It’s now February 4th, 2008 and the iPhone has been out in the US for more than seven months already.
Here in Canada, there is no mention of it yet. Not even rumours that it could be coming any time soon. I believe it will be a very long time before Canadians could buy an iPhone legitimately and use it in Canada.
This is due to the nature of the Rogers company in Canada.
For those outside of Canada, Rogers is one of the telecom giants in this country. It is a cable and cellular provider and it is the only cellular provider in Canada using the GSM system. So that makes it the only company that can have the iPhone on its network.
And for those fortunate enough to never have had to deal with Rogers, Rogers is one of the worst companies here in this country. When they were my cable providers, they had the worst service, worst customer service and they jacked up their prices regularly. It’s hard to believe, but when I was with them, they jacked up the price of the good channels package by $1 every four months. The package was basically any channel other than the local ones and it started at $8.95. Four years later the price for the package had reached $21.
I had vowed to never deal with them and I changed from their cable service to Bell’s satellite service, which while isn’t the greatest, is still better than Rogers. However, Rogers went and bought my cellular provider Fido, the only other cellular provider here with GSM. So now, I’m back with Rogers involuntarily. Bell’s cellular service sucks, so it’s not even a choice.
So now with Rogers the only cellular provider able to carry the iPhone, the chances of the iPhone coming to Canada, on any reasonable terms, are almost slim to none. Rogers doesn’t have any incentive to give Apple any good deal and doesn’t have any incentive to give its own customers a reasonable deal on its data plans.
Why would it want to? Nobody else can have the iPhone currently and Apple can’t offer the iPhone advantage to anybody else in the country at this time. So Rogers can take their sweet time to get the deal that serves them best.
However, if Rogers stay stubborn, they may lose big time.
I heard whispers that Telus (the third cellular provider in the country) is in the early stages of switching from CDMA to GSM; mostly to get the iPhone.
Let’s hope that this rumour is true and that it happens fast enough to get the second generation iPhone. It would be sweet. It would allow me to get an iPhone (without having to buy one and crack it) and move away from Rogers at the same time.
I share your frustration. A friend of mine and I were discussing today a “Deadline” point, at which we’d go across the boarder and buy phones to unlock here.
I hate to do this, both for the inconvenience and because you’re not getting everything that the iPhone can be. PLUS you have to wait after every update for a reliable hack. But my patience is quickly waning, and knowing just how many people in Canada are already using it eases my worries about going the “unlegal” route.
Personally, I’m of the opinion that there has to be a “blink” point for Rogers. Right now, they’re the only game in town, and looking at just how many iPhones are estimated to already be on the Rogers network is a clear indication of the demand for the product in Canada. The real win for Rogers is the “new” customers like me they’ll be grabbing from Telus or Bell. But what happens if they wait too long? What happens if Telus moves on it’s rumored intention to move to GSM, or if another new company pops up after the forthcoming bandwidth auction. Can Rogers really afford to wait too long and loose not only all the potential customers that a legal release of the iPhone would bring, but their existing iPhone customers who will flee for better data rates and the back-end for visual voicemail, PLUS all the Rogers customers who’ve been told that Rogers would eventually be getting the iPhone and have just been hanging on ’til then…
Recent months have shown that data rates in Canada ARE coming down. Rogers can either think short-term and hold onto their existing rates, lose out on the iPhone, and take a thrashing in the public’s mind; OR they can finally recognize the curve that’s coming, sign a deal with Apple and lower their data rates to at least those offered by other Canadian networks.
Incidentally, the date I came up with was in early May. My birthday. If there’s no clear signal of an iPhone release by that point. I’m heading to Buffalo!
With regards to the iPhone, I believe Rogers will be as arrogant as it’s ever been.
When there is no competition, companies never, ever do simply “what’s good for their customers”, they always, always do what makes them the most money.
I’m sure that Rogers, just like Verizon before them in the US, see no need whatsoever to lower their data rates and give a share of their income to Apple.
Their recently publicized $20 data plan doesn’t involve the iPhone or any browser that’s not pre-approved by Rogers. They’re basically approving WAP browsers.
If you make the calculations, what’s the maximum amount of data that could be transferred with WAP browsing per month?
Hum….
If you think Rodger is bad…
In Quebec(I cannot talk for the other provinces),Telus is the worst cell company.Their saleperson routinely mislead and lies to get customer. Their reception and coverage is at best so-so. They play a lot with their billing.If you call customer service to ask the right question, you usually do not get the right response.And the Collection company is never far…
If the iPhone gets on the Telus network, you are better off without it….
JFP
In Australia the dominant telco is Telstra, with Virgin, 3 (Hutchison), Optus (SingTel) & Vodafone being the others majors. CDMA is all but gone – replaced by tri-band UMTS called 3G or NextG. NextG wireless modems run to 8Mb d/load, so there’s a mad scramble to UMTS from all players. My NextG Palm750 downloads data at 385Kb and streams video, altho $$$ expensive . GSM is universal but slooooow.