TORONTO – Just in time for the winter getaway season, Rogers is rolling out a new technology for customers travelling in the U.S. that allows them to access their Canadian wireless plans while they're away.
For $5 a day, the Roam Like Home plan, which will be available November 10, allows customers to use the Internet, make calls, send texts and emails in the U.S. just like they would at home, with their Share Everything plan, which includes shareable data buckets, unlimited talk and text, and various other services. Calls made within the U.S. and back to Canada are also included with Roam Like Home.
Essentially, Rogers engineers spent nine months building and testing new software that makes LTE smartphones think they are in Canada when they are in the States. The effort involved "hundreds" at Rogers who were ensconced in an off-site building and the project was code-named Stripes, said CEO Guy Laurence in an interview with Cartt.ca on Friday. In fact, roughly 500 Rogers employees took part in Stripes, and the end result looks pretty nifty, since Rogers customers can now use their phone like they would when they're at home, and there are no additional data, texting or voice charges beyond the $5 per day – which is also capped at $50 a month (the maximum monthly roaming charge allowed under the CRTC's Wireless Code of Conduct). That means customers who travel for more than 10 days don't pay for those extra days.
“We decided to invent a new technology that allows Canadians to access their Canadian plan whilst in the U.S.," said Laurence.
Existing Share Everything customers can enroll in Roam Like Home by texting the word "travel" to 222 for free before they leave or once they've landed in the U.S. Once they've enrolled, it will automatically work every time they travel. New ‘Share Everything’ customers will be automatically enrolled, with the option to opt out at any time. If they don't use their phone for a day, they aren't charged the $5.
“I said 'guys, I don’t care. We’re doing it'. As a consequence, I actually don’t know the bill.” – Guy Laurence, Rogers
"It's dead simple," added the CEO, who was dressed for vacation during the press event (pictured). "This is the first step of a whole series of intitiatives that we will roll out over the coming months and quarters and years, to improve the services we provide to our customers.” Rogers customers will continue to roam on the AT&T LTE network as Laurence said the companies have extended their wholesale roaming deal.
"We've listened to Canadians and we're changing the way they roam," he added. Laurence noted there are currently 80 different U.S. roaming plans available for Canadians, so it's "no wonder they’re confused and no wonder they are scared of using their mobile phones.”
The fact that Canadians travel and often refuse to use their phones or are forced to buy different SIM cards which may be 2G or 3G and not LTE like the AT&T network – or seek Wi-FI wherever they go before communicating with their friends and family back home is something that has to change. “Isn’t that silly? What a terrible thing this industry has done," said Laurence.
As for the level of investment it took to get this off the ground? “I said 'guys, I don’t care. We’re doing it'," he added. "As a consequence, I actually don’t know the bill.”
