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US call and excess data block

VivekS1
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

Hi there,

 

I have a post-paid plan with Fido and have unlimited Canada-wide calling and 5 GB of data with my plan.

 

I have a young son at home and he plays with my phone every now and then. I want to block any features that could cause excess charge, if accidentally used by my son.

 

I have a lot of US and international contacts saved in my phone. I was able to get international calling blocked on the phone by calling Fido customer care.

 

I want to get US/Caribbean calling blocked too. I was told by the customer care that it is not possible since US and Canada share the same country code. I found this logic quite flawed. If Fido can discern the calls made to US (may be using area code) and charge me for those, why can you not block it? You must be able to block all calls made to all the area codes in US/Caribbean.

 

Second, I want to block any data usage above my plan limit. Again, I was told by the customer care that it is not possible. Once again, I don’t find it very convincing. If Fido can discern when I have gone above my data limit and charge me for that, why can you not block the data usage when it goes above the stipulated limit? Of course, I am authorizing you to do that.

 

I look forward to hearing from you on this soon.

 

Thanks

Vivek

16 REPLIES 16

nosoup1925
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

Hello,

 

Did any of you get any further response on this? I completely disagree with Fido that US calls can't be disabled. If you are charging customers for something, you should be able to identify and have the ability to disable in the first place. Also, I had Bell's service prior to Fido and they had disabled US calling. So, it's hard for me to believe why Fido won't be able to do that. This is outrageous that you charge customers for US calling but don't provide a way to either disable for identify US numbers. Ideally either calls to US should be fully disabled by default or there should be a warning at the time of calling that tells users that they will be charged for long-distance on calling those specific US numbers.

lnmtho
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

42 area codes in Canada and you can't filter them. And you'd charge your customers for what you are unable to resolve yourselves given the initial "agreement" that their call minutes are Canada wide only. 

Hi @VivekS1 , after reading all the solutions offered here, I had a thought. Why don't you give your child an old phone without a SIM in it until they reach an age that they understand what the cell phone does? My sister did that with my niece and it made for a financially and mentally happier life for my sister. Just a thought,  I know it doesn't answer all the technicalities that you are looking for but might be a solution to letting your child play with your device. All the best 



FidoPhilippe
Moderator
Moderator

Hey @VivekS1! Welcome to the community. Smiley

 

I can certainly understand your concerns, given you have a young child to watch over. I'll be happy to clarify things regarding our service restrictions for you.

 

With regards to our long distance restrictions, they do do block area codes. They actually restrict the use of the + or 011, in the case of international long distance, or the 1, in the case of North American long distance. Those are the limitations of our service restrictions for long distance.

 

As for data, we do offer a courtesy block at $50 of the account. However, you can also monitor your usage anytime through various methods found here. Our service restrictions there are limited to blocking all data access.

 

There's also a number of things you can do on most phones to restrict or shut-off access to it. For example, most android phones do have a feature to block data after a certain threshold is reached.

 

I hope all this helps!



VivekS1
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

Hi Phillipe,

 

Thanks for your response.

 

1. If Fido can ascertain which calls have been made to US and charge me for those, it MUST be able to block them too. I am still unclear why can you not block US calling. Please give me a better explanation.

 

2. You dodged the question I asked and gave me another piece of information that I know already. My question to Fido is: Why can't you just block the data when it goes above my limit? 

 

Thanks

Vivek

Gceraj
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

FIDO don't care about customer service, they just want to make money out of you.

Hello VivekS1,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 


@VivekS1 wrote:... If Fido can ascertain which calls have been made to US and charge me for those, it MUST be able to block them too. I am still unclear why can you not block US calling. Please give me a better explanation.

  I understand that intuitively, it might seem possible to just block calls made to the US. However, it is not feasible for the phone companies to do so. Note that it is not just a Fido issue. The blocking outgoing International calls does not block calls to US from Canada (or to Canada from US) with all the telecommunications providers -- landline or mobile (see here).

 

  The reason is because both Canada and the US use the same North American Numbering Plan (NANP). In fact, blocking International calls also won't block calls to the other 24 Countries either because they all use the same Country Calling code, 1. Blocking that Country code would also block calls within Canada.

 

  While it might seem reasonable to block area codes, it's not feasible. Within the NANP, there are at least 380 area codes -- 338 outside of Canada. Significant resources would be required to scan through the area codes prior to every call. In addition, as populations grow, area codes are continually being added.

 

  Have you considered enabling Airplane or Flight mode prior to giving it to your young child to play with? That way, they won't be able to accidentally make any calls. If your child needs Wifi, you can manually enable it when required.

 

Hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers

 

 


VivekS1
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

Thanks CawTau.

 

1. So are you telling me that all the cellular service plans available in Canada, that of course have feature to call within Canada, automatically enable the users to call US as well? I would doubt that very highly. Once again, my question is if Fido can ascertain which calls have been made to US and charge me specifically for that, why can you not block the same calls? I'm sure Fido already has resources in place to identify the calls made outside Canada, haven't you? Alternatively, just allow the calls made to all the area codes within Canada and block anything not falling within those area codes. Finally, if you cannot block the calls made to US, make it free for me. I just don't want to pay for any feature that I don't want to use.

 

2. I still haven't got the answer to my second request. Why can't Fido block any data overuse above my specified limit?

 

Thanks

Vivek

 

somabhaip-81
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

Hi Vivek,

Did you get any luck with this? I have same problem and I dont want to get charged for accidential US calling, we get so many spam and miss calls and my accident call back number not knowing that it's going to end up in US with extra charges and yes I dont want to block my Canada wide calling.

Hello Somabhaip-81,

 

  Welcome to the community!

 

  As explained previously in this thread, it is not possible to block calls to the US without blocking calls within Canada because they have the same Country code. If you wish to prevent accidental calls to the US, you would need to verify the phone number's area code belongs to Canada.

 

Hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers

 


Hello again,

 


@VivekS1 wrote:..my question is if Fido can ascertain which calls have been made to US and charge me specifically for that, why can you not block the same calls? ..

  There's a difference between being able to identify a call destination location after a call has been connected and trying to identify the call destination before the calls get connected. Yes, once the calls connect, they will know to where the call connected. The issue is being able to identify the call destination before the call actually goes through. As mentioned above, significant resources would be required to scan through the area codes prior to every call. Even if they scanned for Canadian area codes, that's still at least 42 area codes -- and that doesn't include the most recent additions. It is not feasible to scan area codes before the calls connect.

 

  As previously mentioned, it affects all of the telecommunications providers, both landline and mobile.

 

  You have been given an answer to your second query:

 


@FidoPhilippe  wrote:...Our service restrictions there are limited to blocking all data access...

  You're not going to get a different answer. They're complying with the Wireless Code regarding data overages.

 

Hope this helps 😀

 

Cheers

 

 


VivekS1
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

Hi there,

 

I am not satisfied with any of your responses.

 

I'd like to escalate it further. Please let me know the process the file a formal complaint within Fido.

 

Thanks

Vivek

Hi @VivekS1,

 

I assure you, the right and correct information was provided by both @Cawtau and @FidoPhilippe. Their posts explained how both the long distance calling and data systems work in full details.

 

With that said, I'll be sending you a PM to review this with you.

 

Talk to you soon. 

 

 



VivekS1
I'm a participant level 3
I'm a participant level 3

Thanks Francois.

 

I have filled out the form. That form didn't give me an option to reply so I could not drop you a PM. I'd prefer you drop me an email. If you have to call me, please DON'T call me on the Fido number. Please check my profile and call me on the number I have listed it there. I look forward to hearing from you.

 

Thanks

Vivek

Thank you for the follow up! 

 

I'd need the remainder of your information through PM though. Here's an article with the steps to continue in PM. Smiley

 

Talk to you soon! 

 

 



janugerman1
I'm a participant level 1
I'm a participant level 1

oh my god,  42 million area codes in canada...that's a lot of numbers to  scan before rejecting calls  outisde them. ...LoL....