RogersPetition.com Mission Accomplished (Rogers now has 200MB plan) - BlackBerryForums.com : Your Number One BlackBerry Community

Tom · 04:56 PM

Quote:

AUG 2006 UPDATE:
Rogers now has a 200MB BlackBerry Plan!

As of August 2006, the petition's mission has now been mostly accomplished. Over 1000 people have signed the petition!

Success:
(1) Rogers no longer uses deceptive advertising to call the 25MB plan 'unlimited'
(2) Rogers now has a 200 megabyte plan for $100 per month.

While Rogers can do better than this, the petition's mission has now been completed. While we are sure the petition may not have had much of an effect on Rogers management, it definitely raised awareness of Roger's BlackBerry pricing plans, which may have ultimately contributed to Rogers' decision making in the very end. More and more people were definitely experiencing data overusages on the Model 8700 Series.

Call ROGERS - 1-888-ROGERS1 and upgrade to the BlackBerry $100 plan for 200MB of data per month. Even while switching, don't forget to make a polite comment that the competition has better plans and to bump the limit to 500MB.

Quote:

The petition is now live:
www.RogersPetition.com
Rogers BlackBerry customer? Sign there.
Or affected by Rogers data overages in any way? Sign there.
(This includes Rogers customers, Rogers former customers, Rogers potential customers worried about data overages, Rogers stores and resellers affected by customers concerns, etc).

I do believe that we need to make a petition to Rogers for the purpose of either increasing the 25mb DATA cap, or providing us with an additional plan that allows more data, or a actual unlimited plan.

The last month, my data charges were as follows:

Data - Data Usage-Monthly Plan = 25,600.00kb $000.00
Data - Other Data = 35,861.44kb $251.03

Thats $250 extra dollars a month!!!!

And lets not start with the month before that, when I was installing programs OTA, that month was significantly worse.

Who else has these problems?

If there is enough of us, I will write up a petition we can all sign, and I will present it to Rogers (through RIM contacts).

Tom

Example quotes from this thread.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon

I paid over $1000 total for three months to Rogers for data overusages over a 3-month period (Dec 2004, Jan 2005, Feb 2005)

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobile_pheen

i had a 1700$ bill 200 for voice and 1500 for data in december i almost had a instant heart attack when i saw it..

and yeaa there was data usage on my bill on days i didnt use my BB @ all.. wtf.. :S

Quote:

Originally Posted by spindizzy

Sorry to resurrect an old thread and simultaneously open old wounds, but I thought I'd take a moment to vent, and also to check if I might have possibly set a new record.

My Rogers bill for January includes overage charges in excess of $420 CAD.

That's right, my data usage was 87,926KB.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shadowbox

My $60 "unlimited" bill always came to around $300 per month. Eventually I just couldn't afford this anymore so I had to give up using the blackberry for the things i had bought it for, ssh and IM. Now all I use it for is email and I'm basically waiting for my term to expire, at which point I'll switch over to another provider.

(Edit: New Quotations appended to this message. This is just a small sampling. There are over a hundred people, posting on several different forums over the last few months, of data overage charges on the Rogers Unlimited Data Plan - So go sign the petition at www.RogersPetition.com.)

mpovolo · 01-25-2006, 10:29 AM

I thought they did have an unlimited plan for $60.

finch · 01-25-2006, 10:33 AM

Where as my data charges are not as high as others I've still felt for yrs. the 25MB cap is a filthy way of business, being Robbers and all it's no shock. It's a cash grab and a dirty one at that with a $7 per MB for overage charge. Don't call a $60 unlimited data plan unless it is just that, UNLIMITED...

JessMartin · 01-25-2006, 03:28 PM

I will sign it.

Mark Rejhon · 11:54 PM

Count me in.

I paid over $1000 total for three months to Rogers for data overusages over a 3-month period (Dec 2004, Jan 2005, Feb 2005) before I significantly curbed my data usage. I have already tried to petition Rogers, but we can all do it again, since there are probably dozens more users exceeding the 25-meg cap thanks to the Rogers 8700r model.

The Over-25-Megabyte BlackBerry Data Club

And:

The landscape has changed for the worse:

High speed models of BlackBerries are on the market -- EDGE in 8700r -- encourages more data usage.
BlackBerry Browser, by default, now downloads more data (tables, JavaScript, CSS, etc). This means many webpages gobble well over 100 kilobytes. A few minutes of surfing on the bus or train, everyday, easily exceeds 1 or 2 megabytes per day.
Google Maps is now available for BlackBerry at www.google.com/glm. Doing fully graphical scrollable Google Maps, gobble a horrendous amount of data. I have used 10% of my monthly cap in just 10 minutes, sometimes!
Some downloadable BlackBerry games are 700 kilobytes now, including Asteroids from mobile.blackberry.net. If you download 3 games, you already got an immediate 10% monthly hit.
Treo users can get a 100 megabytes plan. Why can't BlackBerry users get this? Today's multimedia 8700r model can do a lot of the same things Treo can do.
Fido users can roam on Rogers, and get a true unlimited plan without a 25megabyte cap. Why no BlackBerry option on Fido?
BlackBerry is more consumer friendly nowadays than in the past. More individual users nowadays for BlackBerry. It's no longer reasonable for Rogers to take advantage of business users' willingness to pay extra.

Roger's network can handle the extra capacity, since many users won't use more than 25megs, while others will be using more than 25megs.

Is there any grounds for class action lawsuit? This was supposed to be called "Unlimited", but it is not actually unlimited. Plus, the "excessive usage" loophole is moot, it is no longer "excessive usage" to go beyond 25 megabytes, given the changed circumstances today. Rogers is a GSM monopoly in Canada (they own Fido too). So this is an anti-competitive pratice. I believe we have grounds for a lawsuit, no?

mikester · **OS:** 5.0.0.593

Where do I sign?

JessMartin · 01-25-2006, 06:22 PM

Start it up

Stinsonddog · **New Tip - Avoid Rodgers -** 01-25-2006, 10:04 PM

Well I know you can't do that, but if you want me to put something on the Tips site let me know. Is there any other choice?

514HH · 01-25-2006, 10:39 PM

I will sign it and re-sign it. I've been extremely frustrated by the 25MB cap and have paid stupid amounts of overage charges to Rogers. Lead the way Guess!

markhutchison · 01-25-2006, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stinsonddog

... Is there any other choice?

There are always alternatives. Bell Mobility does not currently enforce a data cap on their $60 Unlimited RIM data plan.

A mass market-shift would be a much more powerful statement than any petition.

Stinsonddog · **2 Heads are Better Than One -** 01-26-2006, 12:05 AM

Maybe a silly idea, and not practical, but here goes. What if you switched to a US Carrier number with Canada roaming plan? Downside is people calling you are calling long distance to the states, so you carry a small cell phone for your incoming calls. I know back to 2 devices, or it's Bell Mobility I guess.

Mark Rejhon · 01-26-2006, 02:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stinsonddog

Maybe a silly idea, and not practical, but here goes. What if you switched to a US Carrier number with Canada roaming plan? Downside is people calling you are calling long distance to the states, so you carry a small cell phone for your incoming calls. I know back to 2 devices, or it's Bell Mobility I guess.

Already covered. Cingular requires you to be in the USA at least part of the year (6 months, I believe). If they discover you've been permanently using the BlackBerry internationally, they can hit you with big data charges.

Quote:

Originally Posted by markhutchison

There are always alternatives. Bell Mobility does not currently enforce a data cap on their $60 Unlimited RIM data plan.

Bell is possible, but as a chat software user, Bell Mobility has some notable disadvantages -- higher power usage for nonstop TCP connections. I can't as easily run chat software for 50 to 100 hours nonstop on a BlackBerry. My old 7280 ran VeriChat for 100 hours nonstop, the Bell Mobility 7250 ran VeriChat for only 8-16 hours nonstop. (This goes with any other chat software that uses continuous connections - nonstop open TCP/IP sockets for faster "push-style" instant messaging). Also, Bell does not have a model equivalent to the 8700 yet. Might as well switch my other Rogers services such as Rogers Cable over to Bell too?

mpovolo · 01-26-2006, 06:31 AM

Now that everyone has me worried on getting the 8700, what exactly do you do that causes you to be over 25M. I am not sure that I will so maybe I should not worry about it. Can someone help me to determine that possibility of being over.

thanks

clyde_turkey · 01-26-2006, 07:27 AM

I will sign any petition for this. All Canadian Cell carriers screw you. SAF anyone? Although I heard that there is a class action suit against Bell over the SAF. I hope they lose so that all carriers will refund this outrageous charge.

Anyhow, we need to have thousands and not hundreds on this petition if anyone will pay attention to this.

sabesh · **OS:** 4.6.0.216

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpovolo

Now that everyone has me worried on getting the 8700, what exactly do you do that causes you to be over 25M. I am not sure that I will so maybe I should not worry about it. Can someone help me to determine that possibility of being over.

Well, if you are a new Blackberry plan subscriber, you can sign-up as I did: There's a 3 month promotion for the CAD $40 plan. It's unlimited without the 25MB cap. I intend to see what my useage pattern will be during this period. I expect the first month's data useage to be sky-high as I'm installing apps OTA, chatting a bit, surfing web pages etc.

However, I only see myself using data for the Free news app updates (3-4 times a day), email and occasional surfing in the long run. If it's exceeds 25MB for these three, I might as well give up BB. If not, I'll bump up to the 25MB / CAD $60 plan. Cheers, Sabesh.

PS> Here's the link for the Bonus page:

http://www.shoprogers.com/business/w...ta&cat=2&typ=2

Quote:

Bonus: For a limited time receive 3 months of UNLIMITED e-mail and web browsing when you subscribe to the $40 BlackBerry Data Plan.

stevew · 01-26-2006, 06:03 PM

Robbers Wireless...yes...I like that one and that's who they really are. What they do with this unlimited plan..they should be shot for...unlimited means unlimited...not 25MB, especially while Bell M is at 100MB for the same money. Sign me up!!

Mark Rejhon · 01-27-2006, 11:07 AM

I just got my Rogers bill for my first full month of cautious and sparing 8700r usage.
Here goes: 31.5 megabytes!

And that's with web browser image downloads permanently turned off. (I browse text-only on the BlackBerry precisely to avoid data overages!)

Rogers calls this "Excessive data usage"?

he1neken · **OS:** 4.6.0.162

I am scared to see my next bill which will reflect almost a months use of Google Local.

mobile_pheen · **umm -** 01-29-2006, 09:42 AM

i had a 1700$ bill 200 for voice and 1500 for data in december i almost had a instant heart attack when i saw it..

and yeaa there was data usage on my bill on days i didnt use my BB @ all.. wtf.. :S

i posted thsi on another thread... soo id unno if all of u read it or not

SamBerry · **Google local usage -** 01-29-2006, 01:09 PM

The opening screen for Google Local shows "data received." I assume this is cumulative, and doesn't reset every time the unit is powered off, etc.

It shows I have received 5.2 MB of data - that's probably over about three weeks.

JessMartin · 01-31-2006, 11:30 AM

Well, I will be looking into the heart of the head office about this issue my friends. I am a Deale and a Consultant for rogers. Personally I will not stand Idle while this is going on. Get that Petition rolling and I will hand delever it right to the Head office Exc..

mikester · **OS:** 5.0.0.593

Tom,
Get it printed up and I will get many signatures from Rogers customers through my vendor.

markhutchison · 01-31-2006, 07:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon

... Bell does not have a model equivalent to the 8700 yet ...

True ... but you can bet by Christmas we'll have an 87xx running at EvDO speeds ... just as soon as RIM releases the sucker!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Rejhon

Might as well switch my other Rogers services such as Rogers Cable over to Bell too?

I agree, might as well!

When you're tired of paying several hundred monthly for data, send me a private message ... I'll take care of you!

intricate · 02-01-2006, 11:51 AM

One of the points you brought up Mark R was that more regular consumers are using Blackberries now and Rogers can not continue to gouge them the same way they have business users.

Maybe a more creative solution would be to introduce data plans that are similiar to voice plans (i.e. u/l evenings and weekends)...or at least cheaper per MB during off-peak times. Can they break data usage down by the hour? Minute? I know bill currently only shows by the day. I'm sure daytime data usage is exponentially higher than evenings or weekends.

spin-dizzy · 01:43 AM

Hmm I just posted in Mark's $300 bill thread thinking I might have had a record, but wow - some of you have me beat by a longshot!

I'm game for signing any petition you guys come up with!

Cheers,

spin

Quote:

Originally Posted by spin-dizzy

Sorry to resurrect an old thread and simultaneously open old wounds, but I thought I'd take a moment to vent, and also to check if I might have possibly set a new record.

My Rogers bill for January includes overage charges in excess of $420 CAD.

That's right, my data usage was 87,926KB.

I accomplished this feat through a combination of the following:

1) Playing with the fun new app called Google Local (duh, should have seen that one coming).
2) Leaving my RSS feed reader running in the background 24/7 after setting the channels to update automatically once every 24 hours (how was I supposed to know that it sits there polling all day anyway??).
3) Reading full articles online that I link to from interesting items I receive in the aforementioned RSS channels.

My worst usage in previous months never exceeded 17MB, so this bill obviously came as a bit of a shock. While I've been pissed off about the 25MB cap on data usage the entire time I've had my BB, this is the first time that I've gotten upset enough to actually do something about it. I can't switch to Bell because I need to use my BB in Europe, but I have now started a daily ritual of calling Rogers to complain. I will continue to call each and every day until one of three things happens:

1) Rogers introduces a truly unlimited data plan (even if it costs more)
2) Rogers introduces a mechanism for monitoring one's daily data usage online
3) Rogers introduces an automated email / SMS that warns the user when he or she has reached some pre-defined percentage (~75%?) of their monthly limit

Today's call was mostly ineffective, in that I have merely been assured that my suggestion will be passed up to the manager. I have no doubt that I will start to receive more interesting (and potentially comical) comments as I continue to place my daily calls. I'll post any particularly interesting ones.

Thanks for listening...

spin-dizzy

angrylogger · 02-01-2006, 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jase88

AFAIK, Telus has a 50MB cap. Not sure what their policies are with regards to overage.

Bell Mobility is by far the best option for Blackberry in Canada right now. Yes, you need BES for full MDS access....however the $15-25 you'll pay for BES is worth the truly unlimited access you'll get. Bell has removed their 100MB cap....(it's now in the 500MB range).

I signed up with Telus' "unlimited" plan in Dec.. it is currently 50 mb/month with a $10/mb overage and $8/mb US roaming.

I would also love to see a site that lets me know what my usage is plus or minus a day or so just so I can see where I am vis a vis the cap. Does any other carrier do this? It seems a bit silly to impose a cap when I can't monitor my usage... Somewhere internal they must track this info.. it would be great to have access to it. Could this be done via an app on the BB itself with accuracy within a couple megs?

Mark Rejhon · 01:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobile_pheen

i had a 1700$ bill 200 for voice and 1500 for data in december i almost had a instant heart attack when i saw it..

and yeaa there was data usage on my bill on days i didnt use my BB @ all.. wtf.. :S

Damn! $1700! That's 250 megabytes of data overages, well within the new Bell Mobility soft cap. Very easy to do on a BlackBerry 8700r, I've had one day hitting 7 megabytes myself (which is roughly equal to 1/30th of 250 megabytes -- on a daily usage basis), especially when web browser images were turned on. Bell Mobility now has a 500 megabyte cap (no longer advertised).

If you are using BlackBerry Enterprise Server, then you WILL have data usage on an idling BlackBerry.

Rogers needs to do something about this. You might be able to go to Small Claims court over this -- after all, Rogers claims "Unlimited Data". The data amounts are slowly starting to become worth going to Small Claims court over - why not do it? It may get a few heads turned at Rogers Corporate, and restructure their data policies. Why not save the $1700 and trail blaze a precedent for all of us? It's no longer "excessive data usage" -- it's easy to accidentally exceed 25 megabytes with extremely light usage of BlackBerry, especially with Rogers advertising games, Yahoo Messenger, BlackBerry Messenger, and other goodies. So the "excessive usage" excuse by Rogers no longer applies today, and could get struck down by court.

- Google Search: Canada Small Claims Court
- Province Of Ontario - Small Claims Court

No lawyer needed, just do lots of homework and enlist this forums' willing volunteer help to solidify your defense. In today's new age of EDGE and Google Maps Mobile and the improved Blackberry Internet Browser, we now have to protect ourselves from being charged for reasonable usage that just happens to exceed 25 megabytes per month.

headtailgrep · 02-02-2006, 10:47 AM

I'm up to 25 megs... how? Google local (mostly). It easily consumed 10 megs above and beyond what i normally use..

Rogers needs to increase their silly cap..

BB Boyz · 02-02-2006, 01:28 PM

I am getting worried about my first BB, an 8700 at that, to arrive. I am also a Rogers subscriber. I also think some group action would make something happen. Show me where to sign.

Fuzion · 02-02-2006, 08:24 PM

If you're data usage is really that high, I think some of you might want to consider signing up with one of the American carriers through a friend or even by yourself, and just using a p.o. box and adding the international roaming option. T-Mobile will do credit checks and open accounts using a Canadian SIN. For example on T-Mobile, you can get unlimited data for $39.99 + $19.99 for international roaming. This comes out to around $75 or so CAD which isn't that bad for true unlimited service. The only downside is that your phoneline would have to be on a different phone, so this probably won't work for most people, but might be worth it for some. Another plus is that if you sign up somewhere like new york, the hardware promotions are much better. For example, I signed up with T-Mobile last summer and got a free 7100T and a $100 rebate, so I ended up making money on my blackberry.

carsmovies · **OS:** 5.0.0.190

I'm getting another 8700 tomorrow. I've been away for a little while. Please show me where to sign up too.

sprintelguy · **One major possible drawback -** 02-03-2006, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fuzion

If you're data usage is really that high, I think some of you might want to consider signing up with one of the American carriers through a friend or even by yourself, and just using a p.o. box and adding the international roaming option. T-Mobile will do credit checks and open accounts using a Canadian SIN. For example on T-Mobile, you can get unlimited data for $39.99 + $19.99 for international roaming. This comes out to around $75 or so CAD which isn't that bad for true unlimited service. The only downside is that your phoneline would have to be on a different phone, so this probably won't work for most people, but might be worth it for some. Another plus is that if you sign up somewhere like new york, the hardware promotions are much better. For example, I signed up with T-Mobile last summer and got a free 7100T and a $100 rebate, so I ended up making money on my blackberry.

Will you get EDGE service while roaming with a t-mo SIM in Canada?

MrH · 02-03-2006, 12:17 AM

I'll definately sign a petition...unlimited means unlimited in my books...not unlimited*

* - subject to a 25 meg cap

I can't wait for number portability to hit Canada in 2007...finally a reason for the big 3 to start being more competitive...

shadowbox · 02-03-2006, 06:27 AM

My $60 "unlimited" bill always came to around $300 per month. Eventually I just couldn't afford this anymore so I had to give up using the blackberry for the things i had bought it for, ssh and IM. Now all I use it for is email and I'm basically waiting for my term to expire, at which point I'll switch over to another provider. I have called Rogers many times, hoping to get a deal where i could buy more bandwidth at a more reasonable price, like the treo users, but Rogers just doesn't listen or they don't get it, or maybe the person making this decision is pretty much clueless, to put it mildly. On the upside, I'm just glad I don't get my home internet connection through them. Get this, Rogers will no longer provide newsgroups for their customers. Makes me wonder what hare-brained scheme they'll come up with next.

mobile_pheen · 02-04-2006, 04:30 PM

if u think 300$ is bad i got over a grand in data charges in december.. and almost had a severe heart attack...........

and it was un realistic, some days they report i used 18 megs
somedays i used 400kb
and since i work for this blasted company i used my well valued resources to investigate this obsurd bill, ... anyways in summary it took 2 days, severe stress... and i finally got a call from mr.x[ protected for privacy purposes]
and iw as told i recieved a thousand or more in credits... but nor eason was given

BUt realisticly, when a device is edge enabled, and theres so many App's made for this device.. and teh cap is @ 25mb's Something should be done... or else lawsuits will arise and the media will get a hold of this problem and put rogers in the un-holy spotlight..

has any1 considered a small claims case against RCI??( rogers)

yumif · 02-04-2006, 10:08 PM

I spoke to CR at the data dep of Rogers and I told him that is a false advertising to use the unlimited words in the 60$ pkg (I thought that I have $60 unlimited )and he said " I agree with you" he cancel all my extra's and gave me Free data for 3 month- "A Real Unlimited Data" so after that 3 month I'll know that’s the unlimited is not really unlimited. I agree that there is a case for SCC .So where do I sign?
Ben

shadowbox · 06:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yumif

I spoke to CR at the data dep of Rogers and I told him that is a false advertising to use the unlimited words in the 60$ pkg (I thought that I have $60 unlimited )and he said " I agree with you" he cancel all my extra's and gave me Free data for 3 month- "A Real Unlimited Data" so after that 3 month I'll know that’s the unlimited is not really unlimited. I agree that there is a case for SCC .So where do I sign?
Ben

They have been doing this a lot lately, handing out 3 months of real unlimited. Thta's all very well, but it just delays the day when they start raping you with overages. It may also be an indication that they are starting to feel the heat or just that the rogers employees have the common sense and decency that the higher ups who make the decisions at Rogers are lacking.

I have been told many times in the past year or more that Rogers is reworking their fee structure and that the changes will be announced "very soon". All lies of course, my mistake for getting my hopes up.

Regarding a lawsuit, that's a good idea. However the major problem is that Rogers has essentially a monoply in certain areas for certain products and services. They can do what they like with impunity. Appearantly screwing people over is in their nature and also a major part of their business plan, and they can get away with it, i.e. they laugh all the way to the bank regardless, why would they change their methods?

Network/internet/technology folks are usually very cool, well, that used to be true, until the people who call the shots at rogers got in on the act, the bad apple in the barrel. Too bad they didn't stick to selling snake oil and leave us alone.

www.RogersIsNotUnlimited.com

yumif · 02-05-2006, 09:34 PM

I heard about the new plans coming out but like you said "its just talks". If nothing will happen soon I'll move on with my 5 accounts (some of them are 18 years old) to another carrier. You can't say Unlimited and then tell me it’s limited to 25 that's a total BS and not legal.

mike_187 · 02-05-2006, 09:53 PM

**** rogers!!

headtailgrep · 02-06-2006, 12:01 PM

I have a 7290 and i went over 25 megs last month, it doesn't take much, google local chews through data..

Rogers will get it eventually, you just have to speak loud to your sales reps.