[TurboLover]

Guys I'm new to smartphones and I have a question about Rogers pay-as-you-go cards and a smartphone. Would a pay-as-you-go voice cards work in a smartphone like ATRIX (unlocked)? Or do I need to get a voice/data plan? I wanted to use wifi only for all my data.

Thanks for your time.

 

[CamDAB]

For what it's worth, I'm using an ancient BlackBerry 8700 unlocked on Rogers Pay as you go... It works just fine for voice / text, rates notwithstanding.

Cameron

 

[JugglingReferee]

I'm also interested in this.

I used the Rogers data calculator and determined that I use very little data.

I can get a Rogers 150 MB/month data plan for $10. But, that is data only. Can I combine this data plan with a pay as you go voice plan?

 

[TorontoColin]

You can use a pay as you go voice plan with a smartphone. If you try and use data outside of wifi it should prompt you to buy a data day or week pass.

As far as I know, the only monthly pre-paid smartphone data plans Rogers offers are the Blackberry email/social plans. You cannot use a monthly laptop data plan as an add-on to a voice plan.

In fact, as far as I know at the moment Telus is the only one of the Big 3 who offer prepaid smartphone data. They have a single data add-on which offers 250MB of data and unlimited text messaging for $20/month.

 

[mastercontrol]

As far as I know, the only monthly pre-paid smartphone data plans Rogers offers are the Blackberry email/social plans.

They also have the new Socialite Voice + Data plans introduced last month. Both include 500 MB of data, unlimited SMS and unlimited social networking. Socialite 45 has unlimited local calling 3-6 daily, the Socialite 60 has unlimited evenings and weekends.

 

[taxtwit]

I've been using a Nexus One smart phone with Rogers PAYG since I got it without real issue. As per TorontoColin, if I need a data plan, I can get a day or week pass, which Rogers has made pretty straightforward from the phone - just enable "data", launch the browser and it automatically brings up the Rogers day/week data pass purchase website. Rogers PAYG per-minute rates are far from the cheapest, but because I use my phone so seldomly and have WIFI access 90% + of the time, my monthly cost of using a full-featured smart phone is around $10 .

 

[bucketo]

I am using a Rogers PAYG sim card in an iPhone 3Gs and my wife has one in her iPhone 3G. We don't use data so it works out great for our needs... We buy the $100 top up cards at the 1st of the year and that gets us to about July-August. What's nice is the $100 card saves the hassle of monthly top-ups for the full year.

 

[bubbadss]

when you go to rogers store and try to buy a smart phone and tell them that you want to activate it on pay as you go, they say it won't work. they say that the smart phones always "trickle data" or some other bull$hit .

just so i am clear, if you have a smart phone with a pay as you go sim, is there any way you can "accidentally" use the data plan? or should I just call rogers and tell them to turn off the data piece.

for example, accidentially launching the browser would consume data just to load the home page.
thanks

 

[bucketo]

With our iPhones on Rogers PaYG it would not trickle any data. What you will get with them is an sms everyday saying you need to subscribe to a data plan. You can call rogers to turn this off on there end so that you don't get the daily message and there is no chance of data happening (even though it didn't happen for us for the few years we had the phones).

On our account statements it now says: "Block Goam, Internet & Media"

 

[bubbadss]

thanks.

one followup question:

is there a difference between a "smart phone" and a normal phone as far as data access? I have a samsung corby plus which is not technically listed as a smart phone.

is there anyway that my wife can accidentally consume data with the phone? there is a facebook icon and browser etc. what happens if she accidentally hits the browser button? we will be activating this on pay as you go.

 

[TorontoColin]

Featurephones use a different APN with Rogers, so they can use the unlimited browsing plan. Smartphones require you to buy data by the MB. On paygo there shouldn't be any way to accidentally use data, it should try to force you to buy a data pass if you try and use data.

Smartphones can absolutely be used on paygo, they even have special paygo data plans just for smartphones.

 

[taxtwit]

when you go to rogers store and try to buy a smart phone and tell them that you want to activate it on pay as you go, they say it won't work. they say that the smart phones always "trickle data" or some other bull$hit .

If you want to go PAYG, why are you buying the phone from Rogers? Put another way, because you're going PAYG, you won't be entering into a contract and you won't be getting a phone subsidy, so why pay Rogers full price for a phone when you can pick up an unlocked phone from numerous sources for the same or less money? For e.g., I bought my unlocked Nexus One smart phone directly from Google (though Google doesn't sell phones directly any more) and just popped a Rogers SIM card into it.

As far as "data trickle", I don't think that's a problem any more with the latest generations of smart phones, since you have to physically "turn on" the ability to receive data. In particular, I don't think you have to contact Rogers and ask them to "turn off" data to your PAYG phone.