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Paid for US talk and text package, can't send/receive texts or call!

frustrated4
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

I just finished with Fido Live Chat, and the gal there was not able to help me at all, so I thought I'd shout out to the community to see if you all could!

I'm in Las Vegas; On my first day down here I bought the $40 Talk and Text package - 100min and unlimited texts.  I did get the Welcome text when I first purchased it.  I am unable to send or receive texts though.  I am hoping it's something as dumb as my settings are not correct, but I'd like to think that I'd have figured it out by now.  Once in awhile, if I restart my phone, it'll connect to a carrier (usually AT&T) and I'll be able to send/receive for about 5 minutes, then it's back to No Service.  

I'm on an iPhone 5S.  In my settings, I have my cellular data and roaming turned off.  In the carrier settings, I have it set to Automatic.  Even when I allow it to search for a carrier, it doesn't work.  

On the second day I had this package, my phone was suddenly connected to Fido (no idea how) and I was able to send and receive for about an hour - then back to no service.  

If anyone is able to shed some light for me, I'd appreciate it. 

thanks in advance!

 

 

***Edited to add Labels***

6 REPLIES 6

Cawtau
Senior MVP Senior MVP
Senior MVP

@frustrated4 wrote:

... In my settings, I have my cellular data and roaming turned off.  In the carrier settings, I have it set to Automatic.  Even when I allow it to search for a carrier, it doesn't work.  

...!

 

Hello Frustrated4,

 

  Welcome to the forums!

 

  Sorry to hear you're having troubles using your phone down there. Since you are outside of Canada, roaming would need to be turned on. I'm not sure why it has worked intermittently with roaming off, but in order to use other networks, it would need to be on.

 

  Hope this helps Smiley

 

Cheers


frustrated4
I'm a participant level 2
I'm a participant level 2

Thank you for your reply!

So, do I need to turn both Cellular and Roaming data on?  And as long as I don't open any apps that use data, I shouldn't get any additional charges?

Hi frustrated4,

 

Sorry to hear about that experience - I know it can be frustrating sometimes when you can't use your phone the way you want! You'll be an expert in no time with these roaming tips:

 

In order to roam using the iPhone5S, you will absolutely need to have the Roaming setting turned 'ON'. If this setting is not on, then you won't be able to use any cellular service at all while in Vegas (talk/text/data). (Except WiFi).

 

Since you mentioned that you don't want your phone to use any cellular data for a while, I recommend you leave 'Cellular Data' turned 'OFF'. This will help to ensure against any additional charges by blocking the ability of apps, pop email, basically everything on your phone from being able to access cellular data. Then when you are back home in Canada you can re-enable this setting to continue using your Fido service as usual.



Hi frustrated4 and all! 

 

I just wanted to give you guys some clarification here. 

 

If you're roaming outside of Canada and you don't plan to use data, it's important to make sure that Data Roaming is deactivated under your phone's settings. For the 5S, you'll find this option under Setttings > Cellular. Turning this off will make it impossible for your phone to use data on a foreign mobile network and will make sure that you won't incur any data roaming charges. Turning off Data Roaming also will not affect your ability to place/receive calls and texts while connected to a foreign network. 

 

Hope this helps!



Hello again,

 

  To consolidate some of the information provide above, there are usually three settings regarding roaming and data.

 

a) cellular roaming

b) cellular data

c) data roaming

 

  As noted, in order to use the phone for calls and SMS, cellular roaming would need to be on. To prevent accidental data usage while outside of Canada, it is best to turn both cellular data and data roaming off. Note: To send/receive MMS, data would be required to be turned on and would incur roaming data charges.

 

  Hope this helps Smiley

 

Cheers


If you do not need data leave it off, even if you do not use any app you can still incur data usages/charges because some apps would still use data in the background.