New pay-per-use roaming rate encourages smartphone and tablet use while
travelling and gives customers peace of mind;
Survey shows 70 per cent of Canadians want to use wireless data whenever
they want while travelling in the U.S.
TORONTO, May 9, 2013 /CNW/ - Rogers Communications, Canada's leading
diversified communications and media company, today announced a new,
worry-free wireless roaming internet rate is now available to customers
travelling to the United States. For $7.99 per day, customers can
access 50 Megabytes (MB) of data in the U.S., providing nearly twice
the data a Rogers wireless customer would typically use per day while
in Canada. Fifty MB per day can add up to a total of 1.5 Gigabytes (GB)
of wireless data per month.
"Our customers can now have the confidence and peace of mind to use
their smartphones and tablets in the U.S. to access the internet, just
as they would at home," said Raj Doshi, Senior Vice President,
Products, Rogers Communications. "This new approach to roaming is
simple and easy, and provides our customers with more cost certainty
while using wireless data throughout the U.S."
Research shows that the majority of Canadians want to use their
smartphones to access the internet at a more affordable cost when
travelling in the U.S. According to a national survey commissioned by
Rogers Communications with Head Research, most Canadians (60 per cent)
who travel to the U.S. have felt disconnected or out of touch without a
data plan on their smartphone. With 50 MB of data, customers can view
approximately 1,000 emails, more than 5,000 tweets, 50 maps, or 200 web
pages.
From posting photos on Instagram, to checking up on pets, to updating
Facebook, research reveals the top ways people want to stay connected
while on vacation:
Smartphone as the travel companion: Canadians' preferred activities include using maps (71%), looking up
restaurants and local activities (61%), checking the weather (57%), and
reviewing their travel or flight status on their device (58%).
Email preferred method to stay in touch: Almost two-thirds of Canadians (63%) would like to email others to let
them know how their trip is going. Four out of 10 would like to update
social media and/or upload photos online.
Canadians love Facebook: The majority of smartphone-owning Canadians (58%) want to send regular
updates on Facebook when travelling in the U.S.
Instagram bragging rights: Almost three-quarters of Canadian Instagram account holders (71%)
travelling to the U.S. for personal reasons want to post photos on
Instagram from their smartphone.
Pets are Canadians' best friends: Three quarters (73%) of pet-owning Canadians who travel to the U.S.
would like to be able to check up on their pets back at home through
email updates.
Now, when Rogers customers cross the U.S. border and turn on their
smartphone, they are greeted with an SMS message that explains the new
$7.99 wireless roaming internet rate. The new affordable rate
automatically applies for most customers so they do not have to
purchase a roaming data pack in advance. While in the U.S., customers
can text the word "usage" to 3330 once every 10 minutes to get updates
on their wireless internet usage when they are using the $7.99 rate.
For more information on Rogers roaming rates and packages, please
visit: www.rogers.com/USroaming and for additional tips on roaming, please visit Tech Essentials
About the survey:
From April 24 to April 26, 2013, a survey was conducted among a sample
of 1,001 Canadians that own a smartphone and are planning to travel to
the U.S. for personal reasons this year. Respondents were sourced from
available non-probability based panels. The national sample size of
N=1,001 provides a statistical margin of error of +/- 3.1%, 19 times
out of 20, assuming that non-panelists and non-respondents do not
differ from respondents. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to
rounding.
About Rogers Communications:
Rogers Communications is a diversified Canadian communications and media
company. We are Canada's largest provider of wireless voice and data
communications services and one of Canada's leading providers of cable
television, high speed internet and telephony services. Through Rogers
Media we are engaged in radio and television broadcasting, televised
shopping, magazines and trade publications, sports entertainment, and
digital media. We are publicly traded on the Toronto Stock Exchange
(TSX: RCI.A and RCI.B) and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: RCI).
For further information about the Rogers group of companies, please
visit rogers.com.
Image with caption: "Survey shows 70 per cent of Canadians want to use wireless data whenever they want while travelling in the U.S., results are summarized in the following infographic. (CNW Group/Rogers Communications Inc.)". Image available at: http://photos.newswire.ca/images/download/20130509_C5190_PHOTO_EN_26565.jpg
SOURCE: Rogers Communications Inc.
