Outrageous roaming charge from ROGER cell phone

[92_VTEC_lude]

so I went to Seatle for vacation last month my ROGER cell phone bill comes to an outrageous amount of $350 because ROGER is charging

1 min talk time in Seatle = air time charge 95 cent/min + roaming charge 95 cent/min + long distance 25 cent/min:thumbsdow

with my 2 phone numbers on the same bill that would add up to a big fat bill very quickly
I can undestand the roaming charge but not for 95cent/min
also WTF with air time charge 95 cent/min when Seatle is liked 10 hours drive from here.
and WTH with long distance 25 cent/min when all the call was coming from Calgary for myself and my daughter.

I am freaking furious with these outrageous charge after calling :guns: ROGER to tell them to kiss my ass goodbye on the rest of the contract. so just want to let people know next time you even thinking of vacation anywhere in Canada (roaming charge 30cent/min) or US to LEAVE YOUR CELL PHONE at home unless you are rich and have a lot of money to waste....
I have been a roger customer for over 10 years and remember going through a lot roger phase from 10cent/min to no charge roaming and this is got to be my last time from using roger as my cell phone carrier.... Here I come BELL or TELUS....

[5hift]

Yeah I remember getting raped by telus last time I went to California as well.

[DepTrotter]

roaming charge as in?.. costing money to have your cellphone on out of city?

[benyl]

haha, I can't believe people don't know about this before they go.

[vietdood]

Originally posted by benyl
haha, I can't believe people don't know about this before they go.

lol i know. i thought it would be common sense that roaming with a cell phone is going to be expensive.

[5hift]

^^
Or it could be you needed to use your phone, and didnt care about the charges.

[dkny]

I remember when Fido was Fido, there was no roaming charge to use the phone in US. It was great. 20 cents a minute as a long distance charge apply only. Now is Roger and they love to do this kind of thing to max out their profit.

Too bad, not enough people support Fido those days.

I dont know whether Telus or Bell is any better.

[Zero102]

The air time charge is due to the local provider billing rogers for using a foreign phone on their network. That one has nothing to do with Rogers. Sucks, but if you're using somebody else's network they are allowed to bill you for it. The rules are different in the US.
The roaming change is strange. I know that I can go anywhere in Canada and not pay roaming, but I wasn't sure about the US. Good to know, and thanks for the heads up.

The long distance charges.... I take it you called a (403) number? If you call a number that is local to where you are roaming you should not get charged long distance.

That said, when I bought my 951 in NYC I often used my cell phone on the return trip. I racked up ~100-125 minutes while en-route to Calgary, scattered across the US and Canada. I expected a massive bill from Bell (my provider at the time) when I got home, but only paid an extra $65 ontop of my regular monthly rate. It was pretty reasonable.

On the other hand, I just took a trip to Kelowna, BC a couple weeks ago. I used my phone for better than 200 minutes out there, all local (within the 250 area code) calls, and I didn't pay an extra cent.

[Ajay]

I work for a Telus Mobility dealership and I'm sure Rogers works the same way as Telus.

Unless you're on a North America specific plan you're going to pay roaming charges when you go to the US. The plan doesn't go with you as soon as you cross the border. When you cross the border you're roaming on a provider in which Rogers/Fido/Bell/Telus has a roaming agreement with. As per this agreement the roaming partner charges Rogers/Fido/Bell/Telus X amount of dollars for allowing the phone to work on their network. In return YOUR provider charges you when you are using your phone on the roaming partner's network.

It kinda bewilders me when people come into my store and figure they won't be charged long distance for using their phone outside of their local calling area and well the US is long distance!

I know with Telus you do not pay roaming charges within Canada but you DO pay long distance charges which are usually around 25 cents per minute. When you cross into the US you pay $1.45/min (95 cents per min roaming and 50 cents per min long distance) unless you are on a North America specific plan.

The fact that Seattle is only 10 hours away doesn't make any difference. It's still in another country using different cell towers (roaming partners) thus the roaming charges apply. I've had customers come in who live in small towns close to the US border have roaming charges on their bills because once in awhile their phone will pick up a tower on the US side rather than a Telus tower.

[Shaolin]

would an unlocked phone save you some cash on the roaming?

[soupey]

no^


i never got charged using my phoen for text messages in the UK, im on rogers...

im sure if i used it to make/recieve calls i wouldve been raped by roaming charges like crazy tho.

[benyl]

Originally posted by Shaolin
would an unlocked phone save you some cash on the roaming?

Why would that make a difference. An unlocked phone simply allows you to use your phone on any GSM network.

The only advantage an unlocked phone has is that you can get a local SIM chip and use the local service.

[88CRXGUY]

That is right leave your cell phone at home, the rates are stupidly high. Spend a couple of bucks and get a pre-paid calling card for north america, then all that you spend is bettween 5 - 10 cents a mintue. You don't have to worry about roaming charges, and any cell phone company raping you in the ass...

[silvercivicsir]

next time on rogers, ask for the Us Roaming Add on plan BEFORE you go down.. you'll save a bundle of cash.. however you must get the add on plan BEFORE you go into the states..

dollars Minutes overage
$40 60 95¢
$60 120
$75 240
$120 480
$170 720
$320 1,440

[HRD2PLZ]

I took my Rogers BlackBerry to Vegas with me in July. Of course I knew it would cost a little more (especially the Data) but its well worth the convenience imo. I think my bill only worked out to be $35 more than usual.

I do remember though, that different carriers had different roaming charges... there was about 3 different networks my phone bounced between while in the Vegas area.

[bigboom]

so if you use a calling card with your cell does that prevent you from roaming charges?

[silvercivicsir]

Nope, you have Long distance charges, however your still paying Air time, which is about 95 cents a minute..



Originally posted by bigboom
so if you use a calling card with your cell does that prevent you from roaming charges?

[Xtrema]

Originally posted by bigboom
so if you use a calling card with your cell does that prevent you from roaming charges?

No, roaming charges is for accessing the cell network.

The only way to avoid roaming is to buy a pay-as-you-go type SIM card for use in the area you're travelling. At least that'll be cost certain.

It costed me $21 for 3 5min phone calls in Virginia.

[RobTheGob]

Roaming charges between countries (and providers) have always been very high.

I've been on Rogers Pay-As-You-Go for years now and have never been able to use my phone in the US, regardless of charges...

I changed to GSM phones (from TDMA) about a year ago and figured that I'd try to get a US SIM card on a recent trip. I bought a T-Mobile SIM card on eBay for less than $12 shipped (with about 150 national minutes) - and it worked great. I even had voice mail waiting for me when I first got service in the US. Only downside is that I had to have a different number for use in the US - but I suspect that I could have forwarded my CDN phones to it.

I did have to unlock our phones first (Motorola V300 and V60). On the ferry back to Canada - just swapped my Roger SIM back in and powered back up.

Might be worth a look if you have an unlocked GSM phone on your next trip...