Yesterday I noted that Rogers and Fido subreddits lit up like a Christmas tree in a bonfire with angry customers complaining about being cut off wireless service and being told by Rogers that their devices were not compatible with the Rogers network. iPhoneInCanada had this part of the story:
The issue appears tied to the ongoing 3G network shutdown, which Canadian carriers are phasing out. Devices not approved for newer tech like 4G VoLTE are being blocked. But many users insist their phones do support the network—and they’re now being forced into stores to fix something they say never should’ve happened.
One Rogers customer wrote on Reddit, “Rogers shut down my 4G phone after being adamant it is compatible. I can’t make any phone calls or anything.”
Another said he and his wife had to deal with the same issue after swapping SIM cards and speaking to support multiple times: “The line at the local Rogers store was 15+ people deep, all with the same problem.”
It’s not just Rogers. One Fido user described how their relative’s phone—bought in Canada—was suddenly disconnected just before a shift at work.
“Fido sent them a text saying their line had been disconnected. I was shocked. The phone worked yesterday.” At Best Buy, staff discovered a 3G block had been applied to the account in error.
“My relative was convinced they now had an out-of-date device and was fully prepared to be convinced to buy a new phone—which they absolutely did not need.”
Another Fido customer shared: “I waited in line for an hour at the mall. The agent removed the block, and my phone worked again in two minutes.”
Here’s another data point from MobileSyrup:
Customers who had their service shut off report that they received messages saying their line was “suspended as part of our 3G network retirement” and directing customers to contact the carrier to resolve the issue.
Moreover, many who received messages reported that they had already confirmed device compatibility through tools offered by Rogers and Fido or by contacting the carrier. One user even said their line got suspended despite them recently upgrading to an iPhone 14.
And it doesn’t end there. Back to iPhoneInCanada:
Some users say they were hit with surprise charges on top of being disconnected. “Rogers suspended all my family phones—even the 5G ones—and charged me extra for an ‘incompatible phone,’” one person posted.
“It makes no difference,” said another. “The IMEI of all these phones are banned and deactivated.”
Many are accusing the carriers of forcing people to upgrade unnecessarily. “This is the worst corporate behaviour I’ve seen. They bricked a bunch of 5G phones just to run their sales pitch on people in the dark.”
So what this suggests to me is that Rogers has screwed up in epic fashion. And an even more cynical view of this suggests that Rogers might have tried to grab some cash from unsuspecting users. But Rogers is free to tell me what the truth is. Now Rogers has told MobileSyrup that they are investigating this issue. But the cynic in my says that the only thing that they are investigating is how to speak to this without saying that they screwed up. But the bottom line is that Rogers needs to speak to this as based on what I see a lot of their customers are about to be ex-customers very soon.
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This entry was posted on July 11, 2025 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Rogers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Rogers And Fido Infuriate Customers By Accidentally Shutting Them Down
Yesterday I noted that Rogers and Fido subreddits lit up like a Christmas tree in a bonfire with angry customers complaining about being cut off wireless service and being told by Rogers that their devices were not compatible with the Rogers network. iPhoneInCanada had this part of the story:
The issue appears tied to the ongoing 3G network shutdown, which Canadian carriers are phasing out. Devices not approved for newer tech like 4G VoLTE are being blocked. But many users insist their phones do support the network—and they’re now being forced into stores to fix something they say never should’ve happened.
One Rogers customer wrote on Reddit, “Rogers shut down my 4G phone after being adamant it is compatible. I can’t make any phone calls or anything.”
Another said he and his wife had to deal with the same issue after swapping SIM cards and speaking to support multiple times: “The line at the local Rogers store was 15+ people deep, all with the same problem.”
It’s not just Rogers. One Fido user described how their relative’s phone—bought in Canada—was suddenly disconnected just before a shift at work.
“Fido sent them a text saying their line had been disconnected. I was shocked. The phone worked yesterday.” At Best Buy, staff discovered a 3G block had been applied to the account in error.
“My relative was convinced they now had an out-of-date device and was fully prepared to be convinced to buy a new phone—which they absolutely did not need.”
Another Fido customer shared: “I waited in line for an hour at the mall. The agent removed the block, and my phone worked again in two minutes.”
Here’s another data point from MobileSyrup:
Customers who had their service shut off report that they received messages saying their line was “suspended as part of our 3G network retirement” and directing customers to contact the carrier to resolve the issue.
Moreover, many who received messages reported that they had already confirmed device compatibility through tools offered by Rogers and Fido or by contacting the carrier. One user even said their line got suspended despite them recently upgrading to an iPhone 14.
And it doesn’t end there. Back to iPhoneInCanada:
Some users say they were hit with surprise charges on top of being disconnected. “Rogers suspended all my family phones—even the 5G ones—and charged me extra for an ‘incompatible phone,’” one person posted.
“It makes no difference,” said another. “The IMEI of all these phones are banned and deactivated.”
Many are accusing the carriers of forcing people to upgrade unnecessarily. “This is the worst corporate behaviour I’ve seen. They bricked a bunch of 5G phones just to run their sales pitch on people in the dark.”
So what this suggests to me is that Rogers has screwed up in epic fashion. And an even more cynical view of this suggests that Rogers might have tried to grab some cash from unsuspecting users. But Rogers is free to tell me what the truth is. Now Rogers has told MobileSyrup that they are investigating this issue. But the cynic in my says that the only thing that they are investigating is how to speak to this without saying that they screwed up. But the bottom line is that Rogers needs to speak to this as based on what I see a lot of their customers are about to be ex-customers very soon.
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This entry was posted on July 11, 2025 at 1:35 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags Rogers. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.