» rogers

I haven’t written a daily rant for a while, I have to get this off my head. TheStar.com reported that our cable, home phone and wiresless monopoly giant Rogers Communications Inc., is once again raising their internet (3-9% except the Extreme Plus plan) and cable fees (5% for basic cable), effective March 1st. In my opinion, this is a very bad move for Rogers specially after reporting a $138 million fourth-quarter loss, according to TheStars. They are already losing new customers in the last quarter, now they decided to raise fees, yet again and we, as customers are furious. Not only they are losing new customers, they are also losing their existing ones because there are other providers that provides similar services, if not better, for a much more reasonable price.

One such company is Primus, their bundle which includes home phone, calling features (Call Display, Voice Mail, & Visual Call Waiting plus), high speed internet and unlimited long distance between Canada and US, offers more than 30% of savings compare to Rogers or Bell. Unfortunately they do not provide cable services. I’m not trying to sell you anything and there is no affiliate links anywhere in the post but rather trying to point out how much premium Rogers and Bell are charging us.

I have a feeling that Rogers’ first quarter isn’t going to be too bright either after this raise. So basically we are now paying more for the same services, if not worse (and its pretty well known that their customer service is terrible). Although I understand a company should focus on making a profit, I still don’t think it makes sense to raise any fees during this global economic slump. They might be able to suck some money from us for a short period of time, once people discover there are cheaper alternatives, they will start to lose even more in the long run.

I just read news, or rather rumors from DailyTech that Walmart will be selling the 4GB version of the ever popular iPhone. If the rumor is infact real, then its no brainer about seeing more people with iPhones. Hack, even I am tempted to get one myself now. I was tempted to get the 8GB version from Rogers AT&T when I saw the 8GB version for $199 with 3 year contract. For $99 you get a 4GB version, size doesn’t really matter to me here really. And I think 4GB is more than enough for me anyway. iPhone is more of a cool gadget to have and chances are I won’t be using it for heavy gaming, as a multimedia player, checking emails or surf the web even though it is capable of doing so. Most likely just like any other cell phones.

And there is this data plan that I have to worry about because as I said it comes with a 3 year turn, that’s the price to pay when you can get an iPhone for $199. The minimum cost for monthly cost is $35 (Voice Plan) + $25 (Data Plan) which equates to $60 + all that tax and other lame charges. Which is probably going to end up being 2-3 times more than what I am paying now.

Either way definitely a great move by Apple if in deed the rumor comes true and great news for those that crave for an iPhone but cannot justify buying the 8/16GB versions or without contract.

[update] Looks like the rumor will remain just a rumor. According to WIRED Appl WIll start selling iPhones through Walmart but not the $99 version like in the rumor. But will be selling the same 8GB and 16GB ones that we are seeing now.

Oh well, it doesn’t hurt to dream right?

What are these wireless phone companies thinking?

In Canada, Telus and Bell will start charging customers without a text message plan incoming sms text messages starting August 24th and August 8th respectively while customers with the plan are unaffected. Surprisingly, Rogers hasn’t made that change but it has its own dilema right now with the iPhone’s data plan.

As of now, you can only purchase an iPhone at Rogers or Fido stores and it comes with a 3 year plan. The cheapest data plan is $60CAD + tax for 150 minutes of weekday talk time and 400 megabytes of data. Therefore, you are tied up with paying over $800CAD a year, 3 years just for the plan itself, that is over $2400CAD PLUS the cost of the phone itself! Even though its cheaper than the BlackBerry plan, it is still more expensive than what people are paying or going to pay in the US.

Here are the plans they offer for the iPhone:
http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wirelessproducts/iphone_voice_data_packages

To me, these wireless companies are just a group of vampires sucking as much blood (money) out of us customers aspossible. Unless there is some sort of government regulation or intervention which I doubt, as long as they are the only major wireless providers, we are stuck with this monopoly. Hopefully Rogers will lower the price for the plans when there are less customers buying the iPhone and signing up for them than expected. It is an opportunity for Rogers to stand out from other providers like Telus and Bell if it does, but what I see will happen soon is that it will start charging for incoming sms text messages as well if this goes through for Telus and Bell.

I wonder what other excuses can they come up with later. Maybe something like:
“We will start charging a monthly fee for holding onto your phone number”

Source from TheStar.com:
http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/456795

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