[p0lar]

Any word on when Canadian companies with their especially strong Canadian dollars will enumerate such a plan? I can't convey how dissatisfied I have been with the data plans offered here. It is disheartening that I actually feel compelled to watch the data flow to/from my device in this day and age, especially when it's not particularly an issue with what I can afford, but the mindset brought about by such silly restrictions (25MB for a voice+data plan? is that all? Options??!). Rogers has a 200MB data plan, but won't include voice on it and I'm certainly not about to pack around two devices.

I suppose I have just one question -- when is a competitor coming to this market to introduce REAL service?

[Mark Rejhon]

Fellow Rogers user here.

On September 19th, Bell Mobility announced an unlimited EVDO plan for laptop cards. Hopefully this is a sign of times to come...

There is an alternative if you're daring and have a U.S. address -- it has worked for some Canadians -- is to get a T-Mobile BlackBerry and get the Unlimited International Email Plan. (which apparently also works with everything that goes through the blackberry.net APN, such as BlackBerry Browser). Surf anywhere in the world, for free... $19.99 main data + $19.99 Unlimited International Email (BlackBerry data). With the low Canadian dollar, it's a good time to get such a plan. Just don't use gigabytes, or T-Mobile might clamp down... And may be a good idea to at least make sure you use up a little U.S. data every year, too.

You do have to pay a lot more to make phone calls (international roaming now applies), but if you don't make much phone calls anyway, this is one way to do things.

I have a 200 MB data plan and got a voice plan on top -- you just have to make them separate lineitems on the bill. I'm paying for essentially two separate plans on one phone: For the 200 MB data-only plan, and for a voice-only plan, combined onto the same phone, resulting in a 200 MB BlackBerry plan with a voice plan on it. (Tiny consolation prize: I pay SAF and 911 fee only once. Ah well). You're allowed to get any voice plan with the 200 MB plan, just that there is no discount.

Howard Forums veterans (HowardForums: Your Mobile Phone Community & Resource) know that if you get to Rogers Customer Relations after you already have a phone plan, you may be able to get the $5 for 1000 long distance minutes on Rogers (assuming you re-sign a new 3 year contract), plus you can use Rogers MY5 + Rogers Unlimited Incoming and an access number to make outgoing long distance calls around the world for flat rate or cheap. i.e. the equivalent of Country Fido (City Fido country wide) can be kind of engineered on a Rogers plan if you're smart with combining MY5, Unlimited Incoming, $5-for-1000 LD, and an access number (calling card style). There's also a utility called BerryDialer so you can just select an addressbook item on BlackBerry and it automatically calls the number through a calling card.

Yeah, it sucks. But there are "workarounds"...

[John Clark]

Might be a good candidate for one of those double sim card holders. They have been reported to work.

[moosehead]

I saw this today about Bell offering $75 unlimited data plan. It's a start atleast.....

Bell Mobility brings unlimited data to Canada! | The Boy Genius Report

[p0lar]

Yeah, and I'm all for paying what's fair -- as an entrepreneur, I have no quips about paying my dues for fair services rendered; however, in this day and age, ~$60 for ~25MB OTA is asking for a competitor to stomp all over Rogers.

As others have mentioned, I sincerely hope that times are changing here. I'm not asking for abusive internet, only to pay a fair price for fair services. I have several internal applications I would gladly pay to have ported for mobile use within my company, but the problem still lies in the fact that they'll chew through several hundred megabytes in a month with regular usage -- usage that I could justify, but begs the question of 'fair business practices' on the part of Rogers/Telus/Bell/Fido etc. (I can't really make that argument in good faith since they're quite forthcoming about the plundering they do to your wireless service.)

I digress.. this is a rant forum so I'll throw one out there that should feed a few trolls:
The Canadian government is LOSING tax revenues on two fronts due to the lack of unlimited data plans on wireless cariers. <ducking>