Rogers has new international roaming plans and they're still awful

Rogers has announced some new roaming add-ons for Canadian travelers. Not too long ago, Rogers unveiled a $7.99 daily roaming plan for the U.S. (which already faces stiff competition against WIND's $15 unlimited plan), and this new one is built for roaming worldwide. But don't get too excited; it's $9.99 for a day for up to 20 MB (depending on where you're going), with no voice or text. That's better than the $10 - $15 they'd normally charge per megabyte without a package. This add-on will be applied automatically after you start using data abroad, though you'll get SMS alerts about usage.

Travelers to Europe can expect to pay $9.99 a day for 20MB. If you're headed to Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, Oceania, or the Middle East you'll be looking at $9.99 a day for 10MB, and visitors to Africa can expect to pay $9.99 a day for 3MB. That's $3.33-per-MB. Those crossing the border into the United States will still see $7.99 per day for 50MB, which while still absurd, seems downright palatable in comparison to their overseas rates.

New monthly travel packs offer two talk, text and data packages for each major region, like Africa, Europe, America, and the rest of the world. Europe is the most forgiving of the bunch, though that's not saying much. For $60, you get 40 minutes of talk, 150 outgoing texts, and 40 MB of data. On the upper end, you've got a $200 add-on for Africa for 100 minutes of talk, 150 outgoing texts, and 25 MB of data.

When browsing maps and uploading pictures, you'll blast through the caps for most of those add-ons very quickly. Though it's an extra hassle, it's probably worth your while to pick up a local SIM and unlock your device rather than get one of these packs with Rogers. Even compared to American roaming rates, these are pretty atrocious. We had a lengthy debate about the state of roaming and carriers as part of Talk Mobile 2013, and since then things haven't gotten much better. The comments are there and below if you feel like venting.

Source: Redboard

Simon Sage
TOPICS