Update: Bell spokesperson Nathan Gibson has confirmed the $60/10GB plan is not increasing in price. This article has been updated accordingly.
During the holidays back in December, it was a wireless feeding frenzy as everybody and their grandma tried to jump on the $60/10GB promo plan offered by the ‘Big 3’, which was a response to a similar promo offered (and now $50/10GB) by Shaw’s Freedom Mobile.
Now it appears some Bell customers have been notified by email their $60 plan with 10GB data is increasing in price by $5 per month, starting in June 2018.
An email sent out reads as follows:
At Bell, we are committed to giving our customers access to the fastest mobile technology in the world so they can enjoy their mobile devices to the fullest.
In the last year, Bell has invested more than $4 billion in our networks to deliver on that commitment. Recently, Bell was the first wireless provider in Canada to successfully hit Gigabit LTE-Advanced speeds in testing. We have Canada’s best national network, and it keeps getting better.
The improvements in our network are a huge benefit to our customers, who have increased their usage over 30% in the past year. That increased demand, along with price increases from our suppliers, require us to increase our rates for a small number of our products.
To that end, starting on your June bill date for Mobility services, the monthly price of the following plan(s)/feature(s) will be increasing. Your current monthly charges are reflected on your most recent bill.
- Rate plan will increase by $5/month
- Loyalty Data feature will increase by $2/month
The email says “no action is required to accept these changes,” and concludes to say “we appreciate your business and look forward to continue providing you with the best services and products available.”
According to a couple iPhone in Canada readers, this email was received yesterday and affects their Bell consumer account with the $60 plan with 10GB of data. It also appears Bell is implementing a similar $5 increase to small business plans as well, reports MobileSyrup, also starting in June.
We’ve reached out to Bell for clarification and will update this post once we get more information.
Update: Bell informs iPhone in Canada the price increase is for small business customers and says it’s not for consumer accounts.
Update 2, April 19, 8:27AM PDT: Bell has again reached out to clarify the price increase is for both small business customers and some consumer accounts.
Anyone else out there receive a similar email regarding a price increase from Bell?
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Talk about a d**k move. Gotcha!
knew it wasnt going to last long
Well, that’s the beginning – Rogers and Telus will follow suit before you know it.
Rogers, yes, but Telus doesn’t typically do rate increases.
Yep….. I’ve been with Telus since back when they were AGT (Alberta Government Telephone). Never once have they increased my existing rate plan I had at the time. The longest I had the same plan for was likely 6 years without increase. They normally jack up the prices on new contracts when they want more money. Likely doesn’t mean they can’t or won’t though…. but Bell? Doesn’t surprise me a single bit.
These plans will be $95 a month before you know it
I have this plan from Bell but I haven’t gotten this email. I’m hoping I never do. What’s to stop them from increasing it by $10? $20? In 2 years am I going to be paying $100 again? This is ridiculous.
There’s never anything preventing companies from increasing their prices if you do not have a contract.
Nothing stopping them. I had the 6GB $30 data plan back in the day from years ago. Rogers told me my plan expired, even though it had been over 2 years, and no posted expiry date. My bill increased by $35 without warning.
When calling them to have it fixed, they said it was a computer glitch and couldn’t reinstate my plan as it didn’t exist anymore. To remedy the solution they offered me 4GB at $40 which was ludacris since I was at 6GB at 30 before. They acted like they were doing me a favor. That’s when I left.
So yeah, they can do anything they want without warning. It really sucks.
Lol ? told everyone to stay with Koodo. That’s the least likely company (still possible but least probability)
Goverment might want to look at requiring BYOD rate plans to be guaranteed for a year or something as part of advertising standards law. 6 months before an increase seems excessively short for an advertised rate to be changed.
Cmon. The government wants to make air travellers to suffer more. They’re moving things backwards not forwards. If Harper was in power, it’ll be even worse. The government made their position clear. They plan on protecting corporations.
I got the same letter about my plan which is different and they are increasingly my add on by so much…this is the first time they have done this in over 20 yrs of being their customers
I would love to see how the Canadian cell companies can actually justify why we’re paying the price that were paying when our American Neighbors get unlimited data, unlimited long-distance AND unlimited texting, all for considerably less than what we’re paying JUST for our data. They have us by the short and curlies and they won’t allow the American Networks one little pinky toe into this country.
Honestly, if you had the choice of who to go with for the 60.00 10 Gig plan, why would you willingly choose to take that plan with Bell in the first place ?
Of the 3 choices, Bell is clearly the worst.
They’re the fastest pal.
Update: Bell confirms $60/10GB plan not increasing in price. The email above could be related to the Small Business account increases, although our source says the email was received for a consumer account.
I’m happy this is the case, but like other have mentioned below I’m sure there’s nothing stopping them from increasing it at any point without warning.
I can’t wait till Canada catches up with other countries and get’s some SERIOUS mobility competition going. We pay some of the highest rates in the world, EVEN WITH the $60 10GB plans in place. Glad I grabbed that from Telus when I did! 🙂
You mean your great grand children will be happy
If this happens, and I’m sure it will this year, I’ll have no choice but to go to Freedom Mobile despite the poor coverage and lack of LTE compatibility with iPhone 7s.
They should have LTE support for your phone now actually.
They added some 2600 band as well as adjusted their aws so phones that don’t support band 66 but can support 4 will work.
Regionally dependent but in Vancouver they deployed a while ago.
Seriously, Canadian government needs to control the company like this for jacking the prices up. It does not matter for business nor personal users. Greedy will lose customers!