www.chatrwireless.com is no longer available Outside Canada
VPNs, no matter how expensive, fail
Rogers' Chatr is Blocking all IP addresses from abroad. This watchdog has tested access from twelve different countries and Chatr (Rogers) users are blocked, even after buying a paid VPN service.
Try as you might to pay your monthly bill on your travels, you can't. Then Rogers cuts off your phone permanently and presumably takes your number and resells that number.
Canada exports some 80% of its Gross National Product (GDP) and in order to do that, Canadian executives like the one in the example (one of many) below, must travel all over the world. But they are screwed (by losing money and losing their phone number) if they are a Rogers customer.
Example on one of many cases reported to this watchdog site which opened the moment Rogers bought out our preferred carrier, Mobilicity:
"As per your request, we had escalated your concern to our finance department; they have written us back with a resolution.
There has been no successful payments made since December 10. 2023. We are seeing 9 failed payment attempts from 2 different credit cards. (That was the original complaint: that payment system wasn't working (blocked))
If there is no issue with your bank or credit card company you will have to call our finance department to correct the issue. You can call them by dialing 1-888-278-5588."
Image of attempts to pay a bill and being blocked
Repeated attempts to make a payment result in an instant message without going to the next stage which is a One Time Password verification. The instant message says "Your bank denied payment" but the Royal Bank and TD Bank both now involved, deny this, having no record of the transaction.
"If you have any further questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to contact us by responding to this e-mail or dialing 1-800-485-9745 and a representative can answer all of your inquiries.
Thanks and have a wonderful day"
Signed by a very nice person who believes the lies his employers tell him.
From the Rogers Chatr website
'Outside Canada and the US To reach us (Chatr Wireless) by phone, we're available: (but you will pay a fortune if calling from abroad)
Mon to Fri 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Sat to Sun 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
1-514-734-7232
Tony Staffieri President and CEO, Rogers Communications had the courtesy to write each and every user a letter apologizing for the July 2022 system failures in Canada.
Dear Valued
Customers,
Our network outage across Rogers, Fido, Chatr and Cityfone last Friday
was unacceptable.
This outage caused real pain and significant frustration for everyone.
Canadians were not able to reach their families. Businesses were unable
to complete transactions. And critically, emergency and essential calls
could not be completed.
No one – not our customers, our governments, and not us – is anywhere
close to finding what happened acceptable.
Now we have to make things right.
Our network is fully operational to the standards you have come to
expect. Our customer service representatives are working around the
clock and have caught up on the backlog of issues. We have also
increased the credit on all our customers’ bills, as some of you
experienced longer delays in resuming services.
In speaking to many of you, it is clear that what matters most is that
we ensure this doesn’t happen again.
You have my personal commitment that Rogers will make every change and
investment needed to help ensure that it will not happen again.
As well, working with governments and our industry, we will implement
what is needed to ensure that 911 and essential services can continue,
no matter what outage may occur.
I understand that it is only through our actions, and with time, that we
can restore your confidence in us. We can and will do better.
Sincerely,
Tony Staffieri
President and CEO, Rogers Communications
Please share feedback on any systemic or per-case issues you are having for example in your transfer from Mobilicity to Chatr or any other matters you feel impact all of us and/or CRTC regulations.
In the begiinning of our efforts, we were among some Rogers brand(s) and Mobilicity accounts seeking an opportunity to monitor feedback of persons impacted by the buyout of Mobilicity by the Rogers Conglomeration of Wireless Providers. In Canada there is little or no consumer protection from Wireless Carriers who are selling us our air space and exploding phones.
If all of us act together, fairly & reasonably, we can protect ourselves. Many Canadians did that when we chose Mobile Simplicity and other providers after the federal government revised the laws to provide more competition. Meanwhile the big three conspired to put the new startups out of business and by now have succeeded as the last new company was bought out by Rogers and transferred to Chatr, a Rogers loss-leader property intended to put Mobilicity out of business. Canadians pay more for wireless phone services than anywhere else in the world.
In a country with the second largest aviation fleet on earth; a country which built its own Anik direct-to-home geosynchronous satellite systems; and with more distance between each other than anywhere else on earth; we should have a better wireless telecommunications system that caters to ordinary Canadians, not to fat bank accounts of rich men who believe only in money.
Let's unite and build legitimate strength as consumers.
It certainly is strange that in a country that exports 85% of its national output, more than any nation on earth, and wherein CEOs and their business staff are always on the go around the world, that Mobile carriers screw them badly and make it impossible to use a Canadian Phone anywhere else on earth. Read about ... $6,000 Per Gigabit Roaming Data. See also Consumer-Friendly regulations needed.
Recent News
According to Harvard researchers, Canada has some of the lowest internet standards among OECD countries, as a result of high costs and slow internet speeds.
According to Wikipedia, Rogers launched the Chatr brand with low-end feature phones and pricing plans similar to that of new entrants such as Wind Mobile, Mobilicity and Public Mobile. Chatr was criticized for being a fighter brand created by Rogers.
In August 2016, the Canadian Radio-Television and Communications Commission (CRTC) issued a report showing that Wireless service in Canada is very expensive. According to the study terms, which averaged different providers and different cities, Canada was the most expensive of seven countries tested for low-volume wireless service.
According to PC Magazine which released a study in September 2016 it's clear that Canada is not one market and prices vary depending on which provinces have strong regional competitors. A 5GB or 6GB plan on Bell costs $105 per month in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, PEI, and BC; $75 in Quebec; $60 in Manitoba; and $55 in Saskatchewan.
Canadian CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais said at a news conference in mid-December 2016, "High quality and reliable digital connectivity is essential for the quality of life of Canadians and Canada's economic prosperity".
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New and existing customers with an AT&T Unlimited Plan can say goodbye to roaming charges in both Mexico and Canada. Talk, text and use data in and between the United States, Mexico and Canada for no roaming charge.
We are a Rogers Wireless brand Watchdog