Comments on: Rogers Canada: how NOT to sell Android

By: ShiKage

ShiKage — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:50:02 +0000

A specific problem? You mean like being pushed from 1.6 BACK to 1.5 for this safety feature? Being stuck at 1.5 now because Rogers will no longer push updates to these phones and wont allow us to update them manually? Likely to soon find applications made for Android wont work with your phone due to the lack of updates? Or maybe just the fact that it crashes constantly but in wonderfully creative ways like telling you it has signal and everything is OK but sending all calls directly to voicemail or simply not actually displaying text messages which are sent to you, while leaving the sender believing the message was received without incident?

Or more esoterically, being forced to downgrade to an older version of software yet having this called an ‘upgrade’?

Heck, I could write a lengthy blog of my own just to list all the specific issues this ‘upgrade’ brings to mind.

Being sold a product that is then not properly kept upto date with new versions of the software it is using, being unable to effectively use this phone because the software is not being updated to resolve issues, then being told I should be happy I am being given the opportunity to spend more money to get a replacement phone which might work while receiving no renumeration for the fact that the product sold by Rogers doesn’t perform to standards, let alone expectations.

By: Neal Sanche

Neal Sanche — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 19:48:35 +0000

Rogers agreed to swap my HTC Dream for an HTC Magic. I received the Magic without a battery. Then, Rogers sent me a Magic with all of the accessories, battery included. I’ve been mostly satisfied with it because it includes the HTC Sense UI, which is quite nice actually. I’m looking forward to seeing if Rogers follows through with their promises to upgrade the HTC Magic to Android 1.6 or higher, but I’m not holding my breath.

-Neal

By: Stephane

Stephane — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:11:59 +0000

I share your pain. I finally received a “free” htc magic which is not really free because I learned as I opened the box that my contract was extended for a full 3 years. Rogers won’t admit they have problem besides the 911 issue. I also have bluetooth issues and many many many small issues that makes the HCT dream a nightmare. If you managed to get your contract cancelled without additional fees let me know I WILL CANCEL MY 3 YEARS CONTRACT IMMEDIATELY!!!

By: Neal Sanche

Neal Sanche — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 05:37:38 +0000

Thanks for the link to my post. I’ve linked back to yours. I think it’s nice that @RogersMary has been given the task of trying to calm us poor Canadians down, but truly, I’d much rather have my personal freedoms than have Rogers looking out for my personal safety. It’s not their job to be my keeper. I’ve never dialed 911 in my life and I hope I never have to. But, the 911 bug was fixed many months ago without your upgrade. At the very least, I hope Rogers does follow through with their plans to upgrade Magic devices to Android 2.1. We want the progress to continue, not be stifled!

Cheers.

-Neal

By: Ahmed

Ahmed — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:42:32 +0000

Well I agree with the author in most that he says, but I want to point that Google has no control over Android at all. It did initially develop it, but then its source was released. Currently, Android’s official “owner” is the open-handset alliance. So anyways, back to topic, being an open-source platform, Android can be taken and used by any manufacturer. Or anyone, even you :_} The beauty of open-source

By: RogersMary

RogersMary — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 19:48:40 +0000

Hi.

This is Mary with Rogers. I want clarify and add that customer safety has been our number one priority and we are taking these precautions to ensure their safety. All Rogers HTC Dream and Magic customers need to update to the version of OS 1.5 that includes this important safety feature.

This can be done at http://www.rogers.com/dreamsoftwareupdate or http://www.rogers.com/magicsoftwreupdate

In terms of unlocked/rooted devices, we cannot support them because we can’t guarantee how that will impact the device on our network.

However, if you have a specific issue with your upgrade I can definitely help you there. Please send me an email with the details and I’ll see what I can do.

Thanks!
Mary
@RogersMary

By: John Gill

John Gill — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 14:38:45 +0000

Great to see you acting on Rogers. What a dreadful company. I blame the regulators though. I moved to Canada from Ireland, where I thought the situation was bad, but while Ireland is getting its act together, the same can’t be said here in Canada.

I’d like an N900 — but Canada uses weird frequencies, so that doesn’t work so well. Ditto the google Nexus phone.

Oh, and when are we going to get reasonably priced data plans in Canada? I recently got a flyer from Rogers offering data on my wireless phone for $1 per day — not too bad deal I thought as it allowed me to test the waters day-by-day. However, it turned out it was 2.99 a day if my ‘wireless phone’ turned out to be a smart phone + there was a 24Meg cap — wtf?

You’ll have to come to the Ottawa Ubuntu hour so we can plot the downfall of Rogers.

By: Copolii

Copolii — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 04:01:36 +0000

Thanks for the link, I’ve linked back to you as well. Best of luck to you in dealing with Robbers. If they take too long they’ll have to buy back their HTC Dream as well as waiving my contract cancellation fees.

By: Puleen Patel

Puleen Patel — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 00:02:34 +0000

Glad to have come across this blog and a lot of us share in your pain of having a bad (err worse) android experience with Rogers.

Would love to hear your thoughts on how this experience could’ve been made better.

Email me and we can share some ideas about how the experience could’ve been made better.

Cheers!