Rogers, Fido to raise U.S. and international roaming rates before March Break

Rogers is upping roaming rates while other providers offer discounts

Rogers and its flanker brand Fido are set to increase U.S. and international roaming rates on March 3rd, just in time for March Break.

Notices appearing on both wireless provider’s websites detail the change. Currently, Rogers and Fido charge $12/day for U.S. roaming and $15/day for international roaming. Starting March 3rd, roaming rates will rise to $14/day for U.S. roaming and $16/day for international roaming.

MobileSyrup has reached out to Rogers to learn if the company will change other aspects of the ‘Roam Like Home‘ program, such as how many days per billing cycle customers can be charged for roaming (the current cap is 20 days), and will update this post with any further information it provides.

Notably, the change brings Rogers’ roaming rates closer to what Bell and Telus charge. Bell raised its prices to $13/day for U.S. and $16/day for international roaming in early 2023. Later that year, Telus raised its U.S. roaming price to $14/day and its international rate to $16/day.

Rogers last increased its roaming rates in 2022, when it increased costs to $12/day for U.S. roaming and $15/day for international roaming. However, Rogers’ roaming rates have nearly doubled since 2017, when it charged $6/day for U.S. roaming and $10/day for international roaming.

The Rogers increase comes as Bell offers a special March Break discount on roaming to its customers. Meanwhile, Fido is offering 30 or 90 days of free U.S. roaming when activating select plans.

Last year, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) asked Rogers, Bell, and Telus to address soaring roaming rates. The providers responded by telling the commission they already offered affordable roaming while also promising that new options would come in 2025.  At the time, Rogers said it would add “more flexible roaming options” in 2025 but the specifics were redacted.

But while Canada’s Big Three telcos continue to charge high roaming rates, other providers are bucking the trend. For example, Freedom Mobile and Public Mobile continue to offer plans that include roaming in the U.S. and Mexico at no additional charge, making those plans ideal for frequent travellers. Freedom even goes a step further with bundled Roam Beyond data, offering as much as 25GB of roaming data in over 100 international destinations in some plans at no extra cost.

In other Rogers news, the company just laid off roughly 400 customer support employees and increased the cost of its connection fee to $75.

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