Hello Midel,
Welcome to the community!
Firstly, you should note these forums are community-driven and not intended as a venue for customer services. We do not have access to customers' accounts nor would we know the full details of your plan.
@midel wrote:
...Does this mean I can freely call and text without being charged extra? ...
Judging by the plan details you have provided, you should be able to send and receive text messages (SMS & MMS) freely while you are in Canada. With regards to calling, you should note that those 200 International minutes are generally only to certain Countries. You can get an idea of the included Countries here. As mentioned in that post, the list of included Countries may vary so you might consider verifying those Countries available with your particular promotion. If you exceed those 200 International minutes to those Countries or make calls to Countries not included in that promotion, you could incur additional long-distance charges.
**edit** As well, those specifications do not mention included calling minutes or airtime (ie Canada-wide minutes). While many of Fido's plans include unlimited Canada-wide minutes, you might consider verifying whether your plan includes the same. If your plan only includes a limited number of Canada-wide minutes, excess usage would also incur additional costs. **
@midel wrote:
... Is my Data still usable for other apps such as Google while I'm in America?
In addition, I do not believe that plan includes roaming. While some plans did include calling to, and roaming in the US, those specifications do not mention either US roaming or US calling. I do not see any current plans on the Fido.ca which include US calling and/or US roaming.
Fido Roam charges will incur if your phone uses services -- make or receive a call, send a text message or use data abroad. It should be mentioned that while receiving SMS would not incur the roaming charge, any data contained within MMS (incoming or outgoing) would be considered roaming data and charged accordingly. You should note that MMS are not solely restricted to pictures or video messages. Messages with subject headers or group messages etc are also considered MMS. It should further be noted that iMessages and RCS messages are sent (and received) as data and not as text messages (SMS). Even if the text message received is SMS, if your device is configured to provide Delivery and/or Read receipts, those would be sent as SMS or data and considered roaming usage.
If your plan does not include roaming in US, any data usage outside of Canada would likely incur roaming charges. In order to prevent unintentional roaming charges, it is generally recommended to disable data and roaming data while abroad. It should be noted that disabling those settings does not prevent roaming for voice and messaging. In addition, some manufacturers might allow some data usage to occur despite those settings (see here). That's why it is also usually recommended to enable Airplane and/or Flight modes in order to prevent unplanned roaming usage. You could then manually enable Wifi when required.
For completeness sake, it should be noted that while using Wifi for regular internet access will not incur Fido Roam charges, there seems to be some misunderstanding regarding Wifi-calling. I'm not sure how people have gotten the impression that Wifi-calling does not use the networks. However, that is not true. While the calls and messages do not transmit via cellular towers, they still use the networks via the internet gateway (see image here). The cellular towers and Wifi are merely alternate means of accessing the networks. Calls and messages would not be able to complete or get sent/received without the networks. As such, using Wifi-calling is technically using Fido services. However, they have allowed certain usage to be free from additional charges. All the messages and calls you receive (from anywhere in the world) will be taken from your plan's voice minutes and messaging limits. As well, all Wifi-calling messages and calls you make to a Canadian phone number while abroad won't incur long-distance or roaming charges (see link above).
If you did not wish to use Fido Roam, you would need to opt-out of the service. In doing so, any usage abroad would be on a pay-per-use basis. You can view those rates here. As mentioned, the forum is community-driven and not intended as a venue for customer services. If you would like to opt-out of Fido Roam, you would need to contact customer service.
Hope this helps š
Cheers
