Clarification on Fido roaming

[DrZ]

All the threads I've found seem to be rather old and out dated. I was hoping to get some clarificiatons on how Fido Roam works today:

1. When you start using a roaming day, does it last 24h or actually end at 11:59 Eastern time as specified in the FAQ? i.e. if you make a call or send a text at 11:59:59pm, are you really charged $10 for just 1 second of usage?
2. If I'm roaming in the US, can I call any US number without paying long distance charges, or only numbers local to me?
3. I've noticed that if I've enabled WiFi calling on my Android phone and I'm in the US, even though I'm on WiFi I'll see the service named "ATT WiFi" instead of "Fido WiFi". If I enable airplane mode then enable WiFi, it will say "Fido WiFi". If I'm on "ATT WiFi" and make a WiFi call or send a text, will this initate a roaming day?

Thanks.

[Cawtau]

Hello DrZ,

  Welcome to the community!

  In addition to what has already been mentioned, as far as I am aware, calls to a destination within the Country which you are travelling are considered local. That is, if you are travelling to the US, calls to US phone numbers would not be considered long-distance. Perhaps @FidoSolutions could please verify whether that information is still correct.

  With regards to Wifi-calling, given the different service provider, I would guess that with Airplane mode disabled, your phone is accessing the local gateway (ie AT&T, see graphic here) rather than Fido's gateway for the service. If that's the case, it's possible that usage might be considered roaming since your phone had connected to AT&T's cellular towers prior to accessing Wifi-calling. Again, perhaps we could get some clarification from the moderators regarding this peculiar situation. In the mean time, it probably would be best to ensure your Airplane mode is enabled prior to accessing Wifi-calling.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[DrZ]

To avoid potential roaming charges, that's exactly what I did while I was in the US. I turned on airplane mode then turned on WiFi. When I did this, my phone indicated "Fido WiFi" as the carrier and I was able to to text and make calls so long as I had a decent WiFi signal.

According to what you've said, however, if I was making lots of calls to the US, since I don't have a long distance plan to the US, it might be cheaper to roam (whether or not on WiFi) since US calling would be included in the roam charge. Actually, I used a voip service to make US calls while using WiFi with airplane mode, but I'm sure someone might benefit from this informaiton.

Can someone from Fido officially confirm that calls to anywhere in the US are considered local (i.e. there are no long distance charges) if you are roaming in the US? Or more generally, calls to anywhere in the roaming region are considred local while roaming in that region?

Thanks.

[FidoFaiza]

Hey @DrZ,

With Fido Roam, you will be charged for every calendar day (based on ET) so yes, if a call is made at 11:59 pm, you will still be charged $10/day (while roaming in U.S).

If long distance is not part of your plan, you will be charged for it. 

With Fido Roam, outgoing Wi-Fi Calling messages and calls to a non-Canadian number will incur the Fido Roam daily charge. If you've already incurred this charge, then all outgoing Wi-Fi Calling calls and messages made or sent within the 24-hour period will be deducted from the Fido Roam allocation.

You can find more info here. 

[DrZ]

If you make WiFi calls to a Canadian number, even though a foreign service is indicated, eg. ATT WiFi, you will not initate a romaing day. Can you confirm that is correct?

Also, my plan includes free messages to US numbers. So if I send a message to a US number over ATT WiFi, would this still initate a roaming day?

Thanks.

[Cawtau]

Hello again,

  I wouldn't be able to speculate as to your first question as connecting to a foreign network to make calls (even back to Canada) would be considered roaming. Whether that situation is different with regards to your situation (ie AT&T Wifi-calling vs Fido Wifi-calling) would need clarification from @FidoSolutions .

  That said, with regards to your second question, I believe many of Fido's plans include International text messaging. However, those messages must originate from within Canada. All outgoing messages and calls to a non-Canadian number will count the same way as they do on a mobile network (see below).

~taken from here.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers