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Not sure if Rogers intentionally wanted this one to slip under the radar (lets keep customers on their current and more expensive plan!)… But they have started offering a new data and text messaging pack for iPhone 3G users (in Canada of course). The new plan comes in at $30 per month, and includes 500MB of data, 10,000 outgoing text messages, visual voicemail, caller ID and the useless (in my opinion) WhoCalled service. The service sends a text message to your device whenever you missed a call. Odd, I can just checked my recent call list to see who called, don’t really need a text message to tell me that!

While the new plan should be of value to iPhone 3G users, it will also be great for other devices in the Rogers lineup. The new data value pack is also up for offer on most other smartphone devices on Rogers.

If you’re not a heavy data user, this plan should offer a solid amount of data for your buck. Just be sure to watch your data activity, would hate to go over and then find out Rogers has you bent over on overages for the month… It happens!

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Rogers has now officially opened up the iPhone 3G pricing plan to other 3G handsets, including the Samsung Jack, Palm Treo, Motorola Q9, Nokia N95 and HTC TyTN. The plan is the $30/6GB ‘limited promotional offer’, and is available on a 3-year contract. One can only hope this offer will apply to the upcoming release of the BlackBerry BOLD as well… and I certainly hope this isn’t a ‘limited time’ offer, they should really put something more permanent into place.

For more details on 3G price plans from Rogers, click here.

In my first adventure at Rogers on launch day, nothing seemed to go right. In the spirit of fairness, I thought I should report on day two. When we last left off, I had signed a three-year contract but had to leave the store without my iPhone as they were unable to activate it due to network issues. So, the next day I called at roughly 11 am to see what the status on my order was. The girl on the phone was very informative and told me it would be a couple of hours before my phone would be ready to go. They brought in an assistant to help with the activations and had planned to have all orders processed by the end of the day.

I received a follow-up call within the hour stating my phone was ready to activate. I went down to the Rogers dealer and it was a stark contrast to the day previous. There was only one other customer in the store and it was just a very casual atmosphere. I met with the same sales rep from the day previous who had my phone out and was preparing the paperwork. He apologized for the day previous and was overall very pleasant. I was concerned that I had signed up for the wrong value pack but he made sure I had what I wanted before he input it into the system. Throughout the process, he explained my contract to me and had my number ported from another carrier within a matter of minutes. Another sales rep came over to explain the basic operation procedures to me so the first guy could keep working on the activation, to get me out of there sooner. She seemed very knowledgeable and answered all of my questions.

In the end, I was up and running in about fifteen minutes. The only issue I had was with my voicemail. We couldn’t seem to get it activated. (A problem I later rectified by simply powering the phone down.) It’s a day later and everything is working fine. I’ve had a chance to use my phone over WIFI and the Rogers network. I’ve set up my voicemail. I’ve added some apps. I’ve used the GPS. Everything is working just as I had hoped. This is the experience I wanted. It took an unpleasant launch day to get there, but I’ll give credit where it is due. The staff at Rogers were very apologetic and and helped to erase what was a less than stellar first impression. My monthly bill is a little more money than I would ideally like to pay but I feel the 6 gig data plan at least makes the cost reasonable. Viva la iPhone!

Before I get started… In all fairness to Rogers, Friday was an insane day up in Canada with the iPhone launch. From all accounts I heard, they were having major troubles with their systems going down, in-store systems needing rebooting, etc… it was a mad-house.

On the morning of July 11, I had half a dozen friends emailing me from a lineup at a Rogers store, or from directly in the store. Each account was different. A few said the process was flawless. Most said it was chaotic and unorganized. Others yet complained that their computer systems kept crashing and couldn’t process or activate new phones fast enough… often times as slow as 1 new iPhone per hour. Seems as though the situation was a patchwork of similar experiences across the country.

That said, I certainly hope Rogers has learned from this. Overall the customer service rating has to be horrible for all of those that braved the lineups on Friday. 75% of the folks I talked to were either disappointed or disgusted with the whole process. Frustration levels were high.

On the positive side, it seems as though they’ve turned things around. Over the last few days more and more people are coming to me telling me how Rogers delivered on their promises to deliver iPhones, activate new accounts, etc… Initial delays and frustrations were wiped out with better customer service in the following days (no doubt because of the less chaotic atmosphere in which to work).

You do have to somewhat feel for the lowly Rogers (or any other providers) sales people. Most of the time these staffers receive limited training, and are paid horribly with a huge focus on sales commission. Sell, sell, sell… and get that 3-year contract signed. That’s what it boils down too. I’m not sure how it works in other countries, but in Canada that seems to be the norm. Rogers would appear to be happy with their model. Go into any Rogers store in Canada and I’ll bet you that you find an 18 year old kid with spiky hair pushing phones as fast as you can. Just hope he or she knows what he’s talking about. Half the time he/she does not, and things get a little tricky.

I’d better stop this ‘rant’ here before I get too carried away. All I can say is I sincerely hope Rogers better prepares for events like this in the future. Rogers needs more competition. They’re getting complacent and it really does show. Can anyone out there hear me? Jump in the market against these guys, and guaranteed rates will go down, customer service will improve, and overall, EVERYONE will be the winner!

My plan to purchase an iPhone was hatched several weeks ago. I called a nearby Rogers wireless store and put my name on a pre-order list. The girl on the phone said she’d call me by July 11th with more details but I was effectively ninth on the list.

So, launch day arrives and I’ve heard nothing. I called this morning to ask what was happening for those of us that pre-ordered. Apparently there was no waiting list allowed. So instead of calling to inform me so that I could make other plans, they just didn’t call. The guy on the phone told me I would have to come down and take my chances. The store had been open for about an hour and a half and apparently the lineup “wasn’t too bad.” This is exactly what I wanted to avoid but with no other choice, I went down to join the herd of cattle.

There were probably about 20 people lounging around the store when I got in there. The manager came up to me and gave me a little ticket, numbered 25. They were still on number 3 and having problems activating any iPhones. I asked how many phone they had in stock but apparently they couldn’t tell us that. It was “confidential information.” This sounded crazy to me. So I was waiting around on the assumption that they even had enough to get to number 25. The sales reps were running around complaining about crashing computers. One was on hold, trying to activate over the phone for an hour and 45 minutes. Others simply couldn’t even access the database.

The minutes ticked by slowly and turned into hours. The system was clearly not working. People were ordering phones for friends, totally flouting the 1-per person mandate. There was a guy in front of me talking on his old cell-phone trying to relay the price plans to his girlfriend as he tried to activate a phone for her, on top of his own. A man who came in an hour after I did somehow coerced a Rogers rep over and was signing a contract in spite of those of us who had been waiting for hours. It seemed to be the law of the jungle.

Many people who had numbers lower than me just ended up leaving. I was there for about three hours and finally got my turn. They were long since sold out of the 16-gig models so it was 8-gig or nothing. The sales rep then told me that nobody was leaving the store with an iPhone. The system had crashed and they couldn’t do in-store activations. I could sign a contract and they’d put a phone aside and call me once they got it activated but it “probably won’t be today.” Having already stood there for three hours, I figured I might as well bite the bullet and sign the mandatory 3-year contract. So I did. And then walked out without a phone. Who knows when I’ll see it.

Rogers has had months to prepare for this day. This was supposed to be the “most important product launch” in their history. I’ve heard this is happening right across Canada. Some say it was an iTunes crash that’s causing a problem with activation worldwide. But even getting to the activation stage was a nightmare. The fact that Rogers was so ill-prepared is totally baffling. In the end, they got my money. I guess I’m either a die-hard or a sucker. But the amount of customers they must have lost, who weren’t willing to put up with as much as I did, had to be staggering. Overall, just a bad experience on what should have been an exciting day. I actually switched carriers to get an iPhone so this is my first Rogers experience. It has not been a good one… And as I type this, I still have no iPhone.

AppleInsider has reported that Apple has snubbed Rogers Wireless for dumping ridiculous service plans on potential Canadian iPhone 3G customers. Apple has decided to pull iPhones from its Canadian retail stores to help the carrier market the new device to customers.

Canadian Apple Retail stores will therefore NOT be selling the new iPhone this Friday Apple has commented. It will be entirely up to Rogers and Fido to pick up subscribers and sell the 3G all on their lonesome.

Calls to Canadian Apple Retails stores confirmed these details, although it was confirmed that demo units will be available at retail outlets come Friday.

The fallout continues against Rogers and their proposed pricing structure. Something has got to give…C’mon Rogers… adjust your pricing to fall in-line with our American friends and we’ll hug this one out.

Read more over at AppleInsider >

With the big hub-bub all around us on the insane plan prices offered by Rogers, I thought it might be useful to provide our Canadian readers with 5 options for ’sticking it to the man’… or, in this case, Rogers Wireless.

Here’s the short list of ideas. Use em, don’t use em… Agree or disagree with them, these ideas when put into action will ensure Rogers gets the message loud and clear.

1) Don’t buy the iPhone until next year. You’ve gone this long without, you can last another year.  Rogers has invested a lot of time and money upgrading their network specifically for the iPhone - stick it to them and let all that effort go to waste, and let them know through our forums, ruinediphone.com’s petition, letters to editors of tech publications, or anything else you can think of.  Speaking with our wallets is the only way to be heard, and historically the Canadian consumer complains a lot, but when it comes time for action there is none.

2) Bell and Telus have competitive data rates. Chances are all we’re going to do is Facebook and Youtube, so ask Bell and Telus for special data plans for just that.  If you really need email access, for $15 you get unlimited email data on a blackberry through Bell and Telus. They want your business to not go to Rogers - ask and ye shall receive.

3) IF you really want the “touch” features of the iPhone - the iPod Touch isn’t too expensive. Granted you’ll need a separate phone, but for what you’d pay on the iPhone, you could have better off any other mobile device.  As I said in #1, you’ve lasted this long without an iPhone and have had to juggle 2-3 devices in your pocket, you can do it for a little longer to make a point to Rogers.

4) Peaceful protest - as most of us will do, line up in front of the Apple stores and Rogers stores around Canada.  Wait in line beginning the previous day/night.  When the doors open and Apple/Rogers begins sales of the iPhone, walk into the store, pick up an iPhone, get in line and when they bring up the pricing plans act shocked and say “Why would I pay that much and not get unlimited data?!?!” and walk out.

Enough complaining Canadian consumers. It’s time to take action. Put your wallet away… Raise your voice, and you will be heard.

Special thanks to member mpancha for help on this post.

Rogers Wireless in is planning to nearly match AT&T’s pricing when the iPhone goes on sale in Canada next month. According to a leaked data sheet a standard personal data account of $30 would provide unlimited web, normal e-mail and visual voice mail when tied to a voice plan that includes voice mail. Corporate users would pay $45/month for a similar offering plus access to work email.

Voice plan rates will apparently remain unchanged on Rogers and sub-brand Fido.

I know Canadians are dying for a break on data plans, as Rogers is notorious for gauging consumers on their data plans. Lets hope and pray that the iPhone does indeed bring more reasonable rates for Canadians into play… Not only for new iPhone users but for other ’smartphone’ devices as well.

Continue reading after the jump for a transcribe copy of the ‘leaked’ data sheet from ehmac.ca

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This is an interesting one.

Data plans in Canada have long been among the most expensive, if not the most expensive anywhere in the world. It is painful for most Canadians to see their neighbours to the south getting unbelievable plans at low prices… while they end up paying hundreds of dollars each month for their data plan.

Because of this a new petition has been started.

In a nutshell the petition is asking Rogers Wireless to come forth with a wireless data plan at a reasonable price.

Show you support. You can view and sign the petition here.