One of the first projects Rogers CEO Guy Laurence embarked on when he joined the company was to shift its internal operations. In May 2014, Laurence unveiled the Rogers 3.0 plan, unifying many disparate groups to become “One Rogers.” The goal of the plan was to overhaul the company’s customer experience, build on its innovation and network, deliver compelling content anywhere and ultimately become “a strong Canadian growth company.”
To assist in that shift, Laurence focused on the pain of bill shock while travelling to the United States. Canadian seemed to gravitate to its “Roam Like Home” option, which give customers on the Share Everything Plan, a plan that includes unlimited calls and texts within Canada, the ability to extend the offering while visiting the U.S., including their data buckets, for $5 per day.
Laurence noted in a media event today that over a million customers have signed up for Roam Like Home in its first six months of availability. He said Roam Like Home customers are using five times as much data when they visit the U.S. as compared to their Canadian plans.
Now, Rogers says it’s set to shake up the Canadian wireless industry by giving customers who travel to Europe the same option. According to the company’s press release, 6 million Canadians claim they will be traveling to Europe this year, and the continent is apparently the second most visited vacation destination outside of the U.S.
Effective April 15th, Rogers is expanding the Roam Like Home option to its customers in over 35 countries in Europe. The cost is $10 per day in an “eligible country.” The maximum charge is for 10 days on each monthly bill, or a maximum of $100. Laurence said today that Roam like Home “fools the phone into thinking its in Canada,” so all the data and unlimited talk and texts are included in the Share Everything plan. Rogers noted that, “calls and texts to local numbers in the country they’re visiting or back to Canada are included and no long distance charges will apply for those calls.” Before travelling, users text “travel” to 222 and they’re automatically enrolled in the plan.
Rogers partnered with two different operators in each of the 35 countries in Europe, one of them Laurence’s former company, Vodafone.
Update – April 15th: Rogers “Roam Like Home” offering to Europe is now live. The following countries are included and excluded from the plan:
Included Countries (Europe):
Albania, Austria, Azores, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canary Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Gibraltar, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madeira, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, San Marino, Scotland, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Ukraine, Vatican City, Wales.
Excludes: Andorra, Armenia, Belarus, Bosnia, Cyprus, Faroe Islands, Greenland, Guernsey, Jersey, Kosovo, Latvia, Macedonia, Moldova, Serbia, St. Pierre and Miquelon.
[source]Newswire[/source]
