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I'm traveling to the US tomorrow and just placed an order for a $40 US travel pack (50 minutes, 200 MB, unlimited text).
1) While in the States, if I'm calling a US number, am I being charged for long distance or this is already included in the 50 minutes? What about making/receiving calls to/from a Canadian number while in the States? I just want to make sure I don't have to pay for any other fees on top of what I have already purchased, provided that I'm not going over the limits.
2) Do I have to do anything to my phone as soon as I arrive in the States? Eg. turning on roaming?
Thanks a lot!
Solved! Go to Solution.
May 2017
Hello Juntran,
Welcome to the community!
I understand you placed an order for a travel pack, however, what type of plan do you have? If you have Pulse plan, they can only travel with Fido Roam (except destinations not covered by Fido Roam). If you do not have a Pulse plan, then a travel pack is appropriate.
Since you ordered a travel pack, I'll assume for the moment that you do not have a Pulse plan. 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).
On the other hand, if you do have a Pulse plan, you'll have to use Fido Roam in the US. Fido Roam includes calls back to Canada as well as US 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, unless your plan includes international messages (taken from 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.
As noted in the other thread, Fido phones will unlikely work for voice/text on the Verizon network since they are CDMA-based rather than Fido/Rogers' GSM/UMTS-base. If you have an unlocked phone that does have CDMA frequencies, it may work on the Verizon network.
If your destination has adequate AT&T or T-Mobile network coverage, then your Fido phone should work without issue. However, if those networks do not adequately cover your destination(s), you might have to consider getting a temporary phone from Verizon.
Have a great trip and hope this helps
Cheers
Hello Juntran,
Welcome to the community!
I understand you placed an order for a travel pack, however, what type of plan do you have? If you have Pulse plan, they can only travel with Fido Roam (except destinations not covered by Fido Roam). If you do not have a Pulse plan, then a travel pack is appropriate.
Since you ordered a travel pack, I'll assume for the moment that you do not have a Pulse plan. 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).
On the other hand, if you do have a Pulse plan, you'll have to use Fido Roam in the US. Fido Roam includes calls back to Canada as well as US 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, unless your plan includes international messages (taken from 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.
As noted in the other thread, Fido phones will unlikely work for voice/text on the Verizon network since they are CDMA-based rather than Fido/Rogers' GSM/UMTS-base. If you have an unlocked phone that does have CDMA frequencies, it may work on the Verizon network.
If your destination has adequate AT&T or T-Mobile network coverage, then your Fido phone should work without issue. However, if those networks do not adequately cover your destination(s), you might have to consider getting a temporary phone from Verizon.
Have a great trip and hope this helps
Cheers