Update 06/02/2018: Fido Roam’s international roaming fees have also increased to $12 per day. See the updated story below.
Rogers is once again increasing the fees associated with its Roam Like Home daily roaming service, according to an internal document obtained by MobileSyrup.
This time around, both the U.S. and international components of the service are affected. The changes will also take effect for its sub-brand Fido’s daily roaming feature, Fido Roam.
Starting today, Rogers and Fido will charge subscribers who take advantage of their international daily roaming feature, which includes more than 100 travel destinations across the globe, $12 per day, up from $10 per day.
Additionally, Rogers and Fido are now capping fees at 15 days per billing cycle, up from the previous maximum of 10 days per billing cycle. Similarly, moving forward Rogers and Fido are capping U.S. roaming fees after 15 days.
Taking into account the new fee and limit, Rogers and Fido subscribers can expect to pay a maximum of $180 per billing cycle when using Roam Like Home internationally. Previously, the international maximum was $100 per billing cycle.
Meanwhile, those roaming in the U.S. can expect to pay a maximum of $90 per billing cycle, up from $60 under the carriers’ previous pricing structure.
Rogers and Fido customers currently traveling in the U.S. and internationally will see the new fees reflected on their next monthly bill if their billing cycle resets on or after February 28th. The company has updated the welcome SMS message it sends to traveling customers accordingly.
The carriers are also sending out notification text messages to customers starting today.
By way of justification for the fee increases, Rogers writes in its memo to staff:
“We regularly review the fees for our wireless services. This increase helps us balance the increased costs associated with offering the service.”
In an email to MobileSyrup, a Rogers spokesperson said that “customers are using more data than ever while traveling abroad.”
“With Roam Like Home and Fido Roam available in over 100 destinations, our customers are using more data than ever while travelling abroad,” said the spokesperson via email. “We believe the service continues to offer great value with the ease, convenience, and predictability customers expect.”
Today’s Roam Like Home fee increases come less than year after the carrier increased its U.S. Roam Like Home fee to $6 per day.
As was the case with the carrier’s previous increase, this fee change makes Roam Like Home less compelling overall.
By way of comparison, Bell currently charges its customers $12 per day, up to a maximum 20 days, to access to their entire talk, text and data buckets while traveling internationally. Telus, meanwhile, charges customers $10, up to a maximum of 15 days, to access their talk, text and data buckets internationally.
Update 31/01/2018 11:41am ET: Story updated with comment from Rogers.
Update 06/02/2018: Story updated to reflect that sub-brand Fido’s fees have also increased.
