Fido Roam in Europe question

[Stefanny1234]

Hi;

I will be traveling to Italy  this summer and want to take advantage of the Fido Roam at $10/day.

We will be traving with our friends from Vancouver , BC and my number is from Montreal, PQ.

If both of us are in Italy, and I want to text my friends, will this be considered long distance? Will I be charged? My plan includes Canadian and international free texting.

What if I want to call them?

[FidoFaiza]

Hi @Stefanny1234,

@Cawtau has provided some super useful information in his post.

You can check from My Account on Fido.ca whether or not you are on a Pulse plan. 

Hope this helps.

[Cawtau · Accepted solution]

Hello Stefanny1234,

  Welcome to the community!

  What type of plan do you have? Is it a Pulse plan? If you do not have a Pulse plan, the other plans are not eligible to use Fido Roam and you would require a Travel pack or use your services on a pay-per-use basis.

  Assuming you do have a Pulse plan, Fido Roam includes calls back to Canada as well as local numbers within your outgoing local calling area. However, calls to all other destinations will be charged as if you’re making them from Canada, as will messages. Since your plan includes international messages, they would also be included (see here).

  In your case, calling and texting your friend's Vancouver number while you're in Italy would be included (as per your plan) since it is a Canadian number even though they might be in Italy with you.

  If you do not have a Pulse plan, you will have to purchase a Travel pack or pay-per-use. The travel pack roaming minutes includes long-distance (except to satellite phones and toll-free numbers). As such, calls to Canada, US, or even overseas are included (see here).

 It's a slight difference between the services of which you should be aware. 

 Additionally, you might consider trying to get an idea of the local mobile networks' coverage at your destination. Mobile phones roam on the existing infrastructure at the destination. Fido's service cannot extend beyond what is available locally. As this community member noted here, AT&T and T-Mobile's coverage at their destination was not impressive. 

  I noted in that thread that it was the customers' responsibility to check whether their phones would work at their destination so it's only fair I mention it to you. I came across OpenSignal recently. They provide a more visual comparison of signal than the site I posted in the other thread. I can't vouch for the accuracy of the information since it is crowd-sourced.

   Also, what phone are you using? You might consider verifying your phone has compatible bands/frequencies with the mobile providers in Italy (see here).

Have a great trip and hope this helps

Cheers