Roaming charges in US

[ranger]

I was in the US for the weekend. I had my data off and used the hotel free wifi. Got some incoming messages and via the free wifi to return short outgoing message. Came home I found out that I was charged for those replies. Fido rep said that the out going text (roaming) charges went through the US towers via my android phone LG G4. I have 2 complaints -

1)  data was off and using free wifi but the roaming charges went through. It seems that according to the rep the Andorid phones are still succumb to those out out going text messages via US towers.

2) When you review your charges on your online billing, it only show how much data was used in general and on daily usage. It does not segregate which ones are being billec and which ones are not. Only Fido rep can see it from their end what those charges were. Lack in transparency? 

Confused esp. with item 1 ... Hope someone can confirm and clarify  - Thanks in advance 

[Cawtau · Accepted solution]

Hello Ranger,

  Welcome to the community!

  Sorry to hear you an unexpected surprise upon your return. What plan type do you have? Is it a plan with Fido Roam? Or is the charge a roaming data charge?

  I understand your data was off, however, it's likely your replies were sent as SMS. Text messages (or SMS) are not considered data and do not get transmitted via Wifi. As such, calls and SMS would have to be transmitted via the US towers and therefore considered roaming.

  If you have a plan with Fido Roam, any usage will incur the daily roaming fee. It does not necessarily have to be data. In addition, any roaming usage may not appear until the following bill. For example, I purchased a Travel pack for use in March. While the pack itself was included on my March bill, all talk usage was invoiced on my April bill. That said, I do not believe there is a record of text messages sent.

  Unfortunately, newer versions of android removed the ability to disable roaming entirely. The only options to to disable roaming would be to enable airplane mode on the device and subsequently enabling Wifi for use on local area networks. Alternatively, many people remove the SIMs from their phones when they leave Canada.

Hope this helps

Cheers

[HP12]

Why am I being charged $7 for sending 1 SMS while in the States? Should I not just be billed for that 1 SMS? I did not want to activate Fido Roam, it seems to have automatically signed me up and billed me. How do I get these charges reversed?

[FidoKenny]

Hello @HP12 and welcome to the Community.

You automatically benefit from Fido Roam rates when you are on a monthly postpaid plan. So to confirm with you, it's automatically activated with your plan. You can find all the details about this service on our blog here.

You can remove Fido Roam, but you really have nothing to lose by keeping it active on your account. You'll only be charged for using service, and Fido Roam rates are lower than our regular pay-per-use rates.

If you decide to opt out of Fido Roam, our regular roaming rates will apply when you travel. This means you’ll be charged full price for every minute, SMS/MMS and all of the data you use while roaming.

To have this removed, you can find the ways to reach us on our Contact Us page here.