I grabbed pwnage on Sunday and did a fresh install of 2.0 on my 2G iPhone. I highly recommend it. Not quite as simple as ziphone, but close enough if you know what you’re doing. Unfortunately for me Insomnia doesn’t work on 2.0, so I had to manually edit a plist file (com.apple.persistentconnection) to keep my phone awake. I set it to poll for email every 28 seconds (since my phone dies every time sleep is activated, which happens after 30 seconds). So the battery will die just as quick as before, but at least I get my gmail within an average of 14 seconds.

It’s amazing how solid and well devloped most of the applications I’ve tried out in the app store are. Apple’s remote app (there are far too many programs with that name) is brilliant. You can control iTunes from your iPhone. There were programs that you could do that before with, but this one looks and feels exactly like when you’re browsing local music.

Truphone looks promising. I tried a call on it and it seemed to work very well. I may use that to come up with a better solution for making and receiving calls. I could probably use a bare bones phone plan with unlimited incoming, and considering I have wifi almost everywhere I use the phone, my cost will basically be 6¢ a minute. Brilliant!

I also paid for Tuner. It tunes into radio stations. It doesn’t work too well over EDGE, but once my 3G phone comes in I can’t wait to use it. This is probably the greatest thing ever. Free radio from anywhere, available anywhere. It might take a while for people to realize how awesome thing is. Satelite radio without the satelite.

It’s amazing how quickly emotions flare and then subside these days. It appears the potential cancellation fee for an iPhone is not $7700, but only a maximum of $400. Typo. Jesus, you’d think such a large company would think to proof their fine print before hitting the submit button.

Here’s my communication with Elizabeth Hamilton from Rogers today:

[blah blah blah, see my last post for what I said to her]

Thank you for your email. There is some incorrect and confusing information in the marketplace. iPhone 3G bundles released June 27 are not the ONLY price plans available to our customers, they are the high value plans that allow our customers to use this device to its fullest and offer considerable savings over separate voice and data plans that exist in market today.

As always, our customers have many choices, they can use their existing voice and smartphone data plans if they wish, including for example, selecting from our new data pricing (ranging from $30 for 300MB to $100 for 6GB or $50 Flex Rate plan) and then adding a voice plan that suits their own needs, or they can choose a voice and data plan to best suit their individual needs.

Customers do not need to take the value packs, and can order most other features a la carte, such as $7 for Caller ID.

With respect to existing customers, all customers’ accounts are unique. If desired, customers can keep their existing voice service plan and pick a separate data plan (not in the iPhone 3G bundle) to meet their needs.

They will need to check their upgrade eligibility but any customer with a monthly service fee that is over $30 for example, can upgrade to an iPhone 3G at $199 (for the 8GB model). Other pricing may be available depending on the customer’s individual information. If you are interested in this exciting device, I hope that this information is helpful to you. Thank you. Liz Hamilton

Cool. That’s been said on other sites and blogs, but it’s reassuring to hear. However it didn’t address the issue about $1100 cancellation fees. So I replied:

Hi Liz. Thank you for getting back to me about this. I’ve heard the information you’ve just emailed me about other places too. I appreciate that, and right now I don’t have much of a problem with that. I know the rates are much more than they are in other places in the world, but that’s always been the case with Canadian wireless. In fact as it stands my bill WILL be lowered. Right now I’m using the $65 unlimited data plan. Or I could use another of your new, much friendlier data plans.

What actually was the last straw for me was this:
http://www.rogers.com/cms/html/iphone_vpterms.shtml

The ECF is the greater of (ii) $1100 or (iii) $220 per month remaining in the service agreement, to a maximum of 400 (plus applicable taxes), and applies on each line in the plan that is terminated.

I first read it as, if I want to cancel an iPhone plan, I will be subject to the lesser of $1100 or $220 x whatever months are left in my contract. So that would mean that I’m on the hook for $1100 if I decide to cancel my phone before there are 5 months remaining in my contract. Then when I reread it I saw that it actually says greater. So if I bought an iPhone and decided to cancel my contract after 30 days I would be liable for $7700! You must realize how ridiculous this is. I sincerely hope this is a typo or miscommunication. There are a lot of people who are absolutely livid after reading this!

There is the point where it says “to a maximum of 400,” which I hope would be what was actually intended. The way it reads now is ambiguous as to whether it means $400 or 400 months. $400 would be in line with what US customers are paying for early cancellation. As well in the US they are offering iPhones without contracts for a $400 premium. http://www.tuaw.com/2008/07/01/doin-the-wacky-atandt-math2/

Would you please be able to clarify this? I will get the word out immediately. Thank you.

Then I hit up the wirelessnorth.ca thread that got our panties in a bunch again. Someone said it was a typo. Then someone else pointed to the French version of the page.

Maybe we jumped a little quick. But what I find the most surprising is how we wouldn’t put it past Rogers to do something like that.

So I guess I’m back to the front of the line again. Ha!

I realize that my last post was a little scattered—there was a lot going through my mind at once. Now I’ve had some time to calm down and direct my energy a little bit. Here’s a recap of what’s gone on this week:

Hi, I just had a look at your new July 11 rate plans and I’m very disappointed. I would be saving about $20 a month compared to how much I am paying now for similar service from Rogers, however that still is muchmore than I would be paying to get similar service from another company. I would have been willing to live with it. Despite all the resentment I have towards Rogers for billing problems in the past, I would have been fine with paying a premium for a premium product. However, I just read that there will be an $1100 contract cancellation fee. That is absolutely ridiculous.

July 11 I will be canceling my Rogers account. This is the absolute last straw. Almost everyone I know who says they use Rogers has done it with a disclaimer. “I only use Rogers because they’re the only mobile provider who lets me use my grey market phone,” or “I only use them because they’re the only ones who don’t nickel and dime me over ringtones.” Whoever has come up with these rate plans and terms and conditions obviously must have no idea how much resentment there is towards Rogers as a company.

Personally, I was almost at the point where I accepted using Rogers’ services as a necessary evil. I stopped complaining to anyone who asked. I even minimally complained when I had to deal with an issue where I was inexplicably charged 50% extra for US roaming. I’ve been paying a minimum of $200 a month for services that I thought were not too much worse than I would be getting from somewhere else. But not anymore.

I understand that this is a business. I understand that this is a unique opportunity for the company to take advantage of a situation where they can make a lot of money. But this is not the right way to do this. I will be canceling all my Rogers services. I will also be doing this at work, where 70% of us are currently with Rogers. I’m also posting this openly on my blog, endlessly tweeting about how disappointed I am, and passing this on to everybody I know on Facebook. There are a lot of people who are buzzing wildly about this—I highly suggest you address this problem immediately.