Update 1: We reached out to Rogers for comment. They had this to say:
“We don’t comment on rumours, but I can say that at Rogers we always design our products and services with the customer in mind. As a result, we test many concepts and ideas with our customers. Sometimes we’re actually considering launching these ideas, but often we’re just testing concepts. Many of the ideas
we test never get launched based on customer feedback.”
The latest rumour reports that Rogers will contemplate a new ‘Data Priority Service’ for smartphones that will prioritize data to those paying an extra monthly fee. According to reports received by Electronista, users have been asked by Rogers about their thoughts on having a premium service ($10/month extra)Â that would ensure connectivity in the light of high network usage.
Many have been experiencing 3G slow downs on Rogers from coast to coast. The network seems to be at over capacity, or some sort of upgrade is causing intermittent connections.
Rogers needs to ensure existing data subscribers have sufficient and consistent 3G speeds before attempting to charge for a priority data service. They need to fix their 3G network instead of contemplating charging more for it to work.
What do you think? Would you pay for a ‘data priority service’?
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Rogers….. Luckily my contract is up in August 2011 and I bought an unlocked iPhone 4. Here’s looking forward to a contract free life & contact with Retentions….
Owning a 3G smartphone is already too expensive in Canada. If they charge additional fees, they will loose tones of customers! I own an iPhone 4 with Bell here in Montreal and the reception is flawless!
Ouch. Robbers indeed.
Excuse my french but efffffff that!
I’m in the middle of complaining to Rogers that I get 0-50kbps speed on the corner of Bay and Wellington in downtown Toronto and if they tell me that I need to pay MORE to get a service I’m already paying for to actually work as advertised, they’re going to see a side of me no one else has.
Prepare for war Rogers customers. They oversold iPhones and data and now they’re getting ready to throttle us back. They promised us a service. This is false advertising and horrible treatment of current customers.
I wouldn’t put it past Rogers to have manufactured these slowdowns, so they can then offer a more expensive service to entice customers to pay more for service we’re already paying too f***ing much for.
So, NO!!
nice move, rogers, very nice move……rogers has invented many charges like government regulation fee, which’s nothing to do with government. it seems like rogers doesn’t want to rest a bit. you know what, just keep pushing your customers. in any cases, they have no choice because the canadian mobile market sucks!! the least competitive market ever!!! sometimes i just wonder the big 3 belong to the same corporation .
I hate all providers. All scam….
Even in 3rd world countries I get better service as for connectivity and data.
if that’s gonna be true.. then I’m breaking my contract…
This is to be expected in a a country with the highest cost of mobile services in the world, where cartel of three big players rules and their puppets at CRTC do everything in their power to prevent any real competition from appearing in Canada. Unless Canadians force their government to end this farce it will only get worse and worse.
my phone seems to get a decent 3.6mbps speed. I dont get what people are complaining about and I am in a small town 100km away from Toronto.
What a bunch of douchebags.
If they seriously did this, I’d hope there would be a class action suit which I would definitely jump on board.
That’s the thing, in a smaller town you’d be fine, it’s high concentration areas that have problems. Here in Toronto the service can be downright pathetic.
Hell no.
I’m at bay and Wellington as well and between 2-5 every day, my connection gets deathly slow. It’s quite annoying when I rely on apps like whatsapp and such. I signed another 3 yr contract but to be honest, if this turns out to be true, I’ll be canceling like many others.
I almost fell off my chair laughing at this.
This is a stupid idea that should never happen.
Crap. The problem is that I know too many who would pay it as a cost of doing business, which means it’ll likely happen. If there’s a buck to be wrenched out of us… 🙁
no problems on data here
No. Fix the current one.
After all they have to honor their terms in the contract too.
There is not a single chance in hell I would pay an extra time for something that should work properly to begin with. Anyone who does pay for this it’s slippery slope if we accept this crap.
Rogers Moto “bleed them dry, then bleed them some more. Why? Cause we can”
Canada doesn’t have the highest phone rates in the WORLD for no reason.
nope
Even AT&T hasn’t stooped this low, and I believe that their network is even more over-capacity than Rogers in urban areas. I can imagine what Steve Jobs would have to say about this…
LOL! So they’re saying “our service may be crap, even though you paid for it. We can sell you the good version of the service for more money”
Even on bell I experience a slowdown. It was much better a few months ago.
Lol good one
Another robbery plan of Robbers Inc.
Rogers: “We thought we’d see how stupid our customers were. Some would actually be willing to pay twice for the same service”.
and back in Quebec, Videotron is sayin that ” There are many competitors on the mobile bussines” come on!!! we need some real competition! we, the customers, are tired of been exploited by this companies!
Companies on the mobile bussines in Canada, LOWER ur prices!! how is it possible that we live in a first world country with the highest rates in the world? People Wake up!
hahahahaha..
They’ll charge $10 and call it “Extreme” and the rest of us who don’t shell out the cash will be left with “Light” service.
My friends works for Rogers and she said that they had two towers down, that as the issue with the slow speeds.
In regards to the article, another way for rogers to steal more money from us. We pay a high price already and they want more money. Eff that, even Pre-paid customers get caller ID for free. Why do we have to pay for a service that is free all around the world.
Not a problem, I’ll cancel and go with another service provider. I think that if Rogers goes ahead we should all collectively ask for a bulk change over price from Bell. If we could get enough people involved I think we could get Rogers attention…
This already exist ! No one have notice?
This service is already offer to: police, gov agency, Platinium America Express owners and others… It is a SOC Code added as an option on the account.
This will priorize voice/data/SMS service and can also bounce non premium users out of service.
Now that you know, your not happy…
We pay so much because we don’t really fight back, just bitch about it, then just heave a sign as we pull out our wollets.
Same issue with gas prices lol
Rogers got too many data subscribers and it caused their network slow down. It’s time to kick out some customers in order to clear the network. This way gotta be cheaper than investing on improving the system.
I am never a Rogers’ customer and I never experience the data slow down.
first of all, is this rumor started by rogers themselves to get our opinion?
– Rogers got more subscriber (more profit) thus clogged the system
– Rogers now to charge to get keep up with the expected service.
WTH! They get more money from new subscribers and now to charge more money to keep their infrastructure at pace? This does not even happen in 3rd world countries where delikadeza exists.
what rogers must do is to improve their infrastructure to keep up with rhe number of subscribers. the least that they can do is to charge that to their subscribers. so greedy.
Never. I have an unlocked iphone 4 and get pathetic coverage with Rogers in downtown Regina during the day. Why should I pay extra to get what I already paid for? When my contract with Rogers is up in 9 months, I will switch to SaskTel, which has (I hope) much better speeds.
wtf! Testing the customers?? why don’t you design some real deal for your customers instead of testing your customers’ G spot of saying “F**k you, Robbers Inc.”…. after seeing the feedback of rogers, I couldn’t bear to use some dirty words……. shameless !!!
A modification to this idea would be good, they’re kind of on the right track.
In Spain, there are no surcharges when you exceed your data plan yet you stay connected at a lower speed. For example, if you pay for 1GB, after your 1GB is used, they throttle you from 3G to the GPRS speed or slower, but it means you don’t pay extortion fees for extra data and you basically have an unlimited data plan.
In Manila I get unlimited data for $25/month supposedly at 3G though I have a feeling they probably throttle use around sometimes to control the usage..
Rogers does that and they hand Telus and Bell a chunk of market share in a hurry. Primarily new market share. How hard it is to come up with an ad saying “All of our customers are important to us, and all of our customers are entitled to the service they pay for, without preferential treatment”. If Rogers gaffes that big, I’d be surprised. It’s a gift to the provider with the least market share as they have the least network contention.
Of course, if we actually had a competitive environment in Canada, all the iPhone plans wouldn’t look the same and wouldn’t all be at 3 year terms.
highway robbery..!!!
highway robbery..!!!
Exactly. How is this even legal?! This should be CRIMINAL!!
HELL NO!!!
So let me see if I got this right. First Rogers charges us a monthly fee for providing data. Then they charge us more ro provide it?!!! Robbery in broad daylight.
There is something wrong with the network lately. I used to get 5-6 Mbps up on BBY mountain consistently. It is now around 1.5
I hope they fix it soon but would I pay $10 more/month?
FAWK NO!
I believe that I already pay a data priority fee. It’s called their monthly plan, all 36 months of it.
I’m betting that the iPhone is the culprit. If you compare the amount if data usage I use compared to previous iPhones and my old Blackberry I’ve seen a huge differece in my own data usage.
People are focusing more and more on mobile. So much so that I think we are seeing people ditching their home Internet service and going mobile.
I’m hoping new providers to the game like Shaw might step it up a notch with new technology and no contract service. I’m sick of getting it up the poop chute with high rates, contracts and poor service.
Are you serious? I work all around the city and have noticed slower speeds. Dropped 3G. Etc.. I know I’m not the only one since my co-workers are experiencing the same garbage.
Haha. Wouldn’t that be brilliant. You can just see the little man in the machine laughing MUUHHAHAHHAHHA
Remember. This is just a rumor. But I hope that the big wigs at Rogers catch wind of blogs like this.
Thanks for the outlet Gary.
They want to charge us extra for something we already pay for…common they should be paying up for the slow downs