Rogers, Bell, and Telus iPhone Data vs iPad Data Plans: What Gives?

When the iPhone 3G first arrived in Canada, Rogers had some really questionable iPhone voice/data plans. People were not happy and with your support iPhoneinCanada.ca was able to help bring a voice and push Rogers to change their data plans. They eventually succumbed to media pressure and introduced their 6GB/$30 data plan. It’s amazing how the prices for data have changed in Canada. Are we better or worse compared to a couple years ago?

iPad Data Plans vs iPhone Data Plans from Rogers, Bell and Telus–Do they make sense?

iPhone owners that want to receive a subsidy on their handsets come at a cost–they must sign 3 year voice/data plans. It is possible to get data plans without contract, but that would require you to pay full price for the phone. What we want to ask you is about the latest iPad data plan offerings from the “Big 3”. They have offered Pay As You Go data plans for the iPad–why can’t we have these on the iPhone? Take a gander below…

Rogers and Bell are offering the following iPad data plans:

$15 for 250MB
$35 for 5GB

Telus is offering the following iPad data plan:

$20 for 500MB
– overages are $0.05/MB; overage charge capped at $30; data capped at 5GB
– so essentially $50 for 5GB

Now here are the iPhone data plans from the “Big 3” to get 500MB/1GB of data:

Rogers: $25/500MB; $30/1GB
Telus: $25/500MB; $30/1GB
Bell: $50/500MB; $65/1GB (these are bundle prices; it’s not possible to add standalone data plans to iPhones on Bell; you must select some sort of combo plan; if you know otherwise, please let me know).

New iPhone owners that want light data usage would love to have the iPad data prices (contract or not). To cancel your data plans now, you will incur cancellation fees. Imagine being able to add on these PAYG data options to your iPhone plan. Wouldn’t that be great?

So the question I pose to you all is: Should Rogers/Bell/Telus offer their iPad data plans to iPhone owners or at least match them? Does it really cost THAT much more for iPhone data versus iPad data? Isn’t data just data no matter what device you’re using? 😉

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