(with apologies to CBC News )
Toronto-based Rogers, Canada’s largest cellphone provider, quietly announced a plan last week that would allow “unlimited” internet browsing on certain cellphones for $7 a month. The company also introduced a “Communicate Suckage” pack for $20 that bundles the browsing with text messaging, voice mail and call display features. Rogers spokeswoman Elizabeth Hamilton said the prices reflect the changing state of the gullability of cellphone users. “We’re in the business of financially raping customers for trivial functionality. As subscribers grow, as applications actually do something, we can really rip customers a new one,” she said. “We’re finding new ways of gouging them all the time.” Both plans allow customers to browse whatever websites they want on their mobile phones, .. except for really good ones, which aren’t approved by Rogers, like Google Maps. The plans also do not apply to anything with a CPU in it, and do not cover e-mail, since Rogers wants to introduce another $20 “E-mail Suckage” plan for that. Rogers really, really hopes that customers don’t read the fine print and try using their cell phone as a modem, so they get raked over the coals with per-kilobyte charges. Critics said the plans were Rogers’ latest attempt to confuse customers, this time by misrepresenting the word “unlimited.” “What appears to be a good deal on the surface is actually complete shit,” wrote Marc Lostracco, assistant editor of the Torontoist website. “Customers need to remember that a company calling something ‘unlimited’ is obviously out to get you.” Hamilton disputed the criticism and said the plans fit the uses that Rogers allows. “It’s actually an excellent cash cow,” she said.
This Rogers site prominently states that “tethering” is $0.05/Kb.
Thethering is a rich-person’s sport. Telus has some reasonable tethering rates. I used to do it a fair bit, but its more expensive than the most expensive rate for wireless internet at a hotel that might charge for it, so I gave up; Still, being able to check the various Canada/US bridge crossing wait times while sailing along I-90 was cool.
Keep in mind that some cell-phone towers have extremely limited band-width. Opening the flood gates to youtube is not technically feasible (outside of major cities). “Unlimited facebook access” appeals to a certain market segment.
I’m guessing the Torontoist folks are tethering experts or something?
Here’s a US plan that gives you data roaming in Canada at $0.002/kb or 25 times cheaper than Rogers… Guess who’s network it will use when you are roaming?
Reid did an excellent job translating the article to plain English.
Wow, 0.2¢/k sure beats Rogers’ 5¢/k! Unfortunately that link requires a zip code.
Ok, here’s an excerpt of the information from that page for my fellow curious Canadians. Should make for a large comment…
Very funny! I found this after doing a Google search on Liz Hamilton. She appears to be the Rogers version of the Iraqi Information Minister. I’ve been have a good laugh at the iPhone backpeddling she’s been doing.
Ya, Rogers has been having a PR nightmare over their data plan prices.
With 3G now and the 6 GB data plan, tethering makes tons of sense. Speeds are pretty good (some say comparable to WiFi), and as long as you don’t run BitTorrent, you should be ok.
I wonder if Rogers still has some legalese regarding tethering though. Will have to do a search at some point..