Bus error: Jake Billo’s weblog

And the launch of the iPhone 3G is on in Canada, with the predictable scenario of shady dealers without the device in stock trying to boost sales commissions. This whole situation reminds me of the Xbox 360 launch, where Best Buy and some other retailers tried to bundle consoles with accessories and extended warranty plans.

In any event, the big news is that Rogers is launching a promotional data plan - $30 per month, 6GB of data including tethering, requiring a three year data contract. The early termination fee is $100. The plan is supposed to be a way to quiet down the people over at Ruined iPhone and stop the persistent rumors that Apple is shafting Rogers for device shipments.

Unfortunately, the promotion is only until August 31st, at which time we can expect to see data pricing return to Rogers’ usual standards. It’s better than no such plan at all, and I’d suggest early adopters get in on this one like they did with Telus’ $15/unlimited plan back last December.

On a positive note, people in the HowardForums thread are reporting that representatives are indeed adding the promotional plan to “gray-market” devices and BlackBerry devices. (”Gray market” apparently means non-Rogers branded, unlocked phones: I vote that we quit using the term because it implies these phones are illegal, when they’re merely .)

I’ll look into this plan when the Bold launches, but in the meantime I have an 8320 that won’t receive service books to fix. Going back to the 8700 seems slightly primitive.

Update: If you’re interested in dealing with a Rogers CSR and they’re not sure what data package you’re referring to, the code for this plan on a BlackBerry is BB6GBIS3.

Update 2: Here’s the official Rogers page for the plan.

I’ve been holding off on posting this because too many data rumors are lame, but BlackBerry Cool and CrackBerry have just announced that Rogers is upping their consumer BlackBerry data plans.

The bad news: nothing’s unlimited, and if the iPhone plans leaked yesterday are accurate then BlackBerry users are getting severely shafted. Finally, these plans are for BIS customers only. If you’re on an Enterprise Server, your choices are still $40 for 7MB, $60 for 25MB, and $100 for 1GB.

The plans are available at Rogers’ site and calling data/BlackBerry support (1-800-ROGERS1 and say “BlackBerry” at any possible opportunity, or *611 from your device). Here’s a summary of what you can get:

All of these new plans (except for the Flex Rate) have overage protection, which means that usage of over 60MB is only counted at $0.03/MB. Business plans that offer data pooling can’t take advantage of this feature either. Here’s how this works in practice:

• You’re on the 300MB plan ($30 base) and use 500MB in that month because you decided to run BitTorrent off your device.
• You’re charged for your base plan: $30 for 300MB
• You’re then charged $0.50 per MB, up to 60MB: another $30 for 360MB
• You’re then charged $0.03 per MB, for data after 60MB: another $4.20 for 500MB
• Total data bill is $30+$30+$4.20 = $64.20

The good news: the base 300MB is a significant amount on a BlackBerry device - I’ve never gotten close to this figure myself, and in fact had a hard time topping 60MB/month on my Telus package. The included data can also be used for tethering to a laptop, and people likely to tether are paying more appropriate rates for heavier usage.

Rogers’ site also indicates that these plans are available on monthly agreements, meaning that you shouldn’t have to sign a data contract to take advantage of these new offerings. Of course, if you’re using a hardware upgrade credit or buying a new device directly from Rogers, you may get locked into a data package for three years. My personal preference these days would be to get an unlocked device online and activate it with an existing contract, unless you need UMA support (Rogers Home Calling Zone.)

Since the iPhone plans are still just a rumor, I’m happy with a solid release of much more customer-friendly wireless data packages, and will try to get some of my clients and associates moved to these offerings.

Over at the Consumerist, there’s a recent piece debunking a Boston Globe article on writing “See ID” or some variation of the phrase on the back of credit cards. I admire what popular consumer advocacy site has done for the average person who’s gotten screwed by a large company, but some of their posts definitely suffer from the Gawker formula. In the effort to crank out content persistently every day, editors inject significant personal bias and non-news into the stream of articles.

Unfortunately, the Consumerist takes the anti-fraud prevention stance pretty significantly. Not that I’m advocating fraud: a large number of people write in who have experienced identity theft. As a result, the editors’ viewpoints trend towards “being safe than sorry” all the way up the ladder to blatant fearmongering. The latest contribution towards the fearmongering effort (which also contributes towards the page view effort) is to talk about the advantages of writing “See ID” beside your signature on the back of a credit card.

Continue reading ‘Writing “see ID” on your credit card is worse than useless’ »