After racking up over 1,300 minutes in 13 days across 5,500 kilometers in five Canadian provinces and three US states, Mobilicity today released findings proving its North American roaming rates costs a fraction of what most Canadians typically spend on mobile phone calls when they travel.
The findings from Mobilicity’s recent “We’ll Prove It To You” cross-Canada tour show Mobilicity’s roaming charges as being over 70 percent lower than those charged under a similar plan offered by a Big 3 carrier. Over the two-week road trip, the carrier calculated it spent $130 for 728 minutes of Mobilicity service versus $436 for 646 minutes of roaming service on the incumbent’s plan.
“We used 82 more minutes on the Mobilicity BlackBerry smartphone than on the Big 3 BlackBerry and we still saved $306,” said Mobilicity CEO Dave Dobbin, who led the road trip on a motorcycle to prove how Mobilicity’s flat 20-cent-a-minute North American roaming rate compares to expensive incumbent carrier roaming rates. “The savings could have funded the entire $305 it took to fuel my ride across the country and I’m sure Canadians could also find better ways to spend their money than overpaying for roaming.”
Outrageous US roaming rates
The most significant savings were realized in the US where the Big 3 carrier charged a combined $1.49 per minute for long distance and roaming. In Canada, the incumbent carrier charged long distance outside the phone’s local calling area at a rate of 40-cents per minute – double that of Mobilicity’s flat 20-cent-per-minute rate for calls made anywhere in North America outside its five unlimited coverage areas.
During the course of the tour – through the Canadian Shield and Boreal forests, around Lake Huron and Lake Superior, across the Prairies and into the Rocky Mountains and Okanagan Valley before concluding at the Pacific Ocean – Dobbin was also met with long lineups at customer appreciation events to celebrate the tour’s kickoff from Toronto and subsequent arrivals into Ottawa, Edmonton, Calgary and Vancouver. The events featured a special Friends & Family plan, $0 BlackBerry smartphones and other promotions to thank existing customers while encouraging new ones to join Mobilicity.
“I met thousands of customers across this great country, several of whom told me how Mobilicity’s smart, affordable mobile services make a difference in their lives,” Dobbin said. “It’s been a humbling experience, one that reinforces just how badly change is needed in the Canadian wireless industry.”
Comparing apples to apples
The phones were put on similar plans. One phone leveraged Mobilicity’s unlimited $35 plan with a $10 unlimited data add-on. The plan included unlimited local talk, text & data in all Mobilicity markets, call waiting, call forwarding, 3-way calling, voicemail, conference calling, caller ID and picture messaging for a total monthly rate of $45.00, excluding long distance and roaming costs.
The incumbent phone plan, called an unlimited $30 plan, included unlimited text and came with 150 weekday minutes, unlimited evenings and weekends, call waiting, call forwarding and conference calling. Voicemail and call display were added for an additional $12 to make the plan more similar to the Mobilicity plan for a total rate of $78.37 – not including roaming or long distance costs.
More details on Mobilicity’s “We’ll Prove It To You” tour findings, as well as blog postings, photos and videos from the road trip can be found at: www.mobilicityproveittour.com.
In related news, Mobilicity recently announced the country’s most affordable and competitive everyday data roaming rates without the roaming plan fees commonly charged by incumbent carriers. Customers can now access data while roaming across Canada and the US for only $1.50 per megabyte – around the same price Big 3 carriers typically charge for a one-minute phone call made in the US. Mobilicity offers the same US roaming experience as a Big 3 carrier, with the exception of its service being much more economical.