Mobile Internet

[michaelbadham]

Do I have this correct? The best US data roaming rate Rogers offers is $.40 per MB! GIven a 3 hour car ride into the US with an iPad and I use a gigabyte - do the math!

In the US, Verison give my daughter a $13 per month option for unlimited (yes, unlimited data and voice) while she is in Canada.

Should I get a Version account?

When I called the help centre in India, they explained to me that the population of Canada was less than the population in Washington State and thats why the rates for roaming in the US are so much higher. Go figure! What part of that statement is even close to being accurate?

When I asked to usnderstand my data raoming in the US over the past 24 hours, they could not help me.

Their best recommendation - turn off data roaming.

Sheesh!

Any good suggestions for data roaming in the US?

Michael

[Meowmix · Accepted solution]

Is the iPad unlocked? If so i would suggest getting the Verizon plan then BUT this might have a term on it. I would look into it seeing as your daughter pays $13 a MONTH for unlimited.

IF the iPad is locked to Rogers then the only option you have is the $0.40 pre MB. I know Rogers does have rip off plans .

[mtrav]

Does anyone know if you can put a US sim card in the rocket hub? to use in US? or is it locked like cell phones?

[skinorth]

@mtrav:

perhaps this question should have been posted in the Mobile Internet section of this Forum. I suggest you check on the postings on the following URL:

http://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/MobileInternet/thread-id/145/pag...

Ericsson W35 devices from both Bell and Rogers use versions of firmware proprietary to the two network service providers.  This could have an impact on any interoperabily.  Also, I know with Rogers they will not grant root access to the firmware, so the ability to make significant reconfigurations and changes, even if technically possible, is limited by what you can do at the provided management web interface.  And that is pretty minimal.

The URL above has postings from jensentech1 mentioning an instance of a customer using American AT&T simcards in RocketHubs purchased from Rogers, with at least some success.  But then Rogers and AT&T have a close relationship and their networks appear to be technically compatible because of that.

So I would suggest you might get your question answered only by actually trying it.

Good Luck, and let us know what happens.

skinorth

[mtrav]

OK, so what I thought was a simple question, turns out to be very complicated after reading all the feeds ( and thank you for the link).  I am thinking the answer if very simple, just the path to get there is cluttered with bureaucracy and technical jargon to make sure that 99% of us will never get there. Thanks to all of you who sift through through it for us 'IT simpletons'!

[Pauly]

believe me, it is a very simple and valid question, however very little may be known about getting such device unlocked or very few people have tried.

Any type of device that is sensitive to data also has to understand sometimes the carrier firmware may prevent the built in data access points to be configured for other carriers.

so even if u could get it unlocked, it would still have the rogers.internet.com access point in the firmware and if u want to change it to the bell or some American carriers access point ,the firmware may prevent you from doing such.

[skinorth]

@Pauly:

I have actually seen a Rogers sim card plugged into an Ericsson W35 configured with the proprietary Bell Canada firmware.  The W35 seemed to function just fine on the Rogers cellular network.  What would happen if you did this on the cellular networks of other carriers is an unknown until someone tries it.

The RocketHub seems initially to get its IP address parameters, DNS, etc. from the carrier using dhcp.  I do not believe that what you state: "... it would still have the rogers.internet.com access point in the firmware...." is actually the case.  The firmware has no internet-specific parameters in it beyond the TCP/IP protocol code, etc. Nowhere in the operation of the RocketHub is the network vendor's information such as rogers.internet.com required for the operation of the device.

Unlocking a RocketHub is quite a different matter from unlocking a cellphone.  The device has firmware which may be specifically configured to suit the carrier's network as well as other technical and support considerations.  In addition, in the case of the W35 (which I happen to own) root access to the Linux-based firmware is not provided by Rogers.  So, when you try to telnet into the device, you get the usual logon prompts, but as you don't know the password, you can't get into the CLI to access the quite extensive and impressive parameter setting capabilities of the device.  Nor can you get at any of the other more Linux-related functions which might be useful, such as changing the Event Logging parameters to enhance the amount of troubleshooting data provided in a support/problem resolution situation.

If anyone has in fact unlocked a W35, I would love to hear about it, as my 2-year contract is up in a month or so, and I would be real interested in getting into the device which I own only partly.

Rogers to this point is still holding onto a significant part of the device functionality by preventing my access to it.

skinorth

[Pauly]

if u put a bell sim card into the bell device, the bell device contains the bell specific apn that makes the data connection, its the same with a rogers sim card, it needs a rogers apn for it to make a data connection, thus why people put bell sim cards in a rogers device do not initially connect to data, untill the apn on the device is re-configured. and fyi it is intirely possible for phones or i should say devices to block out the ability to change apn, or embed it into its firmware so the only way to change it is to change the firmware or find an unbranded firmware. I made the poitn because I've specifically seen it before, im not trying to be difficult, im just trying to provide some helpfull insight beacuse I dont want people to not know the whole picture. So please let this be known as well what i said, there is no need for peopel to not know this

[skinorth]

@Pauly:

the only experience I have with this is the case I mentioned in my posting.  A W35 running the Bell Canada variant of the firmware connected to the Rogers cell network.  It, of course, had a sim card plugged into it.  This sim card had been removed from a Rogers Netcomm RocketHub.

In the location where this was done, the Bell cellular network is also available.  The W35 RocketHub connected to the Rogers network, as per the sim card plugged into it.  There was no reconfiguration done, and no problems were encountered.

I don't know nearly enough about cellular technology to be able to comment on what happened beyond what I have stated above.  All I know is, I was there personally, and observed the proceedings as the W35 was set up, plugged in and used.  The result was a fully functional and usable Internet connection to Rogers.

This is, I fully agree with you, an area with lots of confusion possible.

skinorth

[hopkinscanada99]

WIND is much cheaper on US roaming and vocie.  Verizon has a plan that gives you 1000 minutes of calling from anywhere in North America and unlimited data but the data is only when you are in the USA. I think it is about $50/month and if you use your own device you can go month to month.

Bottom line is that Rogers squeezes Canadians whenever you go to the USA.

Rogers customer service is beyond useless.  I spent over an hoour on the line with them yesterday trying to set up a Family plan and finally gave up in frustration because the agent at Rogers refused to listen and kept coming up with solutions that were more costly than what I have now.

After 20 years on Rogers, I am switching