Rogers increases data overage fee by $20 a gigabyte

It pays to be cautious about how much mobile data you’re using.

Rogers Wireless has updated their website to reflect a new fee for customers who go over their mobile phone plan’s data for the month. Previously, Rogers charged customers $5 per 100 MB in excess of the data allowed on their plan. Now, that fee is $7, or $70 per GB, which is a 40 per cent increase.

Rogers told Mobile Syrup that the fee increase only applies to new plans. Existing plans will still honour the old overage fee pricing.

iPhone in Canada, Global News and Mobile Syrup reached out for comment to Rogers about why the increase in fees happened, and were all given the same official statement: “We are always looking to deliver great value for money and service to our wireless customers.”

The statement goes on to highlight Rogers’ many services, and encourages customers to download the MyRogers app, which has a Data Management tool.

Currently, Rogers customers are sent text message notifications when they reach 90 per cent and 100 per cent of their monthly data usage.

The pricing is in line with the other biggest players in the mobile telecom game. Bell charges $0.07/MB overage, a policy which it enacted this past April. Telus currently charges $5/100 MB for the first 1,000 MB over the customer’s monthly data usage, and $0.10/MB thereafter. Freedom Mobile, which has posed a threat to the Big Three mobile phone service providers recently, does not charge additional fees for data overage, but does reduce the speeds at which customers can download and upload data.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) began a review of Canada’s four-year-old Wireless Code in February, to ensure consumers are being treated fairly by companies. The review was launched in light of Canada winning the inauspicious honour of having the second-most expensive mobile phone and data service out of any G7 country or Australia.