US Roaming Plans are terrible!!!

[JohnnyK88]

I would like to know when Fido is going to get plans that are more competitive in the US for data.  Think about it:   the rate in Canada is $30 for 6 GB.  (so $1 get you 204.8 MB).  The best rate in the US on the data roaming plan is $10 plus $1 per MB So for the 204.8 MB you get in Canada for $1, you will pay $214.80!  

I do not believe for a minute that FIDO is being charged from the US carriers at a rate 200+ times the rate that they can deliver the service for in Canada profitably.  If anything the fulfillment is easier in the US, because the population of people using the infrastructure is much higher, so the overall cost are spread out more.

I am very tired of plans like this that clearly OVERCHARGE us.  I remember the same thing used to happen with voice calls; they too, used to charge stupid rates, until people said that this was crazy and demanded change.  Then suddenly reasonable one rates for the continent type plans appeared.  

Please if you are reading this, and want the overcharging to stop, add to this thread and let the folks at FIDO know that their rates are ridiculous and that they must do something about it.

For myself, I am buying a prepaid data stick in the US from one of the US carriers and using that until rates get reasonable, I strongly suggest you do the same.  

Just beware, data use for GPS functions and many other functions that our phones easily do now, is very high.  3 Hours of GPS on a recent site seeing trip cost me $125 for the 125 MB of usage!

[JohnnyK88]

Hey everyone!

Although this thread is quite old, I'd like to add a little update since I came across it  

Have you seen Fido's latest travel pack for the USA ?
http://www.fido.ca/web/content/coverageroaming/roaming_us_rates

Travelling to the U.S. - Monthly
Bring your Fido with you when you travel to the U.S. and take advantage of our competitive rates on voice, text and Data.

For more details Please visit fido.ca at following address :
http://www.fido.ca/web/Fido.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=GCT_Support&template=coverage&pageLabel=CoverageSupport&sub_template=ttk_travelling&lang=en

Hope this helps!

[Cherrywood]

With due respect, your roaming plans are still laughable at best. Offer roam like home, the plan offered by your parent company. As 15+ year customers, we're leaving in September if the roaming plans aren't significantly improved by then. By the way, the US plans are nearly useless for data.

[FidoMaria]

@Cherrywood We definitely don't want to see you go.

While I can't guarantee that this is something that will be offered at Fido, I'll forward your feedback to the appropriate team.

[Cherrywood]

Thank you, it should be a priority for Fido...this is an area that Fido has no excuses for given the roam from home offered by Rogers.

[E-Man]

Hi @JohnnyK88 @GregToronto @10yearfido @mallah @gbtoo @ercousin @Cherrywood,

Please see my thread below which echos the one you have posted on regarding the unaceptable ROAMING PRICE GOUGING practices by Fido. If we all share the same strong opinions, we should demand change together as this is unacceptable. I strongly feel that we as customers are not being treated right. Again, please visit the thread if you would like change. Thanks.

http://forums.fido.ca/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/NonTechnical/thread-id/19882

[FidoFaiza]

Hi gbtoo,

Thanks for sharing your feedback with us. I will be sure to pass it along.

[ercousin]

Are there any updates planned for the travel plan?

This was leaked in July and still no changes.

I use my phone for data when I travel to the USA on vacation and $80/500MB is crazy compared to my current $50/1GB at Bell.

I would like to switch to Fido but can't justify it with the current USA roaming structure. Are there any changes come down the pipe?

[FidoMaria]

Hi ercousin and welcome to the Community.

We have no word on any updates to our travel packs.

Any updates will be made available here.

Cheers!

[gbtoo]

The original numbers may be off and fido may have updated it's plans HOWEVER fido rates are still WAY higher than US providers.

On a trip to the US in July I chose the $80 plan that gave me 500MB data (on my previous trip I ended up using 2X$40 so only got 400MB data).  

While in the US we checked out some US providers and decided to buy a smart phone ($50) and 1 month plan - total cost appox. $125 CAD and received unlimited voice including Long Distance to US, Canada and Mexico plus 5 GB data and unlimited texting for the month available anywhere in the US.

So, excluding the phone from the price we paid $75 CAD for 10X the data we paid $80 to fido and got free long distance to Canada and US.  After looking around I think we could have gotten it even cheaper.  We could have got a free phone but elected to spend $50 for a phone that we could then use on our next trip to the US making it even cheaper next time so I'm not likely to use fido for future US roaming services.

On a related note, I would have used my Fido dollars to purchase a $40 package but there was only $39.92 available on my account at the time I needed to purchase and over $2 available in the next few weeks!  So, being 'short' 8 cents cost me $80!

I tried sending fido this info in an email, but I couldnt find  a way to do that.

[GregToronto]

Actually Roaming plans are just that. For when you are roaming. Hopefully you don't have time to play with your phone when you are traveling :robothappy:

And yes, Canadian carriers do get charged high rates by carriers in other countries. I learned the hard way.

Roaming options are meant for light use. If you need a lot of data access, you need to buy a prepaid data stick in the US from one of the US carriers, as you indicated.

Hopefully everything will change in a year, when the super high speed of LTE-Advanced delivers speeds of up to 100Mbps at a fraction of the current price of 3G HSPA.

[10yearfido]

The roaming charges are crazy and no where justified by the network roaming agreements Fido/Rogers has with their US counterparts. Rogers has the same roaming rates and add-ons, but they also have the OneRate option, which for $10/month, allows you to use your Canadian data allotment in the US with no addition charges. It would be nice if Fido offered the same option, but not yet.

[mallah · Accepted solution]

Hey everyone!

Although this thread is quite old, I'd like to add a little update since I came across it  

Have you seen Fido's latest travel pack for the USA ?
http://www.fido.ca/web/content/coverageroaming/roaming_us_rates

Travelling to the U.S. - Monthly
Bring your Fido with you when you travel to the U.S. and take advantage of our competitive rates on voice, text and Data.

For more details Please visit fido.ca at following address :
http://www.fido.ca/web/Fido.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=GCT_Support&template=coverage&pageLabel=Cov...

Hope this helps!