Five days of unlimited iPhone Edge data
I’m home now after being in various parts of the Pacific Northwest for the past five days. Here’s the tally of my iPhone usage during that time:
A grand total of 82.2mb over 5 days. Multiplied out to a full 30 days (x 6) equals 493.2mb ….I could see using something in the neighbourhood of 500mb plus or minus a hundred megs or so. Keep in mind this is strictly Edge data speeds with a first generation iPhone. I would expect the iPhone 3G to be used a fair bit more simply with the built in apps (Google Maps + GPS for example) and Mobile Me….let alone the impacts of the Apps store as I’ve mentioned previously.
As before, the 82.2mb of usage was a combination of surfing a couple hours per day, email, Google Maps and a few other apps. I used a little YouTube at the end of my last day (while waiting in the border lineup to come home). I’m the first to admit that YouTube via Edge is stunningly slow…almost to the point of being unusable…3G may be a different story. Although me personally, I rarely used YouTube on my iPhone via wifi…I’m sure there are lots of other people that would use it a ton more than me.
What does this mean for me and the iPhone 3G? I’m still not sure and here’s why:
A friend forwarded me a copy of an email he received from a Rogers PR person in response to his inquiry about the plans* that seemed to imply that the iPhone 3G data packages (‘bundles’) that were posted are optional… which means that as long as you currently have a data plan (or add one of them – even the $30 for 300mb plan) and have a voice plan of at least $30/month, you can get an iPhone if you commit to the three year term.
This *could* dramatically change the opinions of many people as to if they will get an iPhone or not. My biggest concern has been the shitty voice options bundled with the data package…as well as the ‘value packs’ which are way over priced.
That doesn’t mean I think the data plans are good and it’s just the voice side that sucks. The biggest thing I don’t want to be doing while using a legitimate iPhone in Canada is worry about my data usage. I’ve gotten along for the past year on 5mb/month combined with plentiful wifi hotspots. I can’t say that will hold true with all the new features of the 3G model.
So my options are either:
- keep my 1st gen iPhone, add on a $30/300mb data plan, cut back on the unnecessary add ons I have and wait for the unlock for the 2.0 firmware to take advantage of the new features
- get the iPhone 3G from Rogers and pay the ‘bundle’ ransom
- get the iPhone 3G and live with a reduced amount of data but preserve my current voice plan which I like
- do nothing and wait and see if the petitions get anywhere with making Rogers offer better plans – which I don’t think will do anything – Rogers doesn’t care about petitions or bad press, they care about making money
I’m probably going to call up retentions and see what, if anything, I can get out of them before I make my final decision. I figure if I can preserve some of my voice plan features (I’m on a couples plan so free calling to my wife and unlimited incoming, among others are must haves) but get the $75/750mb data plan with some retention credits added to knock the price down a bit, I’ll sign for 3 years. I don’t tend to use a lot of daytime minutes and haven’t gone over my allotment ever so we’ll see what they can offer.
T-minus 10 days until we see how many people bite the bullet and get the iPhone…I’m betting that more people than you’d expect will still signup…especially after they’ve viewed the iPhone 3G guided tour of new features.
* It appears a number of people are starting to get responses from Rogers now. Head over to Peter’s site to see what they told him about the plans.
Hey John,
The reason I’m outraged with the plans, is that the whole point of the iPhone is to use all the apps, mobile me, video streaming, gps, etc. without constant worry that my bill at the end of the month will be insane.
I know why Rogers has limited the data… They don’t want people to be Skyping etc. — Which, on a limited plan, becomes too much of an ongoing concern with data to be using regularly.
I’m going to be protesting with my wallet on July 11th.
I’m with you on the Skype theory, alhough I’m also thinking it’s an infrastructure issue – I think they don’t have the backbone to handle real 3G data movement. The fact that they restricted Rogers Wireless Internet to very specific geographic locations kind of suggests that not only is 3G not widely available it’s probably another Rogers implementation strategy of “maybe it’ll work, maybe it won’t”.
Steve Jobs said there will be no VoIP on data networks – you either do it on WiFi or not do it at all. And his word is final, so Rogers wouldn’t need to limit the data (at least in the sense of unlimited as 5 GBs or something)
Rogers has a monopoly, and why wouldn’t they take advantage of their position? Especially on a cool little device like the iPhone. I used to believe that infrastructure was a big reason for their pricing, but at this point it’s just greed.
Maybe we need to start pushing for municipal wi-fi and stick it to Rogers. Did I hear there’s a frequency band up for auction next year? Maybe Google wants to buy it…
inaequitas, the spectrum auction is currently in progress. Obviously, the big 3 here aren’t allowed to be bidding. If you want more details on it, check this out: CBC article
Any word on whether or not the first gen iphones can get on board with the new iPhone data package? I tried calling Rogers but was on hold with their iPhone dept for 30 min and gave up.