ephoenix

Just testing out the new wordpress iPhone app, it works with any wordpress blog!

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Well after the 6gb deal Rogers put on today, I went out and lined up for the iPhone.

I arrived at about 7am, 6 or so people in front of me. Not bad, I’ll probably get what I want.

Once the manage arrived at around 8, we were told there were only 20 iPhones at that location, only 4 of which were 16gb. I wasn’t gonna get a 16gb at this location.

Let me mention first of all that this all is happening during a massive storm with apocalyptic rain and thunder so loud your ears hurt. Not exactly the best time to be iPhoneing.

Someone comes to the location I was at, hears about the 16gb shortage and mentions another store he’s gonna try. I decide to take my chances and leave the line for a different Rogers.

I come to the one he was talking about, he’s already in line and there’s only 2 people here! Awesome! 16gb for sure!

…or so I thought… this location had only 6 iPhones. ONLY 6!! 2 16gb, 4 8gb. What kind of supply is that?!?! Even worse, I was 3rd in line, and there were only 2 16gbs. Guess what the 2 people in front of me wanted….

It came down to the wire, 9:15 or so, when one of the two people, who’s been waiting in line for his sister, got a phone call and was told he didnt have to wait anymore. What luck! Now I was 2nd in line and a white 16gb iPhone was MINE!

…but not for another 4 hours.

Rogers systems were crippled under iPhone traffic. I spent the next 4 hours talking iPhone, Apple, and a wide variety of Internet issues. Geek awesomeness.

Well finally 2pm came around and my contract was activated. Unfortunately iTunes had ben hopelessly lost earlier that day so the actual unbricking wasn’t done in the store. I brought my new phone home and had to wait AGAIN. This time for iTunes to get back up.

Well, it eventually all worked out and I now have a brand new 16gb iPhone to play with. It’s awesome!

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Goooooo Internets!

It seems Rogers has caved to all the pressure from the Internet to offer fair prices…. kinda.

Rogers announced a promotion where customers who sign up for an iphone before August 31 can  get a $30, 6GB data-only plan that can be added to any voice plan. Not bad! It’s no unlimited plan, and it doesn’t really compete with the amazing AT&T plans in the US, but it’s something.

Will I cave to the iPhone and get one tomorrow now that they’re somewhat affordable? Maybe… It would be pretty fun to camp out all night!

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UPDATE Jul.2.08 6:04pm EST - Many Rogers customers have reported in on their lack of access to ruinediphone.com, yet could access it through proxies. Thankfully, it looks like the site is starting to come back. There is a possibility it was due to DNS problems after the site was moved, however the Rogers-specific problems make me very suspicious. As for the reason the site was moved, the original site was pulled by the host without warning, Rogers caused perhaps? - [James Hallen, the Web site's creator, said the outage was due to his old hosting company "pulling the plug with no reasons."] (link)

UPDATE 2: For a little while, Rogers customers were able to access the site again. We believe this was because the site changed servers. How however, we believe Rogers has found the new servers and is again blocking the site. Rogers customers can no longer get to ruinediphone.com. NET NEUTRALITY IS IMPORTANT!

UPDATE: I, and many other Rogers users continue to be unable to access ruinediphone.com, yet can access it through proxy servers. Many people have pointed to the fact that ruinediphone.com recently changed servers as the cause of the problem, but we now have a report that a Rogers tech admitted that they are blocking the site, and the issue “should be taken up with the office of the president”.

Well, in my last post I had said that Rogers shut down ruinediphone.com, the petition site against the new iphone pricing in Canada.

It turns out that only Rogers customers cannot access this site. Now, there are two possible explanations for this. First, ruinediphone.com has blocked Rogers customers. I find this highly unlikely as Rogers customers are the ones likely to sign the petition.

The next option? Rogers is blocking access to ruinediphone.com. This is OUTRAGEOUS. How dare Rogers censor access to a dissenting website. In fact, they have even adversly affected my blog as I was not able to access the site to find the real petition count for the previous post. Those Bastards!!

This is not acceptable. Rogers, it’s on. Go get em internets.

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Well, in another move in Rogers’ war on fair pricing, the online petition for fair iphone prices has been censored.

Last time I checked the petition was well above 20,000. Rogers had the site shut down.

Good work Rogers, I got your “Fuck You” loud and clear.

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Well, Rogers has announced the iPhone plan prices for Canada. Just as we expected, they fucking suck. Rogers once again is screwing over it’s customers.

First off, Rogers refuses to offer an Unlimited data plan. This is basically just castrating the iPhone, since it’s all about data transfer.

Next, let’s look at the prices:

Check out all the information at: http://www.rogers.com/web/content/wireless-products/iphone_voice_data_packages

but to summarize, $60/month for a mere 400mb data and 150 minutes. up to $115/month for a mere 2GB and 800 minutes. Ridiculous.

It’s 2008 Rogers, let’s stop the wireless gouging.

So what can we do?

Digg it

http://digg.com/apple/Rogers_you_ruined_my_iPhone_dream

http://digg.com/apple/Rogers_iPhone_plans_in_Canada_Screw_you

Sign the petition

http://www.fuckyourogers.com/

Currently about 6,000 of 10,000 signatures.

Send angry letters

If we send enough maybe they’ll reduce the prices, if just to stop the emails :p I strongly suggest anyone who reads this blog send an email to the following email addresses to get your opinion heard.

Ted Rogers trogers@rci.rogers.com
J Innes (VP) jinnes@rci.rogers.com
Jane Haitsma jhaitsma@rci.rogers.com

Apple: Simon Atkins (Canada)
satkins@apple.com

The head corporate media guy in the USA
Steve Dowling
dowling@apple.com
(408) 974-1896

Important person @ Apple for communications is : Katie Cotton
katiec@apple.com

Send a complaint to the Competition Bureau of Canada.

http://www.competitionbureau.gc.ca/epic/site/cb-bc.nsf/en/01260e.html

Why is this a competition problem? Rogers currently is the only provider with a 3G network in Canada. Hence, it’s a Monopoly. With these extremely high prices that don’t even approach the American equivalent, it’s clearly a case of Monopolistic price gouging.

Overall, we CAN change their minds, but we have to make ourselves heard. Blog about it, send angry letters, paste it all over social networks. Let’s use the internet to get the message across. Rogers needs to hear about it and needs to stop gouging it’s current and potential customers.

Fuck You Rogers | Screwing Canadian iPhone customers since 2008

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