If you have a Fido Pulse plan, Fido will have enabled (whether you wanted it or not) the Fido Roam plan. You might think you can just ignore it if you have no interest in using their roaming services but that is not the case. There are in fact a few sneaky little gotchas that may cost you upwards of $180 in extra charges on your next bill if you aren't fully informed. Read on.
It used to be that when you arrive in a destination country, you'd recieve a text message informing you that you were roaming and that pay-per-use roaming charges would apply. You would then even be given some roaming package you could choose to opt-in to. Cool!
Not the case anymore. Now with Fido Roam enabled, what happens it that once you arrive in your destination country, you'll recieve a text message that looks something like this:
It would be very easy to think that by just not turning on your data (and data roaming) you'd be ok BUT that is not the case at all. There in lies the grand trap that cost me a small chunk of change!
You will automatically enable Fido Roam services for a 24 hour period at whatever cost was specified in the initial text if you simply send a text message OR recieve an MMS message (a text with a picture) OR recieve a call and reject it (rather than letting it ring and go to voicemail). You won't have any idea that you activated it either until you get your bill at the end of your billing cycle. Further more, you can't even disable it from your customer account portal, you need to either get onto live chat or call a customer service representative to have them disable it!
I have a dual-SIM phone and in my case, it used to be that upon leaving, I'd disable Fido's data and enable my host countries data plan and I'd be free and clear. If I recieved a text or call on my Fido line, I could simply respond to it and pay the one time usage fee... turns out this year, that wasn't the case and rather than paying $10.50 for sending about 14 text messages I was dinged $84! Now that's one hell of a markup in price!
I highly recommend you disable Fido Roam ASAP before travelling and instead, get a SIM chip for the country you are visiting. You will almost ALWAYS get a far superior deal to any roaming package Fido offers you!
Going forward, here is what FIdo should do:
1) When the roaming plan has been activated for a 24 hour period, you should recieve a text message indicating it has been activated and should also give you the exact time it will be deactivated (as it lasts for a 24 hour period).
2) There should be a quick and easy way to opt out by text message.
3) It should NOT be automatically enabled on any plan, instead users should be able to opt-in to it like before.
4) It should be easily enabled/disabled via the customer service portal as opposed to having to actually have a customer service rep do it for you.
I don't forsee any of these happening though because there is money to be made as data overage and roaming charges bring HUGE dollars to telecom providers.
Hope this helps someone from falling into this trap because if you think Fido will reimburse you, you are sorely mistaken. You will be told that their roaming policies are "clearly laid out" on some part of their site for anyone to read... sadly this is all after the fact that you've fallen into the trap!
Now cue the customer service reps and community mods to chime in with their copy-pasted responses indicating how sorry they are that I feel this way and that it's not for everyone and so on....
Hey @Fredyo,@Cawtau,
I just wanted to provide a little update that we can confirm that simply rejecting a call without answering will not trigger a Fido Roam charge in any of the eligible destinations covered by Fido Roam.
I thought i would post to warn others about FIDO ROAM as well. I specifically turned off data roaming on my ANDROID phone before a trip overseas and then I just found out I was billed $12/day for a few kbs of data a day. I was very careful to only use whatsapp after signing on to hotel wifi but still got dinged by FIDO. I guess the only way to be safe is to turn on airplane mode or to opt-out of FIDO ROAM and turn off data roaming. I would say FIDO ROAM is a pretty terrible option if you are leaving the phone on for emergency use. Below is capture from my bill. Opting out of FIDO ROAM shouldn't be too bad since the new CRTC rules require carriers to suspend roaming charges if they exceed $100 during international roaming.
Hey @SH75,
Thank you for sharing your feedback with the Community.
We understand that unwanted charges are never fun and we don't want our customers to have any such surprises on their bills either!
Keep in mind that only a usage made through the Fido sim card will trigger a charge. If you do not make any usage, there is no fee. We also make sure to send a text notification to our customers when they connect to a local tower in a covered destination about the charges they will incur if any services are used.
Did you receive the sms notification?
That said, Fido Roam is enabled on all our postpaid plans automatically. You can opt-out by contacting customer service and have pay-per-use rates going forward.
Hey @SH75,
The message we were referring to was the one Welcome one that we send when your device connects to a foreign network: "Hi, itās Fido: Welcome to the U.S.! Youāve got Fido Roam with your plan, so go ahead and use your plan's existing data, talk and text like you do at home. As of February 6th, 2020 the rate is $8/day (+ taxes) in the U.S. Happy travels! Questions? Check out www.fido.ca/m/roam or call +1-514-933-3436 (free)."
In addition to the welcome text message which details the regular rates you would be charged, you can also check roaming rates from our website. We also have a useful article on the Community that you can check out to learn more.
If the Data Roaming is left ON, your smartphone will connect to data in the background for various reasons, as many applications automatically search for online updates whenever the device is on.
I hope this helps clarify a bit.
Hey @SH75 ,
The text message we send out is to inform of the applicable charges should usage take place. Within the same text message, we do provide a link to our web page about fido roam and also provide a phone number where the customer can reach us for any inquiries. Also, the call is free if you call the number mentioned from your fido device!
It's important to always review our information before travelling to ensure you won't generate any unwanted roaming charges. You can always reach a live rep by calling in, via Live Chat or via Facebook or Twitter. We're here to help. š
Rest assured, we aren't trying to rip people off.
By all means, we do thank you for the feedback!
Hey @storminne ,
Even when you're out of the country and wish to be un-enrolled from Fido Roam, you can contact us via live chat, or by private message over Facebook or Twitter. If you don't have access to an internet connection when roaming, you can also call in by dialling our international number from your Fido device. You can find the number here: https://fido.ly/35FucaV. Also, the call is free when you call our customer service line. š
An agent will be able to deactivate Fido roam from there.
Hello again,
@Fredyo wrote:... even with data roaming off, you still can and will get dinged even if all your phone did was recieve an MMS text message (a text with a picture attached)......
Receiving the text portion of a MMS does not require data. However, downloading the associated picture does. Even in Canada, data needs to be enabled to send/receive the full MMS. If your phone downloaded the MMS with data and roaming data disabled, that's an issue with the phone or settings on the phone. This situation is different from the others who's phones have used small bits of data despite the those settings disabled and using no other services.
@Fredyo wrote:...The only way you can disble this is to log into your account and disable Fido Roam...
The only way to opt-out of Fido Roam is to contact Customer service. They provided the phone number in that first notification you received. If you note, that call would be free.
Hope this helps 
Cheers
@Fredyo wrote:... even with data roaming off, you still can and will get dinged even if all your phone did was recieve an MMS text message (a text with a picture attached)......Receiving the text portion of a MMS does not require data. However, downloading the associated picture does. Even in Canada, data needs to be enabled to send/receive the full MMS. If your phone downloaded the MMS with data and roaming data disabled, that's an issue with the phone or settings on the phone. This situation is different from the others who's phones have used small bits of data despite the those settings disabled and using no other services.
Plenty of devices automatically download the picture content automatically and many people don't know that. You are expecting everyone to have advanced knowledge of these kind of things. There is also the issue of other "small bits of data" being sent... basically, it's THAT easy to enable a Fido Roam cycle and you wouldn't have even known it..... hence why I said there should be a follow up SMS sent EACH TIME a Fido Roam cycle is initiated.
@Fredyo wrote:...The only way you can disble this is to log into your account and disable Fido Roam...
The only way to opt-out of Fido Roam is to contact Customer service. They provided the phone number in that first notification you received. If you note, that call would be free.
Hope this helps
Cheers
Why not inform the user each time a Fido Roam cycle has started and the cost? Why not just have an easy way to reply with a simple "opt-out"?
Because you know many people would right there and then.
Hey there @Fredyo,
To clarify, we do send you a notification each time you cross a border when you're travelling overseas. As incoming SMS are free of charge, you don't get billed when receiving the welcome message. These texts simply aim to inform you of the applicable and coverage rates available at your location. No charges are in effect as long as there's no usage made on your device. How you decide to use your device is up to your discretion following that.
In regard to billed usage: Calls, sent texts and data will trigger roaming fees. All of these can be blocked by having your phone on airplane mode or by avoid sending texts, making calls and having the roaming data setting turned off on your phone.
To answer some of your previous concerns/questions:
- To opt-out from FidoRoam you do need to reach out to us. We do offer you many options to do so, and one of them would be a free call from any international destination by dialing *611 from your device as seen here.
- As we already notified you of the applicable rates upon your arrival, there would be no further notifications sent. Though you can keep track of your usage on your Fido My Account (web or app)
- Fido Roam provides you with a flat daily fee spanning on 24 hours from when you first begin your usage. The fee is not based on the volume of usage made but only of the number of days used. You can find more info here as well.
Hope this clarifies and let us know if you have any questions. We'd also be happy to take a closer look at your account if you need any assistance.
