No Apple iPhone In My Future
As many people know today (July 11th) marks the day that Apple officially releases the second generation iPhone to the masses and already people are lining up here on the west coast of North America to go into further debt of this new geeky gadget. Though how many people will not buy purchasing a new iPhone? Are you willing to renew your contract with your local cellular carrier to get one of these ultra geeky gadgets from Apple?
I will be one of those people who will not be purchasing an iPhone, mainly because of two valid reasons; cost and renewing a contact. In order to obtain a new generation 3G iPhone one must renew their contract, not only that but the prices here for a data plan with Rogers is just not cost effective. I have 1 year left with my current contract with Rogers and it costs me nearly $70 per month. Sure some people out there might have higher phone bills for me but for the amount I use my current cell phone, $70 is just way too high to pay. After my contract is done I would have paid over $3000!!
So the only way I would have an iPhone is if I was given on and did not have to renew my contract. Though if my current cell phone dies I would look to Craigslist to purchase a replacement that way I would not need to renew a contract with Rogers or whatever local cellular carrier offered me some weird crazy deal.
Cell Phone Plan Rant
On a side note I was looking to lower my monthly fees with Rogers but after some research I found that if I went the with items I wanted I would end up paying more than twice as much per month as I do for my current ‘Value Plan’. I pay an extra $20 per month with Rogers for: Enhanced Voicemail, 2500 Text Messages, 5MB data and some other crap I don’t want nor need. I would be happy just with the regular voicemail and with at most 200 text messages per month. Where does my other $50 or so come from? It’s probably the network access fee, the 911 fee, 150 minutes with unlimited evenings/weekends, free incoming, free Rogers to Rogers and Rogers to Fido. I suppose it all adds up right? I never go over my minutes and I don’t use the data plan so I don’t have overcharges.
Though I have heard it can be much worse in other parts of the world, but Canada definitely is not one of the cheapest places to own/use a cell phone.
Well it is 7-11 so I’ll definitely hit up one of the local 7-11 stores for a free Slurpee! Who’s with me?
You can reduce your plan if you want. With Rogers you can always change the plan you are on. I have done so myself since I have been with them for 4 months. For me I just can’t upgrade to the iPhone since I’m not in my upgrade “window” which is usually 1 year into your contract.
For me if I keep my current plan and add the $30 data plan I’d be paying $80 with tax. Not bad I’d say, but alas I can not get it yet and I have to wait until February at this moment in time.
@Gus I looked at changing my plan and with the features I wanted, the Value Plan was cheaper
unfortunately it also has a bunch of stuff I don’t want. I’ll have to check my bill again and take a look. I remember them saying back in the day that every 6 months they allow you to ‘upgrade’ your phone.
I looked at that option a while back and they told me I would have to pay an additional $150 on top of the retail price of the phones in the store but also resign the contract for another 3 years. So if a phone was say $100 at the retail level, I’d have to pay a $150 on top of that plus the 3 year renewal. I wasn’t going to do that so I bought a Sony Ericsson for $200 and now I just wait another year on my current contract.
If all you wanted is voicemail and some text messages, why don’t you consider the $10 VP. It has Caller ID, voicemail, and 125 SMS. That’ll save you $10 already. Also, you can phone retentions to get a better retention plan out of them. Based on my rough math, your current plan should be $30-35? Fight them for a $10-$15 bill credit each month. Combined with the downgraded VP, I just saved you about $20. Now buy me a bowl of pho.
“how many people will not buy purchasing a new iPhone?”
-> you mean “How many people will not BOTHER purchasing a new iPhone?”
I will be buying one but I’m just not the hyped-up type of person who goes in the first day. I’ll wait a few weeks til they have ample stock.
My cellphone bill with Telus hits $100+ a month (I had a $230 month 2 months ago) so I’m not worried about rates.
@MichaelKwan - I just looked over my rogers bill and I pay the following:
$37 for 150weekday/1000evenings&weekends
$20 for the 2500+CallerID+EnhancedVM+5MB etc
then the 6.95 access fee.
I’m trying to look at the $10 plan and it’s not letting me modify the account. Now Rogers’ website crapped out and I think I might have removed my value package and I can’t get in to check or add the lesser priced one.
still no copy/paste option…