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Confirmed: Rogers launching Chatr “later this summer”
Rogers has officially announced their latest wireless brand called “Chatr”. This is a brand spanking new division that caters to those who want to get on a plan with unlimited talk and text. Although there are no official launch cities announced, Chatr is expected to be available in Toronto, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton and Vancouver later this Summer. These are the same locations that Wind Mobile and Mobilicity operate in.
Here are the details of Chatr Wireless:
- They will offer Unlimited talk and text plans
- No term contracts within defined Chatr zones
- Will be supported by independent customer care and extensive retail distribution
- Rumoured handsets are: Nokia 2680 Slide, LG Sapphire, Samsung Gravity
In a press release John Boynton, EVP & CMO of Rogers said “We’ve been watching this niche but growing category closely and it’s clear that some Canadians want to use their handsets for voice and text only but want a network they can trust. The launch of a third brand mirrors many other industries like the hospitality and retail sectors and is designed to offer Canadians more choice.”
What do you think of a 3rd Rogers brand?
Discussion
36 comments for “Confirmed: Rogers launching Chatr “later this summer””
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They’ll still charge $7 for call display, and probably give 1GB data for $30.
The real joke is that Canadians will still fall for it.
Rogers wins!
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Now wind has competition and a real reason to fix their network.
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i think this is pointless. then again mobilicity/wind aren’t available in all of canada so this brand should be targeted at areas where the new carriers can’t. no point in over-saturating areas that have an already big(ish) selection of carriers.
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It sounds like they have no intention of offering data. So, it won’t work for most people with smart phones (i.e. the ones that have a data plan).
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This is a strategic and extremely intelligent move on Rogers’ behalf. Although this new brand may impose on existing postpaid, and more notably the PayAsYouGo service, it is a ploy directed towards the new entrants. They have been unable to satisfy a segment due to network issues, poor customer service, or a more-general lack of reliability. Why wouldn’t Rogers exploit this opportunity? Taking a long-term perspective, this seems to be the correct move.
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Rogers has $$$$$$$$$$$$$ to do anything…. Remember Sprint Canada, Fido…. We just keep letting Monopoly happens in this country.. GoC….. Our economy maybe stronger than the others but we don’t have a healthy competition in Canadian market for telecommunication.
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This is a direct quote from our internal release this morning;
chatr is a separate business unit and brand
chatr will leverage the Rogers network for the benefit of its zone-based unlimited talk and text customers
chatr won’t be sold in Rogers/Fido stores and customers won’t be able to purchase Rogers/Fido products at chatr stores
chatr will have separate call centres, retail kiosks and customer service tools than Rogers/Fido
chatr cannot be bundled with any Rogers services
Fido is a value brand with superior service that cares about the customer and the environment.
Rogers is a premium brand focused on customers looking for leading edge devices; a proven, reliable and fast network; handset servicing and world class tech support.
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Awesome business strategy.
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Sadly ironic that so many of the folks who decried a lack of competition in Canada are so upset when competition results in something new, different and less expensive for at least part of the market. Absence of data? No surprise that Rogers doesn’t want to cannibalise totally its, and Fido’s, core business.
Further details awaited with interest.
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“chatr will offer voice and text ONLY…” It is more like Public Mobile.
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“Chatr Zones”?
This is stupid, they already have a built network. Why should they waste their money to do this instead of just offering these kinds of plans with Fido?
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@donald, this isn’t an increase in competition, this is aimed directly at eliminating competition.
One thing that internal release didn’t include:
- chatr will fold and subscribers will be funneled to a higher-priced Rogers/Fido plan once the new entrants are run out of business.
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They wouldn’t offer these plans with Rogers or Fido mainly because they don’t want their current customers to switch over their plans to these potentially low-cost and high-usage. Remember, the vast majority of current customers are stuck on contracts, and won’t be able to get in on these deals for 1-3 years. Offer these plans with Rogers and Fido and many will switch, and they’ll be stuck with the same CityFido legacy.
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this is retarded. Instead of doing something like this and pretend there is value where there is not, why not just offer unlimited though Fido?! I know it will cause them to lose a lot of revenue, but they would get a lot of customers!
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and also, it doesn’t look like they will even give data! It’s going to run on their 2g network apparently and the unlimited calling will be city specific.
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This is ridiculous. They shouldn’t be aloud to do this.Government should should put a stop to allowing big companies such as Rogers to saturate the market with false badges. The incumbents were given a chance long time ago and the end result was high prices for all Canadians. It’s been so long since we have had an attempt at a free and fair market in Canada. Now this is one more tactic by Goliath to handicap the new companies: Mobilicity, Public Mobile, and Wind to make them weak right from the get go. Greed!Unfair business ethics! That’s all I got to say. Time to talk to our MPP’s to do something about bullies who want to clear the playing field all to their friends and themselves.
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@ Mack
Carriers are looking for a balance between size of customer base and ARPU…a single focal point is not effective nor profit-maximizing. Rogers is specifically not offering data. This incurs additional costs, and would not apply to those who are inquiring into the service. The reason it is strictly voice/text is to directly appeal to those who are considering going with the competitors Rogers are concerned with: Public, Mobilicity, Wind. Although some of these carriers may offer data, it is surely not their strong point, nor the deciding factor in the eyes of the consumer. It is about value on voice and text…not data.
@ Frank
This is not greed, this is using your brain. If you were in a corporate position at Rogers, what would you do? Sit back and watch your base decline due to competiton? Do successful companies sit back and wait for things to happen? The answer is no. From the consumer perspective, this will only drive prices down…to me, that’s called competition
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“Fido is a value brand with superior service that cares about the customer and the environment.
Rogers is a premium brand focused on customers looking for leading edge devices; a proven, reliable and fast network; handset servicing and world class tech support.”
@RogersGuy:
Hmm.. Does that mean Chatr will have inferior service and won’t care about its customers nor the environment? lol.
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“We’ve been watching this niche but growing category closely and it’s clear that some Canadians want to use their handsets for voice and text only”
As opposed to what? Using it for nothing because you’re scared of getting charge 3 bucks a minute with roaming, hidden fees and over charging?
The fact they call Rogers and Fido superior quality leads me to believe that separating Chatr completely from their current services will mean it’s just going to be a garbage brand the convince stupid people where Mobilicity and Wind aren’t available yet.
I also highly doubt the hidden fees and over priced things like Caller ID will go away with this brand.
The sad thing is it’ll probably work because most Canadians just don’t know enough about telecommunications.
The CRTC should education them with a public…Oh wait Rogers and Bell pays for their silence.
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well put Mike, well put. People only cry because they can.
Truly though, short sighted everyone stands to win, in a way. lower prices, more choice(for what your looking for) and Rogers still turns a profit whichever way they want and can. For those who keep on crying, suck it up and go for what tickles your fancy. in terms of laws, wind shouldnt have launched but everyone bitched about it and they got the green light even if their financing was not on par with the set laws(regardless of if they suck). But Chatr falls within the laws of the land, so why not?
Just stop complaining
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you guys are stupid: this is great news for customers. this IS the point of competition. this IS what was expected. it does NOT matter if Wind, Public Mobile etc go bankrupt.
what DOES matter is that because of Wind, PM etc – customers are finally getting the choice – the choice to have a $40 unlimited talk and text plan – it is IRRELEVANT who it comes from, from the customers point of view.
it’s not like they are going to jack up the prices back to $80 once the new entrants go bankrupt.
competition is good – and this is the reason why.
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Rogers should launch this in all major cities, not only just the ones that WIND ect are in. People would accept it better that way. And not as Rogers solely trying to get rid of the new carriers. It sucks being in Saskatchewan. We don’t even have anywhere that can have City Fido. Who knows when WIND will get here. If Chatr came to Regina/Saskatoon before WIND, they would grab a lot of people. Most things are cheaper in Sask. We need another cheap cell option. It wouldn’t be for me. I need my Data…
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@jarr
It is exactly like they are going to jack up the prices back to $80 once the new entrants go bankrupt. With the competition dead, they would have no reason not to.
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How about Montreal!
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chat roulette? lol
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my god you guys are morons
have you never heard of branding and sub branding?
doesn’t the gap own banana republic or vice versa?
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You guys keep missing the point. They’re doing what soft-drink companies do and make new brands for niche markets. This project has been a year in the making. You say they should launch nationally but that isn’t what it’s target is. The reality in Canada is that the condensed population areas are what bring in the real revenue – NOT the people in the sticks who demand cell phone service. By offering unlimited in the major areas they are making up their cost. Letting someone in nowhere Manitoba have unlimited talk is a severe loss. As much as I’m not a fan of the Big 3, this is a brilliant BUSINESS move. Business is in capitals because many of you confuse business with what your personal wants are.
Instead of having Coca Cola 1, 2, 3, and 4, you have brand clear, brand zero calories, brand hip, brand fruity.
And Randy-1 (is there a Randy-2?). You know once the brand is created it won’t fold. No cell phone company will ‘shut-down’ a brand after only one year unless it fails horribly. Considering the frequency it’s competitors operate on they most likely will capture a large audience.
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Same company, same junk in a different packaging.
Rogers is the most ethically evil company in Canada.
Charging me $22 because I cancelled my service? I didn’t even have a contract and they said I should have given them a 30day notice.
Anyone who gives their money to Rogers/Fido is helping them suppress other Canadians.
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all rogeres has to do is reduce 3 year term to 2 years and cut out all the nonsense fees
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Yet.. another attempt by Rogers to rule the world. Sounds like monopolistic unfair business practices to me. An attempt to kill the new entrants by leveraging their existing network in markets the entrants continue to build out. I wonder what Chatr (independent company lol) pays to ride on the mother ships network.
Strategy 101.. hook the consumer in, kill the new entrant then jack the price plans back up.
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@ Reg
“An attempt to kill the new entrants by leveraging their existing network in markets the entrants continue to build out”
…precisely – brilliant, isint it?
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Brilliant.. ya if your i***t.. drank the kool aid Mike! You must be a Rogers insider. Tell me I guess they are willing to kill fair competition by gutting their Fido brand as well; or should I say put it down.
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There will still be millions of customers out there who hates Rogers cause of there monolopy & over charging there customer for all these years and it needs to STOP now. That’s why I will never do business with Rogers or its affiliations to this BRAND
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30 days cancelation notice is required by most companies….
Millions of people also hate bell and telus for the same reason joe , your point really means little
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Why not just go with Wind?
Cheaper and they have service in EVERY city that CHATR is going to.
Rogers was scared of Wind coming to Canada that they had to create a new company, pathetic.
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Rogers can start by eliminating the $6.95 system access fee that they steal from me every month. They can launch whatever they please from that moment on!
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