Chatr

Chatr offers plans ranging from $15 to $50, most of which include unlimited Canada-wide calling, international SMS texting, and 0.5 GB to 8 GB of data per month.[6]

Sometime after February 2018[7] their Regular Plans briefly offered a $10/month plan (50 minutes/50 texts) from August 2018[8] until March 2019[9] which was discontinued by June 2019,[10] after which the cheapest plan was instead $15 for 100 minutes / unlimited texts.

Announced 22 May 2019, on 22 June 2019 is a scheduled changed to the terms of service so that inactive accounts (and their sim cards) would expire after 90 days inactivity instead of the previous policy of allowing 180 days inactivity before pruning them. Money on the account less than the amount required to buy a new month of service would be lost, whereas previously the account would not be closed unless $0 remained on it.[11]

All Chatr plans include unlimited incoming texts and the call display, call waiting, call forwarding and group calling features. Features specific to each plan are listed below:

• The base $20/month "Unlimited Local Talk" plan includes unlimited local calls.
• The mid-range $25/month "Unlimited Province-Wide Talk" plan adds unlimited province-wide calls and unlimited sent SMS to Canada, the US, and internationally.
• The high-end $35/month "Unlimited Canada-wide Talk & International Text" and $45/month "Unlimited Canada/US Talk & International Text" plans, add unlimited Canada-wide calling and unlimited sent SMS to Canada, the US, and internationally. The latter also includes unlimited US-wide calling compared to the previous plan.

Extra charges for additional features in each Chatr plan are as follows:

• A 25¢ per minute voicemail retrieval charge is charged on the $20 plan, which is waived on other all higher plans.
• Province-wide or Canada-wide calls cost 25¢ per minute on plans for which it is not included, and US calls cost 20¢ per minute on all except the $45 plan.
• Outgoing SMS cost 25¢ per message on the $20 plan.
• Data can be added to the $25, $35 and $40 plans, in denominations of 500 MB for $10, 1 GB for $15, and 2 GB for $25. (The 2 GB add-on is not available with the $25 plan.) Additional data usage cost 5¢ per MB.[12]

• MMS picture and video messages are only available with a data add-on, and are not included in any plan, and cost 50¢ each to send or receive.[13] In some cases data and MMS functionality has to be set up manually following account activation.[14] Most handsets will automatically download received MMS messages (thus generating a charge) but this functionality can be manually disabled in most handset's data settings.
• Outgoing calls to "310" numbers (such as 310-0001 for Panago Pizza or 310-SHAW for Shaw Cablesystems) – which are treated as local calls by most wireless carriers – are not included in any Chatr plan and are charged at the rate of 20¢ per minute.

When Chatr was launched, it initially only sold feature phones. It began introducing smartphones in conjunction with its launch of mobile data in 2011, although feature phones continue to make up a significant portion of the company's phone offerings. Additionally, Chatr SIM cards allow other GSM-based handsets to be used.

Currently available devices are made by LG, ZTE, Motorola, and Nokia.[15] In 2018, Chatr also added devices from Samsung to its line up along with one device from Huawei.[16] Chatr formerly gave each phone a nickname (for example, "The Performer" or "The Steal") until its rebranding in 2015.

SIM cards from Chatr (available in Mini, Micro, and Nano sizes) are compatible with any GSM or HSPA+ device, such as those designed to be used with Rogers Wireless. This includes devices from Rogers itself, plus its mobile virtual network operators such as Fido and 7-Eleven Speak Out Wireless. Around June 2017, many retailers stopped advertising Chatr's $10 SIM card, and began offering it for sale online at Chatr's SIM card page.

Chatr has been accused of violating the Competition Act because it is a fighter brand created by Rogers.[17] Some years ago Chatr's pricing policy closely reflects that of Wind Mobile. Mobilicity's former chairman, John Bitove, said that "[Rogers is] leveraging the other parts of their business to kill the competition […] If they succeed in killing us off there's no question they'd kill the Chatr brand off".[18] Moblicity was later purchased by Rogers and incorporated into Chatr.

Shortly after its launch, Chatr published many advertisements claiming that their network has "fewer dropped calls than new wireless carriers". Following a complaint by wireless carriers Wind Mobile and Mobilicity, the Federal Competition Bureau has asked the Ontario Superior Court of Justice under the Misleading Advertising Provisions of the Competition Act to order Rogers to:

1. Stop Chatr's advertising campaign
2. Pay a 10-million dollar penalty
3. Pay restitution to any customers affected by the misleading claim
4. Send out a corrective notice to inform the public about the issue

The Bureau has accused Rogers of:

1. using misleading advertising to promote its talk-and-text service Chatr..."
2. having "...no evidence support[ing] Chatr's claim that their customers will experience fewer dropped calls than they would with new rival wireless carriers..."
3. directly breaching Section 78 of Misleading Advertising Provisions relating to "False or Misleading Representations and Deceptive Marketing Practices"

According to the Court documents from the preceding, the bureau found that the on average there is no significant difference between the number of dropped calls on Chatr and new carriers. Furthermore, in the cases of Ottawa and Toronto, new carriers experienced slightly fewer dropped calls than did Chatr.[19]

• Jul 9, 2010: Mobilicity made several claims against Rogers revolving around the upcoming launch of Chatr. "If Rogers launches Chatr in the manner that's been speculated, it's clear that the Competition Act will be violated," John Bitove told reporters from his Toronto office.[20][21]
• Nov 19, 2010: The Competition Bureau of Canada is seeking a $10-million penalty, the highest possible penalty from the country's largest wireless player after a two-month investigation into claims that Rogers had been making since late July.[22]
• Aug 19, 2013: The Court dismissed the misleading advertising portion of the case against Rogers.
• Feb 21, 2014: Court orders $500,000 administrative monetary penalty in Rogers-Chatr matter.[23][24][25]

Chatr Wireless' slogan is "No worries, talk happy." During the Christmas and holiday season, the slogan used instead was "No worries, gift happy." Both resemble the name of the song Don't Worry, Be Happy, and a whistled version of this song is used in Chatr commercials.[26] The slogan is now "Let's Get Going."[27]

In 2017, Chatr was awarded two silver CASSIES advertising awards, in categories for Brand Reawakening and Targeting.[28][29]

• Rogers Wireless
• Fido Solutions
• Mobilicity - now defunct, merged with Chatr brand in 2016