Shaw’s Freedom Mobile launched a 100GB LTE data bonus earlier this week, which offers customers signing two-year terms on a hardware upgrade ($60+/month plans) to draw from a reserve data bucket which does not replenish.
Essentially, Freedom Mobile is offering just over 4GB per month extra for customers on contract, if you look at the data split between 24 months (there is no monthly limit on how you use the 100GB data). The marketing of a 100GB LTE data bonus is definitely new for the wireless market in Canada, and makes incumbent carriers look like scrooges when it comes to data offerings.
But Rogers and Telus have responded to Freedom Mobile’s 100GB data bonus with their own marketing and data bonuses.
Rogers, with their Black Friday data promo, says customers can get “120GB of extra data in a year!” But this extra data is only eligible for those who add two extra lines and a tablet to their account, a pricey proposition for those who only require one line.
Rogers flanker brand Fido has changed their marketing for their 5 hours of free data (1 hour, 5 times per month) per month, known as ‘Data Bytes’, which launched over a year ago. Now, Fido says you can get “120GB extra data! On Fido Pulse Plans assuming 1GB/hour, five times a month, over 24 months.” This is the first time we’ve seen Data Bytes being advertised as 120GB of extra data.
Imagine if Fido said they were offering 120GB of extra data a year ago—it’s too bad the Shaw marketing team beat them to the punch.
As for Telus and their flanker brand Koodo, earlier this morning a new $75/10GB plan was added as part of new rates plans for BYOD and Tab customers. Hours later, the $75/10GB plan gained 120GB of bonus data in the form of 5GB of extra data per month, over 24 months:
Get the $75 No Tab, Tab Small or Tab Medium plan and receive a 5 GB bonus data every month – over 24 months that represents 120 GB of bonus data.
As of writing, the Bell and Virgin marketing teams have not advertised any 120GB data bonus promos, but you can bet they’ll soon join their fellow friends Rogers and Telus.
While Freedom Mobile does not have the vast LTE coverage of the Big 3, it does Apple’s latest iPhones, available for $0 upfront on contract, along with a growing extended range LTE network. Below is the company’s latest ad from today, touting the new bonus:
It’ll be interesting to see what else wireless carriers will come up with when Boxing Day rolls around. Maybe the popular $60/10GB holiday plan will come back to life—but with even more data or a lower price.
Click here to visit our 2018 Black Friday Deals portal to see what’s on sale.
