use my laptop and send and receive phone calls at the same time.
> ...


Not to be cheeky, but do you have a source for this?


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## imnothng (Sep 12, 2009)

I just googled "rogers new tethering charges" and found a few sources saying the same crap. Disgusting, is all I really have to say about it.


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## Niagaramark (Jul 20, 2007)

How will Rogers be able to tell if you are tethering? I have the 6GB plan and use tethering occasionally for convenience, but wouldn't pay extra for the option.


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## fjnmusic (Oct 29, 2006)

Niagaramark said:


> How will Rogers be able to tell if you are tethering? I have the 6GB plan and use tethering occasionally for convenience, but wouldn't pay extra for the option.


Good question. As long as you're not using more than 6 GB (or whatever amount you're paying for), then what is the problem? Now, of course, if you could add tethering ability to your hypothetical WiFi iPad…


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

Niagaramark said:


> How will Rogers be able to tell if you are tethering? I have the 6GB plan and use tethering occasionally for convenience, but wouldn't pay extra for the option.


If you're not jailbroken you had to call Rogers to have tethering enabled, well guess what?
They're going to notify you that tethering is going to become a chargeable option. If you decline, they are simply going to disengage tethering from your phone.

Your only option is jailbreaking if you want to tether and not pay the extra fee.

I will simply swap my sim card between a novatel stick and my phone; I would much rather tether but I'm am not giving these robbers another $10 per month to use my data stream. They can't tell what you're doing with a stick, as I used to do this before tethering became an option.

BTW, I will not reveal my source, except to say it came from within Rogers...sorry.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

fjnmusic said:


> Now, of course, if you could add tethering ability to your hypothetical WiFi iPad…


Maybe the Ipad is the reason they're doing this. We don't know what Apple will negotiate as far as 3g connectivity goes in Canada. The easiest thing is to tether and Rogers wants revenue for it.

The only good thing is we have 3 different carriers now that can support 3g in all Canadian cities. The new entrants, wind and mobilicity cannot support the Ipad or iphones.


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2010)

It's easy to respond to this one ... I will be looking into changing phone providers and will be happy to tell Rogers this in no uncertain terms. 

They nickel and dime for everything as it is. I currently have to pay $10 for a real IP address so that I can VPN properly into specific networks because without it it's a no-go. Rogers was unable to even tell me that this is what I needed when I had the issues and were also unable to tell me how to make it work on the iPhone and claimed that they didn't "support" this option -- but are still happy to charge $10/mnth for it. The reason I needed this? They improperly setup their NAT services for the iPhone provisioning. Gotta love that, you have to pay because they don't know how to properly setup their network AND you have to take care of the fix yourself. Now that's service, NOT.


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## Macfury (Feb 3, 2006)

Change the thread title to: "Rogers to charge for everything."


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

Macfury said:


> Change the thread title to: "Rogers to charge for everything."


Seriously.

Is anyone in this forum on the $15 "150mb retentions dataplan" ? I'd like to know of anyone who's switch from the 6gb to it. Once they officially announce these charges, I will be dropping my 6gb plan like a bad habit.


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

I think there is something in the technology of how you tether that sends the data usage information to Rogers...

I mean, if it has to be enabled for it to work, there must be a way for them to see what is tethering and what is regular cell usage.

I REALLY want to go with Bell or Telus. Here in NS, their coverage is so much better than Rogers, it's not even funny. My wife's BB has full bars in our den downstairs, and I have no service. I am constantly jealous of her signal strength haha.

And my cousin has Bell and it's so much faster than mine.


Only thing is, I'll only be 2 years into my contract when July rolls around (when I assume there will be a new or updated iPhone)... so I'd have to find someone to take over my Rogers contract. At that point I'd probably have to give the iPhone away for free.


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## MomentsofSanity (Jul 9, 2008)

This is in no way surprising but entirely disappointing. The only reason I hung on to the 6GB so tightly was tethering as an option. I barely use it but I liked the option to be able to if I really needed it. 

Leave it to Rogers to charge you to use the data you already pay for...


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## Benito (Nov 17, 2007)

If this is in fact the case, it really really sucks.


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## ehMax (Feb 17, 2000)

Will be time for me to call Rogers customer retentions.


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## Lawrence (Mar 11, 2003)

Benito said:


> If this is in fact the case, it really really sucks.


Two words of relief...

*Throne Speech*

The monopoly that the big 3 carriers have in Canada is soon to be no more.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

dolawren said:


> Two words of relief...
> 
> *Throne Speech*
> 
> The monopoly that the big 3 carriers have in Canada is soon to be no more.


Yeah heard that but it will never happen before an election; It will likely be an election issue.

I don't really expect much.


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## Adrian. (Nov 28, 2007)

jawknee said:


> Seriously.
> 
> Is anyone in this forum on the $15 "150mb retentions dataplan" ? I'd like to know of anyone who's switch from the 6gb to it. Once they officially announce these charges, I will be dropping my 6gb plan like a bad habit.


How about this retentions plan:

$22 = 500MB, 10,000 TXTs, Visual Voicemail, Caller ID and WhoCalled 

It was a nasty call.


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

Adrian. said:


> How about this retentions plan:
> 
> $22 = 500MB, 10,000 TXTs, Visual Voicemail, Caller ID and WhoCalled
> 
> It was a nasty call.


you are kind of my hero. do you work freelance on these types of calls.


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## groovetube (Jan 2, 2003)

rogers to charge me for using what I already pay for?

Thieving scumbags.


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## [email protected] (Sep 24, 2007)

dolawren said:


> Two words of relief...
> 
> *Throne Speech*
> 
> The monopoly that the big 3 carriers have in Canada is soon to be no more.


It's already over, Wind offers free tethering on their unlimited data plans...

Rogers doesn't care (and won't for a while)...


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

[email protected] said:


> It's already over, Wind offers free tethering on their unlimited data plans...
> 
> Rogers doesn't care (and won't for a while)...


The problem is Wind doesn't support the iphone.


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## mejag (Mar 16, 2003)

I called rogers today, and the iPhone specialist I spoke with has not been informed of any changes regarding tethering charges... Same as before, you need to have a Gig or more of data to enable tethering, but no additional charges if you tether. 

That being said, I have called Rogers before and gotten three different answers from three different people (on the same topic). So if anyone has confirmed information on these charges, please post


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## Amiga2000HD (Jan 23, 2007)

I think I recall reading over on the itnerd.com blog that Rogers extended the free tethering until May. I don't think we'll hear anything official until closer to May if Rogers has any changes in mind but with the budget speech promising increased competition in telecommunications, Rogers might want to reconsider any measures like a tethering fee that might **** off customers more than they are already.


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## Dr_AL (Apr 29, 2007)

I remember the same thing for tethering being extended till may. All I can say my only saving grace is that if Robbers changes the terms on anything I'm month to month so I can change my services as I please. Granted I don't have much leverage when it comes to calls with the retention department. 

I don't use tethering much at all but because of the possibility to tether I got the 1Gig data plan eventhough I don't use anywhere near that.


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## Guest (Mar 5, 2010)

If things are not changing until May they might change their tune by then due to the iPad 3G coming out and Apple possibly negotiating with them for deals for month-to-month data plans like they did with AT&T in the US.

Again though if they make a drastic change with the tethering availability/options I'll be speaking with retentions or cancelling services -- I've been a long time customer and over the years they've lost more and more of my business due to stuff like this .. cellular is all they have left from me.


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## jimbotelecom (May 29, 2009)

I too hope they change their tune; I use up almost all of my 6G because of tethering. If anyone is good with twitter it's worth creating a campaign to cause them anxiety.


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

jimbotelecom said:


> The problem is Wind doesn't support the iphone.


I wonder what the chances of a new iPhone with support for AWS 3G this June/July. That would be pretty sweet...


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## 8127972 (Sep 8, 2005)

Amiga2000HD said:


> I think I recall reading over on the itnerd.com blog that Rogers extended the free tethering until May. I don't think we'll hear anything official until closer to May if Rogers has any changes in mind but with the budget speech promising increased competition in telecommunications, Rogers might want to reconsider any measures like a tethering fee that might **** off customers more than they are already.


Here's the actual link:

Rogers To Extend Tethering Promo… Surfers Rejoyce The IT Nerd


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## Bjornbro (Feb 19, 2000)

Can someone post a link on how to accomplish tethering (I have the $30/6GB plan).


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## whatiwant (Feb 21, 2008)

Bjornbro said:


> Can someone post a link on how to accomplish tethering (I have the $30/6GB plan).


on your phone.

settings>general>network>Internet Tethering

turn it on. it might say you need to contact rogers and then it will flip over to on. 

sorry. i don't have the link and im too lazy


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## MikeyXX (Aug 2, 2008)

jimbotelecom said:


> I too hope they change their tune; I use up almost all of my 6G because of tethering. If anyone is good with twitter it's worth creating a campaign to cause them anxiety.



This might be why they want to charge. People who aren't tethering aren't coming close (normally) to their max usage limit. However, if you tether you do get closer to it and thus make their profit margin less.

Even with more competition, it is all math. They look at how high they can charge before enough people leave to make it not profitable. They can handle loosing X number of users but by upping their cost by Y they make actually more money because the voice and data load is less, but income is more.

It's too bad. However, you always see this when company's are not based on community but instead, profit.


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## kalfalfa (Jan 16, 2008)

You can enable tethering on your iPhone without Rogers having enabled it on your account by jailbreaking the phone. This is what we'll have to do to keep tethering after they disable it.

Rogers has no way of knowing that data has been used for tethering - it's not like every byte is tagged 'phone data' or 'tethered data', and it's not like the phone sends up usage stats to Rogers, it's all just one data bucket.

All Rogers can do is flip the tethering on/off flag on your account, and it's up to the iPhone to allow/not allow tethering based off the flag.

-Patrick


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## okcomputer (Jul 18, 2005)

mguertin said:


> If things are not changing until May they might change their tune by then due to the iPad 3G coming out and Apple possibly negotiating with them for deals for month-to-month data plans like they did with AT&T in the US.


I wonder if Apple even cares about Rogers anymore?

There seemed to be some bad blood from the get to, with people complaining about the prices of plans, the activation problems, etc. Some things were Rogers' fault, and some were Apple's.

Either way, when the 3GS came out, Rogers had hardly any stock. There were rumours that Apple was short changing them.

And even now, if I go to upgrade to a 3GS/try to buy one on rogers.com, it shows a graphic that says stock is intermittent. Even though you can go to Bell and Telus and order them no problem.


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## 8127972 (Sep 8, 2005)

okcomputer said:


> I wonder if Apple even cares about Rogers anymore?


I've actually wondered if it's the other way around. Rogers seems to be releasing a ton of Android OS based phones lately and you never hear anything about the iPhone anymore from them. I wonder if Rogers has given up on Apple and they just sell the iPhone just to say they sell the iPhone.


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## depmode101 (Sep 4, 2002)

> It's too bad. However, you always see this when company's are not based on community but instead, profit.


Hard to keep stockholders happy when your not trying to make a profit.

Apple IPad Parts Cost as Little as $219, ISuppli Says (Update1) - BusinessWeek


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## imobile (Oct 6, 2007)

*Rejoice >>>>*



jimbotelecom said:


> Just heard that Rogers will be charging $10 per month for tethering effective May 3.
> This is a blatant ripoff of course.
> 
> I'll simply go back to putting my sim card into my novatel stick...disadvantage being that I will not be able to use my laptop and send and receive phone calls at the same time.
> ...



Rogers has heard the rumblings ....


IS Big Brother alive and well?

I just now ( at 1116 PDT ) received on my iPhone a text message from Rogers...
unreal... had just asked that question .....

Rogers svc msg: Good news! On May 4/10 tethering will be included at no extra charge as part of ur data plan on eligible devices. More info at rogers.com/tethering

http://www.ehmac.ca/ipad-apple-tablet/85748-tethering-3.html#post951607
__________________


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## polywog (Aug 9, 2007)

imobile;951625
Rogers svc msg: Good news! On May 4/10 tethering will be included at no extra charge as part of [B said:


> ur[/B] data plan on eligible devices. More info at rogers.com/tethering


This is the second text I received from Rogers with 'ur' in it. Can't believe how unprofessional they are. It is exciting news though that something that is included in our data plan now will be included in our data plan next week, too!


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## MikeyXX (Aug 2, 2008)

They are probably attempting to be hip using text lingo...but don't want to overdo it for people like me who would get confused. You are right, either do it or don't do it, it looks unprofessional when it's not clearly their intent to mimick text speak.


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