Surprise: People are pissed off about Rogers iPhone plans

[Matt Serrano]

In a way, I'm speechless, but I can't say I'm surprised. I remember talking to Rob a few weeks ago about Rogers' craptastic BlackBerry plans, and today, they released the details about their plans for the iPhone coming July 11.

$60 for 150 minutes. Being from the U.S., I (and many, many others) consider this highway robbery. If that wasn't enough, you get a 400MB limit, 75 text messages, and you have to pay extra for caller ID (!).

This is the clearest example of the power of a monopoly possible. Someone even created a petition site, ****yourogers.com about the news. To my knowledge, every other carrier has an unlimited data plan for the iPhone (some carriers in the UK may be an exception, but I would have to research that, and I'm dreadfully lazy).

Even if you're not a fan of the iPhone, if you're a Rogers customer, I implore you to at least email the company and voice your opinion.

 

[Rob Williams]

The sad thing? I switched to Rogers a month ago. The even sadder thing? There's nothing better.

It's the truth. We have three carriers here... Rogers, Aliant (Bell) and Telus. Telus runs through Aliant's insufficient networks, so that about explains why they are not an option. I moved over to Rogers originally to have better support. With Bell, I wouldn't have had the option to use my phone while outside of the continent, nor would I have a good selection of phones.

So far, I haven't felt the wrath of their high prices, but I'm sure I will after some time passes. I don't have a smart phone, however, which helps. I was considering a BlackBerry Bold on release, but after seeing this price list, I'm not feeling so ambitious.

What bugs me is how these carriers expect consumers to believe that these outrageous prices are warranted, when we all know very well that they cost next to nothing to process. They charge $0.15 for a text message, when it takes more of their resources for someone to call someone and hang up before they can pick up. One particular example lately is a brand-new Rogers Wireless TV commercial, which goes like this:

Guy 1: We need e-mail [on Blackberry]
Guy 2: *pours coffee* Sorry, not willing to give up dark roast.
Guy 1: But it's just the cost of doing business.
Guy 2: How much?
Guy 1: It's only $15 a month.
Guy 2: *gasp* Only $15 a month? So we could keep the dark roast.
Guy 1: For that price, we could go with the Indonesian blue blend.

Luckily, I calmed myself down prior to throwing the TV out the window. Since when was $15 a good price for e-mail, ANYWHERE? Give me a break! I realize that e-mail prices for these devices is expensive anywhere, including the US, but to suggest that $15 a month for e-mail is a huge deal, is unbelievable.

What's more screwed up is the fact that prices keep going up. All of these services we pay out the ass for today were far cheaper when they were newer. When I had a cell in 2000, it was $40 a month. When I first got broadband in 1998, it was $40 a month. Now my cell phone bill is rarely under $100, and my Internet is $60 (for 10Mbit).

Back on topic... why in the heck do companies create special 'packs' for certain phones? What makes e-mail so special on the iPhone or BlackBerry, that it deserves its own series of bundles?

Though I didn't intend to pick up an iPhone, I'll sign the petition, because I can feel the angst that all other Rogers customers are feeling. Sadly, I'd be surprised if half of the 10,000 didn't pick up the iPhone anyway, even with these high prices. The best way to truly flip Rogers the bird would be to go with another carrier.

Oh wait... the other one is worse...

 

[Merlin]

It's all about greed, growing more and more all over the planet.
Milk is 7.00 USD a gallon
Gas is 4.00 USD a gallon
I'm glad my car runs on gas instead of milk

You know who

 

[b1lk1]

You guys outside the US just don't know the entire scope of how well you have it. I am American and moved to Canada 4 years ago. Prices are higher for everything here. Even with the Canadian dollar at the same level as the US dollar, prices have only gone up. Taxes are outrageous as well. Social health-care is a joke and extremely overpriced. I will never understand why my wife still pays health insurance out of her paycheck yet health-care is supposedly free???

As for Cell phones, even the $20 a month family plan we have with 2 phones ($20X2) ends up to be around $90 after taxes, fees and whatever else they can add in for no rational reason.

And let's not forget that water costs more per gallon (if you are dumb enough to buy it in the store) than gas as well. North America as a whole has been shielded from the rest of the world when it comes to what we pay for things. Now that reality is starting to hit, the panic is just beginning.

The best piece of advice I can give anyone is to immediately cut up your credit cards, stop taking loans and start paying cash for everything. If you don't have the money on hand, consider that you just don't need it. I am personally in the middle of a money crisis because my wife and I spent more than we should have. Lucky for us, we can still make our payments and her job (a RN) is one that is only going to be in more demand as time goes by.

To end my book, all I gotta say is that Canada sucks badly and the level of customer service is a joke. I for one am cancelling my cell phones and getting the pay-as-you-go units instead. Rogers can suck my balls. Even if they actually physically sucked them, I still would not willingly use them.

PS: Petition signed.

 

[Merlin]

I've always heard it was expensive to live in Canada, but I always heard that health care was free. I guess they tax the hell out of it?

PooF

 

[b1lk1]

You get a very basic level of free care, just pray you never become very sick or need surgery because the waiting lists will almost certainly kill you first. It is free, but the taxes we pay for it are far higher than the cost of better private healthcare that you get in the US.

 

[Kougar]

And let's not forget that water costs more per gallon (if you are dumb enough to buy it in the store) than gas as well.

Okay, I'll bite. How much is a gallon of distilled water up there, or litres or whatever unit y'all use? Or British gallons, etc.

People complain about the gas prices, but seeing that a gallon of milk now costs more than a gallon of gas (even the premium stuff) made me stop and think twice. Of course thanks to the activists (I don't consider them real environmentalists) soybeans and similar crop prices are going through the roof, so even soymilk is going up.

 

[b1lk1]

A gallon of milk here is cheaper than a gallon of gas. If you buy those foolish 1 liter bottles of water for $1.50 each then you pay more for water than gas. As for distilled water, I have no clue since you can hardly find it anywhere here. I am talking bottled spring water.

 

[Kougar]

Spring water / distilled water cost the same here, so I didn't differentiate. I think it is 99 cents here on average... hard to find distilled because people empty entire shelves of it every 2-3 days.

I've not seen a gallon of milk at $7 like Merlin mentioned, but typically the cheapest, Walmart offbrand is still $4.30 and going up. Most are $5-6 now.

 

[Rob Williams]

You guys outside the US just don't know the entire scope of how well you have it. I am American and moved to Canada 4 years ago. Prices are higher for everything here. Even with the Canadian dollar at the same level as the US dollar, prices have only gone up. Taxes are outrageous as well. Social health-care is a joke and extremely overpriced. I will never understand why my wife still pays health insurance out of her paycheck yet health-care is supposedly free???

That's one thing to bug the hell out of me... things are SO much less expensive in the US. Even simple things... the deodorant I buy, costs $7 here, and $3.50 in the US. 4-pack of Red Bull is $10 here... $7 in the US. Beef jerky, $10 here, $6 in the US. Just simple examples, but every type of common product (shampoos, food) costs more up here.

It's kind of humorous, because we are about three-hours from Calais, Maine, where the shopping is pretty good. It's actually cheaper for people to drive all that way, and then pay duty on the way back (14% tax on all of what you purchased while in the US) and it still comes out cheaper than buying all of the same stuff in Canada.

Bill, as for health-care, I think you are expecting way too much, or have really special needs. If I get sick, I can go to the hospital and get taken care of without a hassle or without opening my wallet. If I have a heart-attack and an ambulance brings me to the hospital, I'm taken good care of, and again, don't need to open my wallet. Not sure what you are expecting, exactly.

As for the cost of water and milk, I don't pay much attention, but I know that $7 for a gallon of milk would be easily done. I -think- that whenever I buy 2L, they are $3.50. I'll pay more attention next time I go to the store. As for water, I think it's about $1.50 a gallon here, if I'm not mistaken. I believe the 18L jugs we buy here for the water-cooler costs around $6, which would be around the same.

I need to start paying more attention. Regardless, it's all rather high.

 

[Kougar]

Well, it costs more to truck those items a few thousand miles north, I'm sure prices are going up on many American goods in Canada because of that especially? The more times a product changes hands, the more hands that want a slice of the final cut.... may not be much of a customs system in place but that is still there, even if most of the duties no longer are.

I don't live in Canada obviously, but what Bill is mentioning is for example if you need dental work, but can't pay for it. You get seen, and if judged non-emergency then ya get stuck on a waiting list while the problem gets worse in the interim. You have to live with the problem for weeks or even a month before it gets addressed.

It is the same way over in Great Britain, by the time they see you the problem has grown from a simple cavity to an abcess, or requires the entire tooth to go instead of a patch job it would have taken originally. All the while while they give you pain meds and you just live with the pain + drug side effects... If it is not an "emergency", then you might wish it had been just to bump all those poor souls waiting in line. I speak not from experience, but from some of the experiences I've read about, including a good friend of mines over in GB.

 

[b1lk1]

Actually you're wrong. Dental needs are not free. Neither are anything eye related beyond injuries. In fact, most people in Ontario don't have any form of dental or eye coverage. You don't get seen unless you can pay. You also have to pay for most medications as well if you don't have prescription coverage. There are some very big misconceptions about the social medical systems here.

My wife was diagnosed with Diabetes not too long ago. While she waits for various appointments that take months to get, she has more and more medical problems that are part of her Diabetes. She gets shoved on one waiting list after another, even with extra optional coverage she pays for. When we were in the US, we could call the doctor's office and be seen within days if not the same day for any problems. Here it takes months. Even if you have major critical illnesses, you STILL get put on waiting lists unless you require immediate care to not die. If they feel there is even the slightest chance you can wait, you get stuck on the list. Many people die while on these lists.

As for prices, I am not even talking about imports. I am talking about things produced right here in Canada. In fact, you will not find 50%+ of American goods in Canada because they are either not importable or noone cares to import them. We build just as many vehicles here in Canada yet we pay up to 30% more for them than the US. There is no importing involved. It goes far beyond that simple generalization you gave. As for Customs, they basically rape us on imports and that is ANOTHER reason most people don't want imported goods inside Canada.

It is impossible to understand this if you do not live here. Again, speaking as an American that had no idea beforehand, you have it damn good in the US and should still to this day be extremely thankful for it. It makes me ill to listen to fellow Americans belly ache about how rough they have it. Truth is we were all just sheltered from the rest of the world and thanks to that moron Bush not caring about anything except war, you are now just as open to world pricing as the rest of the world.

 

[Kougar]

Hm, well then that is at least how it works in Great Britain, I assumed it was similar to Canada. The wait times certainly are. That is assuming there are any Docs that accept the uninsured, which is why the lines and waiting lists are generally so bad for those docs that do.

As far as the misinformation goes, you can thank Michael Moore's Sicko and related BS for that.

 

[b1lk1]

Michael Moore IS a sicko and deserves to be castrated and beaten for his idiotic attempts of personal glory at the expense of others. His one sided documentaries should be grounds to have him tried for treason.

Yeah, I really hate him or any other Hollywood jerk that uses their fame for personal gain.

 

[On_Wisconsin]

and thanks to that moron Bush

That's an insult to morons!

 

[Rob Williams]

Actually you're wrong. Dental needs are not free. Neither are anything eye related beyond injuries. In fact, most people in Ontario don't have any form of dental or eye coverage. You don't get seen unless you can pay. You also have to pay for most medications as well if you don't have prescription coverage. There are some very big misconceptions about the social medical systems here.

All you are doing is making Canadian health care look bad because you are expecting WAY too much. As far as I'm aware, low-income families get breaks on certain things like dental. The families are required to pay the first $50 or something like that, then medicare or whatever it's called takes care of the rest.

From my understanding, it's either free or dirt cheap to get what you need done, unless you are not a low income family. If you are not on medicare, you are expected to pay more for certain things. Cosmetic surgery and all that is not covered under our healthcare though... just things that need to be done.

Still, all I hear from you are complaints, and it's ridiculous. I've never heard anyone complain about our healthcare before, like you are now, and I've been living here all my life. I'm not saying our healthcare system is ideal, but it's sure a hell of a lot better than other places in the world.

If I was in your situation, maybe I'd understand things a little bit better. You just can't expect the government to baby everyone. They need money to waste elsewhere, you know

That all aside, as for things costing more in Canada, I'll stand right behind you on that. Like I mentioned a while ago, even cars are far more expensive in Canada. The base Corvette in Canada is like $66,000... while in the US it's $42,000. Talk about ridiculous. The same goes for most other vehicles as well. I need to look into that again though, since it's been a while that our dollar has been on par.

 

[b1lk1]

As I pointed out, I am American. We, as Americans, are very spoiled when it comes to healthcare. Our private system costs roughly the same as the amount of taxes paid in Canada for social healthcare. The private system in the US is far superior to the Canadian system. Idiots like Michael Moore make the US system out to be horrible. It is far from perfect, but it does have it's advantages. I don't mean to crap all over the Canadian system as there are certainly FAR worse out there. But if you had even a taste of what you got in the US for the same money you pay in taxes here, you'd most likely feel the way I do.

 

[Kougar]

Heh, or you can go to a specialized Doc here, and the the current "trend" amongst Doctors is to present you your treatment choices, and refuse to tell you which they "recommend" because they don't want to be sued if they get it wrong.

My mother is having a personal health issue just now, most of the solutions to which involve various levels of invasive surgery. Yet she sees the specialized doc twice, and each time she refuses to give her any sort of recommendation or suggested course of action from the listed treatment options. How stupid is that? I think once the new wave of med students arrive, the quality of healthcare here is going to take a further turn for the worse.

 

[b1lk1]

Have you guys seen the latest requirements for buying an iPhone? You have to lock into a 3 year contract AND pay them $200+ for hte damn phone. The monthly fees/charges are just abysmal. I read an article in the Toronto Star the other day stating that Canada has the most overpriced cell phone service in the world. I, for one, am buying my way out of my Rogers cell phone contract and getting a pay-as-you-go because I am sick of Rogers crap.

 

[Rob Williams]

Have you guys seen the latest requirements for buying an iPhone? You have to lock into a 3 year contract AND pay them $200+ for hte damn phone. The monthly fees/charges are just abysmal. I read an article in the Toronto Star the other day stating that Canada has the most overpriced cell phone service in the world. I, for one, am buying my way out of my Rogers cell phone contract and getting a pay-as-you-go because I am sick of Rogers crap.

I am not sure where I heard it (it was some news programme), but it appears that there are certain US-based carriers that are working to come into Canada, and it should happen within two years. I am almost positive the carrier in question was Virgin Mobile, and I'm not sure how good they are in the US, but at least it would be SOME competition, and that's what we badly need.

It will only really work if any potential carriers put up their own towers though. Bell has horribly outdated technology (at least here where I live), while Rogers holds the rest. Then we have Telus, who as far as I know, uses Bell's towers, effectively offering the same crap service.

I think we can all agree, we need more competition. Roger's will continue to bastardize Canadian's wallets until that happens.