Managing Roaming Charges While Travelling

[LoyalCustomer]

I know that if you do not want to incur any roaming charges during travel the standard default answer is to turn off all cellular data, and put your phone in airplane mode. Or even remove your Rogers sim card altogether.

Would the following setup work?

• Call Rogers and have Roam Like Home turned off for my account.
• Turn off cellular data for my Rogers esim.
• Setup a travel esim for the destination country (Japan) and turn on cellular data for only this plan.

With this setup can I expect the following?

• No charges when my phone automatically registers and attaches to the cellular network in Japan.
• If I receive a SMS text on my Rogers phone number there will be no charges. Receiving SMS texts while roaming is supposed to be free.
• No charges for data while my Rogers esim cellular data is switched off.
• No charges for an incoming call if the call is not answered
• Sending a SMS text will cost $0.75 per text (Japan pay per use).
• Using my Rogers service for voice calls will be $3.00/minute (Japan pay per use).

A couple things I am not certain about?

• Does using WiFi calling while roaming incur charges?
• If I have an incoming call and do not answer it will there be charge if a message is left in my voice mail?

Last questions: If none of this works my roaming charges will stop at $100 provided, I do not modify this amount or authorize charges to continue beyond this limit? Can this limit be lowered to say $25?

Thanks very much for any help!

[RogersMoin · Accepted solution]

Hello, @LoyalCustomer.

Thank you for being a loyal customer and a member of our Community; I appreciate your research not to incur the roaming charges. The default answer you quoted is the foolproof method not to incur any roaming charges. 😃

Would the following setup work?

Call Rogers and have Roam Like Home turned off for my account.

• Yes, you can turn off Roam Like Home. You will incur Pay Per Use charges instead. Please remember that you must keep your data roaming off constantly. Otherwise, you will incur heavy data charges. Many apps and services use data even though you may not be actively using it.

Turn off cellular data for my Rogers esim.

• You will incur Pay Per Use charges.

Setup a travel esim for the destination country (Japan) and turn on cellular data for only this plan.

• You can only have one eSIM on your phone. If your Rogers plan uses regular SIM, then please remove it.

With this setup can I expect the following?

No charges when my phone automatically registers and attaches to the cellular network in Japan.

• You will incur Pay Per Use charges, and please make sure the data roaming is off.

If I receive a SMS text on my Rogers phone number there will be no charges. Receiving SMS texts while roaming is supposed to be free.

• True.

No charges for data while my Rogers esim cellular data is switched off.

• True.

No charges for an incoming call if the call is not answered

• True.

Sending a SMS text will cost $0.75 per text (Japan pay per use).

• True.

Using my Rogers service for voice calls will be $3.00/minute (Japan pay per use).

• True.

A couple things I am not certain about?

Does using WiFi calling while roaming incur charges?

• No charges for what's covered in your plan. Please ensure your WiFi Calling feature is set up and operational before leaving the country. And you must turn off data roaming and enable AirPlane mode.

If I have an incoming call and do not answer it will there be charge if a message is left in my voice mail?

• No, unless you check your voicemail.

Last questions: If none of this works my roaming charges will stop at $100 provided, I do not modify this amount or authorize charges to continue beyond this limit? Can this limit be lowered to say $25?

• Sorry, the limit can't be lowered.

I hope all your questions are answered; let us know if you have further questions. 

Safe travels!

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[LoyalCustomer]

RogersMoin,

Thank you very much for taking the time to answer my questions! Greatly appreciated!

With my current iPhone 14 you can have several eSIMs setup at the same time. Currently, I have my Rogers eSIM and my travel eSIM. While in Canada my cellular data is set to use Rogers.

If I decide to totally turn off the Rogers service during travel, I am assuming setting “Turn On This Line” to off for the Rogers eSIM line should be equivalent to removing a physical Sim card?

Just a quick clarification:

“No charges when my phone automatically registers and attaches to the cellular network in Japan.

• You will incur Pay Per Use charges, and please make sure the data roaming is off.”

If the Rogers cellular data has been switched to off before leaving Canada there should be no Pay Per Use charges just from the phone attaching to the Japan cellular network?

I miss the days when you could purchase a simple Talk & Text travel package from Rogers for about $30. Then just turn off cellular data roaming off and everything was worry free.

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @LoyalCustomer.

I'm glad I could answer your roaming-related questions. You are right, your iPhone 14 can install several eSIMs, and two can be active simultaneously. 

If I decide to totally turn off the Rogers service during travel, I am assuming setting "Turn On This Line" to off for the Rogers eSIM line should be equivalent to removing a physical Sim card?

• Yes, you can toggle off the Rogers' line, and if possible, make the travel eSIM your Primary line for both the voice and data.

If the Rogers cellular data has been switched to off before leaving Canada there should be no Pay Per Use charges just from the phone attaching to the Japan cellular network?

• True, no charges for connecting to the network.

All the best, and enjoy your trip!

Cheers,

RogersMoin

[amitayal]

Hello there,

I have been with Rogers with 20+ years. 

Recently I went to USA for 12 days and kept airplane mode + turn off roaming all the time.

I have charged for random 6 days. Speaking to a rogers representative and now she claims the only way to prevent roam like home is to take out the sim from the phone.

I have asked her to turn off roam like home on my line and she claims not possible.

This is frustrating. If I would have known that there will be a charge irrespective, I would have used the service.

[57]

@amitayal : Did you turn Airplane mode off at any time to access say WiFi or for any other reason during your trip?

https://www.rogers.com/support/mobility/roaming-support

Also, you should be able to remove Roam like Home from your package if desired. This is different than "turning it off".  If you plan more trips to the US, Rogers has a Canada and US plan that may be of interest.

[LoyalCustomer2]

You indicated that if you have a regular SIM you must remove it. Why is this? Is there no way to turn off the data on a physical SIM? Can these same steps be used with an iPhone 12? 

[RogersJermaine]

HI @LoyalCustomer2,

In some cases, if you do turn off or disable your SIM, you may not be able to easily turn it back on. The best case scenario for users who are using an additional SIM out of country and do not want to incur any additional roaming charges from their main line would be to easily remove the physical SIM from the device.

The solution provided should work for the iPhone 12 as well. I hope this information helps!

Regards,
RogersJermaine

[VickyKer]

Are incoming text messages and OTP charged while I am traveling internationally (not USA)

[RogersMoin]

Hello, @VickyKer.

Welcome to our Community! Please see the solution post of this thread for the answer to your query. Please remember to keep your data roaming off when you toggle on/off the AirPlane mode. Safe travels!

Let us know if you have further questions.

Cheers,
RogersMoin