Hello LDC66,
Welcome to the community!
Sorry to hear of your situation. Firstly, to clarify, do you have services with Fido or with Telus? Also, are you actually incurring roaming charges?
If you have services with Fido, when your phone uses a different network from Fido/Rogers would be considered roaming. If that different network is outside of Canada, any usage would be charged roaming fees (ie Fido Roam). On the other hand, using a different network within Canada is extended coverage (Fido-EXT). With the roaming agreements, there is no charge for using extended coverage. However, there are some limitations to its usage (ie majority of your usage still needs to be your home network). Note that accessing extended coverage can happen even in your own Province. If you received notification about your usage, is it possible it was referring to extended coverage rather than Fido Roam? If your phone was roaming on Telus' networks, there would not have been any roaming charges (Fido-EXT). Alternatively, if you moved to an area close to the US border, it's possible your phone was connecting to a US tower (Fido Roam).
For the moment, I'll assume you were referring to extended coverage. You should note that changing your phone number might not resolve the issue. Updating your phone number to one available in your area would only affect your local calling area. It would not have any effect on your device connecting to extended coverage. Unfortunately, if your circumstances don't allow for adequate Fido/Rogers cellular signal, there isn't much that can be done. It's a common misunderstanding that any mobile provider will suit everyone everywhere. That simply isn't the case. If you spend a good portion of time outside of a mobile provider's coverage, perhaps that mobile provider isn't the right one for you. As previously mentioned, the majority of your usage needs to be on your home network. If you moved outside of Fido/Rogers coverage, you would need to switch the network providing the extended coverage.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
Hello again,
Thank you for the additional information. As alluded to previously, under the roaming agreements a provider may allow another provider's customers temporary access as a courtesy. However, the majority of the customer's usage must be on their home network. Unfortnately, there do not appear to be any Fido/Rogers cellular towers in Barrière:
~taken from here.
Since there are no Fido/Rogers cellular towers in the area, the majority of your usage would likely be on extended coverage. If that's the case, that provider (Telus) would want you to be their customer rather than their competition's customer yet still providing the access. That's why the roaming agreements stipulate the majority of a customer's usage must be on their home network.
Also mentioned previously, I don't think getting a new number will solve your issue. As far as I am aware, Fido has relatively few numbers for that area (see here). Even if you were able to get a local phone number, your phone would still be using extended coverage when you are in Barrière. Unfortunately, I think your situation would require you to switch to a provider who uses the Telus network.
Alternatively, if you have access to Wifi and your device is supported for Wifi-calling, you might be able to continue with Fido using that feature while you're in Barrière.
Hope this helps 😀
Cheers
