Rogers, Bell, Telus & Fido Confirm Launch of iPhone 4 in July

By Gary Ng on June 7th, 2010 141

Looks like Rogers has broken their silence on the status of the iPhone 4′s arrival in Canada. We know Rogers was the first to launch the iPhone 3G in Canada, will they be the first of the “Big 3″ to launch the iPhone 4? As of now, Canada is only one of a handful of countries to offer the iPhone 3GS from three different wireless carriers.  Our sources also confirmed that Telus will also be launching the iPhone 4 in Canada as well (we can assume Bell will do the same Bell has confirmed along with Fido). Gee, what’s that saying again…”monkey see, monkey do?”

Just posted on their Redboard, they had this to say:

Rogers intends to launch iPhone 4, the thinnest smartphone in the world with the highest resolution display ever built into a phone, in Canada in the coming weeks.

As this is a brand new device – just announced today – we’re not ready to talk about release date or pricing just yet. We’ll announce the details here at the same time as our dealers and Care reps get them, so check back on RedBoard to learn more.

Upgrading Nightmares Soon to Come for iPhone 4

The problem with the wireless industry in Canada is the dreaded 3 year contract (akin to a life sentence to your cell carrier). For those who previously purchased an iPhone 3GS on a 3 year contract, what will be your eligibility options to upgrade to the iPhone 4 can real sticky. For that reason alone, I will be forgoing a renewal to my 3 year contract and buy the iPhone 4 outright. It’s a small price to pay for the sweet taste of freedom.

New Laws Could Enable Our Communication Companies Access to Foreign Capital

Could we be looking at improvements to our wireless network and services in Canada? From Business Week, regarding the lightening of foreign-investor rules:

“Having it as closed as it is now is starting to impede the ability of the players to compete, to innovate, to sustain the capital investment that is required for a modern, digital economy,” Industry Minister Tony Clement said in an interview at the Canadian Telecom Summit in Toronto today.

Canada’s mobile-phone penetration trails the U.S. as well as poorer countries like Algeria, according to the International Telecommunication Union, and the government wants to change that. Canada had 66 wireless subscribers for every 100 people in 2008, compared with 93 in Algeria and 87 in the U.S.

The only issue is when we will find out the exact iPhone 4 launch dates in July. The iPhone 3GS was launched on June 19th last year, a Friday. The iPhone 3G launched on July 11th, 2008. If history repeats itself, my guess is Saturday, July 10th for the iPhone 4 launch in Canada.

Founder and Editor-in-Chief of iPhoneinCanada.ca. Follow @iPhoneinCanada and on Google+. Click here to save 20% OFF at ZAGG.com with coupon 'iphoneinca'!

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  • Jd2157

    AWS is defined here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Wireless_Services, it’s aka UMTS Band 4… which operates on 1700MHz, whereas the iPhone only supports UMTS Bands 1,2,5 and 8 (i.e. 2100, 1900, 850, 900 MHz respectively).

    Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and T-Mobile all AWS.

  • Jd2157

    AWS is defined here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Wireless_Services, it’s aka UMTS Band 4… which operates on 1700MHz, whereas the iPhone only supports UMTS Bands 1,2,5 and 8 (i.e. 2100, 1900, 850, 900 MHz respectively).

    Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and T-Mobile all AWS.

  • Bkushner

    Hey angry rogers fanboy, if we had 2 year contracts like the rest of the civilized world we wouldn't complain. To be tied to a 3 year contract with the designed obsolete industry is outrageous. The iphone 3g is not even adequate enough to run the new software and it is only 2 years old. Technically we can not upgrade yet if we own this product in canada. Our government has to step in. Unlock the phones.

  • Bkushner

    I just sold my 3gs for 600 dollars. That is how you can afford to buy these off contract.

  • James00

    How is that possible??

  • James00

    We should start a petition to encourage Rogers to allow us 3G and 3GS owners from last year the ability to upgrade to the new iPhone 4 this year!

  • Bkushner

    Fido is contract stacking.

  • Bkushner

    Fido is contract stacking.

  • http://www.lethbianlove.ca Jonathan Růžek

    So, I plan on giving my sister my 3G when I purchase the iPhone 4. The only issue is that she’s on Telus and I am on Rogers. Does anyone know if Rogers will unlock my iPhone?

    According to the passed C-32 copyright modernization act, I should be able to have my phone unlocked (either by jailbreaking or getting Rogers to) so I can use it on another network.

    http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/crp-prda.nsf/eng/rp01182.html

  • http://www.lethbianlove.ca Jonathan Růžek

    So, I plan on giving my sister my 3G when I purchase the iPhone 4. The only issue is that she’s on Telus and I am on Rogers. Does anyone know if Rogers will unlock my iPhone?

    According to the passed C-32 copyright modernization act, I should be able to have my phone unlocked (either by jailbreaking or getting Rogers to) so I can use it on another network.

    http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/crp-prda.nsf/eng/rp01182.html

  • James00

    I wrote on the Rogers Red Board (their own customer forum) 3g and 3gs customers should start a petition like what happened last year….Sure enough my comment was deleted by the administrator.

    I'm telling you guys and gals, we need to rise up and speak our voices as a whole instead of individually….If we gather enough support for early upgrades, they'll have no choice but to listen!

    Now the only question is, how do we go about starting an online petition….I have the idea but not the know how.

    Feel free to contact me if you're interested…I'll be checking this forum regularly.

  • Missing_intellect

    If you already have an iPhone, use iTunes to sync the contacts/email with outlook/address book (windows/mac) so that when you plug in your iPhone 4, you can tell iTunes to sync your contacts from outlook/address book. You can do the same if your have an email address in outlook (windows) or the mail app (mac).

  • Missing_intellect

    Who was dumb enough to buy it at that price?! There are tons on Kijiji for $350 – $400 and they could probably buy an iPhone 4 for just a little more than what they purchased your 3GS for.

  • Don

    Many people here have said they want to buy the iPhone 4 outright, contract free. However, I think this is easier said then done. For those of you who have opted to buy outright, just how are you going to do it?

  • Manmen

    Hong Kong is one of the very few place that Apple sells unlocked iphone. The iphone you get from the apple.hk is unlocked. The other place I remember is Italy. So if you have friends from these 2 place, ask them to get iphone for you!

  • James00

    Hey everyone….I was reading the Rogers Red Board (their own customer forum) and came across this comment from a user by the name of “AboutToLeaveDan”

    What do you all think about the following?? I'm a 3GS user and if Rogers doesn't give me the $199 – $299 pricing I may consider doing the following…………………

    **************************************************************************************

    Guys, there is a HUGE alternative here that some of us aren’t looking at.

    Some of us have been with Rogers for a while, with a number of services, and paying LARGE sums annually (I personally dolled out over $4k last year for Cell/Cable/Internet).

    And yet Rogers does nothing actively to retain us. It’s only when we’re fed up with something that they’ll try to get back in bed for a quick buck.

    Let’s consider the costs of just quitting and going to a new carrier (something I’m pretty convinced to do since I’m moving to Toronto and a number of my friends now live state-side).

    For me to re-sign a 3 year contract with Rogers, pay for a new iPhone 4 (assumingly $199), and then close out my contract with the $400 fee, I’ve just paid $599 for a brand new iPhone 4, which we all know will be unlocked shortly.

    The new carriers in Toronto (whom I do NOT work for in any capacity), are offering totally unlimited plans, including state-side calling and international text (super handy for my family in China). The equivalent best-match for Rogers is well over $140/month…and that’s with only 500mb of data.

    Now get this.

    Even if you sign a 3-year with Rogers, cancel it the next day, and pay the $599, and switch to a new carrier in Toronto, you’ll STILL SAVE OVER $500!!

    The one and only caveat is that you need to unlock your iPhone 4…oh and the upfront cost to switch, but you’ll save that back!

    Rogers, what’s your plan to circumvent this?

  • Pingback: Dear ‘Big 3′ Carriers: Please Clarify iPhone 4 Upgrade Details? | iPhone in Canada Blog - Tips, Tricks, News, and Tutorials for Canadian iPhone Users

  • Matty

    Step 1) I will walk into the Rogers/Bell/Telus/Apple store.
    Step 2) I will exchange the payment method of my choice for the phone.

  • Don

    I don't think it works that way, they will not sell you an unlocked phone, period.

  • Dean Hill

    Canada has the largest landmass per wireless subscriber in the world. With all the extra infrastructure needed to cover the country they have to sustain revenue somewhere else. Instead of charging more for the devices, they sign you on to an extra year of contract. You are still eligible to upgrade to a new device every two years, so what the difference?

  • Atom

    lolz bro ….. iPads are made in a separate factories……. You must be dumb ennough to think that Apple would remove iPads from the production line in order to start iPhone 4….. lolz – and you are developer ……LMFAO

  • Atom

    first of all let me tell you something witch you guys obviously dont know……
    My last iPhone was 3G from last year. Brand new – I bought it from Phone11 or Fone11 here in Vancouver. They are the supplier of unlocked phones in Vancouver. You can find them in any mall. … , BUT the phones witch they sell are problematic. Why ? Because those phones are coming from Asia and the software is a bit different. At first you wont notice it , but when you get used to the phone you'll see the glitches, freezing, etc… That is because of a software compatibility… Do some research and you'll find out. iPhone is not a some type of screwdriver and the maker of it is like : Ok – we have 30000 pcs – send them to Canada.
    When Apple are producing the iPhone for let say Canada – IT IS SPECIFICALLY TO WORK IN CANADA WITHOUT ANY PROBLEMS. Doesnt mean that if your iPhone is unlocked and you go to Europe you will have problems – NO … , but if you buying a Cellphone device from different continent for use in Canada – eventually you'll have a software problems….. Every friend of mine who bought an iPhone from somewhere else had complained about software problems

  • Arrojo Paula

    I am also planning to buy the iPhone 4 without signing up for a 3 year contract. Given this line of thought, I emailed Fido asking if they would be able to switch my current SIM card for when i purchase the iPhone4 for a Micro-SIM considering that the iPhone 4 uses Micro-SIM. They emailed me back with this response:

    We wish to inform you that Micro-Sim cards are not compatible with Fido. Therefore, it is not possible to use Micro-Sim cards while on the Fido service.
    We apologize for any inconvenience this situation may cause.
    As always, your questions and comments are of great value to us.

    =, someone please explain this to me.

  • Jack818

    A petition is unecessary. For both the 3G and 3GS launches, Rogers allowed its customers to upgrade as early as 6 months after a previous upgrade or activation was performed. For the 3GS, this primarily affected existing iPhone customers. Rogers did alot to ensure as many people as possible got their hands on iPhones without having negative margin on hardware subsidies.

  • Chris

    I'm with Virgin… they've announced they're getting the iPhone 4. I think there upgrade system is the best… you can upgrade half way through your contract if you pay 50% of you're cancellation penalty. Can't wait!!!

  • NoToRIouSMiStrY

    check their website, they updated and will be carrying iphone
    however, i hear virgin's network sucks outright… reception is poor.
    imo telus is a win, very similar customer service but better network :D

  • NoToRIouSMiStrY

    check their website, they updated and will be carrying iphone
    however, i hear virgin's network sucks outright… reception is poor.
    imo telus is a win, very similar customer service but better network :D

  • Nemi

    Hey I'm in the same position /also with fido/ and I will be using the easy fix since ''The micro-SIM was created with backwards compatibility in mind. The major issue with backwards compatibility was the contact area of the chip. Retaining the same contact area allows the micro-SIM to be compatible with the previous, larger SIM readers through the use of plastic cutout surrounds. The SIM was also designed to run at the same speed (5 MHz) as the previous version.'' and that's all it takes, take a look at this http://www.todaysiphone.com/2010/06/switching-i…
    also check this
    http://www.johnbenson.net/How_to_Convert_a_SIM_…
    enjoy

  • Bob

    The new cariers won't work with the iPhone. Even it's unlocked iPhone doesn't pick up the AWS signal.

  • God

    so wtf is da final date for the iphone 4g????

  • Pingback: Rogers Releases iPhone 4 Launch Update | iPhone in Canada Blog - Tips, Tricks, News, and Tutorials for Canadian iPhone Users

  • Haaku_ice

    haha there are some girls who buy at that price.. friend of mine bought one in june for 650$ and found out she couldn't use it because it was on 3.1.3.. i laugh at her everytime she takes out her iphone..

  • Icisz

    Actually Rogers does in fact take largely into consideration the amount of “equity” or revenue rec'd from a client when assessing an upgrade request. Yes it is based on a two year hardware upgrade rule, but if you spend a $130/month on your plan, they might look at options. Also if you are on a family plan, they can sometimes “morph” existing plans to accommodate your request. A down side to this is that anytime you request an augment to your existing plan, they WILL automatically start your 3 year contract all over again, so be careful what you wish for…. (They SHOULD tell you this, but I was never told on several occations).
    If you are not willing to pay for cutting edge, don't expect cutting edge. When I signed on for the 3g, I got a 6gig/month plan, and that was only initiated because Rogers LISTENED to its customers. You would be surprised what their internal “customer support” (not customer service) team will do to keep you happy. Customer support is not something they will just offer you unless you either get the right rep, or they sense you were really done wrong and need help. Demand to talk to a customer support rep, and if they wont transfer you, hang up and try another rep…The secret is to be calm, talk to the customer support rep, and more often than not, you will get somewhere. Those who fly off and freak out on the person getting $15/hr answering general question's will get protocol responses, and rightly so.
    The 4g is still having hardware/software issues, so it might be wise to be PATIENT, look carefully at plans and options, and walk into this informed, instead of with “eyes wide shut”. The hype is hard to pass, but sometimes there are advantages to buy one from apple instead of Rogers, for a variety of reasons, and that will solve your contract issue, and give you a choice of carriers/plans etc. REMEMBER: do the research FIRST!!!!

  • icisz

    there is a rumor that all phones coming to canada will be sold unlocked, although I could only see that if they were sold directly from the Apple store, as the big 3 would not be quite so eager to do anything that would give you that kind of freedom. I have heard from many Europeans that Phones there are sold unlocked because it is the law, and there are so many carriers etc. Not sure on that one. But the software, assuming it is not jailbroken, might be fair to say may well be indigenous to the region the phone is meant to be in. I would have thought that the software gets a clean wipe when restored and downloaded, but I could be wrong.

  • Incubusfourlife

    yes but out of that land mass, where are the vast majority of cell phone user located…not much in the far north, but in the south of the country.

  • Pingback: Bell Confirms iPhone 4 Launching July 30th | iPhone in Canada Blog - Canada's #1 iPhone Resource

  • Ryanwater

    To the people who are asking for a free upgrade because they bought their 3GS a year ago, do you go back to Best Buy when Samsung release a newer version of the TV you bought???? Common sense and rational thought should tell you that anything electronic will be met with a newer version in 12 months or so. I could have bought 3GS 5 months ago also, but i did some research and realized that there would be a new iPhone coming soon (iphone4). Just like I know there will be iPhone 5 probably next summer. Blackberry, HTC, Droid, every year they come out with a new model. Get real.

    ABout the issue of 3 year contracts….sign a 2 year or a 1 year. They dont FORCE you into a 3 year, they give you an option. Sign a 1 year contract, save $X. Sign a 2 year contract, save $X+. Sign 3 years, save $X++ on the new phone. You want the phone for nothing but you dont want what comes with it. Why should a phone company give you a phone for free and get nothing back???? Go to a Mac store, buy the phone outright and take to whatever phone company you want, Rogers, Telus or Bell, Apple sells the phone unlocked you know.

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  • random

    Having a cell phone is a privilege that most obviously take for granted…as we can all see by the vast amount of people whining that they cannot upgrade to the new iphone 4. It’s your fault for signing up for the three year contract just to save money on the original phone you wanted. Maybe you should either just stuff it and be happy you at least have a cell phone or suck it up and pay the price for the new one. Considering you just got the iphone 3gs a year ago then what makes you so special that Rogers should upgrade your iphone. We live in a consumerist society where money has become top priority so a company isn’t going to go and give a large amount of people a discount on an expensive phone? Grow up and just be happy with what you have

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  • Shawn Conner

    If your looking for a corporate account from bell you can mail me at b2b@pc2cell.com, we are running a special Compiegne and we can Customize Cell Phone Plans to Reduce your company’s Cell Phone Bill   !!!!!!!!

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