Rogers Dream 1.6 Update

It will likely show up on htc.com , that's what happened with the last security update. Rogers.com will have a link too, a little harder to find it. As to whether or not it wipes your phone, it won't be an option. It will or it won't. Be aware with the last official upgrade they upgraded some phones to make it much trickier to root should you choose to in the future. It was an action that convinced me to root my phone, and i previously had no interest in that, so rogers/htc fail there.
DT

Just spoke to Rogers tech support, and was told the only info they have right now is that is _should_ be coming out somewhere near the end of Oct or beginning of Nov. They also said that they didn't know yet if it would be OTA or a download.

But this is Rogers we're talking about here, so take it all with a grain of salt. ;-)

I think you guys should file a complain to Rogers or call their data support.

Rogers datasupport says they are unable to provide when and if 1.6 or 2.0 will be rolled out. Now the word " if " . That means we may not even see a 1.6 update from Rogers at all.

I replied back to them with this message,

Look, I've been following the firmware update since 1.6 was released. I've
contacted Rogers several times and usually the response i got was Rogers
is pretty slow with the firmware update, give it 2 weeks or so. In fact,
i've called back a month later and your tech support told me that it's
nothing to do with Rogers and told me to speak to HTC support. I knew this
has nothing to do with HTC because Rogers has to remodify the firmware so
that it's custom to Roger's preference. HTC tech support said that they
only sell the device but they do work together with Rogers to push out the
firmware and Rogers is the one to initiate the firmware rollout. In case
if you don't know, 1.6 is a way much better firmware than 1.5. Not only
it's faster but slicker. What is wrong with Rogers getting out 1.6 update
when the android developers are already working on 2.0 firmware. And 1.6
firmware maybe very well the last update for htc dream/touch because 2.0
runs slower on htc dream/touch (would be a miracle if Rogers can roll out
2.0). I hate to know Rogers are not releasing any firmware in the end. How
can i trust in the future if any of the phone i am buying from Rogers will
be supported? Please escalate this message to your senior management
(whoever cares about their customer concerns).

I think this will help if the Rogers HTC dream/touch owner give Rogers a
call and demand for 1.6 update.

Sadly it is a reality with big companies that, unless they start losing money, they won't care. It would take a majority of Android phone users threatening to (or actually) leave Rogers (likely having to pay the $400 fee) before they would actually listen.

All we can do is keep bugging them, and telling them we are displeased, and that it will be something we seriously consider when our contracts come up for renewal.

Maybe threaten to leave Rogers to get a Bell or Telus iPhone, and see what they say. ;-)

Hey there.
I talked to HTC support, and as it turns out they haven't released the 1.6 update to Rogers yet at all.
TMobile got this update, but that was only on their G1 and Touch phones, nothing manufactured by HTC.
HTC announced that they are not releasing the 1.6 update for the Hero in the UK. Instead, they are waiting to release 2.0.
I wonder if we will get the same thing here in Canada? I may just go and try manually updating to 1.6 because apparently you don't need to Root your phone for that.
This is an interesting note, on the HTC developer site there is a 1.6 update available. This is for developer phones only, so I wouldn't try on your regular phone; HTC - Developer Center
At least it lets us know that they are at least considering it?

Kzin: the G1 and the T-Mobile MyTouch are _both_ HTC phones. The G1 is the Dream, and the "MyTouch" is the Magic.

mjschmidt: I changed country on HTC.com and saw G1 there. Guess the HTC tech that responded to my inquiry either did not know this or was skirting my question for some reason.
I am responding to the ticket now and am going to see what he comes back with this time.
Although, if he wasn't aware that G1 was manufactured by HTC, what are the chances he is going to know anything about this update?
*sigh*
Sorry for the erroneous post but I was only going by what the support person responded in the ticket.

Andy2010 said:

I think you guys should file a complain to Rogers or call their data support.

Rogers datasupport says they are unable to provide when and if 1.6 or 2.0 will be rolled out. Now the word " if " . That means we may not even see a 1.6 update from Rogers at all.

I replied back to them with this message,

Look, I've been following the firmware update since 1.6 was released. I've
contacted Rogers several times and usually the response i got was Rogers
is pretty slow with the firmware update, give it 2 weeks or so. In fact,
i've called back a month later and your tech support told me that it's
nothing to do with Rogers and told me to speak to HTC support. I knew this
has nothing to do with HTC because Rogers has to remodify the firmware so
that it's custom to Roger's preference. HTC tech support said that they
only sell the device but they do work together with Rogers to push out the
firmware and Rogers is the one to initiate the firmware rollout. In case
if you don't know, 1.6 is a way much better firmware than 1.5. Not only
it's faster but slicker. What is wrong with Rogers getting out 1.6 update
when the android developers are already working on 2.0 firmware. And 1.6
firmware maybe very well the last update for htc dream/touch because 2.0
runs slower on htc dream/touch (would be a miracle if Rogers can roll out
2.0). I hate to know Rogers are not releasing any firmware in the end. How
can i trust in the future if any of the phone i am buying from Rogers will
be supported? Please escalate this message to your senior management
(whoever cares about their customer concerns).

I think this will help if the Rogers HTC dream/touch owner give Rogers a
call and demand for 1.6 update.

Click to expand...

I agree with you %100 but I don't think we are ever going to see any upgrades for our phones. Rogers keeps bringing the price down on the Magics. It looks like they are trying to liquidate them. I have also contacted Rogers and HTC and have gotten the same replies as you. I have finaly given up on them and have installed Cyanogenmod on my phone and it works great. My opignon on the matter is don't wast time waiting after Rogers, install Cyanogenmod or your HTC Dreams. You won't regret it.

@pburke57 - we _might_ regret if, since installing Cyanogenmod requires rooting, and that risks bricking the phone. ;-)

mjschmidt said:

@pburke57 - we _might_ regret if, since installing Cyanogenmod requires rooting, and that risks bricking the phone. ;-)

Click to expand...

That's true but it is very easy to do and very well documented. If you are at ease with a PC the detailed instuctions can be found here:
Full Update Guide - Rogers Dream EBI1 to CyanogenMod - CyanogenMod Wiki

pburke57 said:

That's true but it is very easy to do and very well documented. If you are at ease with a PC the detailed instuctions can be found here:
Full Update Guide - Rogers Dream EBI1 to CyanogenMod - CyanogenMod Wiki

Click to expand...

Thanks for that link. My girlfriend just got the HTC Dream from Rogers and her phone has the 1.5 firmware. When accessing the Market, there are apps which will only work correctly on 1.6. Customers should not have to use modifed third party firmware and root their phones. Rogers should at least deploy OTA updates or clearly state whether this is going to happen or not. At the moment the response you get from their Tech support is: "I don't know" and they are not even willing to find out. I definately think that if they have enough people complaining they will do something about it. Rogers instantly had the iphone 3.0.1 update available for the iphone users. Why are they being so lame with the Android updates? Rogers should not even be selling Android devices if they are not willing to support them in the correct manor.

Where are you guys located?

I'm in Australia. I've called HTC about 300 times sobbing over the phone for my donut update, and each time they say they haven't had an announcement yet that it's been released for the dream in Australia.

I'm worried that the Dream is now End Of Life. I cbf rooting my phone. I really don't want to. I just want the VPN that comes with 1.6!

This SUCKS!! All the hero users in australia are showing off their 1.6, while i'm stuck on rusty 1.5.

@Poppa: Most of us ranting here are in Canada.

I have to think that now that Bell and Telus are offering Android phone, at some point Rogers will need to step up to keep competing.

Okay, I finally made a complaint to Office of the President of Rogers and this is what i get from the Rep.

"As per both HTC and our technical group, there is no information yet to
as of what is the status of this update. I cannot confirm or deny any
information on this update as per neither parties had any information to
provide. That being said, should anything become available, you, as an
HTC dream customer would be the first one to be advised of this. I can
only advise you to keep an eye out on the rogers.com download section or
HTC to see if any information becomes available."

So much for the 3rd Tier complaint dept from Rogers.
Then I wrote to HTC and I got this reply.

"Thank you for contacting HTC Support. I am sorry to hear that your Service Provider is not pushing for the 1.6 update. However it is not up to HTC to push the firmware updates. We release them and it's up to to the carrier to allow the firmware updates from there. What I can recommend is to keep leaning on your carrier. If a carrier gets enough pressure from it's customers it will eventually push for whatever it is the customer wants whether a firmware update available else where or a phone product they want their carrier to carry."

And I've forward this HTC reply to the Rogers rep with this reply

"I am still not pleased with the answer you gave me. To be honest with you,
HTC has nothing to do with this. I could infact, if i want, i can root the
phone and install 1.6 myself but that would void the warranty of the phone
unless you provide me a free pass that if my phone breaks i can get a new
replacement. NO right? The matter is clearly lies on Rogers whether
Rogers's Technical group wants to do it or not. What disappoint me the
most is that yesterday, Google announced that they will also include
firmware 1.6 for their new navigation system ( which was first made for
firmware 2.0 ). So where do I stand now? T-Mobile customers running G1 (
htc dream ) are enjoying all these benefits whereas Rogers customers?
Stranded. Infact i've visited a few forums and people advice us to stop
running stone age firmware. Maybe you don't know but these firmware update
are really important. Do something about it before Rogers start losing
customers. I hope you are aware that i will report what you have just told
me to the forum for those Rogers customers who owns HTC dream/magic/eve
that they been thinking update is coming real soon."


What HTC says is right. We need to make more noise to pressure them!
At this moment i don't wish to root my phone yet.

@Andy2010: Can you provide us with the contact info you used for the office of the president of Rogers? Perhaps a concerted email writing campaign is in order.

Maybe we also need to embarrass them by letting Canadian tech writers know what's going on (although it has to come from more than one of us for them to take notice).

Sure. Contact Rogers - Call Us, Email Us, Send Mail

I say we should put up a fight instead of giving up. That is exactly what Rogers is trying to do. Make it hard for the customer to complain until they give up. It would be nice if everyone participate. It's time for us to get what we deserve.

Okay, i got another reply from Office of the president,

I thank you for your most recent response.

It seems that we have both received conflicting information from HTC.
Due to this I have escalated this issue to our network group to get some
further information on this matter.

I will follow up with you as soon as this becomes available.

I thank you for your patience.

Andy2010 I was about to give up and root my phone, now I will wait to see what happens from your efforts. Keep fighting the good fight!

Just so you know I have been in fighting with robbers for to get the 1.6 (and hopefully 2.0 if it will run on my G1). You seem to have gotten the most traction on this issue so far.

Way to go! Let's hope they're not just trying to get you to go away, or that the person answering isn't one of the 900 Rogers employees in management being let go today!

While you've got them talking, ask them when we can have paid apps! ;-)

bunhead said:

Andy2010 I was about to give up and root my phone, now I will wait to see what happens from your efforts. Keep fighting the good fight!

Just so you know I have been in fighting with robbers for to get the 1.6 (and hopefully 2.0 if it will run on my G1). You seem to have gotten the most traction on this issue so far.

Click to expand...

We should also be putting the pressure on Rogers by contacting them at the address Andy provided so they know there are more of us getting very mad. I will be drafting an email this evening when I get home from work.

mjschmidt said:

Way to go! Let's hope they're not just trying to get you to go away, or that the person answering isn't one of the 900 Rogers employees in management being let go today!

While you've got them talking, ask them when we can have paid apps! ;-)

Click to expand...

There are some neat apps on isohunt.com . Just search for Android apps
I saw an app that will allow you to purchase from market. Haven't try it though.

I just finished speaking with Rogers Tech Support. They expect to release the 1.6 update in late December. He mentioned to keep checking the following:

www.htcwiki.com
www.rogers.com/techsupport
www.htc.com/ca - then click on support....yadda yadda...you'll find the way

The representative maintains that Rogers performs some serious testing that other carriers do not prior to firmware updates being released. He mentioned something about Blackberrys heating up in Japan and not in Canada.....

I logged a complaint with him and encourage others to do so as well. We'll get it someday....don't hold your breath though....

hldnitdwn said:

I just finished speaking with Rogers Tech Support. They expect to release the 1.6 update in late December. He mentioned to keep checking the following:

www.htcwiki.com
www.rogers.com/techsupport
www.htc.com/ca - then click on support....yadda yadda...you'll find the way

The representative maintains that Rogers performs some serious testing that other carriers do not prior to firmware updates being released. He mentioned something about Blackberrys heating up in Japan and not in Canada.....

I logged a complaint with him and encourage others to do so as well. We'll get it someday....don't hold your breath though....

Click to expand...

Don't get fooled by the Tech support, they have no access to whatsoever regards about the firmware update. They said the same thing to me in the beginning of Oct. You need to bring the matter to higher level management. Believe me, if everyone are writing to the Office of the president. That may help alot. I was thinking maybe we should we should report to the business bureau for not getting the service we paid for or like what mjschmidt said ..

Maybe we also need to embarrass them by letting Canadian tech writers know what's going on (although it has to come from more than one of us for them to take notice).

Click to expand...

@hldnitdwn: Like Andy said, don't believe them. They said the same thing to me about it being available the beginning of Nov. As for the line about how they test their phones more rigourously... pure BS. I'd be surprised how many people at Rogers in tech support actually know how to use Android properly.

Rogers should have created an Android team within their company for the launch of these phones. Pick 10 or 20 people across the country, give them all Android phones, and tell them to become experts. Boom, you have a crack team of Android experts to handle these things.

@Andy: sorry, got so busy doing work last night (and watching Wrath of Khan) I didn't get around to sending my email to Rogers. I'll try to do that today.