Here's great example of a monopoly at work.
Rogers not only controls our televisions, our telephones, but apparently they also controll the media as well.
Check out this wonderfully one sided story as Rogers tries to put the PR spin on their pricing plans ...just how stupid do they think we are??
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080702.wriphone03/BNStory/Technology
...What a load of CRAP that article is here's a few choice snippets:
"Rogers hasn't had the greatest history of being truly customer driven. But I can tell you that they have made some remarkable improvements in the past few years," said Mr. Sklar, whose clients include both Rogers and The Globe and Mail.."
"Consumers need to familiarize themselves with the value of a megabyte, the unit Rogers uses to define its plans." - How condescending!
"It's just not a responsible business decision for Rogers to blow up all its data pricing. But it has sharpened its pencil. It is watching this very closely. If this starts to truly negatively affect significant opinion — and you have to be careful about 5,000 on a blog versus what's really meaningful — we will be on top of this thing to ensure that we manage that tension between responsible pricing and not [upsetting] customers." - Oh, so they are just being RESPONSIBLE with their pricing ...hmmm then i guess they will be responsible when (hopefully) no one buys the iPhone in Canada then ...and let's get those petition numbers up to 50,000 and see if that's a little more meaningful then.
"Rogers is using the iPhone as a flagship product, and one that, when combined with the company's promotion of Facebook applications and other teen-friendly services, helps position the telecom giant as "hip and cool" in the eyes of consumers" - Yep, their definitely "Hip and Cool" all right! ...I wonder how many teenie boppers are going to be able to afford their wonderful iPhone plans?
"Years ago, Rogers' cable division provoked a consumer revolt when it introduced negative option billing, a process that charged subscribers for new specialty services unless they opted out. The message from the company today is very different." - Yep very different, unfortunately in that they are much worse now!
"We take customer feedback very seriously," said Liz Hamilton, a Rogers spokeswoman. The company says it stands behind its pricing plans, which have been developed based on how the company thinks its customers will use the device
- Yes they have taken us very seriously so far haven't they? Let's see how long they stand beind their pricing plans ...damn dinosaurs!
"To help customers, Rogers will send them a message when they are at 80 per cent of capacity and again when they have used up their purchased capacity. That is similar to how Rogers Cable Inc. notifies its Internet subscribers when they are approaching their bandwidth caps. Customers will also be free to change their plans for either more or less data, without incurring a penalty or resetting their three-year contract, she said" - That's great, Rogers will send you a warning when you are approaching your limit, but they will charge you $1,100 to cancel your plan once you realize that you can only use it as intended for only 15 days out of the month.
"Rogers also scoffs at criticism that it has a monopoly on the iPhone. The company has built its network on a technology that has made it the only carrier in Canada capable of running the phone. "That's no accident," Ms. Hamilton said. "It was a visionary move."
- Rogers
"scoffs" at us because we "dare" to call them a
monopoly? Oh yeah, then how is it that they are so "visionary" then? Is it because the 10 other companies in this space decided to go a different route than GSM
...oh no, I must have lost my head there for a minute, there's only a couple of other companies in the market space
hmmm... tomatohh / tomahhto, oligopoly / monopoly ? ...let's call the whole thing off!
PEOPLE - DO NOT BUY AN iPHONE ON JULY 11 - WAIT IT OUT - YOU WILL BE GLAD YOU DID!
…and
I was hoping that Maclean’s magazine would run an in depth story on this. I was going to write to them, in fact, however I just checked them out and they are owned by …drum roll please …ROGERS COMMUNICATIONS INC.
Any bets on what kind of article, if any appears there?
…curse you Ted Rogers!!!
