Roaming in US Almost Never Works!

[YYC2]

I have been a Fido customer for at least 6 years and I have never once travelled and had any of my Fido purchased phones work properly. I have traveled to Seattle, Tacoma, Yelm, Spokane & Republic, WA. Orlando, FL, Albuquerque, NM. Houston and Dallas, TX as well as Puerto Vallarta Mexico and have had the same issue in ALL of these locations. 

In all of these instances calling usually works, texting sometimes works - and if so it's not consistent. And Data almost never works. In my last trip to Washington it worked briefly for about 30 minutes near Graham, WA.

I have called tech support (while in Canada) and determined that yes my roaming was on. I was told to try switching to other available networks so in Spokane WA I did just that. There were 6 or 7 networks and I was not able to use any of them. I was also not able to send or receive phone calls or texts in Spokane. 

It is not a problem with this specific device because this problem has been persistent throughout my entire experience with Fido in which time I have had 5 phones. 

I am currently using a pixel 1 (this is the 3rd pixel 1 as the first two were replaced under warranty though all three had the US roaming issue.) And the problem was also present with my Nexus 5&6 phones. 

The ONLY commonality on this 6+ year experiment in the limits of my patience has been Fido. 

Fido does not Roam.

I am traveling to Orlando for work at the end of October and I must have a working phone. If someone can fix this - please get a hold of me. 

-m 

[ccczzz]

+1 - I'm travelling in Seattle right now and Fido gives a "No Service" on my iphone - no txt, no phone call, no data - nothing available even though I double checked my Fido account has been activated with Fido Roam.

The tech support does not really helpful, they suggested to "turn on & off my iphone" - which obviously doesn't do the magic to fix the issue.

Also, since the 3 hours time zone difference, when I tried to reached out another live agent at 5 pm in Seattle, they already "out of business hours" as its already 8 pm in Eastern time.

So given the unreliable Roaming service, non-international service support - I will switch my phone service to someone else other than Fido - as I do need roaming and Fido does not support as what it claims.

[FidoSaira]

Hey @ccczzz, 

Welcome to the Fido Community!

Sorry to learn you've having trouble using Fido Roam in the States. As long as you are enrolled for the service and are close to an American tower, there's no reason it shouldn't work.

Have you tried to manually select a network from your phone's settings to see if any appears? 

Having said that, we offer multiple ways to contact us. We are available until 12 AM through our Social Media channels. Feel free to send us a private message there so we can look into this with you. Alternatively, I can send you a PM here.

Let me know what you prefer.

[ccczzz]

Hi FidoSaira,

I've tried below things:

- turn on/off my phone

- reset network settings

- turn on data roaming on my iphone

- double check Fido account with Roam activation

- manual network carriers selection (from AT&T to T-Mobile to several other carriers)

- Change data options (LTE, 3G, 2G)

- chat with Fido live agent, who confirmed my Fido account is good with fido roaming (not blocked), and then suggested turn off & on my phone, and then she saids she gonna "resend my network which requires turn off my phone again" (which afterwards I think it just an excuse to get rid of me as she is near to off work it was 5 PM Seattle time but 8 PM on EST time))

And now I'm still getting "no service" on my phone.

- 

[ccczzz]

And also FYI, I'm in Seattle downtown right now, so there should near to some American towers here.

[ccczzz]

Therefore, I couldn't imagine any other reason other than Fido makes a fake claim on its roaming service. The fido roaming DOES NOT WORKING.

[ccczzz]

I also searched a lot in Fido forum, and it seems Fido roaming sucks is a common fact. See:

https://forums.fido.ca/t5/General-Support/Cellular-data-not-working-Roaming-not-working/td-p/135573

https://forums.fido.ca/t5/General-Support/Having-problems-with-Fido-Roam/td-p/133831

https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?t=567695

[FidoJulien]

Hey @ccczzz

It seems like you've tried every possible troubleshooting step on your end.  I'll send you a PM so we can take a look at this together.

Talk to you soon!

[FidoFrancois]

Hello @YYC2,

What you're describing is certainly not the experience we aim for with our roaming service! 

To ensure we get to the bottom of this for you, can you answer and expend a bit more on those questions: 

-Have you changed your SIM card? 

-While traveling, do you set network selection to automatic or manual? 

-Did you speak with technical support after your experience in Spokane to reassess the situation? 

Let the Community know, we'll reassess from there.