All Rogers iPhone Upgrades Will Require $80 Plans, As Exception Policy to Expire

Back in June it was noted that Rogers hardware upgrades will require $80 plans for premium devices like the iPhone.

There was an exception to the rule, which allowed store managers to allow one-time upgrades for plans within $60-79, to transition customers over to this new policy. There was no word on when this exception would phase out at the time.

But now, the transition policy appears to have ended, according to what Rogers stores are telling customers. According to the following email sent to iPhoneinCanada.ca reader Chris, stores are now “100% required” to implement $80/month plans (emphasis ours):

I wanted to make you aware that as of last week we are now required to change people to current in-market price plans in order to receive subsidies on premium phones like the iPhone. You are correct that we had the ability to make a one-time exception during a transitional phase while we moved into this new system. At this point however, we are 100% required to make the change. We’d be happy to sit down with you and try to find a plan that will suit your needs.

We reached out to Rogers for clarification to see if the exception policy had indeed been phased out for good. Here’s the following statement response from the company via email (emphasis ours):

“In June we made a change so that when a customer upgrades their smartphone and receives a device subsidy, they’ll move to an in-market Share Everything plan. We’re working to improve customer service, including making our plans and processes as simple and straight forward as possible. We have thousands [of] wireless plans- Old plans are in many cases out of date and don’t always provide the best value. This change was introduced to simplify our price plans and create a better experience for customers. Current plans are easy to understand, designed for how customers use their phones and include services like unlimited Canada-wide long distance and texting, voicemail and call display- features customers on many older plans have to pay extra for. We’re phasing in the new policy and introducing more tools to help frontline reps assist customers in finding the plan that best meets their needs. The exception policy is being used less and less as our new policy and the benefits of Share Everything plans are more understood. Our trending suggests it will soon no longer be needed and we will phase it out. The full policy will take effect shortly, no date to share at this time.

So if you’re looking to upgrade or sign a new two-year contract for an iPhone, and were hoping to fall into the one-time exception with your existing plan below $80, that doesn’t look like it’s going to happen anymore, according to the statement.

Below is the entry Share Everything Plan starting at $80 with 500 MB of data, which is an ‘in-market Share Everything plan’ most people would have to subscribe to in order to meet requirements for a subsidized iPhone plan on a two-year contract:

Screenshot 2014-08-14 09.22.21

For those unaware, you’re better off buying unlocked and going with a cheaper plan and taking advantage of 10% off BYOD discounts.

What’s your monthly plan going to look like when you acquire the iPhone 6 this fall?

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