Tag: Price Increase

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Mobile Syrup

Rogers confirms its increasing the cost of some wireless plans

Rogers is hiking the cost of wireless services by $5 for some customers.

A spokesperson confirmed the news to MobileSyrup.

First reported by iPhone in Canada, customers are notified on their monthly statements if they’re impacted by the change. The price hike will help deliver “wireless experiences that make more possible” according to a customer statement posted by iPhone in Canada.

MobileSyrup has been told only “off-contract” customers who use select legacy plans will be notified of the change.

Are you a Rogers customer seeing a price hike? Tell us about it in the comments below.

Via: iPhoneinCanada

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Mobile Syrup

Bell increases its $90/mo 45GB plan to $95

Hot on the heels of increasing some existing customers’ bills by $3/mo, Bell has upped one of its in-market plans by $5/mo.

Bell’s ‘Unlimited 45’ plan with 45GB of data now costs $95/mo instead of $90. However, it’s worth noting that Bell previously changed the plan from $95 to $90 at the beginning of March, and before that, it cost $90/mo for 40GB in February.

Beyond the return to $95/mo, it appears nothing else has changed with Bell’s Unlimited 45 plan. It still offers 45GB of data at typical network speed followed by unlimited use at throttled speeds of up to 512Kbps once customers surpass the cap.

Along with that, the plan includes 5G access, support for up to “HD Video streaming” (1080p), hotspot capabilities, and unlimited international texting. There’s also unlimited Canada-wide calling and texting, but that’s included in all of Bell’s plans.

Bell added the HD and SD video quality limits to its plans at the beginning of February.

Bell plans as of April 6

The carrier’s other plans remain unchanged as well:

  • $85/mo ‘Essential’ plan with 25GB of data, SD video
  • $100/mo ‘Unlimited 50’ plan with 50GB of data, HD video, unlimited international texting and U.S. calling
  • $55/mo ‘Lite’ plan for additional lines with 5GB of 4G data, SD video streaming

You can view all of Bell’s plans here.

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Mobile Syrup

Bell rolling out $3/mo price increase to some mobile customers

Bell is raising prices for several mobility customers by about $3 per month.

The change should be appearing on bills for some customers now, although some may have seen the change on a previous bill. Additionally, I am currently a Bell Mobile customer, and I noted the price change on my March bill.

MobileSyrup has reached out to Bell for clarification on why it’s raising prices and how many people the change will impact.

However, a customer service representative I spoke with said the change was because of Bell’s annual network expansion investments and it was meant to “increase capacity and maintain quality of service.”

The rep also said that the “price increase is CRTC regulated.” When I questioned the claim, the rep said it was “what was communicated to us,” and said other telecom companies “have this too.”

It’s worth noting that the CRTC’s website says “providers are responsible for establishing their own retail rates for wireless services, and the CRTC doesn’t intervene.”

MobileSyrup also asked Bell about the representative’s statements and whether the company was directing reps to tell customers that the CRTC regulated the price increases, but did not receive a response in time for publication.

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Mobile Syrup

Fido raises plan prices by a few dollars after dropping $58/15GB deal

Rogers’ flanker brand Fido rolled out increased plan prices, marking an end to its ongoing $58/15GB deal.

Fido’s on-again-off-again $58/15GB deal came back on February 17th after the provider removed it for a few days. However, it seems unlikely the plan will come back again — it’s been replaced with a $60/mo 15GB plan. Like other flanker brands Koodo and Virgin Plus, the $58/15GB deal was actually a 10GB plan with a bonus 5GB of data.

It’s worth noting Bell’s Virgin Plus similarly replaced its $58/15GB promo plan with a $60/15GB plan. However, unlike Virgin Plus, Fido kept its 10GB plan around — it costs $58 per month.

Finally, Fido increased the cost of its 8GB plan from $52 to $55/mo.

Although the price increase isn’t huge, it’s still frustrating to see. It’s especially annoying when you consider these three plans are the only ones Fido offers to customers who want to buy a phone. The provider has cheaper ‘Starter’ plans, but those are limited to customers who bring their own devices.

At the time of publication, Telus’ Koodo had not changed its plan prices. Bell’s Virgin Plus has — you can read about those here.

Fido’s plans are available here.

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Mobile Syrup

Virgin Plus bumps up plan prices by $2 or $3 per month

Bell flanker brand Virgin Plus raised the price of two of its main three plan offers, marking an end to some ongoing deals.

Back in January, Virgin — alongside Telus’ Koodo — added $58/mo 15GB promotional plans. In both cases, the plans were marked as 10GB plans with 5GB data bonuses. They were also limited-time offers. Fast forward to February 17th, Virgin Plus attached an end date of February 22nd to the $58/15GB plan.

Now that the date has come and gone, Virgin Plus has replaced the $58/15GB plan with a $60/mo 15GB plan. Sure, an extra $2/mo isn’t a whole lot, but it adds up over time. Moreover, the new $60 plan appears to be a 15GB plan, not a 10GB plan with bonus data tacked on.

Along with the $60/15GB plan, Virgin upped the price of its 8GB plan from $52/mo to $55/mo. Otherwise, the plan remains unchanged.

Virgin Plus plans as of Feb. 24, 2022.

What’s particularly frustrating about these changes is these plans are effectively the only options for customers who want to get a phone from Virgin. The provider offers several ‘Starter’ plans with less data and lower monthly costs, but those plans have caps on the data speed and aren’t available unless customers bring their own device.

As for the other flanker brands, Koodo’s plans remained unchanged at the time of publication. Rogers’ Fido, however, also updated its plans with more expensive options — you can read more here.

Virgin’s plans can be found here.

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Mobile Syrup

Rogers increased several plan prices by $5 or $10 per month

Rogers increased the price of three of its four plans by $5 or $10, but also tacked on slightly higher data amounts.

The changes apply to Rogers’ ‘Infinite’ plans, which offer “unlimited” data, although a better way to look at it is overage-free data.

The “unlimited” data is actually a set bucket of data that customers can use at typical network speed — once customers go beyond that allotment, Rogers throttles speeds to a maximum of up to 512Kbps download and upload. However, customers can continue using data at the throttled speed without being charged overages.

Rogers new plan prices are as follows:

The plans also include unlimited Canada-wide calling, texting, and picture and video messaging, enhanced voicemail, call and name display, call waiting, forwarding and group calling, and more.

It’s worth noting that the $110/mo plan now includes unlimited Canada-U.S. calling and texting. That change actually brings the plan more in line with Bell and Telus, which both offer Canada-U.S. talk and text on their more expensive plans (although both offer the plan at $100/mo with 50GB of data).

Moreover, Rogers also increased the monthly discount given for additional lines from $15/mo to $20/mo. That means that each extra line added to your Rogers account is $20 cheaper, although for most people the monthly bill will still end up being slightly more expensive (e.g. three lines with the old $80/mo plan and $15 add-a-line discount would come to $210/mo total, while the new $85/mo plan and $20 add-a-line discount would total to $215/mo).

Beyond that, Rogers’ plan perks have changed too. Customers can still get six months of free Disney+ with select plans, but it appears that the six months of free Apple Music offer is no longer available.

You can check out all of Rogers’ plans here.

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Mobile Syrup

Rogers to up roaming costs to $12/day for U.S., $15 for international in March

Rogers plans to increase the cost of its ‘Roam Like Home‘ travel package again in March 2022.

According to a notice on Rogers’ website spotted by a MobileSyrup reader, the Toronto-based national carrier will increase the cost of both its U.S. Roam Like Home and International Roam Like Home packages by $2 and $1, respectively.

Currently, U.S. roaming costs $10 per day for a maximum of 15 days per billing cycle, or $150 maximum per bill. That means if you were to travel to the U.S. for, say, 17 days, you’d pay roaming for the first 15 days and not be charged for roaming on the 16th and 17th days. Alternatively, you can choose to use your phone only on certain days and only be charged for those days of use.

With the upcoming price change effective March 1st, U.S. Roam Like Home will cost $12/day for a maximum of 20 days (or $240 total). While the price increase itself isn’t huge, coupled with the extra days’ customers can be charged, it makes Roam Like Home a far more expensive option.

Similarly, Rogers’ International Roam Like Home costs $14/day for up to 15 days per billing cycle ($210 total). Starting March 1st, it’ll cost $15/day for up to 20 days per billing cycle. ($300 total).

As before, Roam Like Home lets customers use the data, minutes, and texts included in their Rogers plan while travelling in other countries. If you’re someone who travels to the U.S. often (although with the pandemic, this likely doesn’t apply to most), Rogers also offers a Canada+U.S. option for $20/mo on top of any of its ‘Infinite’ plans — the lowest being $80/mo, so with the add-on, $100/mo total. This feature can be applied when selecting a plan and, according to a Rogers FAQ page, grants customers access to calls, texts, and data while in the U.S. without additional roaming fees.

At the time of writing, Telus charged $11/day for U.S. roaming with a cap of $120 per billing cycle and $14/day for international roaming with a cap of $180 per billing cycle. Telus also currently offers a special roaming deal that only charges customers $60 for 30 consecutive days of U.S. roaming (the offer ends March 31st).

Bell charges $10/day for U.S. roaming and $14/day for international roaming, both up to a maximum of 20 days ($200 total and $280 total respectively).

You can learn more about Rogers’ Roam Like Home package here.

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Mobile Syrup

Fido removes 10GB, 15GB plans and ups 8GB plan by $2/mo

Rogers’ flanker brand Fido has changed up its plan options, dropping two out of the four main plans and slightly increasing the cost of another.

Like other flanker brands Koodo and Virgin Plus, Fido currently offers two sets of plans — normal plans, called ‘Data, Talk & Text’ and ‘Starter’ plans. The Starter plans are intended to be lower-cost options and are typically only available for customers who bring their own phone (called BYOP or BYOD). Those plans remain unchanged, likely because they match the government targets from the ongoing wireless price tracking program.

Fido’s ‘Data, Talk & Text’ plans, however, have changed. Earlier this week, the flanker brand listed four plans under this category, which have now changed as follows:

  • $50/mo 8GB — now $52/mo 8GB
  • $55/mo 10GB — no longer available
  • $60/mo 12GB — unchanged
  • $70/mo 15GB — no longer available

It’s worth noting that all of Fido’s plans include unlimited Canada-wide and international text, picture and video messages sent from Canada, voicemail, unlimited incoming text, picture and video messaging in Canada, call display and, unless otherwise specified, unlimited Canada-wide minutes. These details remain unchanged.

Worse, Fido appears to block customers from selecting the $52/8GB plan if they’re also getting a phone. The typical process for selecting a phone and plan on Fido’s website remains unchanged. Customers browse a list of smartphones and select the one they want, then click through to the ‘Build Your Plan’ page. On this page, customers must walk through several steps to select options like how they want to finance the phone and what plan they want.

FIdo device checkout page

Fido’s device checkout page currently doesn’t let you switch the $60/12GB plan for something else.

However, in my testing, the website currently auto-selects the $60/12GB plan and does not currently allow customers to change that selection. This happens regardless of the value of the smartphone selected — everything from high-end iPhones to budget options like the Moto G Power and ZTE Blade A7P get the $60/12GB plan.

You can check out Fido’s plans here. Note that prices may be different depending on your province (for example, Quebec typically has different, often lower pricing than Ontario).