Warning: Rogers Out to Screw Canadians Again

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Posted August 26, 2008 at 11:46am by iClarified

Rogers and Fido customers may be in for a huge shock when those with blocked Internet access receive a bill for thousands of dollars.

Rogers customer service has reached a disgusting new low. Customers with the 2G iPhone are being billing for thousands of dollars in data access fees. These charges are being placed on customers who not only have edge turned off but also those who have requested Internet access blocked on their cellular account.

As an example, a fido customer recently related to me that he was called by customer service demanding $1600 in data access fees for only 29 MB. This was impossible he said because his iPhone had edge turned off and he had called 5 months earlier and requested all internet access be blocked on his account.

The fido rep informed him that background applications on his phone were accessing the Internet via a new apn they setup for the iPhone 3g! Apparently Rogers has opened a new port to connect to the Internet and did not block it for all those customers who requesting their Internet be blocked. Even after a lookup to confirm a call was indeed made to block Internet access, the rep refused to admit this was an error of theirs and is holding the client responsible for the charges unless he agrees to sign up for a data plan.

Through further investigation a source working at fido has informed me that this is a common and intentional practice. Rogers is purposely not fully blocking Internet access when requested by it's customers. This isn't only for the users of a 2g iPhone. Those purchasing the 3g iPhone without data will soon find a huge bill on their hands. By this method Rogers is pressuring iPhone clients into signing up for their over priced dataplan. My source says he is swamped with these situations on a daily basis.

And to make things even worse Rogers is increasing the price of a data plan from $30/month to $100/month at the end of August. Since Rogers has a GSM monoply in Canada customers have no other alternate even if the 3G iPhone is unlocked.

Warning: Rogers Out to Screw Canadians Again

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bugeyedbrit - September 2, 2008 at 9:44pm

just called by Rogers today, I was going to be charged 1400 bucks for 20mb of downloading(apparently), the rep apologized and said the bill would be wiped, I think because I too had downloading barred. I even callled after getting the iphone to warn them I could use the weather and stock apps.....with no WiFi.....was told I was not able to, hence I think it would be impossible to now enforce this bill. Rogers now assure me that the iphone really is barred, it better be.

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SpoBo - August 28, 2008 at 3:31am

J, I'm well aware of that. It's just mainly that the user did request for his account to use no data whatsoever. You can do that over here in Belgium. You won't be charged for data unless you request to have it enabled. And clearly that user didn't want any data transferred to and from his phone. The user could have racked up the data while he thought he was on wireless while he had bad reception and it dropped him back to 3G or EDGE. I just think it's wrong to charge the user in question for what happened. It's almost like a sneak attack to bankrupt their users. And if I was in his/her place I would make a big deal about it too. It's called common sense and customer service and both seem to be lacking with Rogers. But J don't get me wrong .. I hate it when there are news articles that don't have all the facts straight and you pointed out that there is a clear difference between the 100$ and the 30$ plan.

J - August 27, 2008 at 6:17pm

I will agree with you all that our wireless rates in Canada are high. I'm all for paying less. However, it's one thing to have a valid argument about that and it's another thing to competely hack on a Canadian company with false accusations and arguments in an attempt to misinform readers. I present factual information, and I get bashed? Hilarious. Now lets get to individual responses. To "bz": Rogers did not introduce the $30 6GB plan at the request of Apple. It was designed to ease the tensions that arose from the original iPhone price plans (which I will say are ridiculous). Rogers released it to pacify the masses, and not as a long term solution. To "SpoBo": The user was charged on a pay-per-use basis because he/she elected to not add a data option. That should explain the original charge. I would assume that all major wireless companies would have a pay-per-use rate to use data (AT&T's rate is $.01/kb). Rogers is a little steep at $.05/kb but thats to encourage consumers to add a data plan (so then rather then pay $50 to load one web site, $30 will get you as much internet as you can handle). This tactic is the same for AT&T. Are you people not smart enough to realize not that maybe you shouldn't be using pay-per-use data? Maybe Rogers doesn't explain themselves well enough I don't know... but its always been crystal clear to me. To "gmckay": It's not considered a price increase because the $100 6GB plan was never not available. How can you can increase the price of something that has never changed? It's always been there.

bz - August 27, 2008 at 3:17am

right on gmckay! thank u! J u dont know what u r talkin about! clearly us canadians are gettin screwed... The only reason this $30 data plan exists in the first place is cuz apple forced rogers to make something somewhat affordable! F Rogers!

gmckay - August 27, 2008 at 12:20am

I'd like to see them try this tactic on me. I've requested and been assured that my 2Gphone was approved for connectivity to the Rogers wireless network, and that the edge data would be disabled at their source. If they want to try to take advantage of a technical loophole, then they will have to take me to court and explain it to a magistrate exactly how they didn't feel it necessary to advise consumers of the risk. I've got the time and inclination to go through a court battle with our most hated of all corporate citizens ..Rogers. And to that other poster who has been fed the talking points on how to justify Rogers robbery..if I want to purchase a data plan for $30 today, and the exact same service is available next month for $100, tell me again why that is not considered a price increase? ..ohh yeah ....the product code is different... hahahaha...

J - August 26, 2008 at 9:41pm

Wow what a horrendous article. Way to misinform about people about Rogers. I'm going to clarify a few things for a few readers. 1. The $30 6GB data plan is in no way related to the $100 6GB data plan. So, saying that Rogers is increasing the price "of a data plan" is false. The $30 6GB plan is a 36 month contract data plan while the $100 6GB is a monthly option with no contract obligation. Both options are available right now to consumers and have been since July 11th (the $100 plan has been around a lot longer). Nothing is increasing, just a promotion is ending. The $30 6GB plan is a limited time promotion ending August 31. So, to say the price is going up is false. They are two different plans with two different codes. 2. Firstly, since when did Rogers guarantee ANYTHING on a grey markey device? If you choose to operate a grey market device on a Canadian carrier, you choose to do so at your own risk. It's like driving without insurance... if you hit something, you're screwed. In this case, because you're not using a Rogers brand device, and you rack up any sort of data charges, that's your own fault. If you block internet, and use a grey market device, by no means is that block guaranteed to work. And by no means should you be covered for any charges your device may incur (although Rogers and Fido have been EXTREMELY generous with customers with $1000+ bills issuing one-time credits). 3. If you do block the internet on your Rogers device, and somehow your Rogers device manages to access and rack up a bill, I don't see why Rogers would have a problem issuing a credit for those charges. It would be only be fair to the consumer. However, having said that, I know MANY iPhone 3G owners who have successfully blocked internet access on their devices and have no issue on their monthly bills. So, for 3G owners, its the odd case. To say that Rogers is intentionally not applying blocks properly to customers' accounts is slanderous and a very serious accusation. 4. For those who have the "$7 Unlimited On-Device" browsing option enable on their account or have it as part of a value pack, if you access the internet on a grey market device, you will incur full data charges. Just a FYI. Listen buddy, I like your web site. It's been helpful many times for myself when troubleshooting both my 2G and 3G iPhone. This is nothing but a slanderous attempt to make Rogers look like the bad guys.

Cody - August 26, 2008 at 8:16pm

I called Rogers Customer Service, and said "I have a BIG problem with this bill. I had my internet access blocked on my iphone, and I was charged $517 for 10MB!" Within 5 mins, the guy had removed the charges from my bill. So... maybe just cause I call so much or something, but it wasn't a problem for me.

iClarified - August 26, 2008 at 7:02pm

@WrongInfo, perhaps you didn't read the post. "Rogers is increasing the price of a data plan from $30/month to $100/month at the end of August" is the same thing as saying it goes from the "promo" price of $30/month to $100/month.

If you would like to contest anything else written in the article I am more then glad to prove my points.

tom1971 - August 26, 2008 at 5:47pm

use the Iphone configuration utility to make dummy entries for EDGE http://www.apple.com/support/downloads/iphoneconfigurationutility10formacosx.html That is what I did and it works. cheers, Tom

WrongInfo - August 26, 2008 at 5:18pm

Umm soo much misinfo in this so called BLOG which I won't even comment on. But the last part, they are not incresing the price of the data. If you have it at $30 you keep it at $30 After Aug 31st you can no longer get it at the $30 promo price and it goes back up the normal $100 selling price. Check your details before posting your crap.

Toronto - August 26, 2008 at 4:55pm

I've been using Boss Prefs too, hope it works, on the usuage area I'm not showing any increase on data.

Nate007 - August 26, 2008 at 4:52pm

"GR81 2008-08-26 16:05:48 jailbreak, install bossprefs, disable edge. " Good advice but also keep in mind that if you do not have WIFI on or it is turned off or disabled for some reason , the iphone will turn on EDGE and use it . Ive tested this and found that to be true after getting a $400 DATA bill on my account . Try it. Turn of WIFI and then try to surf on Safari. you will notice that after a minute or so it does indeed work , and at that point it is using EDGE. " Dholden (2008-08-26 16:14:44) What if you use a pay as you go sim card with rogers on the original iphone unlocked " I think its something like 5 cents a kilobyte so still ALLOT of cash if you . Do tha math 20,000 KB / .05 = $400 Call them and tell them you want pay as you go offline and disabled. We need more Wireless Carriers !!

HS - August 26, 2008 at 4:46pm

I've had my unlocked 2G iPhone for about a 8-9 months now and had moved from an unlocked Treo 680. Initially I was paying about $60/month for 25Mb, but with a new job my data use / e-mail went up quite a bit and I ended up using over 40Mb/month. Rogers was charging me an extra 150 for the overage! I finally got them to change my plan to the 300mb/month for less money than before! They kept trying to sell me on a three year plan and I told them that my last car lease was less than three years, so why would I take a phone for that long! They are truly out of touch with reality but can screw us at will. That is why I REFUSE to sign on to a ridiculous contract. There should be some new wireless companies starting up in the next year with the bandwidth auction, so there is some hope in sight...

Sheriff213 - August 26, 2008 at 4:40pm

I really do feel sorry for all the Canadians who have been cheated by Rogers...if there's no alternative to Rogers network, why don't the other home phone service providers come up with a PAYG/pay monthly SIM..so if one was able to unlock the iPhone then one could technically use that..just a thought.. Our thoughts are with you, Canadian iPhone users.............

Dholden - August 26, 2008 at 4:14pm

What if you use a pay as you go sim card with rogers on the original iphone unlocked

GR81 - August 26, 2008 at 4:05pm

jailbreak, install bossprefs, disable edge.

HS - August 26, 2008 at 3:25pm

Will_BC - August 26, 2008 at 3:24pm

The alternative is to petition Apple to have the option to DISABLE cellular data while keeping WIFI enabled. On my 2G iPhone, I blanked out the APN or just left it incomplete "internet.co" instead of .com Then it would get any cellular data. But in 2.0 firmware, they took out that option.