Rogers Cell Phone Pricing Madness!

:CAUTION: This is a rant! :CAUTION:

I can’t believe Rogers phone pricing. In fact, I’m sitting here shaking my head!

OK – so here’s what happened. A friend of mine wanted “one device” that included all the things she has to carry around right now;

MP3 Player
Calendar/Scheduler
Camera
Cell Phone

So I told her about the Palm Centro from Rogers and, of course, we discussed the iPhone. That took the discussion into the “cost” arena. I told her I thought that Rogers was charging $300 or $400 for the new iPhone 3G, while the Centro would only be $99. And either one of them should be able to take advantage of the current “special offer” from Rogers which bundles a $35 business plan with a $30 for 6Gig data plan (half their normal price) – (NO – I refuse to talk about how much higher wireless voice and data plans are in Canada than they are anywhere else in the world!)

Since it was after normal store hours, I went on the Rogers website to confirm pricing. Rogers has the iPhone 3G 8Gig for $199 and the 16Gig for $299. These are the exact same prices as AT&T in the USA. Not bad. I’m impressed. At least the hardware is not way over priced. Even if you do have to sign a minimum 3 year contract – NOOP (No Other Option Possible!) in order to get one.

Then I checked the Palm Centro. Rogers lists it as being available for as low as $299.99! Are they out of their minds? I double checked AT&T – yes they carry the Palm Centro in a wide range of colours, all for $99 for a 2 year contract (they actually list the retail price of the Palm Centro as $319). Yet Rogers has the Centro listed at only $20 below AT&T's Retail but requires you to sign a 3 year contract to receive this very special low (locked in) rate offer.

And they wonder why Canada has such a low rate of “adoption”. There’s a reason that 35% of Canadians don’t have a cell phone, and I’m willing to bet it has nothing to do with available cell phone features and everything to do with the ridiculously high prices! OK - so I ended up mentioning how much more expensive wireless voice and data plans are in Canada!