$1400 BILL for ROAMING?! HELP!!

[some-gei]

This is a serious question to WorldIRC and the rest of the Rogers sympathizers - honestly speaking, at what rate would you finally step up and say "this is unreasonable".

ie at the moment it's VERY easy for a regular person, who is not especially ignorant, to rack up a roaming bill in the thousands of dollars - it happens ALL the time.

What if Rogers raised it's roaming rates to $1,000 per KB and someone came back with a roaming bill in the hundreds of thousands, or even millions of dollars? Forcing them to declare bankruptcy and overall ruining their lives. Wouldn't you think that maybe that is a tiny bit unreasonable?

Seriously at what point do you guys say "enough"?

Fortunately in the rest of the world governments are stepping in and stopping this blatant price gouging (ie in the EU it's already happening: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europea...ng_regulations). However my fear is if we have people like the above who see no problem with these outrageous prices, we may have to wait a while before our own government steps in and does something like the EU.

[DennyCrane]

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^Lets flip that around; I ask you some-gei, how low would the roaming rates have to be to make you happy? I personally feel that $0.03/KB is outrageous, but I have a choice not to use the service if I feel the value isn't there.

[WorldIRC]

This is a serious question to WorldIRC and the rest of the Rogers sympathizers -

Definitely not a Rogers sympathizer....anyone here that knows me will tell you that I am the first to call out Rogers on anything, when I deem there a need to do so.

[WorldIRC]

BTW, WIND charges $5-20 / mb. I guess WIND is also evil? Mobilicity is $15 / MB...guess they're just as evil as Rogers? Guess they're all colluding and looking to make innocent people bankrupt?

I only sympathize for the idiot customer that pays these rates...and only if they can prove to me they had no way of knowing this would happen and only if they can prove to me they don't read the news, ever, about roaming charges.

[some-gei]

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^Lets flip that around; I ask you some-gei, how low would the roaming rates have to be to make you happy? I personally feel that $0.03/KB is outrageous, but I have a choice not to use the service if I feel the value isn't there.

$30 per MB might have been reasonable 10 years ago.. but not now. If they made the price TEN TIMES cheaper (ie $3 per MB), I would still find the price high and would not use it personally (would continue to use prepaid SIM cards), however I would no longer call it outrageously high.

As for voice roaming, fido's US voice roaming rate was something like $0.10 or $0.20 per minute about TEN YEARS ago. Then Rogers bought them out and jacked up the price by about ten times to the levels that the rest of the carriers have colluded on. I would also find that high, and would not use it personally, but I would not find it outrageously.

[DennyCrane]

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30 per MB might have been reasonable 10 years ago.. but not now. If they made the price TEN TIMES cheaper (ie $3 per MB), I would still find the price high and would not use it personally (would continue to use prepaid SIM cards), however I would no longer call it outrageously high.

I agree that $3/MB would be a fair international roaming rate.

As for voice roaming, fido's US voice roaming rate was something like $0.10 or $0.20 per minute about TEN YEARS ago. Then Rogers bought them out and jacked up the price by about ten times to the levels that the rest of the carriers have colluded on. I would also find that high, and would not use it personally, but I would not find it outrageously.

Don't forget that Fido was basically bankrupt before Rogers took over.

[DennyCrane]

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BTW, WIND charges $5-20 / mb. I guess WIND is also evil? Mobilicity is $15 / MB...guess they're just as evil as Rogers? Guess they're all colluding and looking to make innocent people bankrupt?

I only sympathize for the idiot customer that pays these rates...and only if they can prove to me they had no way of knowing this would happen and only if they can prove to me they don't read the news, ever, about roaming charges.

And their roaming is not that reliable from what I've heard.

I'm not intending to troll, but TELUS has made some good progress with their international data roaming rates which are now $10/MB. Unfortunately texting is still a joke, and they raised the US roaming rate.

[clarken555]

Have you people ever heard of De Beers, the oil companies, expensive watch makers, expensive car makers ect? They all provide a service that we are willing to pay way too much for because we like what they have to offer. Do companies have a right to make as much profit as possible? Why blame Rogers and the rest when we are the ones who wanted the fancy phones. If I have a billing error I call them to correct it just like any other company. If the O/P didn't know how his phone work when he is traveling, he should find out.

[AahH]

It's called capitalism. You can own part of Rogers or Bell, if you become a shareholder by buying their stocks. This way, you get to share that profit. In this case, part of that roaming charge would go to your pocket.

It's basic economy, about supply and demand. What is wrong with that? Gold is rare so it is expensive. People buy it without any use for it. It is the same thing with our products and services. Only communists want to interfere with free economy. So if you can sell your skill for $1000/hour instead of $10/hour, that is because you are worth it. Someone is willing to pay for it. It's as simple as that.

The difference here is that it is artificial pricing to begin with... The Government IS responsible for the pricing of wireless IN Canada, Roaming charges was the OP's fault.You cannot generalize Canadian wireless because it is so intertwined with the GOV, kickbacks and what not. Wireless is not something anyone can get up and start without the Government OK'ing it...

If I was able to provide UNLIMITED 4G data and voice in Canada for $20 a month.. well you would see how fast the government would step in a put and end to that...

Same thing with cars. If I made a car that got 5000km/L that would single handedly destroy the not only the Canadian economy but probably the world...

[DennyCrane]

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If I was able to provide UNLIMITED 4G data and voice in Canada for $20 a month.. well you would see how fast the government would step in a put and end to that...

The government wouldn't need to step in because you'd never turn a profit.

[AahH]

What if I did!!!

What if I did find a way to make $10 a month... This would not only destroy all wireless in Canada but also all ISP's...

And unlike Rogers, this would not be a scam like CHATR was just to drive the competition out OH NO! this would be a nightmare...

The Government WOULD step in because they have TAXES to collect.. and taxes on $20 instead of $100 is plenty...

Anyhoo my point is that rates are not because of "free market" its more of a "compromise"

[some-gei]

I think what you guys don't realize is the whole mentality of "we are a corporation and we should extort our customers for as much money as possible" is actually NOT the best way to do business. That's why the vast majority of Rogers customers HATE Rogers. That is not a safe way of doing business and will eventually come back to bite them hard.

[WorldIRC]

I think what you guys don't realize is the whole mentality of "we are a corporation and we should extort our customers for as much money as possible" is actually NOT the best way to do business. That's why the vast majority of Rogers customers HATE Rogers. That is not a safe way of doing business and will eventually come back to bite them hard.

As well as WIND, Mobilicity, ATT, T-Mobile, O2, and all the others...right? Not just Rogers, right?

[B407]

Hmm... Here's an idea. If you can't afford it or don't want to afford it don't use it. There are plenty of easy ways to use your phone outside of your home country without paying through the roof.

[geokilla]

Wifi shuts off once the phone sleeps...
so if you had data roaming enabled, which by default it ISN'T, then you used the data

Agree with Treatz. WiFi is not reliable and can turn off at anytime, especially when the screen is in sleep mode. The user would have ENABLED data roaming; therefore the charges are valid.

Um I don't think so... I have WiFi on all the time when I'm at home, and WiFi is turned on even when my phone is in Deep Sleep. I'd have to set it to turn WiFi off when Screen is Off in order to be in the situation you described.