At the end of December, Bell announced the addition of AT&T’s LTE network to its U.S. roaming coverage. At the time, we mentioned that while the speed of its roaming service gives Bell an edge, the company doesn’t match Rogers’ Roam Like Home, and just matches Telus’s new plans.
Today, Bell tackled pricing. Or at least the price of data while roaming, which is what most people want to use while abroad, anyway. This week’s changes pertain to the data allowances in Bell’s Travel Data Pass. The wireless provider is increasing the size of data packages offered to customers roaming abroad and says some packages will now offer twice as much data compared to old Travel Data Passes.
With the old Travel Data Passes, introduced in December of 2013, customers paid $30 for 50MB of data in Zone 1 countries (which includes much of Europe, Asia, Australia and the Caribbean). Now, they’ll pay the same $30 for 100MB. Customers traveling in Zone 1 also get a $75 Travel Data Pass for $75.
Zone 2, which covers South America, Northern Africa, South Africa, and Russia, will now start at 25MB for $40. There’s also a $100 for 100MB offer. Zone 3, which is mostly Central Africa, Mongolia and Burma, is the most expensive of all at $50 for 10MB or $100 for 30MB. In the USA, a $20 Data Travel Pass will get you 200MB while a $50 Data Travel Pass buys 1GB.
For what it’s worth, the same 100MB of data for Zone 1 travel on Telus costs $65, and while Bell charges $40 for just 25MB in Zone 2, Telus charges $125 for 25MB of data in Zone 2 (though Telus’s Zone 2 incorporates some countries that Bell considers Zone 3).
[source]Bell[/source]
