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Posts tagged Rogers
Is the iPhone 4 really defective or is it just AT&T?
Jul 13th
When Rogers launched the iPhone 3G in July of 2008 their network must have been beaten to a pulp. They were the only network in Canada with iPhone for over a year, and until Bell and Telus launched their HSPA+ network in late 2009, Rogers seemed poised for a network over-extension. Recently Toronto saw Rogers’ network crack under the weight of the Pride Parade and a million visitors descending on the downtown core. It was not a good day for the network, and I have no doubt that Americans feel similarly perturbed on a daily basis when waking with AT&T’s spotty service.
But where we’ve heard the most chatter from iPhone 4 users about reception problems is in the US. A country with a network problem as it stands. Rogers rarely has signal degradation on their 3G network, and it will be interesting to see how the carrier handles the extra load when thousands of people inevitably sign up new contracts for the iPhone 4.
Suffice it to say, the antenna design was not an afterthought. If AT&T had a better network with a more pervasive 3G signal, this would be a non-issue. Merely covering the antenna does not always end in dropped calls and signal degradation, but when the signal is already low, it may lower it to a breaking point. There is a distinct difference between a design flaw and a co-dependance problem. Apple relies on its carriers to supply the data routing and signal availability. AT&T may have over-promised when they renegotiated with Apple to continue their exclusivity contract. No one really knows at this point. What we do know is that Apple is taking a lot of heat for this problem, and they may not be the right giant corporation to be pointing fingers at.
Then again, maybe they are.
As of today, the share price has taken quite a beating, losing about $9 billion in market share. That is peanuts in the scheme if things for Apple, but try to remember the last time the company was in hot water for one of their products? Doesn’t happen too often. I am no fanboy, and I hope the company learns a lot of lessons from this debacle, but let’s be clear here. A lot of engineers have claimed that the antenna, when receiving a strong signal, is actually much better than any previous iPhones. This is a fact. The fiction is the “improvements” AT&T seems to be making to their network.
Facts? Facts don’t sell phones.
What Makes You Choose Your Carrier?
Jul 12th
Ok people, for this post I’d like some feedback.
I just did a write up in regards to a rumor that Solo Mobile is being re-branded and appeal to the new landscape of “unlimited talk and text,” and it got me thinking, “What makes you choose who to sign with?”
Each carrier brings its own unique marketing strategy to the table, even though hardware and price plans are eerily similar. Though, you can only get the best of the best deals via a commitment (or paying upwards of $400+ on the device itself), so sometimes it is worth it to sign a three-year contract.
But why sign with Rogers over Bell over Telus? Is it network? Loyalty? Word of mouth?
I personally have stuck with Rogers throughout the long haul, ever since they had their old TDMA network on the notorious Motorola StarTAC (my favorite to date). Yes, it has been a bumpy ride, with many angry phone calls along the way, but I’ve always gotten what I want and re-signed with them.
What about you? What has kept you loyal? Or more importantly, what has driven you to the arms of the competition? Let us know in the comments.
Price Drops Coming For Rogers Android Handsets
Jul 12th
Rogers is usually pretty competitively priced with their phones. They can have such large subsidies because in Canada, with three-year contracts, they are guaranteed a certain amount of revenue per customer. And Rogers’ monthly charges, especially for a smartphone, are not cheap.
So a few handsets are coming down in price, and while none are earth-shattering, they bring the devices down to a certain level where, when the iPhone 4 arrives, they will still be attractively and competitively priced.
Firstly, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is coming down in price from $149.99 to $99.99. This is a very nice Android handset that has just received a nice little upgrade to improve performance and battery life, though in reality if it’s not Android 2.1 no one really wants it.
The Motorola QUENCH and Acer Liquid e are both coming down from $49.99 to $29.99. These are capable phones, but I would take the Acer over the QUENCH, since the specs are much better and the screen is gorgeous, and it currently runs Android 2.1 while the QUENCH runs Android 1.5 on top of Motorola’s MOTOBLUR skin, which is great for quick messaging and terrible for everything else.
The long-in-the-tooth Samsung Galaxy Spica is coming down from $29.99 to $9.99. This is also a nice phone, great specs and is very hardy, but is still running Android 1.5! So the faster this phone gets off the market, the better for Android fragmentation.
And lastly, the brand-newly launched Samsung Wave is already receiving a price cut, from $99.99 to $79.99. This phone runs on Samsung’s own bada OS, and has not really been proven to give any advantage over existing platforms. Read my editorial on why the Wave will likely flop in Canada (and elsewhere).
Remember, all these prices are for new customers who sign a three-year contract. So take that into account when buying a phone you are likely going to spend a lot of time with over the next three years.
Rogers Selling its Home Phone Division?
Jul 10th
For now you can file this as a rumour, but one of our solid sources has just tipped us off that Rogers is in the process of selling / has sold its Home Phone division to Primus. As with all rumors until this is officially announced by Rogers we can’t confirm nor deny its validity.
We will update as we hear more.
The Battle For Canada: Chat-r vs Wind vs Mobilicity vs itself
Jul 9th
Is it fair that Rogers, the established giant of mobile dominance in Canada, and especially in Toronto, is launching a discount brand, Chat-r, to compete directly with the two newly-launched, low-cost providers in WIND Mobile and Mobilicity? John Bitove, Chairman of Mobilicity, doesn’t seem to think so.
After learning of Rogers’ intention to squarley aim for the the small companies’ bottom lines, he has filed a complaint to the Canadian Competition Bureau. “They’re trying to destroy our success,” he said to the Globe and Mail. Not surprisingly, Mobilicity is less keen than WIND to see Rogers attempt to eat into their limited market penetration, as the company only officially launched in May of this year. WIND has been around for almost a year now, and, while not the run-away success story that many hoped it would be, has certainly created a new sense of urgency in the Canadian mobile market for fairer prices and more included features. With unlimited internet usage, and low talk-and-text plans, WIND and Mobilicity have aimed themselves at urbanites who don’t need a great number of features on a phone, as well as new immigrants, who want cheaper ways to call back home. Chat-r does not intend to offer data connectivity with their talk-and-text plans, though those will be unlimited.
A few days ago, Anthony Lacavera stated that Chat-r is exactly what this country needs: more competition. On a BNN news segment, he said that Chat-r is “great for consumers… the big guys are starting to react, and the more they react, the better we look.” This heavily contrasts Bitove’s view, and brings home the idea that WIND, with their Egyptian financial backers, Orascom Telecom Holding, seem more capable of weathering out the short-term growth issues than does Mobilicity. Certainly, Rogers is going to have a much easier time than either WIND or Mobilicity in bringing Chat-r to the market, since they are providing similar service and similar prices without having to build an entirely new network infrastructure to it; instead, they are piggy-backing off existing Rogers towers in the same locations that the former carriers have launched in: Toronto, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton and Vancouver.
I don’t necessarily see Chat-r as a full-fledged success from the get-go. Sure, Rogers is going to leverage its own brand when advertising it, unlike with Fido which operates completely independently of its big brother. But with the knowledge that Chat-r is owned by Rogers will also come the understanding that it is not the nimble, young company that WIND is, nor the forward-looking enterprise that is Mobilicity. It’s Rogers under a new banner, and for some people, especially those that have been burned by the company in the past, Chat-r must be a huge turn-off.
Does Bada have a place in the Canadian market place?
Jul 8th
Today, Rogers Wireless announced the immediate availability of the Samsung Wave, the cousin to the Galaxy S series running its own Bada operating system instead of Android. While not a lot of good things have been said about the Bada platform, especially when compared to the robust existing offerings from Apple, Google and RIM, its mere existence brings home the point that phone manufacturers, from Samsung to HTC, are seriously considering branching into independent software platforms to embed onto their hardware.
But where is the value here for Samsung? Developers will likely balk at the idea of developing for yet another mobile platform, especially after realizing that it is a lot harder to make money off their apps than they first considered. Yes, especially in the App Store, there are tons of success stories, but for every one that succeeds there are many that don’t.
Perhaps then it is in the value of a closed ecosystem for the company. Designing both the hardware and software allows them complete control over how the phone interacts with the OS. They have seem Apple’s success with this; the opportunities for in-app advertising as well as product tie-ins are quite attractive. And if the Bada platform can be expanded to work on tablets, microwaves, printers… the opportunities are seemingly endless.
But there are also tons of ways to fail here. Without robust first-party capabilities, Bada doesn’t stand a chance of luring people away from the Apple monster. Without extensive HTML5 support or a deep app store, why pay $99 for a Samsung Wave when the 8GB iPhone 3GS is the same price with the same carrier.
The hardware on the Wave seems good. 3″ Super AMOLED 800×480 screen, 1GHZ Hummingbird processor, 5MP camera, WiFi, GPS. But good specs are no longer good enough to take people away from what they know.
And Rogers, pricing the device at $99, is positioning it in the smartphone category. Not smart. I will reserve final judgment, however, until I have used the device, and you can expect a review here soon.
For more info, check out Rogers’ site: Samsung Wave
Home of the Vancouver Canucks now ‘Rogers Arena’
Jul 6th
Today, Canucks Sports & Entertainment and Rogers Communications Inc announced a major, ten-year strategic alliance giving Rogers the Arena naming and telecommunications sponsorship rights. Beyond Rogers branding, the telecommunications sponsorship includes, in-game features, interactive hockey themed concourse displays, mobile applications and more.
Here at Rogers, we’re passionate about sports – whether it’s tennis (Rogers Cup), baseball (Toronto Blue Jays) or broadcasting (Rogers Sportsnet), just to name a few.
We’ve got some exciting news to share with Vancouver sports and live entertainment fans. Effective today, the home of the Vancouver Canucks will become known as Rogers Arena. This ten-year strategic alliance also makes Rogers the official telecommunications sponsor of the Canucks.
What does this mean for Vancouver?
British Columbia is one of our most important markets, and this investment is just the beginning. We plan to work with the Canucks to explore innovative ways to engage fans anytime, any place. We’ll also join forces with the Canucks on local charitable initiatives.
Looking forward to seeing you at Rogers Arena when the puck drops this fall!
The official unveiling of the external and internal signage will happen at the downtown Arena prior to the start of the 2010-11 NHL season; the Canucks’ 40th anniversary playing in the NHL. Rogers takes over the Arena naming rights from General Motors of Canada Limited (General Motors) which had been the naming rights partner since the Arena opened in 1995.
[Via: Newswire.ca, RedBoard
Rogers Drops The Ball On Pride
Jul 5th
Like thousands of others, I headed downtown yesterday, weathering the scorching heat, to support the annual Gay Pride Parade in Toronto. A good time was had by all and the support was clearly evident. What was also evident was Rogers’ lack of service availability in the downtown core throughout most of the afternoon.
I’ll admit, at first I wanted to give Rogers the benefit of the doubt for the lack of service: could it be water damage? I was drenched! Then I looked at my phone and it was in fine working condition. So I turned to my sister’s Blackberry 9700. Nope, SOS as well. I was now perplexed and frustrated. I then (in my true over the top “CellGuru” fashion) began to walk up to people, asking bluntly “Who is your carrier” and “Is your phone working?” It turns out that most consumers with Rogers phones were experiencing an outage, while those on Telus and Bell HSPA were rocking 5 bars, mocking us. I now went from anger to all out jealousy. I was frantic! No tweeting? No BBM? No foursquare? How could I let my many followers know my every exact move?
I am generally known to walk around with 2 lines, one Telus (Motorola Milestone) and one Rogers (Blackberry 9700). Keeping me always connected, but on this day I didn’t have my Android powered Telus device, so I was left with nothing and felt completely naked. Plans ended up falling through and I went home sad and disgruntled. Yes, ALL over lack of network coverage.
But why did this happen? I had just come back from Halifax (where, I may add, the data speeds were blazing fast) happy again with Rogers and their Canadian network coverage which allowed me to keep my loved ones and followers in the loop of events as they happened. Yes, I’m aware the population of Halifax isn’t even close to that of Toronto, but that isn’t my point. Rogers claims the clearest reception and fewest dropped calls but how can I drop a call if my phone isn’t working?
Though Rogers is tested and true, it is fairly well known fact that Bell/Telus’ new HSPA network is faster, simply because it’s less congested than Rogers’. But, this generally relates to the country side, not the Toronto corridor. It wasn’t until a few hours later, and when I was out of the downtown core, that I got ANY network connectivity. Does this mean Rogers is so congested that it’s crashing on itself? Or Bell/Telus is simply stronger when put to the test. Probably the former, but it’s still no excuse. This isn’t AT&T!
I tried calling Rogers and received the generic, “we were aware of an issue and are working on it.” While Canadians take for granted that its biggest network, Rogers, is usually much more reliable than AT&T’s equivalent GSM network, especially in main urban centres. I rarely experience outages on Rogers, and it is even rarer that even EDGE is unavailable; it is usually the loss of 3G temporarily, and EDGE, while slower, is a much more stable, and allows for phone calls to be made.
Yesterday’s experience was the first time in recent memory that Rogers’ network merely failed. Yes, there were thousands of people using its network. But provisions need to be made. Rogers needs to prepare in advance, and put up temporary towers when they know there will be higher demand on their network. I’d love Rogers to comment on this. We will wait and see their response, if any.
Follow me on twitterRogers Lowers Text Packages For Summer Travelers
Jul 5th
For most Canadians, the hardest part of going anywhere (outside the country) is remaining in touch with friends/family. Roaming charges are often exorbitantly high, especially when if you decide not to purchase a package.
Starting today through to October 31st, Rogers is lowering the US/Int’l text message packages from $12.50 to $5. So add the package and keep in touch, your loved ones will appreciate it.
Read more about the text messaging packages offered by Rogers.
Rogers & Shoppers Drug Mart pilot project already started?
Jun 29th
Originally posted back in April, Rogers was to launch pilot distribution arrangement with Shoppers Drug Mart on July 1st. Today, MobileSyrup posted the picture above, taken from inside a Shoppers Drug Mart. It seems at though the program is already in effect at several locations, with a full line of Rogers/Fido Smartphones and Rocket Sticks in store. The promotional sign is showing an offer of 50,000 Shoppers Optimum bonus points, (an $85 value) with a new Rogers or Fido activation. Seems like a pretty good deal. And yes we all see the typo. Drop a comment below if you happen to see a Rogers stand at your local Shoppers Drug Mart.
[Via: MobileSyrup]
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