Bell and Virgin Plus have kicked off roaming price increases today, one day after similar hikes came from Telus and Koodo.
Roam Better from Bell and Roam Sweet Roam from Virgin Plus are now priced at $13/day for U.S. and $16/day for international travel, up from $12 and $15 per day respectively. These daily roaming plans let travellers use their existing plan like normal while on vacation.
The Virgin Plus website has been updated but Bell’s website still needs to make the change. There’s still a notice on Bell’s website that says Roam Better is increasing in price.
Both Bell and Virgin Plus limit maximum download speeds for up to 5GB per day. Any usage beyond that will be throttled to 512 Kbps for the rest of the day before it resets at 12:00am ET.
There’s a maximum of 20 days charged per billing period for these roaming plans, but depending on your travel dates, there may be overlap and you could get charged for more than 20 days easily.
For now, Rogers and Fido have not increased their roaming rates, but that will likely change at some point.
The changes come ahead of spring break travel when many customers will be outside of Canada and North America.
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 tips@iphoneincanada.ca if you spot any changes or are notified of price changes.
