What do you think of Rogers, Telus and Bell’s low-cost data-only plan proposals?

Now that Canada’s three major national carriers — Rogers, Bell and Telus — have submitted their proposals for affordable data-only plans, it’s time for the public to weigh in.

Of course, you can (and should) take the time to submit a comment directly to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC). In the meantime though, we’d love to hear your thoughts here in our comments and through the poll included in this post.

For those who haven’t been following this saga, a brief backgrounder: in June 2017 the minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) Navdeep Bains instructed the CRTC to reconsider a decision that effectively shut down backdoor wireless MVNO Sugar Mobile.

MVNOs, or mobile virtual network operators, generally purchase wireless service wholesale from larger incumbent carriers and resell it at lower rates. ISED suggested that the introduction of a true wireless MVNO market in Canada might lower wireless prices for Canadians, offering a budget alternative to the rates offered by Bell, Telus and Rogers.

In late March 2018, chairman Ian Scott’s — as his first major decision at the CRTC — affirmed that the Commission would be not be mandating wireless MVNOs. 

However, in response to ISED’s concerns that Canadians pay some of the highest wireless rates in the world, the Commission instructed the Big Three to offer low-cost data-only plans to fill a gap at the low end of the market.

All plans must provide 4G LTE service and must be available to both prepaid and postpaid customers.

Below is what the national carriers proposed:

Rogers: $25/400MB

• BYOD
• No extended domestic coverage
• No Roam Like Home

Bell: $30/500MB

• Available through Virgin Mobile for postpaid and prepaid (BYOD)

Telus: $30/500MB

• Available through Koodo for postpaid (BYOD and Tab Small)
• Available through Public Mobile for prepaid with an extra 100MB for 600MB total (BYOD)

Find more details here.

What do you think of the plans? Weigh in on our poll and let us know in the comments below.

Correction: This article originally failed to include the fact that Telus’ Public Mobile offering is 600MB of data, not 500MB. It has been updated accordingly.

Image credit: Skitterphoto via Pexels