Ahead of spring break, roaming charges are going up, as we previously detailed with Telus Easy Roam.
For Bell customers, the latter’s Roam Better service is also going up in price, slated for March 9, 2023, one day after Telus will hike its prices too.
Bell Roam Better allows customers to use talk, text and data from their existing plan while travelling in the U.S. and internationally, priced at $12 and $15 per day.
But the fine print on the Bell website notes, “effective March 9, 2023, the rate for Roam Better – with home data will increase from $12/day to $13/day when roaming in the U.S.”, while the same message notes a price hike from $15 to $16 per day for the international option.
Bell Roam Better limits data use from your account at max download speeds for up to 5GB per day. After 5GB, speeds are throttled to 512 Kbps for the rest of the day, with speeds resetting at midnight ET daily.
Update March 1, 2023: Virgin Plus Roam Sweet Roam will also increase in price, from $12 to $13 for US and $15 to $16 for International roaming, starting on March 9, 2023.
Telus Easy Roam will jump to $14 and $16 per day for U.S. and international options on March 8.
As of writing, Rogers still charges $12 and $15 per day for equivalent roaming options, but many suspect a price hike might be looming to match competitors. Just like Telus and Bell, Rogers also has roaming options resetting at 11:59pm daily.
What to do for roaming if you want to save money? Use an eSIM provider such as Airalo (save 10% off with coupon IPHONEINCANADA until Dec. 31, 2023) or Keepgo (get 3GB free) to buy data for cheaper prices than roaming with your provider. Use an app such as TextNow for free voice and regular texting, then use the eSIM data for iMessage voice/audio and FaceTime calls.
Keep an eye out on Fido, Virgin Plus and Koodo as their daily roaming prices may also increase. Email us ti**@************da.ca if you spot any changes or are notified of price changes.
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gotta keep those investors happy
As usual, street robery. The greed of Canadian companies has no limits! Meantime, roaming in Europe = $0. If you take patriotism out of the equation, living in Canada becomes increasingly unbearable – extortionate prices for air travel, internet, rent, everything, virtually no access to preventive medicine… In all seriousness, I am considering options with my family to leave the country as soon as possible.
Airalo (or similar) app w/ esim. This is the way. If you want people to be able to reach you by phone on your main number, download Fongo, get a free number from them and then forward your calls from your carrier to the Fongo number while you travel. You can call out from the Fongo app over the data plan with Airalo.
One small note, you need to set up the call forwarding BEFORE you leave. You won’t be able to enable it while abroad, at least not with Fido.