Rogers announces official iPhone 3G rate plan pricing

It there's one thing you can count on in the Canadian wireless market, it's incredibly high wireless data costs. We should have known better than to get our hopes up on hearing speculation that Rogers and Fdio would be offering unlimited data plans with the iPhone 3G's luanch in July. Rogers has announced their official pricing schedules for the iPhone 3G rate plans - which will be mirrored by Fido.

On the upside, Rogers customers looking to snatch up an iPhone 3G next month can get by with a $60 per month deal that serves up both voice and data service. The downside (there's always a downside) is that Rogers has effectively killed any hopes of unlimited data plans being offered to iPhone 3G users.

All iPhone 3G rate plan tiers will be priced on a sliding scale according to the allotment of wireless minutes and allowable data usage. For example, the $60 per month deal nets iPhone 3G users on Rogers' network 150 anytime minutes, unlimited nights and weekend minutes, unlimited Visual Voicemail, and unlimited incoming SMS text messages. But, the deal only allows for a Lilliputian 400MB of data usage and 75 outgoing SMS text messages.

On the high-end, Rogers is offering iPhone 3G hopefuls 800 anytime minutes, unlimited night/weekend minutes, unlimited Visual Voicemail/incoming text messages, and a whopping 2GB of data with 300 outgoing SMS text messages. And, being the top-tier offering, this particular plan will set you back $115 per month.

Pricing includes unlimited Wi-Fi access at all Rogers and Fido Hotspots. Rogers Wireless will also offer two voice value packs for popular wireless features: a $15 monthly value pack including Caller ID, Who Called, Caller Ring Trax, 2,500 Sent Text Messages and 2,500 Call Forwarding Minutes; and a $20 monthly value pack including Caller ID, Who Called, Caller Ring Trax, 10,000 Sent Text Messages and 6:00 p.m. Early Evening Calling and 2,500 Call Forwarding Minutes.

John Boynton, SVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Rogers Wireless says, "We've designed a pricing structure that offers affordable, flexible voice and data packages so Canadians can truly unleash their iPhone 3G experience on Canada's fastest wireless network." Unless they want to unleash their iPhone 3G on more than 2GB of data…

For Rogers to offer their top-tier plan with no more than 2GB of data and then tout unlimited access to voicemail as a selling point is just confusing. For customers that are looking to get on Rogers' network with an iPhone 3G in hand, it's just painful.

Keep reading for Rogers' full iPhone 3G rate plan breakdown.

iPhone 3G Price Plans at Rogers Wireless
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Sent      Incoming
Text      Text                 Visual
Price   Voice                                     Data        Messages  messages   Voicemail
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$60 /   150 minutes + unlimited  400 MB   75        Unlimited  Unlimited
month   Evening and Weekend
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$75 /   300 minutes + unlimited  750 MB   100       Unlimited  Unlimited
month   Evening and Weekend
————————————————————————-
$100 /  600 minutes + unlimited  1 GB     200       Unlimited  Unlimited
month   Evening and Weekend
————————————————————————-
$115 /  800 minutes + unlimited  2 GB     300       Unlimited  Unlimited
month   Evening and Weekend
————————————————————————-

Data Usage - What You Get
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Monthly
Data Usage   Online Applications
————————————————————————-
400 MB       up to 200,000 text emails or 3,100 web pages or 1,360 photo
attachments
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750 MB       up to 380,000 text emails or 5,900 web pages or 2,560 photo
attachments
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1 GB         up to 524,000 text emails or 8,000 web pages or 3,500 photo
attachments
————————————————————————-
2 GB         up to 1,048,000 text emails or 16,000 web pages or 7,000
photo attachments
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