To be eligible for their new plans, customers must purchase and activate an iPhone 3G — or any 3G smartphone — before the end of August. This includes signing a three-year contract which, I’m sorry, is a totally unreasonable commitment. Seriously, Rogers makes you stay with them for three years? There are enough problems with two-year contracts. But three? Outrageous. But I digress. The new rates reduce the 6 GB plan to $30, which is more in line with U.S. rates. Most U.S. carriers offer “unlimited” data services, but some, like Verizon, place an invisible cap of 5 GB per month. So in a way, Rogers customers are getting a better deal that Verizon. Then again, Rogers customers have to pay for overages, while Verizon customers just risk having their service cancelled. Which, if you’re stuck with a two-year contract, might not be the worst thing in the world. John Boynton, senior vice president of Rogers Wireless, has the word:
“We’re not in favour of unlimited plans,” he said. “We believe people should pay for what they use. We think that is fair and we don’t think that people who don’t use a lot should pay the same price as people who use a lot.”That’s not an outrageous statement, though it’s not what was at issue. The issue was the gouging of customers. Now that they’ve lowered the price from $100 to $30, they’ll see some happier customers. It seems to be a small contingent that’s unhappy about the lack of true unlimited service.]]>
My understanding is that Rogers limited time offer (only available until August 31) of $30 for 6 GB, is only *the data portion of the plan* and other features — Voice minutes, Caller ID, Text Messaging, System Access Fee, etc — would be in addition to that.
This is great news for Canadian customers, however, I definitely agree that 3 years is a pretty steep committment in this competitive environment. Canada has always veered away from unlimited plans (aside from trials), and having worked on the business case analysis side, I can’t say that I blame them. There are always abusers who simply render unlimited plans unprofitable, both for voice and data. And even in the States, as noted, such plans are now being capped in the small print. The reality tends to be that 90% or more customers aren’t affected by such caps. Afterall, if the carriers can’t be profitable, in the end the customers will lose. With current pricing in the marketplace, I expect to see further financial woes in the wireless space; we’ll see who comes out on top!
Cheers,
PrepaidWirelessGuy
http://www.prepaid-wireless-guide.com