As news of the Rogers iPhone data plans continue to disappoint Canadians everywhere, I’m sad to say that I am unsurprised by these events. The plans offered are total garbage and useless to anyone who actually wants to use the iPhone in the way that Steve Jobs intended it to be used. It didn’t seem to bad at first, until you started tallying up the costs:

So for starters, the data and the minutes are bundled together so you can’t add a data plan to your existing minutes plan. Which is part of the master plan, because you’re going to have to resign for a three year contract if you want to get your hands on an iPhone. So even if you’re heavy on the data and light on the minutes, Rogers doesn’t really care.

Even at the maximum end of the data plan available you’re only talking about 2GBs, and while Rogers is quick to point out how many tens of thousands of web pages that allows you to view, no where do they say anything about videos. Which means if you’re planning on watching YouTube, even on a semi-regular basis, be ready to shell out $0.50/MB for the first 60MB, and $0.03/MB afterwards.

Ok so, so far we’re at $115.

Moving on. You’re probably going to want Call Display, etc. You have to choose one of the bundles, which includes a bunch of crap that I personally don’t want, so let’s go with the $15 a month plan.

So that takes us to $130/Month.

But, that’s not all! Oh no, there’s more to come my friends.

There is a $6.95 monthly System Access Fee and a $0.50 911 Emergency access fee. There is also a one time $35 activation, although I’m not going to count that in my calculation since I’m a Rogers Customer so that fee is waived.

So now we’re at 138$/a month.

That means:

1 iPhone = $199

3 yr. Plan= $4,968 (138 * 12 months * 3 years)

Total before tax: $5,167

So that’s the price tag you’re going pay if you want to get an iPhone. Unfortunately, I think that this won’t stop a lot of people from paying this amount. I really wanted one, but now I’m not so sure. I would love to use the iPhone but without unlimited data to enjoy full video capabilities it’s just another phone.