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Rogers' Fido Internet To Offer Less-Pricey Service Aimed At Millennials

Fido Internet? Rogers Launches Service Aimed At Millennials
CP

Fido isn’t just for cellphones anymore.

The flanker wireless brand owned by Rogers Communications has jumped into the internet service business, offering customers a 30-Mbps internet plan at a lower price than its own Rogers-branded service.

Fido Internet is being sold as the same sort of "no hassle" service as Fido wireless -- there are no contracts or cancellation fees.

It will be available for the time being to customers in southern Ontario and Ottawa, at a price of $50 a month for customers of Fido wireless. But for those without a Fido wireless plan, the price jumps to $70 a month.

That’s for 300 gb of internet data per month; for unlimited internet, it’s $65 a month for wireless customers and $85 a month for everyone else.

By comparison, the most similar Rogers internet plan -- Rogers Ignite 30 -- costs $39.99 a month for the first three months, and $64.99 afterwards. But the plan comes with a download cap of 125 gb per month, little more than a third of the Fido plan.

Fido is stressing the "hassle-free" aspect of its new internet service.

Fido Internet customers will also see fewer visits from internet technicians. They will be able to activate the modem through their phone.

It's an attempt to compete with upstart internet carriers like TekSavvy, which have targeted younger demographics and smaller households.

“As with Fido’s wireless plans, Rogers is undercutting itself in the name of marketing,” tech blogger Peter Nowak wrote.

“Maybe there’s something to that – perhaps high-income, two-car-garage families may find it distasteful to subscribe to a service intended for grubby university kids. … Then again, it’s also an artificial separation that anyone with a few minutes of free time can discern.”

But Rogers sees it as a strategic differentiation that will allow it to snap up new customers.

“The focus for the Fido brand [is] serving the millennial segment in particular,” Raj Doshi, Rogers' executive VP for wireless, told Canadian Business.

“I believe if a Rogers brand serves the family better and that is what you are now into as a life stage, that’s what a customer would expect to do.”

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