My guess for the iPhone in Canada plan from Rogers: $75 a month plus taxes and b*gus system access fee will include 1 GB of data (2GB would be much better but it's Rogers we are talking about and we can't expect them to be innovative :-( ), unlimited incoming and outgoing text and 300 minutes of voice calls to anywhere in Canada and USA. This plan will not include voice, SMS and data roaming to the USA. Roaming will still be billed at the current Rogers r*poff rates.

What's your guess (I am assuming all will be revealed tomorrow at 10a.m. after Jobs keynote!)????

I'll treat the commenter with the closest guess to a tasty beverage the next time they are in Vancouver!

After 12 hours with a borrowed Rogers N95 8GB NAM, my conclusion is still to get an unlocked one!

In short, the Rogers N95 8GB NAM is:

1. The Multimedia creator phone that N series users the world over have learned to love. Great camera and great video!
2. The S60 interface we have come to love/hate which is hard to use as all N series aficionados know.
3. Rogers has put their bogus "deck" in the web browser and Vision software on their version of N95 8GB NAM and it's just as suspected, unusable and totally superfluous. Change the home page and don't use the Vision app; none of it's any good!
4. It's the Rogers Data plan that we have all come to love. Danny who set up the phone, was told by a Rogers CSR he could get a 1GB data plan for $100/month which contradicts the $65/month 1GB PC Card plan that Alec Saunders got from Rogers. Inconsistencies 'r Rogers! Or is it a deliberate attempt to confuse customers by telling different customers different stories about data plans?

My conclusion remains the same: get an unlocked N95 8GB NAM and a $65/month PC Card plan. You'll be a lot less frustrated!

Some more details after the jump

As I feared the $7 "unlimited" data plan for the recently introduced N95-8GB and other Rogers approved devices restricts you to using the built-in apps. The built-in apps are *ahem* (to be nice) not that great with the exception of the web browser (and I fear that Rogers has somehow neutered the "great for Nokia" webkit based browser but not so great when compared to the iPhone browser). 3rd party apps, like ShoZu and Qik, are much better in my humble opinion.

Not only that, you are forced to commit to a 3 year contract if you wish to use the $7 plan.

At this time, if you are mobile enthusiast, therefore, I can't recommend the Rogers Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan or buying a Rogers N95 8GB. Instead I recommend buying an unlocked N95 8GB from Tiger Direct or other source and then buying the Rogers 1GB/month $65 'PC Card plan' which Alec Saunders uses with his unlocked non Rogers N95. As far as I know, this plan doesn't have a 3 year contract requirement. And it doesn't have the 3rd party app tax (Alec uses 3rd party app Qik to stream video live and doesn't pay 5 cents per kilobyte).

Anyhow, to end in a positive note, if any Rogers N95-8GB owners want to experiment with 3rd party apps and want to set them up in such a way as to avoid the "5 cents / kilobyte 3rdparty app" r*poff tax, and you are in Vancouver, please email roland AT rolandtanglao.com and let's get together in Gastown at lunch on a weekday and I'll show you how (it's not as intuitive as the iPhone). I've been using Nokia S60 smart phones like the N95 for four years and can show you how to use the powerful but not so intuitive S60 interface to your advantage.

QUOTE

NEW! Adding Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan* to your voice plan provides:

* Unlimited on-device mobile browsing access to your favourite social communities like Facebook & MySpace, news, sports and entertainment sites all on the go for one flat monthly fee!
* Access to search the mobile Internet with Yahoo! Search and Google
* Access to information sites like Yahoo! Canada, Canada.com, Windows Live, The Weather Network, Lavalife Mobile and more!
* Protection against high pay-per-use data charges while surfing the mobile Internet

Start saving on all your mobile Internet browsing with Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing* or pay per use at 5¢/ KB.

Plan or pay per use at 5¢/ KB

Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing Plan
Monthly Fee Includes
$7 Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing*

For a limited time, customers who activate on a Voice Plan and add Vision Unlimited On-Device Mobile Browsing* on a 3 year term receive Vision Bonuses. Learn more

*Important: This plan includes unlimited on-device mobile browsing only and is only available on select phones (PDAs such as Blackberry or Windows Mobile devices, PC cards and non-Rogers certified devices are not eligible). Data usage incurred on ineligible devices or incurred while tethering (using device as wireless modem for computer) or incurred using non-Rogers (3rd party) applications downloaded to your device will be subject to pay-per-use charges of 5 cents/KB. A 3-year term service agreement is required for Rogers Vision devices.

What is tethering?

This plan does not include any usage incurred while tethering. Tethering is when you use your phone as a wireless modem to connect to the Internet. The phone can be connected via USB cable or Bluetooth. Once connected, you can access the Internet wirelessly on your laptop using the Rogers Wireless network. While accessing the Internet wirelessly on your computer, data charges are incurred at a rate of 5¢/KB.
What are 3rd party applications?

3rd party applications are applications like Yahoo! Go or Google Maps. These are non-Rogers applications which may be downloaded to the device and incur data charges at a rate of 5¢/KB.

END QUOTE

SMS is dead was controversial which was not a big surprise. It was called stupid and many other things.

Here are some random "SMS is dead" related thoughts:

1. IP always wins. SMS is not over IP and so it will lose once we have affordable mobile internet which we is at least 5 years away. But it's coming!
2. My post was not the clearest piece I have ever written. I should have titled it "SMS is dead - Twitter is proof" instead of "SMS is dead - Twitter killed it".
3. Ken Camp: If SMS is not losing May 16, 2012 and we can mutually decide on what that means, I'll grill you a dinner of your choice. No obligation on your side should I be right! As a Canadian of Filipino heritage, I am an expert at grilling pork :-) but you can decide.
4. Same offer to you Ewan (update: same offer to Ian Dykes who's also in the UK and to Pat Phelan in Ireland - except it would be Guinness in Ireland since it's sooooo great there) except since you are in the UK how about a pint or two of your favourite beverage. I like Guinness and English real ales and it would be my pleasure to buy you a few some day in the unlikely :-) event we agree I am losing on May 16, 2012
5. Of course I'll probably lose the above 2 bets since I always overestimate how fast things die but in the long run it will happen. I've seen it happen with X.400, Usenet, Profs email, Bulletin Board Systems and many many other pre-IP systems that made lots of money back in the day and it will happen with SMS.
6. In Canada to run an SMS shortcode it costs $1000 a month plus per message costs. I know it's apples and oranges but how much traffic and messages could you store and send on an Amazon EC2 and S3 system for that much? And probably more importantly what kind of cool money making apps and services could you provide if there was affordable mobile internet like there will be in the future?
7. Ken is right, SMS is marginal in North America but important and useful elsewhere.
8. Unfortunately after working at Nortel for over 10 years, I am far too well acquainted with how today's so-called 'mobile internet' works and how closed it is.

Yes, cellphone fees are a r*poff in Canada compared to both the USA and Europe and data fees even more of a ripoff. Go oligopoly go! NOT!

FROM globeandmail.com: High fees prompt Canadians to leave cellphones on hold (article will go behind paywall; Globe and Mail please change this misguided policy.)

QUOTE

The report breaks the market into three categories of users. The high-end business user, who uses 1,200 minutes of voice plus data monthly, pays 150 per cent more than a subscriber in the United States.

The average user, defined as someone using 500 minutes a month, pays a 33-per-cent premium. And the light user, someone who keeps the phone packed away most of the month and spurns add-on features such as voice mail and call display, actually comes out ahead, paying 27 per cent less.

However, Canadians pay more in all three categories when compared with Europeans, the report said.

“Canadians aren't tech laggards, as has been suggested in recent discussions on the country's state of wireless phone competition. Instead, they are rational economic beings. Canadians hesitate to buy cellphones or to hit the send button on a cellphone knowing full well the cost at the end of the month will be breathtaking,” it said.

END QUOTE