Roaming and data

Chip_Dale

DIS Veteran
Joined
Mar 20, 2010
Planning on turning off data and only use WIFI.. Now for roaming charges will I get charged for an incoming call I do not answer and is sent to voice mail. As long as I do not retrieve it. Can I read an incoming text without charge? I will only be charged if I send a text
 
No charges for incoming texts at all, even if you read it. Only if you send one. And I believe it's just the charge for the actual text (0.75 I think).

When my folks were in Orlando earlier this month, I would text them to check their email if I needed to contact them.
 
you should check your network website. Im from Ireland and these are the charges for me to use my phone in USA

Making a phone call = €1.11 per minute
Receiving a phone call = €1.11 per minute
Data = €10.07 per MB
Sending SMS = €0.30 per text
Receiving SMS= Free
Sending MMS = €0.25 per MMS
Receiving MMS = Free
 
I agree. I think it all depends on which carrier you're with. They all have different terms and conditions.

If you think you might want cell service in the states and don't want a huge cash outlay to do it check out ROAM mobility. You purchase their sim card put it in your phone, choose your plan and because you've taken your sim card out nothing will affect your plan at home.
 


Also be aware that if you are with a carrier that has daily roaming fees, you will be charged as soon as you register with a US cell tower. You don't need to send or receive anything.

Frustrating as I often seem to hit a US tower when driving the Thousand Islands Parkway on the Canadian side. Have to call Rogers to get them to reverse the charges as we are not roaming.
 
Also be aware that if you are with a carrier that has daily roaming fees, you will be charged as soon as you register with a US cell tower. You don't need to send or receive anything.

exactly, when I board the plane I switch my data roaming off and turn on airplane mode. I leave it like that for my entire time in America. This way when I turn my phone on in America, if there is free Wifi I will have a connection, but wont get hit with any unexpected roaming charges.
 
Also be aware that if you are with a carrier that has daily roaming fees, you will be charged as soon as you register with a US cell tower. You don't need to send or receive anything.

Frustrating as I often seem to hit a US tower when driving the Thousand Islands Parkway on the Canadian side. Have to call Rogers to get them to reverse the charges as we are not roaming.
This exact thing. I was on a cruise and had my phone on airplane mode, I accidentally turned it off for 10 seconds and was charged 12 bucks and didn't open a web browser, check my messages or texts or anything.
 


This exact thing. I was on a cruise and had my phone on airplane mode, I accidentally turned it off for 10 seconds and was charged 12 bucks and didn't open a web browser, check my messages or texts or anything.
Yeah the phones these days are always communicating back to servers without you actively doing anything.

I remember the story of the guy going to Europe with his iPhone when they first came out and got hit with 6K phone bill just from the constant server pings.
 
you may want to look at your carrier and see if they have any sort of plans for roaming. For example, Koodo has one for $8 per day that gives you the same plan as you would at home for that day and you can use it as much or little as you like. For example, if you're gone for a week you could just use it on your arrival day and then put your phone in airplane mood and turn on wifi and your good to go and you won't receive any texts or phone calls until you turn it off again.
 
Ironic that long distance charges have gone down in 30 years, but now we're paying exorbitant amounts for roaming we may or may not use. Fido is $6 a day. Over 10 days, that's $60 and I might send a couple of emails or check a map, maybe text 10 seconds to say we've arrived. It would be much cheaper to just call. Now add in two kids with phones and DH, that's $60 x 4 = $240.
 
As others have mentioned, different providers treat roaming differently.

  • many offer free incoming texts but not all do
  • as mentioned, if you don't disable "data roaming" you might get "phantom check-ins" that use data (e.g. I've seen a bunch of times, where my phone would use up a minute amount of data at 2am). This is particularly important if you have those "Roam like home" plans where you are charged a fixed rate for a day (i.e. $7 or $8 will be charged for that tiny "check-in"). iMessage appears to do this on my son's old iPhone does this all the time.
  • Without a package, data roaming in particular can be super expensive. Voice and text roaming tend to be relatively cheap so it might not be that bad if you just use it sparingly.
  • Different providers offer different packages, which, if you use it a fair amount can be worth but it's still not cheap. Many have a "per day fee" which isn't bad for a few days but does add up for. $7 or $8 per day and most charge up to 10 or 15 days (on top of your regular monthly plan charges) so two weeks of use can add $150 to your cell bill. Some providers also offer roaming packages / add-ons instead of the "daily fee" which might a better value if you don't use much (e.g. you might be able to get 100 minutes and 100 texts but no data for $25 for 15 days).
  • Using a SIM card from another provider (e.g. Roam Mobility or AT&T pre-paid or similar) can be much cheaper BUT you NEED to have an unlocked phone (by law, I believe all Canadian providers have to unlock your phone if you request it but you have to request it and I've heard they don't all want to do it if you bought the phone used or if you are no longer with that provider) and the big limitation with using another SIM is that it gives you another number. Calls and texts to your Canadian number will NOT go to your phone if you are using another SIM card (For calls, you can simply forward all your Canadian number to the new number. For texts, I do not believe that's possible but I've never looked into it).
  • Some Canadian providers do have an add-on to add Canada+USA as your home calling zone so you aren't roaming when you are in the US. If you spend more than 2 weeks per year in the US, this might be worth it (E.g. Rogers does offer this (possibly only to select customers / select packages. It's $10/month on my wife's phone but since we probably spend 4-6 weeks in the US per year, it's worth it for her).
 
Ironic that long distance charges have gone down in 30 years, but now we're paying exorbitant amounts for roaming we may or may not use. Fido is $6 a day. Over 10 days, that's $60 and I might send a couple of emails or check a map, maybe text 10 seconds to say we've arrived. It would be much cheaper to just call. Now add in two kids with phones and DH, that's $60 x 4 = $240.

I'm afraid FIDO's Roam has gone up to $7/day with being billed for the first 15 days per billing cycle up to a maximum of $105. I just checked this out a couple of days ago to add into my trip planning costs.

How old are the kids? Are they young enough that they'll be with you the whole time anyways and you could tell them they can't use their phone while in the States?

Mine are teens with part-time jobs so they will be paying the additional travel roam charges themselves for their phones.
 
I'm afraid FIDO's Roam has gone up to $7/day with being billed for the first 15 days per billing cycle up to a maximum of $105. I just checked this out a couple of days ago to add into my trip planning costs.

How old are the kids? Are they young enough that they'll be with you the whole time anyways and you could tell them they can't use their phone while in the States?

Mine are teens with part-time jobs so they will be paying the additional travel roam charges themselves for their phones.
Or to this end, just use one access.

We have Roam Like Home. I let my phone do the roaming with access to a very generous package. But to avoid the daily charges for extra phones, I set mine to be a wi-fi hotspot for the other phones and turn off their roaming. That way I am only paying one fee per day (and important people at home know to text me to get a hold of the whole family). I also use this to avoid wi-fi fees at some resorts that charge them; I just use the Rogers data I have already paid for.
 
Or to this end, just use one access.

We have Roam Like Home. I let my phone do the roaming with access to a very generous package. But to avoid the daily charges for extra phones, I set mine to be a wi-fi hotspot for the other phones and turn off their roaming. That way I am only paying one fee per day (and important people at home know to text me to get a hold of the whole family). I also use this to avoid wi-fi fees at some resorts that charge them; I just use the Rogers data I have already paid for.
Say what now? I have teens, but only one that's attached to his friends at home. The other could just use wifi and be a happy camper.

So do you mean I'd set, say my son's phone as a tether for all the others and then turn off our roaming? He will not survive the trip without contact with his friends and the only time I'll 'need' phone access will be in WDW to make FPs or check wait times.

Actually, doesn't WDW have wifi? Is it still spotty? Could I just use that? $7? Didn't it just go up to $6 a few months ago? I thought it was $5 last year for our spring break trip.
 
Or to this end, just use one access.

We have Roam Like Home. I let my phone do the roaming with access to a very generous package. But to avoid the daily charges for extra phones, I set mine to be a wi-fi hotspot for the other phones and turn off their roaming. That way I am only paying one fee per day (and important people at home know to text me to get a hold of the whole family). I also use this to avoid wi-fi fees at some resorts that charge them; I just use the Rogers data I have already paid for.

Ohh, I had not thought of that. My plan gives me 10 GB of data. Well, I'll give them the option, thanks! They can either pay $77 bucks to pay Fido. Or have an extra $77 to spend in Florida and go through my phone. Makes sense to me! Thanks for that!

Say what now? I have teens, but only one that's attached to his friends at home. The other could just use wifi and be a happy camper.

So do you mean I'd set, say my son's phone as a tether for all the others and then turn off our roaming? He will not survive the trip without contact with his friends and the only time I'll 'need' phone access will be in WDW to make FPs or check wait times.

Actually, doesn't WDW have wifi? Is it still spotty? Could I just use that? $7? Didn't it just go up to $6 a few months ago? I thought it was $5 last year for our spring break trip.

April 2017 Fido was charging $6 per day for their roam package up to 10 days maximum. We drove to Florida and back in April for a cruise so I have the cost in my cruise notes.
 
We do what bankr63 does - we allow one phone to connect via Roam like Home (with Rogers I think it's up to $7/day as well, with a max of 10-15 days? Can't recall exactly) and then the other phone has roaming turned off and connects to the first phone which has been set as a hotspot.
 
I phoned Fido today and they told me not to turn off Roam, because then any charges will be at the non-roaming price, which is much higher. They said put it on airplane mode and then manually hook up the wifi. Has anyone done it that way?

They said otherwise, as soon as I get anything incoming (and the spammers seem to have found my cell number!!!), I will be charged.
 
I phoned Fido today and they told me not to turn off Roam, because then any charges will be at the non-roaming price, which is much higher. They said put it on airplane mode and then manually hook up the wifi. Has anyone done it that way?

They said otherwise, as soon as I get anything incoming (and the spammers seem to have found my cell number!!!), I will be charged.

That is what we do when I don't expect an important call/text while on vacation. Before changing job, DH had an awesome cell phone package on his work phone (unlimited North America) so we would use (sparingly) his phone as a Wifi hotspot while on the road and then switch to Wifi at the resort/hotel. Now we have two cells with Virgin and will probably use Roam Mobility on DH's and keep mine for texts and important phone calls since it is considered our main line.
 
From Fido (via chat)

upload_2019-2-28_9-22-16.png

And when I asked about turning off Roaming, I got this reply:

upload_2019-2-28_9-23-58.png

But the good news if if you decide to pay the $7, you can do everything, just like home, including making phone calls. In my case, I have unlimited Canada-wide calling, so I could call home from the U.S. at no extra LD charge.
 

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