Rogers Wireless has given in, ever so slightly, to customer pressure just in time for tomorrow’s 3G iPhone release in Canada coming out with a new plan that triples the amount of data iPhone users can transfer on their phones. The new plan allows for 6GB of data transfer for $30, but it might be too late-customers in Canada are already pissed and many have written off the iPhone altogether. It took an online petition carrying nearly 60, 000 signatures and a flood of emails for Rogers executives to realize this,
“Our customers told us they wanted to use this phone in a way that they have not used other phones,” said John Boynton, senior vice-president of Rogers Wireless and its chief marketing officer.
“They said their historical usage patterns were not a predictor of what they wanted to do with the iPhone going forward. They said they are fine with the price and with not having unlimited data, but they wanted more data.”
The old Rogers iPhone plan charged $100 for 6GB of data transfer, so the new plan is definitely cheaper but customers are still required to sign a three-year contract. However, the new plan doesn’t only apply to the iPhone but to any 3G phone carried by Rogers. What really disappoints us more than anything though is Rogers still refuses to offer an unlimited data plan.
“We’re not in favour of unlimited plans…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.”
Rogers says that the 6GB plan allows users to “visit 35,952 Web pages, or send and receive 157,286 e-mails or watch 6,292 minutes of YouTube videos in a month.”
Whether or not rumors making their way through the interwebs revealing a bit of a battle between Apple and Rogers are true is still unknown. Rogers denies that their iPhone stock is being diverted to Europe and Apple refuses to comment regarding their decision not to sell the iPhone in Canadian Apple retail stores.
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