Fido to Shake Up Plans on July 7; Data Overages Jump to $5 for 100MB

You know what’s worse than trying to negotiate with Canada’s ‘Big 3’ wireless carriers? Trying to keep track of plan changes and the annual renaming and tweaking of plans. It seems every year plans get new fancy names to complicate and confuse customers for no reason, on top of price increases.

According to sources speaking to MobileSyrup, Fido is set to change up their plans once again, said to start on July 7, 2016.

Plan names will be renamed and most of the existing rate plans you see today will likely be discontinued. One major change is the increased cost of data overages, now set at $5 per 100MB, or $50 per 1GB (which is five-times as much as the $10/1GB some grandfathered plans are paying). Currently, overages are billed at $5 for 250MB (works out to $20 for 1GB).

Remember Spotify Premium that debuted free for those signing 2-year contracts? Well, that is set to change, as Fido plans to offer six months free only to new customers, and the process is said to be an automatic re-bill. In other words, customers will be charged unless they call in and cancel beyond the free six months.

New plan names will be BYOP, Plus10, Plus15 and Plus35, replacing Talk & Text, Smart and Max. The new tiers are self explanatory, as Plus10 will add $10 on top of BYOP pricing, Plus15 will add $15 and so forth.

Talk and text plans will be offered with 100 nationwide minutes or unlimited Canada-wide, starting at $25 on contract; $40 BYOP, note documents.

Data, Talk and Text plans, and those with Pulse:
  • $30 BYOP: 100 minutes + 100MB
  • $40 BYOP: 500 minutes + 500MB
  • $50 BYOP: 500 minutes + 1GB
  • $60 BYOP: 1000 minutes + 2GB
  • Pulse $55: 500 minutes + 1GB
  • Pulse $65: 1000 minutes + 2GB
  • Pulse $75: unlimited nationwide + 3GB
  • Pulse $95: unlimited nationwide + 5GB
  • Pulse $105: unlimited nationwide + 7GB

Also, the internal document, according to MobileSyrup says “grandfathered and loyalty plans will be counted at a Plus15 tier, meaning that the upfront pricing of a phone will be double what it was before. For that reason, the document urges reps to make sure they urge customers to upgrade now.”

Last April, Fido launched new Pulse Plans, which included two years of free VICE content and Spotify Premium. Fast forward just over a year later, and yet another revamp of plan names, prices and details are coming soon.

Earlier today, we told you about the BYOP retention plan the company is offering customers for $50, which includes unlimited Canada-wide calling, global SMS/MMS and 3GB data.

P.S. Help support us and independent media here: Buy us a beer, Buy us a coffee, or use our Amazon link to shop.