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....
Hello RoamingRiOff,
Welcome to the community!
Logging into a network's Wifi which requires authentication does not use cellular data. However, while your device may be connected to Wifi in order to login, your device won't be connected to the internet until it is fully authenticated. It will only be connected to the local Wifi network for login.
If your data and roaming data were enabled, any data required by your phone's systems or apps before you finished logging-in would have used cellular data because your device was not connected to the internet.
For the future, if you do not intend on using your cellular services, you might consider enabling Airplane or Flight mode for the duration of your trip. You could then manually enable Wifi when required. You should note that if your phone is capable of Wifi-calling, certain usage would be considered roaming as well.
Hope this helps š
Cheers
Hello Jvajna,
Welcome to the community!
@Jvajna wrote:..I got a spam call while at the airport in Germany and I canceled it and it got forwarded to voicemail!! ...
Is that all you did with your phone? Rejecting calls were no longer supposed to trigger roaming charges (see here). Perhaps @FidoSolutions could verify that information, please?
If you do not intend on using any of your services, your best option is to keep your phone with Airplane or Flight mode enabled. You can then manually enable Wifi when required.
When comparing other providers, you should note that many of them have a similar roaming service.
Hope this helps š
Cheers
Hello again,
Firstly, I don't work for Fido...
I understand your frustration. I had previously tried to warn people that this could happen. However, I was assured that simply rejecting a call would no longer trigger the Fido Roam charge (see above link). Could we please get some clarification from @FidoSolutions ?
Cheers
Hey @maudie!
It's unfortunate to see your experience with Fido Roam has left you feeling this way however I can assure you that there is no trap. If you do not wish to have any charges for roaming with Fido Roam, you can simply choose not to use any of your services from your Fido phone while abroad.
You are only billed for what you use and you are notified of the applicable charges as soon as you connect to a foreign network.
We're really sad that you feel this way about Fido Roam @maudie! That's certainly not the impression we want you to have of the service. As my colleagues mentioned before, we only bill you for the usage incurred on your account. If there is no outgoing usage, there is no charge.
I personally received email notifications both times I activated Fido Roam on my line to advise me of its impact. Did you check your email if you received it too?
Hello Lololo,
While I don't necessarily wish to speak for FidoSaira, she likely referred to using her services abroad.
@FidoSaira wrote:
The fee is only triggered if there is an outgoing usage that we detect through your Fido SIM card. The following usages would trigger the fee:
- Outgoing SMS/MMS
- Calls (making a call, responding to a call)
- Using data on apps
- Retrieving voicemails
~ taken from here.
Hope the helps š
Cheers
Hello again,
@Fredyo wrote:
Yes you get welcoming text when you arrive in a new country but you don't get any sort of indication that Fido Roaming has been enabled for a given period.
I think the issue is related to the likelihood that home networks do not necessarily get usage information in real-time:
For post-paid roaming, when the user first switches their phone on, the visited network checks in real time whether the home network authenticates the customer and authorises its use abroad... ~ taken from here.
That would result in the Welcoming text message we receive when our phones connect to a foreign network.
...But the data records (CDRs) with the details on each SMS and data session are sent to the home operator with some delay (up to several days).. ~ also taken from link above.
If home networks don't receive usage information in real-time, it's not possible for them to provide customers with notification that a roaming session has begun without a delay.
The situation is different with pre-paid services where a real-time exchange is required to prevent the balance of the roaming customers' accounts from becoming overdrawn. That's likely the reason why pre-paid roaming often costs more than post-paid roaming.
Hope this helps š
Cheers
