Quote:
Originally Posted by mykalberta
Has anyone done the Hardware Upgrade with Rogers - any thoughts on if I might be accepted and what it might cost?
Currently I am 18 months done through a 3 year contract with a Moto Red Razr phone.
The new iphone keeps calling to me so I think I might pull the trigger.
|
I was told by a friendly apple store employee that Rogers usually waits until the 2 year mark (since last HUP) to upgraaayyed you. If you spend lots of money a month, you may be able to wriggle that down.
I am thinking I should be able to get the "4" on upgrade, in mid July, as that's when I got my 3G, two years ago. I think they are going to want a new 3 year contract from me though.
Speaking of which, I just heard a new podcast about smartphones from
I, Cringley.
Quote:
Average revenue per mobile subscriber line is now falling for all U.S. carriers. There is too much competition, we’ve all got enough ringtones, and those $1,000 teenage texting bills have become a thing of the past. The only way the mobile carriers can get more money from us is to get us into data plans, which involve a surcharge — for now.
And that’s the point. A mobile phone has a life expectancy of 18 months. Two hardware generations from now — three years — all phones will be smartphones. But the risk in this natural evolution for the carriers is that those smartphones will come without associated data plans and their extra revenue. So AT&T (soon to be followed by Verizon) wants to lock us in to a particular revenue model. They want to force an unnatural evolution by selling us data plans while they still can and then keeping us on those data plans past the point where they’ll make sense.
Network capacity is an issue here, but not the major one.
The endgame is all-IP everywhere with no particular differentiation between data types. But until that happens, AT&T wants to get some extra scratch from us for something that — like long-distance is now — they’ll eventually be giving away for free.
|