# Crackberry Z10 and the cost of owning one



## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

I get a kick of these slick marketing Rogers/Bell ads that give consumers the message, that they just can't continue their lives without owning one.
High speed access via LTE technology. Tons of apps. and the best part is the affordable price. Big box retailers are now selling them for $149.99 with
a 3 year contract that has high penalties if you want to leave.

Bell is even offering a $50 tradein value on your own phone for the Crackberry. Probably applies to cost of their service plan.

Consumers will get the big bills as they start downloading data, not realizing how much it will cost them in the end.
Available only with 3 year contracts...sounds like the Eagles song "Hotel California"..."you can check in anytime you like ( with the Big 3 contracts)...
but you can Never leave!"


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## andrewf (Mar 1, 2010)

You can get one with Wind tab or buy the phone outright.


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## Eder (Feb 16, 2011)

People like their smart phones and don't mind paying $100/month+ for them...not everyone is broke.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

Correct smartphone lovers have the $$$$ to splurge ... all good for the economy too..

*Carverman: *you gotta work get those Andy Warhol-theme art pieces out ... re the above market. :biggrin:


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Beaver101 said:


> Correct smartphone lovers have the $$$$ to splurge ... a*ll good for the economy too*..


I guess..that's why they call them "crackberrys".


> *Carverman: *you gotta work get those Andy Warhol-theme art pieces out ... re the above market. :biggrin:


You mean these?
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/salebrowse.aspx?intSaleid=24389&viewType=gridview

Darn!..just spilled my can of coke!..and I can't take a digital picture of it with my camera right now..and charge..hmmmmm?? maybe a bargain 
price of $10,000? Line up fellow CMFers..it's going to be hot item, and it won't last long at these prices!

Not trying to be a modern art critic here..but I think this is going a bit too far when it represents "art" don't you think? "Beav".
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/...1653&sid=c9062eba-8225-4521-aa9d-96cd838ac664

If I had a million dollars...I'd buy some Andy Warhol art for the senate chamber...
http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/...1709&sid=88673cdd-be18-4888-907b-6e06abda0a03


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

carverman said:


> I guess..that's why they call them "crackberrys".
> 
> 
> You mean these?
> ...


 ... art beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, remember? So try taking a view from a crack-berry or smartphone addict (the ones with $$$ to splurge, not us old frugal/worked out/working stiffs) ... the starting prices aren't too bad considering you get: 

1. a unique polaroid print 
2. executed from 1984
3. and a CERTIFICATE OF PROVENANCE!

Re pictures for the Senate chamber - I think there is already a masterpiece for the Herr Harper - the one lying nude on a couch? :biggrin:


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## Echo (Apr 1, 2011)

C'mon, it's not THAT expensive. More and more people are ditching their landline and cutting cable in favour of using a smart phone and a tablet to stay connected and consume content. Sure, you don't need one to live, but they're pretty amazing devices.

My wife pays $65 a month for her iPhone and my employer pays about $75 a month for my Blackberry. We're mostly connected through wi-fi and we never go over our monthly data caps. Blackberry's are very good at compressing data.

I haven't had a landline for 5 years, but I recall my bill was about $40 a month and cable is easily $60 to $80 a month.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Echo said:


> C'mon, it's not THAT expensive. More and more people are ditching their landline and cutting cable in favour of using a smart phone and a tablet to stay connected and consume content. Sure, you don't need one to live, but they're pretty amazing devices.
> 
> My wife pays $65 a month for her iPhone and my employer pays about $75 a month for my Blackberry. We're mostly connected through wi-fi and we never go over our monthly data caps. Blackberry's are very good at compressing data.
> 
> I haven't had a landline for 5 years, but I recall my bill was about $40 a month and cable is easily $60 to $80 a month.


You are probably one of the few that will use it responsibly..but if you have a family of teenagers and each one wants one, it could result in a hefty bill.
The Fido version advertises 1 Gig of data per month included..but if you start watching streaming videos..you can blow that in 1 day. (Maybe that's what
this LTE evolution is all about...not just making phone calls, but replacing the laptop.


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## My Own Advisor (Sep 24, 2012)

Love my Android Samsung phone. Costs $45 per month, I never run out of data, minutes or text capability. No contract for me.


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## Daenerys Targaryen (May 11, 2012)

Yeah I love my Blackberry Torch, I've had it for about 2 years and 2 months (I signed a 3 year contract with Rogers) but it still works great, I use it all the time, every day. It costs $60 per month and is my only phone, its well worth it in my mind. 
I dont have any plans to upgrade to a newer model


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## kcowan (Jul 1, 2010)

My Own Advisor said:


> Love my Android Samsung phone. Costs $45 per month, I never run out of data, minutes or text capability. No contract for me.


I bought one for $67 in 2011. It is run on PayGo for $10/mo with Rogers.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Crackberries and roaming charges and greed....

A father of a 11 year old son, who vacationed in Mexico, and decided to Youtube because he was bored, got a nasty surprise from Fido/Rogers.
$22,000 of roaming charges..for get this..


> The company later told him his son had used $22,000 worth, *approximately 700 megabytes. *According to Rogers website, that’s about 12 hours of YouTube video streaming.


Lets see $22,000 for less than 1gig of data...surely that's a mistake and maybe 700 gbytes of data?
However, if it was actually 700mb of streaming data..that's about $31 dollars per mbyte of data...
There's profit in dem der Doggy (Fido) phones!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/story/2013/03/01/bc-rogers-roaming.html



> It is gouging,” said Buie. “It is $20 in Mexico [for domestic customers] to get the same amount of data [700 MB] from their carrier and it is $40 to get the same amount of data while in Canada.”
> 
> *It turns out, Rogers charges much more than both other major Canadian carriers, for pay-per-use video streaming in Mexico*.


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## Beaver101 (Nov 14, 2011)

$22K cellphone bill ! :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: ... hope his dad didn't get a heart attack first ... re greed of Canadian Telecos ... well, someone has to keep the shareholders (I'm not one) happy as well the top honchos. I just can't wait to get rid of my cable once I have the OTA-thing all figured out.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Beaver101 said:


> $22K cellphone bill ! :eek2: :eek2: :eek2: ... hope his dad didn't get a heart attack first ... re greed of Canadian Telecos ... well, someone has to keep the shareholders (I'm not one) happy as well the top honchos. I just can't wait to get rid of my cable once I have the OTA-thing all figured out.


*
Rogers' (and Fido's) pay-per-use charge is $30 to stream one minute (one MB) of YouTube video. That’s six times more than its competitor Telus, which charges $5 for the same thing. Bell charges $8.*

*Buie said he is now taking his complaint to Fido's ombudsman and also wants his contract cancelled without penalty.

“It’s certainly taken me weeks to get over this, and I’ve talked to a number of people about it,” said Buie. “At least every second person talks about roaming charge bill shock ... as far as I’m concerned these companies are purposely doing this.”
*
Well there you go folks..Rogers and their dogs are out to chew on as much of their subscribers arms (and legs) as much as they can. 

Don't fall for their $60 a month and 1gig of data (included) slick FIDO ads, because that is just the beginning of your financial woes if you have teenagers that like to watch youtube.


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## DanFo (Apr 9, 2011)

I'm signed on with rogers. The roaming charges were pretty clearly stated when i signed up. I have no real sympathy for people who do stupid things with there phones. The father knew enough to turn the phone roaming off... he should be turning his anger towards his kid (and himself for letting his kid out in the mexico sun without sunscreen). people need to be accountable for their actions. Sure 22K is pretty outrageous but if it was in the contract one signed up for.....user beware... why should the corperation be the bad guy when the father signed up for that particular service.


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## carverman (Nov 8, 2010)

Ignorance of the rules/laws and contracts is no excuse, I suppose, but in todays technology with premium cellular service (roaming and video streaming etc), the technology overwhelms most users.

I'm not saying that the savvy users like yourself, or I, or any one else on this forum that understands that as soon as you leave your designated
cell phone service provider area...LD and roaming charges apply and increase cost per minute of using it...need it explained to us.

Obviously, the father, and his wife and kid got a deal from Fido, when they went to vacation in Mexico, they forgot about the fact that if they use their cell phones outside of Canada, (other than for emergency calls), they are going to be charged big time for those calls.

But ignorance is bliss..I suppose..the 11 year old son that was used to Youtube and Facebook, wasn't aware of it and the father, who should have read his Fido/Rogers contract, should have been aware of it and called his service provider to put a roaming cap on his cell phones, if he was going to take them with him to Mexico.

However, in this case, it's not so much the fact that the dad didn't pay attention to his cell phone contract details when travelling outside of the country, but the final cost of the cell phone ($22,000) that triggered this news story. 
That's a lot to pay for 12 hrs or roaming..and I'm sure it wasn't over a 24hr period...to pay for the convenience of having
your kid take his cell phone.

Rogers(Fido) did reduce it down to $2,500 and after some bad publicity on the CBC and elsewhere, finally reduced it to $500.

So the "doggies" threw the dad a bone.:biggrin:


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