Fido Roam Notification - Never Left Canada

[nick67]

"Hi, it's Fido: Welcome to the U.S.! You've got Fido Roam with your plan. So go ahead and use your data, talk and text from your plan in the U.S. for just $7/day (+ taxes). You will only be charged this daily fee up to a maximum of 15 days per billing cycle. Happy travels! Questions? Check out www.fido.ca/m/roam or reply "MORE" (it's free). To talk to us or to stop these alerts, call +1-514-933-3436 (also free)."

I was driving along Niagara Parkway in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada when I felt a notification vibration in my pocket. When I arrived at my hotel in Niagara Falls, ONTARIO, the notification was the above text message. "Welcome to the U.S."...I never went over the border to the USA. I have an iPhone running the latest iOS 12. Before leaving for the trip, I did everything I could to avoid roaming -- since iOS 12, you cannot manually select FIDO as my carrier so only option was to turn data roaming off in Settings. I will have to wait until my next billing cycle to confirm if I am charged the $7 Fido Roam fee. Understandably, I don't feel I should have to pay this fee as I never went to the USA nor did I benefit from the Fido Roam service. What more should I have done Fido?

Additional Reading: "After iOS 12 Upgrade and new Carrier update - Bam! No more Carrier selector"

https://forums.fido.ca/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/NonTechnical/thread-id/41595

[bojj80]

This is almost redundant but it's still a mystery to me whether I'm going to be billed or not, or what will incur a charge, when I get this message both by email and text EACH time I drive out the west coast of Vancouver Island past the coverage area, and still MANY miles from the US, which I do quite frequently.  [I tried to copy the message but it would not allow me to send it]

[Cawtau]

Hello Bojj80,

  Welcome to the community!

  If you're no where near the US border, it's likely the messages you received are to notify you that you are entering extended coverage (Fido-EXT) That is, your phone would be connected to one of Fido's Canadian roaming partners. There is no additional cost to use extended coverage. However, the majority of your usage would need to be on the Fido/Rogers networks. In addition, you should also note that there might be some limitations to services in extended coverage. For example, I do not believe the Data Bytes (5 free hours) can be utilised in extended coverage. It should also be noted that some plans are only available for use on the Fido/Rogers networks.

  On the other hand, if your phone inadvertently connected to a US cellular tower, you might consider making note of the location and notifying customer service that location is an issue. There are supposed to be measures in place to prevent this type of inadvertent close-border roaming. However, it's possible the culprit US cellular tower had not yet been identified as an issue.

Hope this helps 😀

Cheers

[Sharma1993]

I just got Charged 7$ for driving in Niagara Falls. When i called Fido they were like if you connected with AT&T you will get charged doesn’t matter if you were in Canada or not. When i asked them why do i have to pay for it as i never left Canada and they said i am sorry we cannot do anything about this. 
So Disappointed 

[FidoNick]

Hey @Sharma1993!

Thanks for the head's up on this. We do have measures in place to avoid accidental roaming and there shouldn't be charges for connecting to an American tower if you were within Canada.

We'll have to investigate to see what happened, if you were within Canada then there shouldn't be a charge. 

Please reach out, and one of our reps will be happy to take a look! If you prefer we check here, let us know and we'll PM you.

[FidoRanya]

Hey @nick67 , 

We hear your concerns.We're working on this as mentioned in the thread you quoted.

As for your bill, if you notice any charges or if it doesn't add up simply let us know and we'll look into it.

We won't charge you roaming for usage that was done in Canada, don't worry! 

We got you

[nick67 · Accepted solution]

@FidoRanya, I just got my latest Fido bill and you were correct! Even though I got the roaming text message, I never got charged any Fido Roam charges on my bill.

Looks like even if your phone connects to Fido's roaming partner AT&T, unless you make/receive a phone call or text, you won't be charged Fido Roam. This is great, thanks Fido