Telus, Koodo increasing Easy Roam cost starting March 8th

Last month, MobileSyrup detailed a price increase coming to Bell’s roaming service. Now Telus plans to increase the cost of its similar Easy Roam service.

As first spotted by iPhone in Canada, a notice on Telus’ website warns that starting on March 8th, 2023, Easy Roam will increase from $12 to $14/day for U.S. roaming and from $15 to $16/day for international roaming.

Though it may not seem like much, the price increase adds up really quickly. Currently, Telus caps U.S. fees at $240 per billing cycle, and international fees at $300 per billing cycle, or about 20 days of Easy Roam use. It’s not clear if Telus will stick with the current caps or increase them to match 20 days of usage with the new prices (that would be about $280 for U.S. Easy Roam and $320 for international Easy Roam).

Telus Easy Roam price increase notice.

Update 2023/02/27 at 2:56pm ET: Koodo confirmed in a statement to MobileSyrup that it would also increase the price of Easy Roam starting March 8th:

“We are proactively notifying Koodo customers that beginning March 8, Easy Roam charges will change to $14 per day (from $12 per day) when in the U.S., and $16 per day (from $15 per day) internationally. Easy Roam is an optional service that makes it easier for customers to use their existing data, text and talk plans, and text plans while travelling outside of Canada. Koodo customers only pay for the days they choose to use their phone on Easy Roam, and can easily add or remove the feature from their account at any time through Koodo Self Serve.”

When Bell increased the cost of its roaming package, it also increased the price for its flanker brand, Virgin Plus. Bell’s roaming increase comes into effect on March 9th and will cost $13/day for U.S. roaming and $16/day for international roaming.

Finally, iPhone in Canada noted that Telus changed Easy Roam’s activation from being valid for 24 hours to being “valid until 11:59pm in the time zone you are travelling.” This makes Easy Roam worse value than before.

It’s worth noting that Telus, like other carriers, has steadily increased the price of Easy Roam over the last few years. When U.S. and international roaming first launched (in 2015 and 2016, respectively), it cost $7/day for U.S. roaming and $10/day for international roaming.

Now that Telus and Bell will increase roaming costs in March, Rogers is the last of the Big Three to have not made a similar announcement. It remains to be seen if it will follow suit or keep roaming prices the same.

Source: Telus Via: iPhone in Canada