Related posts: No related posts.

Surprise cellphone roaming bills are a frequent occurrence in Canada as consumers are often shocked to find bills in the thousands of dollars for data roaming when they travel outside the country. A new OECD report helps the explain the reason why – Canadians face the highest data roaming costs among all OECD countries. The new report looked at the cost of using 1 MB in a single session for a traveller assuming they travel to all OECD countries. The result left Canadians paying the most at an average of $24.61. By comparison, Greek consumers pay $4.17 and Iceland customers pay $4.42. The OECD average is $9.48. The report includes several other baskets of roaming data with Canada typically ranking among the most expensive (with the exception of 20 MB packages). With Canadians paying five times as much as some other consumers for the same data roaming, the report is yet another illustration of the high cellphone costs faced by Canadian consumers and the desperate need for a more competitive marketplace.