Saturday, June 28, 2008 -- 11:26 a.m. -- on my couch

WOW! The outcry from Canadian customers over Rogers' iPhone 3G plans is off the charts -- it's making the national news and, quite honestly, it's getting similar to what happened here last year when Steve Jobs took $200 off the price of the iPhone.

I must say, Canada, you are right and you need to continue to complain ... call Rogers. Remember ... every single call they get is logged. You might not think that you can make a difference, but when everyone unites and works toward a common goal, you can.

It's the same premise as write your congressman/legislator ... or fill out a survey ... make your voice heard.

By doing so, you attract attention -- like this article that Reuters wrote.

Just in case you missed it, here's my write-up from yesterday shortly after the announcement. There was no way in the world not to look at Rogers' offering and not be offended. Sure, competition and structure is different in every country and you can't always compare apples to oranges, but you can compare certain things ... and a plan like this isn't comparable to anything else in existence -- and, there's a 3-year contract!

Rogers said that their plans are fair and take into account that not everyone needs unlimited data -- well, you know what? That's true ... so give consumers a choice. Give the ones that do need unlimited data what they want and make the plans that don't FAIR. These plans are an absolute laughing stock.

Not since my last cable bill have I seen anything so laughable.

Please, continue to comment. When I'm not around to add my 2 cents (errrr, for Canada, let's call it my 2 dollar coin -- or toonie, as you call it), I'll post the comment so the conversation continues unabated.

Thanks for calling.

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Canadians need to do all they can to complain about this. In my opinion there are 2 problems here. First, though it can be debated, is the way that apple releases their phones on only one network. In that case there's a monopoly on a product a lot of people want. Secondly is the problem that it seems like Apple is the only company that takes it upon themselves to innovate and then everyone has to catch up. That causes monopoly-type situations as well. I think if other companies would compete more in the innovation market we would see less of these problems. By the way, if you're interested we'll be discussing the iPhone 3G on the Geocentric podcast this coming Thursday.

Scott,
This makes me wonder if A T&T has something similar in store for us. Why else would they hold off the details of their new phone & data plans? This could be a deal breaker for me. I would love to have a new iPhone but I will not pay through the nose for the data plans to get it. The iPhone is like the woman of your dreams and A T&T is turning out to be the nightmare mother-in-law. It's a package deal.

Hey Scott, could you do a simple table or something showing the cost of all the tariffs in the countries announced so far in US dollars, including how much data you get? That would be really cool if you could...

SCOTT'S REPLY: Oh, it's on my list, Pat, and I'll certainly try. It would be most useful and helpful, I agree.

How long before Rogers adjusts their prices and plans?

SCOTT'S REPLY: We will see if the outcry from consumers has an effect.

First we waited a year for the iPhone to arrive in Canada and now we are insulted! Canadians don't express their feelings outwardly as much as our friends to the south, but this time we're mad and we're showing it. I hope this finally produces some momentum to improve the high-priced wireless fees in Canada.

As a Canadian, it's been especially difficult putting up with high mobile phone/data rates even though we have one of the world's leading wireless technology companies in the world - RIM/Blackberry - located in our country.

If you want to see the level of anger that we Canadians are just beginning to express over this issue, view the comments at The Globe and Mail website: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080627.wgtrogersprice0627/CommentStory/Technology/home#comments and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website: http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2008/06/27/iphone.html#socialcomments

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