Statement from Rogers.
It seems that Rogers is hearing us… with no comment.
From Canada.com’s article :
Liz Hamilton, a spokeswoman for Rogers said the company had no comment on the petition but said it was apparent there is “confusion in the marketplace” about Rogers pricing plans for the phone.
She said iPhone 3G bundles are high value and offer customers savings over voice and data plans that exist today though they are not the only plans being offered.
“These are the best value for customers who wish to use the iPhone 3G as it was meant to be used, but as always our customers have choices,” Hamilton said in an e-mail.
She said customers can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans, or order other a la carte options so they don’t have to take the value pack.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Wouldn’t it be nice if PR for these companies wouldn’t talk down to us like we are braindead sheep for their consumption. “Confusion in the marketplace”, “Best value for customers who wish to use the iPhone as it was meant to be used”.
I’m not sure who is confused here, does she know what the iPhone is for? It’s definitely not meant to stay up past 9pm to make your calls so you don’t overage your minutes, or to disable images in Safari so you don’t overage your data usage.
I’m almost positive Apple didn’t make the iphone for this purpose. There is confusion in the marketplace alright.. it’s just not from the consumers.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
Oh wow, my head hurts… I’m so confused!
High value? Seriously? She actually thinks that?
I responded to this same article on my blog if you’re interested:
http://www.itinfusion.ca/wireless/the-rogers-information-minister-addresses-iphone-confusion/
June 30th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
[...] RuinedIphone.com – The Blog put an intriguing blog post on Statement from Rogers.Here’s a quick excerpt“These are the best value for customers who wish to use the iPhone 3G as it was meant to be used, but as always our customers have choices,” Hamilton said in an e-mail….She said iPhone 3G bundles are high value and offer customers savings over voice and data plans that exist today though they are not the only plans being offered…. [...]
June 30th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Rogers just updated the iPhone voice and data webpage with all the terms and conditions and extra fees we face
June 30th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Could they please just stop calling it a “value pack”? Perhaps “Caller ID Cash Grab with other useless fluffy crap Pack” would be more appropriate?
June 30th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Does she mean that people can choose to use their existing voice and smartphone plans on the iPhone?
In any case, it’s clear that the confusion is on the part of Rogers, who don’t understand what “value” actually means. They also have forgotten that “value” is decided by the consumer when they make the decision to buy or not buy a product or service for a given price. Saying over and over again that these plans are “high value” does not make it true … and over 21,000 people have stated that quite clearly on this petition.
June 30th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
Look, I’m no fan of Rogers and their insane cell phone fees (not just for the iPhone either) but the BEST way to get Rogers to lower their fees is to not buy their product! Does anybody sell stuff on eBay to the lowest bid? No, they sell to the highest bid because they can. If people are willing to pay, that’s the “fault” of the buyers not the sellers.
So I’d love to see Rogers get screwed over this but it should happen naturally because nobody buys the iPhone. Anybody who agrees to paying and playing by their terms is a fool.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:03 pm
No confusion here Ma`am! I`m sure there`s loads of confusion over at Robbers trying to back pedal out this one. Too late for me, damage done, WHEN there`s more competition (late 2008-2009) It`ll be bye-bye Robbers wireless
June 30th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Oh no Liz, I think Rogers is one that’s confused. But I think I can clear up the confusion very easily.
Canadians have had horrible, high priced, un-reliable mobile service for years, and we’ve finally had enough.
June 30th, 2008 at 5:25 pm
Miss Hamilton is absolutly right ! I am truly confused because I just can’t understand how insulting potential customers can make them buy crappy voice and data plans…
July 1st, 2008 at 10:25 pm
So frustrating and insulting to hear them call these plans as “high value”!!! High value for whom?? Are they living in caves? I’d like Liz Hamilton to use the basic plan for a month as part of her daily routine living and see how much she racks up in overages charges just for calling (outgoing as well as incoming) during the normal hours. Want to find out how sufficient is 150 mins/month is for her…it’s only 5 mins/day (avg 30 days/month)! It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that this is some cruel joke for $60 + SAF at the least!!
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:21 am
Hmmm. Kinda reminds me of the guy who worked for Saddam as information minister, Muhammed Saeed al-Sahaf, when the US was busy overrunning Iraq. You know, the one who kept showing up on TV telling folks there was no sign of the Marines in his country.
He seemed to have a tough time keeping a straight face. I wonder if Liz has the same problem?
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:23 am
http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/images/_39061593_min-ap-203body.jpg
“iPhone prices in Canada are fair. Consumers are confused!”
July 2nd, 2008 at 12:25 am
More aptly
http://www.welovetheiraqiinformationminister.com/#quotes
July 2nd, 2008 at 10:24 am
There are *much* better plans from other providers, and much better phones than the iPhone.
Sure it has glitz, but it’s a completely closed system unlike phones such as Nokia E70 or N95 who actively support third party application developers with amazing offerings, on top of already impressive phones.
Best just to stay away from Rogers & their offerings completely.
July 2nd, 2008 at 5:44 pm
“High Value”?
Is that there new buzz-slogan? Consumers can tell the difference between a “high value” plan and a total rip-off. Rogers, you are providing the latter.
July 2nd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
In the article below (see link at the end) in Globe and Mail Nadir Mohammad, President and COO of Rogers says…
“Rogers president and chief operating officer Nadir Mohamed talked about the next-generation upgrade in a keynote address at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto a few weeks ago, during which he argued that Canadians do not pay too much for wireless service.”
and then in the next sentence he add…
“Mr. Mohamed did add, however, that both the BlackBerry Bold and the iPhone 3G would help increase the average revenue per user by $30 per month.”
Something doesn’t add up!! According to Rogers, we don’t pay much for their service and yet their ARPU will increase by $30/month with iPhone & BlackBerry Bold…huh!!!! How does that happen when we are not paying much? With this kind of talks from such a top guy at the company we can’t expect rates to get any better!! Best way to hit them is to vote with our wallets against all their services…I hate their arrogance and attitude!
On 11th everyone should line up to their stores….and cancel all existing service we have with them. That will be a rude shock for them as they will be thinking that Canadians have lined up again to be rogered until they find out who’s going to be rogered this time!!
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080702.wgtdatarates0702/BNStory/Technology/home
July 3rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
she is saying that the rates are better…well they are in the sense that they have been charging outragous prices for data for years. ROBBERS
July 4th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
Here I was thinking that only Rogers was going to bring it but of course since our incredibly wise governing body gave a green light to allow Rogers to purchase Fido – looks like they’ll bring it too. I remember being a Fido customer in Vancouver when Fido was a separate company. They were innovative and gave a “45.00″ bucks a month – UNLIMITED plan – day or night as long as you were in the lower mainland. Long Distance? No worries only 10 cents a minute if you were inside the Lower Mainland…..Includes call display – call waiting and voice mail. They had people lined up out the door. Rogers then applies to buy Fido – it’s green lit and of course the first thing they do is CANCEL City Fido – no more unlimited plans. They also quietly and discretely increased rates without any notice. Long distance went almost immediately from 10 cents a minute to .35 cents a minute. Oh – 911 charge too. The couldn’t get rid of the Unlimited customers, but oh how they quickly pushed that monthly bill to 55.00 a month by the time they were done nickeling and diming ya – they had to grandfather those that had the plans once their plans lapsed (had to let them sign a new contract) – but when I went to move to Calgary – Uh…. no sir – your plan stays in Vancouver……. Interestingly enough – since I had renewed my contract in Vancouver – (yes my stupid move) they held me to it even though I was moving…… then I get the cheapest plan that they offer in Calgary – 20 bucks for 200 minutes – but like Rogers does so well – with service fees 911 fees, Messaging blah blah blah – (keeping in mind I never go over my 200 minutes ) they manage to get 40 + dollars a month……. Anyone thinking that the iPhone is going to be only the base price…… think again – you’ll be so rung up your head will spin. But Yes – I will acknowledge to the stinkers out there that will voice the “It’s a privilege, not a right” – are correct. But simply stated, people do want the state of the art…..but when they step back and see what these companies are really charging for it in Canada, it’s like there is this self awakening of consumers saying….Wait a minute……. Canadian consumers are waking up to the fact that perhaps the service providers – while having a right to charge a premium for cutting edge items – are blatantly overcharging. And like the stupid cows in the field like we are in Canada (we bitch a lot be we rarely do anything about anything we’re upset about). We’re disappointed. Sure – it’s state of the art NOW – but when it all goes comfortably mainstream with more competition – and gets cheaper – Ted Rogers can count on the 35 thousand Plus now that will make a point of choosing their competitor – Canadians do have a memory and most certainly can hold a grudge.
The excuse that there are fewer Canadians……Um….. you had to build the damn network – you’re more likely to get consumers by offering good pricing for cutting edge technology…. But after seeing what Rogers did to Fido – I’m hardly surprised……Big Monopoly shutting down the innovator by buying the company that knew how to treat people right. Rogers had to do it – they were losing customers by the thousands. – it smacks of Microsoft. Antitrust? DUH !
But ya – Rogers can stick it – I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m letting my Fido contract lapse in Oct and I will promptly cancel and wait for a real company and believe me Mr. Ted Rogers – I’m deadly patient. Mama always said anything worth having is worth waiting for – just don’t get screwed by the guy willing to stick it to ya……….. Ya, she was referring to you. The competition is coming and once they’re here I’ll never look back.
July 5th, 2008 at 11:28 am
OKKKK people
DONT BUY THE IPHONE JUST YET!!!1
i just taked to Rogers they said that the plan might change once the iphone is out… and they said that the phone will be connected to internet all the time unlike the old unlocked iphone that people used with rogers. So once u walk out of the wifi area…and if ur browser is on & if ur browsing, u’ll b charge FREAKKIN 5cents/kb
so there is no way to shut off the data usage. if we do not get the plan we will be charged 5Cents /kb.
well the reason i called rogers was to cancel my plan….
But the rep. said that the plans might change after the release!!!
so just hold on for a while!!!
THEY BETTER GET THE UNLIMITED DATA!!!! or i’ll be PISSED @ Rogers FOR EVER…
July 6th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
oh, so, the fact that we see a plan that looks over the top means that we’re not outraged, we’re just “confused.”
i find that downright insulting.
they are right, though, it is High value… for their shareholders.
July 7th, 2008 at 12:31 am
Terms like “value pack” and saying that the customers have a choice is insulting. A choice of overpriced plans is not a choice. It’s just lip service and PR spin. All you have to do is look at cell phone plans in other countries to see just how corrupt our government is for allowing a lack of competition like this. It’s just rich old boys and they give money and get perks. That’s how it’s always been and that’s how it’s going to continue to be unless the people themselves do something about it.
July 7th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Why is Apple not cancelling their agreement to distribute those crooks at Roger.
Why risk damaging their image, just announce that there is no reliable 3G partner in Canada, I would then agree.
Roger, what an INSULTING company.
They only see the IPhone as a phone, incredible lack of vision. Their stupid advertising is to the level of their management.
Do you think I am confused or pissed ?