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Chatr expands national presence, introduces new plans with lower data costs

Chatr, the Rogers-owned flanker brand that in 2010 was hastily set up to take down Wind Mobile and Mobilicity by leveraging the much-stronger Rogers network, has grown into a fully-fledged wireless brand.

After introducing data add-ons in February, Chatr has since dropped the zone requirements for all but one of its plans, allowing anyone in Canada, Kamloops to Cape Breton (assuming Rogers offers service there) to sign up for Chatr. Rogers claims there are now 200 cities in which to purchase Chatr plans, expanding from the urban-centred pool of Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa and Southwest Ontario. The prepaid plans are expected to be sold in retailers like Walmart, Best Buy, WOW Boutique and all the Glentel-owned locations.

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The company has also significantly lowered its data add-ons, extending them to the $40 plan as well. Previously, the $40 plan, which includes unlimited international text messages, only had the option of adding 200MB for $10 per month. Now, the data plans, which can be activated on either the $35 or $40 tier, align more with Rogers’ recent pricing strategies:

  • 500MB / $10
  • 1GB / $15
  • 2GB / $25
  • Data overages are unchanged at $25 per 250MB, or $100 per gigabyte

Also included in the new plans but for the $20 local talk plan, which is still limited to the seven aforementioned zones, is a feature called International Talk Saver. Chatr claims that users will be able to call some countries for $0.01 per minute, such as Puerto Rico and Singapore, though most locations I checked were in the $0.03 to $0.30 range. Calls to China and India are now $0.02 per minute, while U.S. calling rates are unchanged at $0.20 per minute.

Chatr’s chief, Raj Doshi, who also runs Fido at Rogers, said in a release that the goal of this new Chatr is to make national access cheaper while extending international calling options to Canadian newcomers “without purchasing a calling card.”

“For many who are entering a new chapter in life, setting up a mobile phone is often the first step they take, and chatr gives them an easy experience so they can get started,” he said.

Chatr’s new plans are now live, though its anemic range of cellphones for purchase remains the same.

 

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