Rogers this week introduced a new 30GB data tier for its Share Everything lineup that, with a single on-contract smartphone, costs between $240 and $250 per month.
The company said in a statement that the plan is perfect for “heavy data users who enjoy on-demand video and other content on their devices, [or] large families or groups of friends and roommates with several smartphones and tablets.”
The largest single data pool of the Big Three telcos, the new plan points to an increased demand for mobile data at a time where the incumbents are trying to balance the needs of its customers with hockey stick-like growth in monthly data usage. “Recent studies show the amount of video watched on smartphones and tablets grew by more than 700% between 2011 and 2013 alone. On top of this, more and more Canadians are using tablets, not just smartphones, to connect to the internet,” Rogers told us.
At $190 for the 30GB data bucket, which can be shared between 10 accounts, the cost is $6.33 per GB. In contrast, the average cost per GB of a $65/6GB bucket is $10.83, and the $30/2GB plan, $15.
Clearly, though, the 30GB bucket is unlikely to be used by a single person, and the cost per GB is still far too high to replace a home cable or DSL connection, but it points to a future where, with enough spectrum and people with whom to share the upfront costs, it may be possible.
At this point, though, it’s not possible to avail oneself of this new plan without adding at least one smartphone to the account, which costs an extra $50-60 per month. Adding additional tablets, hubs and sticks, as long as they are owned by someone on the account, costs $10 per device.
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