Circle Calling is really Half A Cicle Calling

[JonBigDaddyCool]

My son went to University out of town. Because his phone plan was on my account and I had Canada wide plan with Circle Calling, I believed that he and I could call each other without additional charges. Boy was I wrong. Once my first bill arrived that included my son being away at university, I didn't look at it since I had been out of town myself for a while for and assumed the extra cost was my doing. When my last bill arrived, I was shocked at the cost and then checked my bills. That's when I found out that my son's call to me where being charged long distance. I was very upset and then checked Fido's description of Circle Calling. They word it in such a way that make you think you and anyone on your account can call Canada wide if you have that on your plan. I then read other threads in this community and saw it was an issue for others. In reality, Circle Calling is not really a full circle but Half a Circle Calling feature. Fido should be truthful in their advertising and call it Half a Circle Calling because that is what it actually is. I am thinking of inquiring with CRTC about this false advertising feature, present them with the description to show how it misleads the consumer

[Customer7]

Unless I am missing something, it's not even "Half a Circle" Calling.  The link to the Fido website given by FidoAllen states that callling the person on your Fido account who is in  another province uses up your Canada-wide minutes. So how is that any different than calling someone who isn't part of your account? What is the benefit of  "circle calling"?

[Cawtau]

Hello Customer7,

  Welcome to the community!

  As far as I am aware, the Circle calling feature relates to local calling **edit** as relates to the OP's issue**:

  This feature allows unlimited local calling between Fido subscribers on the same account. ~taken from link below.

    So as far as I can tell, the feature relates to local airtime and does not include long-distance (LD) charges. If both parties are local, both parties with the feature would have unlimited calling to each other.

  If only one party has Canada-wide calling, the situation can be complicated when one party is out-of-Province.

  Firstly, it's helpful to think in terms of local calling area (LCA) vs long-distance calling. It's also helpful to differentiate between incoming and outgoing calls.

  Your incoming LCA is based on the geographical location that is associated with your number. It has nothing to do with your own physical location at the time you receive a call. On the other hand, your outgoing LCA is determined entirely by your physical location at the time of a call, and has no ties to any specific geographical location, other than the one in which you’re standing.

  All incoming and outgoing calls are considered airtime. Receiving calls while outside of your incoming LCA is considered LD. Making calls while travelling can either be local or LD, depending on whether the call destinations are within or outside of your outgoing LCA.

  If the person out-of-Province only has local calling on their account, all received calls would be considered LD. In addition, the calls to their home Province would also be considered LD because it's outside of their new outgoing LCA.

  In addition, I think both parties would need to have the Circle calling feature on their lines.

**edit** According to the current Plan Features, the Circle calling feature on newer plans includes Canada-wide calls so the issue noted by the OP should not be an issue anymore. However, I think both parties would still need to have the feature.**

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[FidoAllan]

Hey @JonBigDaddyCool! 

Rest assured that the last thing we want is to mislead anyone and to avoid unexpected bills for our customers.

We aim to be very transparent with our features and the information about Circle Calling only offering unlimited local calling is definitely not something we hide. You can see the details right here on our website. 

This means that while it must have been unlimited at no cost for you, the calls from your son must have incurred the charges. 

I'd be happy to look into your account to clarify things further if you want, I'll send you a PM shortly.