Telus Easy Roam is a daily roaming service that allows customers to use their existing phone plan while travelling in the U.S. or internationally.
Easy Roam costs $12 per day in the U.S. and $15 per day for over 200 international destinations. Telus says “you only pay for the days you use data, talk or send someone a text while travelling.”
But ahead of spring break in March, when people will be travelling during school holidays, a price increase is coming to Easy Roam.
Easy Roam U.S. is increasing from $12 to $14 per day, while Easy Roam International is going up from $15 to $16 per day. These are price increases of 17% and 7% respectively.
The Telus Easy Roam website recently added a note to indicate these price increases are kicking in on March 8, 2023.
Currently, $12 per day Easy Roam US is capped at $240 per billing cycle. The International Easy Roam fee of $15 per day is capped at $300 per bill cycle. Once caps are reached, Easy Roam can remain being used at no extra cost, says Telus.
Back in April 2022, Telus subsidiary Koodo increased the price of its equivalent Easy Roam features, to $12 for U.S. and $15 for International roaming. Keep an eye out for Koodo to possibly match this Telus price increase for Easy Roam.
Both Rogers and Bell still have their equivalent daily roaming options priced at $12 for the U.S. and $15 for International. There is a possibility these Telus rivals will similarly increase their rates as well.
Telus Easy Roam launched back in the summer of 2015, priced at $7 per day for U.S. travel.
It’s unclear why Telus is increasing the price of Easy Roam, but it could be one way to funnel customers toward Canada/U.S. monthly plans. Telus has the Unlimited CAN-US 60 5G+ plan for $105 per month with 60GB of data, plus a similar 100GB plan for $125 per month. Both of these plans allow for unlimited talk, text and data while in Canada and the USA.
In July 2022, Telus also changed how Easy Roam was activated, changing it from once activated to be valid for 24 hours, to “valid until 11:59pm in the time zone you are travelling.” This negatively affects those travelling into time zones far ahead, such as going to Asia, reducing the time Easy Roam is available for the first day.
Here’s the before and after text from the Telus website…
Before:
Easy Roam will only activate if you use data, send a text, make or answer a call. Once activated it will be valid for 24 hours. If you don’t want to use Easy Roam on the next day, avoid any of those actions and turn data roaming off to ensure you won’t be charged.
After:
Easy Roam will only activate if you use data, send a text, make or answer a call. Once activated it will be valid until 11:59pm in the time zone you are travelling. If you don’t want to use Easy Roam on the next day, avoid any of those actions and turn data roaming off to ensure you won’t be charged. Easy Roam is a pay-per-use feature subject to change without notice, including coverages, rates and usage guidelines.
If your phone supports eSIM, looking into options such as Airalo (use promo code IPHONEINCANADA to save 10% off until December 31, 2023) or Keepgo (get 3GB free) to add roaming data to your existing phone plan while abroad is best.
Did you notice recent plan changes or price increases on your bill? Send us an email to tips@iphoneincanada.ca.
Thanks YT
