5 hours ago
Dear Fido Community,
I hope this message finds you well.
I was incorrectly charged an international data fee despite having turned off data roaming. The charge appears to cover just one day, which leads me to believe it might be a system error.
When I spoke to a specialist regarding this issue, I was informed of the following:
"Your phone needs to be turned off or kept on airplane mode the entire time."
This explanation seems unreasonable. Am I expected to keep my device turned off or on airplane mode for the entirety of my trip to avoid such charges?
I kindly request that your team provides adequate training to employees on how data roaming works, so customers can receive accurate and helpful advice in the future.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to your prompt resolution.
Best regards,
5 hours ago
Hello Zekalkong,
Welcome to the community!
Sorry to hear you've incurred unexpected roaming charges. However, you should note that this forum is community-driven and not intended as a venue for customer services.
The Fido Roam charges will only incur if your phone uses services -- make or receive a call, send a text message or use data abroad. The mobile providers only know usage. If there is no usage abroad, there will be no roaming charges.
If you did not wish to use Fido Roam, you would need to opt-out of the feature. In doing so, any usage would be on a pay-per-use basis. You can view those rates in the link provided above. If you wished to opt-out of Fido Roam, you would need to contact customer service. In addition, they can also be contacted via Live Chat, Facebook, or Twitter. Those methods can be accessed via the contact page posted above.
It should be mentioned that while receiving SMS would not incur the roaming charge, any data contained within MMS (incoming or outgoing) would be considered roaming data and charged accordingly. You should note that MMS are not solely restricted to pictures or video messages. Messages with subject headers or group messages etc are also considered MMS. It should further be noted that iMessages and RCS messages are sent (and received) as data and not as text messages (SMS). Even if the text message received is SMS, if your device is configured to provide Delivery and/or Read receipts, those would be sent as SMS and considered roaming usage.
I understand you may have disabled roaming data. However, some manufacturers might allow some data usage to occur despite data and roaming data disabled (see here). It should also be noted that disabling those setttings does not prevent roaming for voice and messaging. That's why it is also generally recommended to enable Airplane and/or Flight modes in order to prevent unplanned roaming usage. You could then manually enable Wifi when required. Alternatively, people have also removed their Fido SIMs card entirely.
I am aware some people have referenced other providers not charging for such data usage. While they may have previously forgiven such roaming data, they appear to also be charging for data usage even with those settings disabled (see here, here, and here). The issue is not limited to Fido (or Rogers).
I'm sure there are others who will claim it's a Canadian mobile provider issue. However, the issue appears to also affect our neighbours South of the border (see here and here). Their plans and roaming features may be slightly different than on this side of the border, yet people also note data roaming charges despite data settings disabled.
As mentioned, the issue is some devices are letting the data usage despite data and roaming data settings disabled. As illustrated by this member on another forum, only some devices have this issue (see here). Unfortunately, no one is holding the manufacturers accountable.
As mentioned, the mobile providers only know usage. If a device is using services when its settings are set not to use them, that's an issue with the device. The mobile providers have no access to a device's settings to know what settings are enabled/disabled. I understand you may not have intentionally used services, however, if you had not enabled Airplane of Flight mode on your device, there is unfortunately no 100% guarantee your device won't use other services and trigger roaming charges.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers