How can we forget that controversy caused by Rogers in the lead up to the release of the iPhone 3G, the one where they were planning on severely overcharging for data with a 6GB a month plan for $100. Thankfully they changed their mind at the last minute, of course that new plan was just for a limited time.
So with a little bit of good news, its nice to hear that Rogers has since extended the availability of that plan, of course its just for one more month, and after that the options are not looking all that nice. According to Rogers, a “new pricing model will kick in beginning Oct. 1″ and the new plans will balance “consumer concerns and actual usage patterns.” Which is a little scary sounding because Rogers has also pointed out that;
“In the first four weeks of usage, 95 per cent of customers used less than half a gigabyte and 91 per cent used less than 200 megabytes. Only a single customer exceeded the 6GB threshold.”
So in the meantime, at least until the end of September users can still grab that 6GB plan for $30 a month. Should you choose this plan, it will then be good for (at least) the length of your contract.
After this plan expires, which is currently the end of September the new options will include;
- 500MB of data for $25 a month
- 1GB of data for $30 a month
- 2GB of data for $50 a month
- 3GB of data for $60 a month
- 8GB of data for $80 a month
Personally I am not sure why they would offer the 500MB plan considering for just $5 extra you can double your allowance, but I suppose its always nice to have more options. Perhaps in an effort to do some (before any outrage) damage control, Rogers has also announced that they will offer all plans as unlimited for the first three months, and that all plans will be able to be upgraded or downgraded at anytime without penalty.
Finally, Rogers will also be sending customers a text message when they begin to get close to hitting their monthly data limits, and should you still decide to go over your limit they are also going to cap the overage charges at a max of $100 a month.
It looks like Rogers caved with that RuinediPhone petition, however by changing these plans it seems like they were just out to make the early adopters happy and sadly were not about offering long term changes.

Sun, Aug 31, 2008 | by Robert Nelson
3G iPhone, Global 3G Carriers, iPhone News