Following up on a story we broke last week: it looks like Rogers Wireless has reverted back to a 24-month term for their customer hardware upgrade program. The program — which previously allowed customers to upgrade handsets, with full subsidies, after fulfilling 24-months of a 36-month contract — was adjusted last week, requiring customers to fulfill a 30-month term before getting the discounted pricing. Now, according to a second company communication, it looks like Rogers will be reinstating the 24-month hardware upgrade term. A memo to employees reads:

Last week, we communicated some changes about our Hardware Upgrade Policy (HUP) eligibility. To ensure our current promotions are clear and consistent, Data to Data HUP eligibility will be revised to 24-months as of October 28. This current promotion aligns Voice to Voice, Voice to Data and Data to Data eligibility all to 24-months.

Important Note about Hardware Upgrades:
To remain competitive and increase customer loyalty, we regularly offer customers promotional options to upgrade their hardware before the expiry of their current commitments. However, it is important to remember that our HUP program is a promotion and not a plan feature. These promotions are subject to change and as a result, should not be promised to customers at the point of sale.

Back to business as usual in Canada. Anyone feeling relieved?

Thanks, solidsnake3467!

You think signing a 2-year cellular contract is bad? Think about our poor brethren up north! Canadian carriers frequently require a 3-year contract in order for customers to obtain the most aggressive handset discounts; which means you are stuck with your phone of choice for an entire 36-months. Pretty rough. According to a memo obtained by BGR, the company will allow its customers to upgrade to a new device after only 30 months of service when inking a new 3-year deal — previously, the carrier allowed such an upgrade after only 24-months. What do you think Canadian friends? Sound-off.

Thanks, solidsnake3467!

Get ready, BlackBerry adoring Canadians, because both the Bold 9700 and Curve 8520 have popped up in Rogers’ upgrade system. There’s no official word yet on when we’ll see both devices launch, although the smart money is that the Curve will come sometime in early October followed by the Bold in late October (this could change at any moment). As for how much they’ll run for is even more of a guessing game, but we would imagine the Curve will be heavily discounted (likely under $100) while the Bold should go for around the same price as the Bold 9000 which should go down in price. Good stuff. Hit the jump for some larger pics.

Thanks, ILLIONAIRE!

A lot of people were understandably upset when Rogers increased its smartphone HUP policy from every 12 months to every 24 months citing high costs, but now even dumbphone users have a reason to cry foul as the same conditions will soon apply to them. Retroactive as of August 21st, the minimum length between HUPs must be no less than 24 months regardless of handset type. Rogers told its employees in a memo circulated Friday that there are two reasons for the move: Network upgrades are costly (that upcoming 21Mbps HSPA+ deployment and eventual transition to LTE isn’t going to come cheap) and the high quality of modern handsets means it’s not necessary to replace a phone each year. We’d hit up Rogers PR and ask them some questions such as why the company is making decisions like these when a spunky new carrier like WIND is about to launch — not to mention that Rogers customers with 3G handsets will soon be able to cancel and join either Bell or TELUS — but we’re pretty sure that each query would be answered with “Neener, neener, neener…  You signed a 3-year contract.” Maybe. Anyway, hit the jump for the internal memo.

**IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT**

Policy change to Hardware Upgrade Program eligibility

(applies to non BPR/MSD customers)

The Hardware Upgrade Program will now provide a consistent minimum eligibility rule for all customers and eliminate the 3-5 day wait time between a data to data HUP cancellation and the processing of the new HUP.

Effective August 21, 2009, a minimum tenure of 24 months since initial activation or last upgrade will be required before a customer is eligible to participate in the hardware upgrade program.  This change aligns all upgrades (voice, voice to data and data to data) with the current data to data HUP policy.

This change also reinforces the importance of explaining to customers that HUP eligibility and quoted hardware/plan pricing are subject to change without notice and cannot be guaranteed beyond the time of quotation.

Update to HUP eligibility:

The updated HUP eligibility rule of 24 months minimum tenure since a customer’s last upgrade or activation date will be system enforced and no exceptions will be allowed. All other standard HUP eligibility rules still apply.

Reasons for the update to the HUP:

• Rogers Wireless heavily invests in providing the latest data devices at affordable prices to our data customers. This update to the Hardware Upgrade Program is designed to offer a consistent upgrade eligibility to an outstanding selection of the most advanced devices for the best value.
• In addition to the outstanding selection of available devices, there has also been improved level of quality and technology that has gone into the line-up over the past years allowing a longer hardware lifespan.

Customer impacts:

Please always check the customer’s account in Vision21 for HUP eligibility to ensure the customer is provided with correct eligibility information.

• Customers may have been eligible and now eligibility may have changed as a result of this update.
• Customers may have been aware of their eligibility prior to the update, but did not take advantage of the program at the time and are currently not eligible as a result of the update.

Positioning:

• HUP eligibility as well as quoted hardware/plan pricing are subject to change without notice and cannot be guaranteed beyond the time of quotation.
• Rogers Wireless sells devices at a significantly lower price than the true value/cost of the device. This update to the Hardware Upgrade Program allows us to continue to offer the best devices at the best value in a fair timeframe for all of our customers.

Please note that the information in this bulletin applies to the standard HUP program, and does not take into consideration any existing promotions that may require different eligibility. Always remember to consult the Sales Central bulletins to read the latest in HUP offers.

Thank you for your continued support.

We here at BGR know how difficult it’s been for Canadians to secure an iPhone 3GS due to low levels of inventory, so we thought we’d pass along some good news for those of you who are still waiting. The discount promotions for original Rogers/Fido iPhone 3G owners as well as the 6GB/$30 data plan has been extended. The details are exactly the same as they were the first time around except now the entire deal stays alive through September 15th. For those of you who are still waiting on your iPhone 3GS, it shouldn’t be much longer now. We’ve been told that stock levels are rising and everyone should be taken care of ASAP.

Over the past few weeks we at BGR have been pestering the folks at Rogers and Fido for information on their iPhone 3G S pricing and policies. Well guess what — they’ve just given us the goods. Hit the jump, because we’re pretty damn sure that you’ll like what you see.

There has been a lot of excitement around the new iPhone 3G S and we wanted to recognize the early adopters who helped make the iPhone the hottest-selling handset in Canadian wireless history. We will be discounting the price of the iPhone 3G S by between $250 and $500 to provide savings to many of our iPhone customers.

What this means is that eligible iPhone owners can acquire the iPhone 16GB 3G S for as low as $199 or the 32GB for as low as $299 until July 31, 2009.

For Fido customers, we’re offering the Fido Rewards iPhone 3G S promotion. This enables iPhone customers to redeem FidoDollars towards a new iPhone 3G S with an additional $100 top-up from Fido.

For customers who don’t qualify for these extra savings, we are pleased to offer Rogers Wireless customers the iPhone at our cost on rogers.com. This cost – $580 for the iPhone 3G, $680 for the iPhone 3G S 16GB and $780 for the iPhone 3G S 32GB – represents the price we pay for the device plus a nominal fee for the SIM card. Customers can access these devices at retail locations for just $19 more for the three devices.

We’re also happy to announce that Rogers and Fido are extending the 6GB/$30 data promotion until July 31. This offer is valid for customers on a new or existing iPhone plan or customers buying an Android-powered HTC Magic or HTC Dream.

Five ways to save

1) For Rogers Wireless customers who bought an iPhone 3G between July 11 and Sept. 30, 2008, and with an average monthly spend of at least $100, Rogers will provide $500 off the cost of an iPhone 3G S. This special offer expires July 31, 2009 and comes with the addition of a one-year term to the customer’s existing service agreement.

·      16GB 3GS $199
·      32GB 3GS $299

2) For Rogers Wireless customers who bought an iPhone between July 11 and Dec. 31, 2008, but aren’t eligible for the above offer, Rogers will provide $250 dollars off the purchase of an iPhone 3G S. This special offer expires July 31, 2009 and comes with the addition of a one-year term to the customer’s existing service agreement.

·      16GB 3GS $449
·      32GB 3GS $549

3) All Rogers Wireless customers can upgrade to the iPhone 3GS at our cost at Rogers.com, or for a suggested retail price of just $19 more than our cost through our retail channels.

·      8GB 3G $580/$599
·      16GB 3GS $680/$699
·      32GB 3GS $780/$799

4) Fido customers can take advantage of the Fido Rewards iPhone 3G S promotion:
·      Use FidoDollars towards the purchase of a new iPhone 3G S
·      Fido will top up the FidoDollars amount by $100
·      This promotion does not include an extension or renewal of their service agreement.

5) New and existing iPhone customers can take advantage of a limited-time promotion of 6GB of data for $30, now extended until July 31. Other Rogers and Fido data plans will remain the same, including the only national standalone data plan at $25 per month for 500 MB. We know that this is the right plan for most Canadians – 93 per cent of current iPhone customers on a data plan use less than 500 MB of data per month.

Okay, listen up. There’s a ton of Canadian BGR readers out there so we’re going to spend a moment letting you know what the real story is with the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3G S in the Great White North. Both Rogers and Fido will be carrying the new iPhone 3G S and just like in the US, it will be available as of June 19th — same pricing, too — the 16GB model going for $199 and the 32GB model going for $299. On the same day, the price of the iPhone 3G 8GB will drop to $99. Furthermore, the 6GB/$30 iPhone data promo will be back in full force (albeit for an unspecified limited time). iPhone users can tether as well, provided their plan offers 1GB or more of data which is fair enough because if you’re still on the 500MB plan as of today, you’re pretty much a sucker (we kid, sort of). As for MMS, a new iPhone value pack has the feature covered and will be offered when OS 3.0 launches on June 17th. This brings us to perhaps the best news — if you already have an iPhone 3G from Rogers or Fido and are not eligible for an HUP to snag an iPhone 3G S, you will be able to purchase one with no-contract pricing.

Happy, Canada?

It looks like Canada’s Rogers Wireless wasn’t content with merely jacking up its BlackBerry prices as it has just gone and made and a decision that is sure to aggravate plenty of smartphone customers. Normally, a Rogers customer is eligible for a Hardware Upgrade Program (HUP) discount every 12 months, allowing them to get a brand new phone with three-year contract pricing (with as much as an extra $100 plus a $35 administration fee added on top or as little as $25 taken off depending on how much a customer spent since his/her last HUP). Now however, the minimum term has been bumped up to 24 months. Some would argue this is what you get when you’re playing with branded and subsidized phones, but to others this is a pretty massive slap in the face. From the looks of these Rogers scoops we’ve been getting over the past few days, it seems like we have a whole bunch of ‘adjustments’ to look forward to thanks to that little $30 million blunder. Hit the jump for the full internal bulletin posted to Sales Central along with a screen shot. Not cool, Rogers.

**IMPORTANT UPDATE** Change to Hardware Upgrade Eligibility

The Hardware Upgrade Program (HUP) allows eligible customers to upgrade to leading edge data devices. Beginning March 17, the minimum eligibility tenure rule is changing from 12 months to 24 months for customers who wish to upgrade their smartphone and are currently on a data plan or Voice & Data Package.

This follows the March 13 price increase for BlackBerry® devices and reinforces the importance of explaining to customers that HUP eligibility and quoted hardware/plan pricing are subject to change and cannot be guaranteed beyond the time of quotation.

Update to HUP eligibility:

The updated HUP eligibility rule of 24 months minimum tenure since customer’s last upgrade or activation date will be system enforced and no exceptions will be allowed.

12 months eligibility tenure rule remains unchanged for voice-only customers upgrading to a data device.

12 months eligibility tenure rule remains unchanged for customers upgrading from a non-smartphone to a smartphone or data device.

All other standard HUP eligibility rules still apply.

Reasons for the update to the HUP program:

Rogers Wireless heavily invests in providing the latest data devices at affordable prices to our data customers. This update to the Hardware Upgrade Program is designed to achieve cost efficiency in order to continue offering our customers an outstanding selection of the most advanced data devices for the best value.

Along with the growth in popularity of data devices there has also been an improved level of quality and technology that has gone into the line-up over the past years allowing a longer hardware lifespan.

Customer impacts:

Please always check the customer’s account in Vision21 for HUP eligibility to ensure the customer is provided with correct eligibility information.

Customers may have been eligible and now eligibility has been pushed out as a result of the update.

Customers may have been aware of their eligibility prior to the update, but did not take advantage of the program at the time and are currently not eligible as a result of the update.

Positioning:

Rogers Wireless sells devices at a significantly lower price than that which we pay the manufacturer. This update to our Hardware Upgrade Program is necessary in order to allow us to continue offering the best devices at the best value in a fair timeframe for our customers.
The Hardware Upgrade Program eligibility and hardware prices are subject to change without notice.

Please note that the information in this bulletin applies to the standard HUP program, and does not take into consideration any existing promotions that may require different eligibility. Always remember to consult the Sales Central bulletins to read the latest in HUP offers.

Thank you for your continued support.