The future is now. And if you want to live in it, it’ll cost you an extra $3 less per month to your regular cell phone bill.
If you’ve been stubbornly clinging to your flip phone like it’s a digital security blanket, Rogers has a message for you: modernize or pay up.
Starting in May, Canada’s largest cellphone behemoth — the telecom titan behind wireless brands like Fido — will begin charging customers a $3-per-month “Legacy Network Usage” fee for the audacious act of using their own phones on Rogers’ own outdated networks.
The company says it plans to “retire” its 3G network on July 31 so it can focus on enhancing its “award-winning” 4G and 5G networks. But in the meantime, it’ll be charging you for the privilege of hanging out in the tech graveyard.
The $3 surcharge is, according to Rogers, simply recovering the costs of keeping those dusty old towers up and running just for the brave soul still texting in T9 or hoping their 2009 BlackBerry Bold still counts as a smartphone.
“We want to support customers… while recovering part of the costs,” Rogers explains helpfully on its special web page — where “support” apparently means billing you for refusing to download another firmware update.
Of course, the fee isn’t a cash grab. According to the Rogers FAQ, it’s simply a gentle incentive to get you to part with your beloved relic of a device and finally join the 4G or 5G revolution.
Users can avoid the fee entirely if they just buy a new phone.
But don’t call it ‘bait-and-switch’. That’s because Rogers insists it has “$0 upgrade options” available, which probably means a free phone that looks like it came out of a cereal box but still qualifies as ‘VoLTE-capable’.
For those who don’t know, ‘VoLTE’ is the crown jewel of forced migration. Even if the offending phone shows a 4G icon, if it doesn’t support ‘Voice over LTE’, Rogers will treat it like it’s two cans and a string and start charging customers for the privilege.
It all marks a slow fade to BlackBerry.
Once the 3G switch-off hits, expect the gentle hum of missed calls, failed texts and blank data screens before your phone goes fully dark.
The official FAQ promises that once-trusty devices will eventually stop calling, texting, or connecting at all. But don’t worry, Roger’s promises customers will get a helpful SMS right before it can no longer send SMSs.
Naturally, not everyone is thrilled. Several Fido users took to Reddit and social media to complain that their newer phones do support 4G and 5G — they just don’t pass the sacred VoLTE test — a hidden setting buried somewhere between “Airplane Mode” and “Why is my phone even doing this?”
Others, especially in rural areas with unreliable 4G coverage, say they rely on 3G simply because it works better. Rogers’ response: It’s not a bug, it’s progress.
Some critics have dubbed the move a bait-and-switch by bandwidth, others are calling it a mandatory software upgrade disguised as a fee.
Telus has also joined the $3 surcharge club — because nothing screams “innovation” like retroactive billing for staying exactly where you are.
So if you’re still dialling up nostalgia with your old Nokia brick, know that Rogers is here to help — by charging you until you stop.
