call forwarding and roaming charge while travel USA

[vixvi]

my family will travel US tomorrow, my cell got a travel package including minutes, msg and data, if my wife's phone set Uncondition call forwarding to my cell phone and keep it on, it will be charge roaming when sb call her cell phone?

[Amanda1 · Accepted solution]

Hey Everyone! 

I just came across this post and I wanted to provide some clarification. Both 10yearfido and Roskov are correct. You would not be billed any roaming charges for unconditional call forwarding as long as this is set up before you leave Canada. This is because the calls never come directly to the phone. If you were to set up conditional call forwarding however, roaming charges would apply because the call comes to the phone first and then are routed to another number using the foreign network. 

Hope this helps!

[tungstenT]

Just chat with fido rep not long ago.

This is my understanding.

You do not billed ROAMING charges, BUT....If you answer the forwarded call with the US number, you will be charged LONG DISTANCE, along with MINUTES used.

Is this correct??

[Cawtau]

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@tungstenT wrote:

Just chat with fido rep not long ago.

This is my understanding.

You do not billed ROAMING charges, BUT....If you answer the forwarded call with the US number, you will be charged LONG DISTANCE, along with MINUTES used.

Is this correct??

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Hello TungstenT,

  Firstly, call forwarding to a number outside of of your local calling area will incur long distance charges (see here). So having calls forwarded to a US number would incur long distance charges.

 Unless you have included call forwarding minutes, they will be charged at the pay-per-use rate of 20¢ per minute (see here). They will not be deducted from your minutes in your monthly plan.

  With regards to roaming, unless you have Fido Roam or a travel package, the following pay-per-use rates would apply:

Voice Rate: $1.45/minute

Text Rate: $0.75/sent text

Data Rate $7.99/day for up to 50MB

  So my understanding would be:

Unconditional call forwarding: Long distance + 20¢ per minute

Conditional call forwarding: Long distance + 20¢ per minute + $1.45/minute (or Roam/travel pack minutes)

 Anyone else have some thoughts?

Cheers

[FidoStephane]

If her phone is also in the US, yes. If her phone is in Canada regular forwarding applies. Some plans include call forwarding, some don't. You can verify if you have that service by consulting your profile on Fido.ca. 

[10yearfido]

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@FidoStephane wrote:

If her phone is also in the US, yes. If her phone is in Canada regular forwarding applies. Some plans include call forwarding, some don't. You can verify if you have that service by consulting your profile on Fido.ca. 

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if we are talking about UNconditional callforwarding, then I don't think that is correct. If call forwarding is enabled before she leaves Canada, then even if she brings her phone with her, the calls never get routed to her phone in the US because UNconditional call forwarding would kick in on the Canadian side. If the call is never routed to the US network, how could there be US roaming charges?

Conditional Call Forwarding might be slightly different, but even then one could argue that the calls were never terminated on the US network and so roaming should not apply, but I am sure there are counter arguements to that.

[Roskov]

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@10yearfido wrote:

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@FidoStephane wrote:

If her phone is also in the US, yes. If her phone is in Canada regular forwarding applies. Some plans include call forwarding, some don't. You can verify if you have that service by consulting your profile on Fido.ca. 

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if we are talking about UNconditional callforwarding, then I don't think that is correct. If call forwarding is enabled before she leaves Canada, then even if she brings her phone with her, the calls never get routed to her phone in the US because UNconditional call forwarding would kick in on the Canadian side. If the call is never routed to the US network, how could there be US roaming charges?

Conditional Call Forwarding might be slightly different, but even then one could argue that the calls were never terminated on the US network and so roaming should not apply, but I am sure there are counter arguements to that.

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^This. I was searching everywhere for a clear answer. Everywhere the answer was you will be charged but it makes no sense since if it is unconditional call forwarding, the call should never even come to your phone. Somewhere on rogers forums I found a guy telling that the switch is made at the roaming country, which means that roaming charges apply and that the only way to avoid this would be to put the phone in airplane mode. This way the network will never even know that you are outside Canada. I guess he was talking about conditional call forwarding which would make sense, since the call goes to your phone and then since you don't answer it is sent elsewhere.

But since you are giving the answer by experience I guess you are right.

Bottom line, unconditional call forwarding no roaming charges. Conditional call forwarding roaming charges apply.

[10yearfido]

And I am speaking of this from experience. I have US long distance and call forwarding on my account. Whenever I go to the US, I bring my phone with me but set forwarding to my US number before I leave Canada. I have never been charged for US roaming, nor would I expect to be. I've also done this (my US number is a VOIP number) when travelling to Europe, Mexico and the Caribbean and have never seen roaming charges. I tend to use local SIMs when I travel, but until I pick up a local SIM, my Fido SIM is in my phone in the other country.