Shawn Sorichetti

“The Samsung Instinct, which has many of the same features as the Apple iPhone, differs from the iPhone in one major way: Its monthly price plan, which will dramatically undercut the iPhone plan announced last week by Rogers Wireless.

A subscriber can buy the Instinct for as low as $149.95 and then pay less than $40 a month for a modest voice plan accompanied by an unlimited data plan on Bell’s high-speed data network.”

The Globe and Mail - Jack Kapica

This does make things rather interesting. I am an Apple fan, and I’ve lusted the iPhone ever since Steve stood on stage and unveiled the first generation (I was set to drive to Buffalo to get one), but this has made me stop and think.

Unlimited data at 3G speeds and a modest voice plan for $40/month.

I’m going to stew on this. I’m sorry Steve, but this could be my magic bullet. Time for you to smack Ted around and knock some sense in.

I’ve been following the status of the ongoing protest of the Rogers rate plan for the iPhone at http://ruinediphone.com, and checking Google News regularly for news updates. I found it interesting that while the other major news organizations in Canada have carried the story in one form or another, and yet CityTV has made no mention of it.

CityTV was quick with the “BREAKING NEWS!!!! Ted Rogers announces that Rogers will be carrying the iPhone in Canada this year!”. It’s nice to have an in in the Rogers organization to carry this story first, but where’s the story on the backlash? Are news providers in this country not supposed to be unbiased?

Here’s a copy of the feedback I provided to the station:

As a loyal Breakfast Television/Cable Pulse TV viewer, 
I have to ask myself, why is there no mention of the 
ongoing protest of Rogers iPhone rates not being 
covered by your station?

In case you haven't heard, Rogers announced the plan 
rates for the iPhone 3G last Friday. The response 
on the Internet has been less than favourable, with 
a large protest at http://ruinediphone.com as   well
as groups on facebook.com. The other news stations 
have covered it (those being CTV, Global, and CBC). 
Newspapers have covered it, most notably The Globe 
and Mail has multiple articles. Even    International 
Websites and Newspapers have been carrying it.

So why hasn't CityTV/Breakfast Television/Cable Pules 24?

I'm beginning to think that this ownership by Rogers 
is hampering these stations abilities to report unbiased
news. These stations certainly made a point to tout that 
Rogers was going to be carrying     the iPhone within this 
year. I saw Kevin Frankish speak of it numerous times. 
Your site archives, list multiple stories. Not one  on 
the backlash.

The lack of story coverage has lead me to question the 
trust I have    placed in your news organization.

Thank you

~Shawn

I really don’t expect to hear much from them, other than a fluff response of “all news is important to someone, but we can’t cover everything”, while they’re running stories that “Britney Spears is looking for a new house in a less trafficked area”.

I think it’s funny how a simple little thing like a rate plan has made me question the integrity of an entire organization.

Way to go Rogers!

Canada’s in an uproar, and once again Rogers is the cause.

It’s not very often that Canadians speak out about anything. But now the country is speaking, and the country is upset with the rate plans Rogers introduced for the iPhone.

There are only 2 other instances I can remember of Canada being this upset. One was in 1995 when Rogers (big surprise), introduced 7 new cable channels via negative option billing. The other when the CBC mentioned that they would not be renewing Don Cherry’s contract in 2004.

High mobile rates have always been on Canadians minds. We are the 3rd world of mobile technology, and to thank for that we have the Canadian Government, the CRTC, Rogers, Bell and Telus.

Rogers is a mobile carrier monopoly in Canada. They are the only GSM provider after the Canadian Government allowed their purchase of Fido, which provided the 3G network Rogers now touts.

We held a lot of hope that Apple would be able to strong arm Rogers into reasonable data rates (unlimited) with the iPhone, as they had done with AT&T. However this is not the case, and the usage cases that Rogers is providing for emails/web pages downloaded are unrealistic in today’s world.

While I’m not convinced that this protest will amount to anything, I’m still holding onto a hope that Rogers may finally see the light.

globeandmail.com: Heavy web downloaders face broadband fees

This infuriates me. The lack of choices in the Canadian market. The lack of a regulatory body that works for the people, not the communications industry.

It’s not the downloading cap, it’s that these companies get to choose the Internet we Canadians get to experience, and it’s not even a matter of “against the law”. Downloading for personal use is still legal in Canada, uploading is another story.

I’ve already had iTunes purchased tracks and podcast downloads broken due to Rogers inability to put in their version of traffic shaping.

Lonely Canadian shocked to get $85,000 phone bill | Reuters

Unlimited: New and Improved!!! Now with limits!

30 Days of DRM: 30 Things You Can Do

The Globe and Mail is carrying a story titled A new copyright law is coming. According to experts this law is a stricter version of the US DMCA, abolishing fair use, time shifting, and ripping of CDs to play on MP3 players.