Rogers Unlimited Plan is restricted to Rogers' apps, 3rd party apps pay r*poff tax. Buy unlocked N95 8GB instead
As I feared the $7 "unlimited" data plan for the recently introduced N95-8GB and other Rogers approved devices restricts you to using the built-in apps. The built-in apps are *ahem* (to be nice) not that great with the exception of the web browser (and I fear that Rogers has somehow neutered the "great for Nokia" webkit based browser but not so great when compared to the iPhone browser). 3rd party apps, like ShoZu and Qik, are much better in my humble opinion.
Not only that, you are forced to commit to a 3 year contract if you wish to use the $7 plan.
At this time, if you are mobile enthusiast, therefore, I can't recommend the Rogers Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan or buying a Rogers N95 8GB. Instead I recommend buying an unlocked N95 8GB from Tiger Direct or other source and then buying the Rogers 1GB/month $65 'PC Card plan' which Alec Saunders uses with his unlocked non Rogers N95. As far as I know, this plan doesn't have a 3 year contract requirement. And it doesn't have the 3rd party app tax (Alec uses 3rd party app Qik to stream video live and doesn't pay 5 cents per kilobyte).
Anyhow, to end in a positive note, if any Rogers N95-8GB owners want to experiment with 3rd party apps and want to set them up in such a way as to avoid the "5 cents / kilobyte 3rdparty app" r*poff tax, and you are in Vancouver, please email roland AT rolandtanglao.com and let's get together in Gastown at lunch on a weekday and I'll show you how (it's not as intuitive as the iPhone). I've been using Nokia S60 smart phones like the N95 for four years and can show you how to use the powerful but not so intuitive S60 interface to your advantage.
From Rogers.com - Wireless Essentials:QUOTE
NEW! Adding Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan* to your voice plan provides:
* Unlimited on-device mobile browsing access to your favourite social communities like Facebook & MySpace, news, sports and entertainment sites all on the go for one flat monthly fee!
* Access to search the mobile Internet with Yahoo! Search and Google
* Access to information sites like Yahoo! Canada, Canada.com, Windows Live, The Weather Network, Lavalife Mobile and more!
* Protection against high pay-per-use data charges while surfing the mobile Internet
Start saving on all your mobile Internet browsing with Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing* or pay per use at 5¢/ KB.Plan or pay per use at 5¢/ KB
Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan
Monthly Fee Includes
$7 Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing*For a limited time, customers who activate on a Voice Plan and add Vision Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing* on a 3 year term receive Vision Bonuses. Learn more
*Important: This plan includes unlimited on-device mobile browsing only and is only available on select phones (PDAs such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices, PC cards and non-Rogers certified devices are not eligible). Data usage incurred on ineligible devices or incurred while tethering (using device as wireless modem for computer) or incurred using non-Rogers (3rd party) applications downloaded to your device will be subject to pay-per-use charges of 5 cents/KB. A 3-year term service agreement is required for Rogers Vision devices.What is tethering?
This plan does not include any usage incurred while tethering. Tethering is when you use your phone as a wireless modem to connect to the Internet. The phone can be connected via USB cable or Bluetooth. Once connected, you can access the Internet wirelessly on your laptop using the Rogers Wireless network. While accessing the Internet wirelessly on your computer, data charges are incurred at a rate of 5¢/KB.
What are 3rd party applications?3rd party applications are applications like Yahoo! Go or Google Maps. These are non-Rogers applications which may be downloaded to the device and incur data charges at a rate of 5¢/KB.
END QUOTE
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Comments
Rogers vision plan on Nokia n95-1
I have a N95-1. Do I need the rogers vision plan to get on the 3g network?
I'm trying to figure out how to get faster web browsing.
Is there any configuration for using the 3g network?
as i said in email to you
as i said in email to you (repeated here for others' benefit):
The n95-1 only does european 3g so unfortunately it won't worth with
rogers which only does north american 3g
you don't need to sign up for the rogers vision plan to use the 3G
network AFAIK (I haven't verified it but alec saunders in ottawa
claims he got it working with his unlocked "N95 8B north american" aka
"N95 8GB NAM" aka "N95-4" (yes I hate both Nokia and Apple product
naming :-) ! ) without the r*poff Vision plan but using the $65 /
month 1 GB PC Card plan:
http://saunderslog.com/2008/05/02/drinking-in-the-police-with-nokias-n95/#comment-748407
http://rolandtanglao.com/archives/2008/05/09/rogers-unlimited-plan-is-restricted-to-rogers-apps-3rd-party-apps-pay-r-poff-tax
)
If you do get your hands on an unlocked N95 8GB NAM and get the Rogers
PC Card 1 GB $65/month plan to work with it on 3G, please let me know!
And of course call me if you need help using the hard to use S60
interface ;-) !
Hey Roland. I got Maura the
Hey Roland. I got Maura the official Rogers N95 on the 9th of May. As a former Blackberry user, Maura is struggling a bit to say the least. But after really digging into it, I can say that it does do everything you can think of, although Roger crippled it quite a bit. The features are there, but they're just hard to get at. Maybe we're just spoiled blackberry yuppies. anyway... They have a bunch of connection profiles set up like GoRogers and Rogers Internet, Streaming which are all billed a different rates and different ways. But my major complaint is that it wont automatically jump from one of those 3G connection profiles to WiFi. Each application has its own setting for how it wants to connect to the Internet. And I can't tell which one to use in each situation. It's only trial and error did i figure out that GoRogers seems to work most of the time.
My Rogers rep said I was on a 3 month unlimited everything while I try out the phone. When I called 3 days later to disable the "WhoCalled" feature, I asked them about my data charges and they said that I only had 3 months of unlimited browsing. So I added a $100/month for 1GB dataplan. WOW. expensive. that's on top of the $15 value package, and $40 voice plan. Don't know about you, but i'm tired of getting raped by Rogers.
Lots more to say about this, but I gotta go. all in all, I think Maura will probably switch back to the Blackberry 9000 when it's available later this year. If anyone wants to buy her N95, let me know, i'm sure she'd be happy to switch back to the pearl in the mean time. Although, i kinda like the tethered 3G data access. :-)
$65 / month PC card plan
Review of the Rogers Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan
FYI I just tried Rogers Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan with an Audiovox SMT 5600 (3 years old) and their plan is really pinpointing specific phones. You need to have applications loaded on the phone to do WAP internet browsing (without any picture) which is internet text only.
Even if Rogers is showing la list of interesting sites, whenever you follow links to regular HTML, you will be charged 5 cents per Kb. I surfed few sites here and there (Messenger, MSN, hotmail) with my Windows Mobile phone, checked consumption with customer service and got charged 16 $.
So, unless you get the compatible phones to do WAP browsing, DON'T use that package. You'll reach well above 100 $ for the month.
Billing?
Are you using this plan? If so, have you received your first bill on it yet?
I ask because I'm also on the $7 plan and have not received my first bill with the new plan but the fine print regarding Rogers applications only showed up on the website shortly after I signed up for it.
Also, I had to call in to have it applied to my account as it wasn't available to be added to existing accounts at the time and they added it with only the standard questions asked; I did not have to agree to a new contract when it was applied.
no still using grandfathered plan
still using grandfathered fido plan with unlimited data over EDGE (i use 300MB per month)
i won't use this plan
i would consider a reasonable iPhone plan if/when it comes out
reasonable to me would be $60 per month with 1 GB of data plus no 3rd party app tax
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