While in the UK we look on in horror at the US cellphone policy of charging for both sending and receiving SMS messages and calls, it could be worse: you could be signing up to a two-year iPhone contract in Canada with Rogers Wireless.  Canadian newspaper the National Post has published a scathing article criticising the carrier for what it's calling excessive data prices, and when you look at the evidence it's obvious that they have a point.

Article author Peter Nowak compares AT&T's basic iPhone plan (costing $59.99) with Rogers' best value, "Right Fit" package (costing Canadian $97, US $93).  The former comes with 450 anytime minutes, 5,000 evening/weekend minutes, unlimited data and 200 SMS messages; the latter a measly 250 anytime, no evening/weekend, a capped 25MB data allowance and no included texts.  In addition, voicemail, caller ID, long-distance and roaming are all paid-for extras on the Rogers' plan; Nowak adds on the relevant packages and comes up with a $145 price tag.

"That's still a greatly inferior plan to AT&T's with nowhere near the same data allowance and almost half the talk time. By any measure, Rogers is giving far less for far more" Peter Nowak, National Post

The concern is that the iPhone will be priced out of the market for all but the wealthiest users and, while Rogers is yet to respond, if demand is as high in Canada as it has been in the US then people will end up either breaking their contract (officially or otherwise) or simply avoiding the handset altogether.

[via Electronista]