Rogers Communications has officially launched its Chatr service, introducing the new discount brand to Toronto, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver, and Ottawa.
Chatr’s website is designed to target younger users, it seems, with its use of language and selling points. The discount carrier is gearing up to target low income users primarily, but its offers of unlimited plans seem to jive with young users like college students and teens.
Mobilicity’s John Bitove has been more than upset over Chatr, claiming that the Rogers brand is targeting his brand unfairly and violating the Competition Bureau’s legislation. Many analysts think that Rogers’ brand has been directly designed as a way to fight the cheap new carriers with better network quality and larger calling zones. That Chatr is competing in the exact same cities as Mobilicity is probably no coincidence.
Chatr customers have their choice of four phones off the bat: the LG GB125R flip-phone, the Samsung Gravity, the Nokia 2680, and the Nokia 1661. Each of the phones is marketed with no term prices.
Chatr customers can choose from two different monthly pricing plans. The $35 unlimited talk and the $45 unlimited talk-and-text carry different selling features, with the $35 plan allowing for unlimited talking to anywhere within the province and the $45 plan offering unlimited talking to anywhere in Canada. It should be noted that Chatr operates on the concept of “Chatr zones,” so extra charges apply when users go outside of their specified Chatr zones. Yep, there’s the rub.
The Chatr zones are viewable here for Vancouver, for example. As you can see, the zones are quite confined to metropolitan areas, although this particular zone does appear to extend nearly to Langley. The map isn’t the most exact, so it can be difficult to see exactly where the zones end and begin.
Chatr is also really promoting its network, claiming that it’s “better than the new guys” without elaborating. As you might imagine, it’s impossible to find anything “Rogers” on the Chatr website. They’ve gone to great lengths to make the brand appear completely independent of its larger company, which is a smart move that may fool some consumers. Make no mistake, however Chatr is a Rogers brand.
