Roaming like home?

[Aidansamso]

So I’ve been on vacation for well over 2 weeks now and I turns out that I’ve been charged for roam like home EVERYDAY since I’ve been gone! On my plan it says international texts are unlimited and I have not used data once! How am I supposed to afford 400$ what a rip off, your guys support number takes hours to pick up, I’m supposed to be on vacation enjoying myself now I gotta worry about this stupid scam. If this doesn’t get fixed I know I’ll be taking my business elsewhere

*Added Labels*

[DBH2]

I've experienced this issue with Roger's aswell and they offered no assistance when I tried to have it corrected.
I'd take my services elsewhere for sure!! I'm in the process of switching all my current Roger's services elsewhere

[LordDrakkon]

International texting that probably is from Canada only. When leaving the country, jeep your device in Airplane Mode and only turn on WiFi to use WIFI Calling for calls and texts. RCS and iMessage both use data to text, which uses data.

[57]

@Aidansamso  and @DBH2 :  Whenever you travel internationally, there are things that you need to have in order, like Passports, Visas, Immunizations and how you plan to use your cell phone.

There are ways to completely avoid Roaming charges:

1. Put your phone in airplane mode and leave it that way.  You can still enable/use WiFi in this mode.

2. Turn your phone off.

3. Remove the SIM from your phone.

4. Contact Rogers and ask them to remove Roam Like Home from your plan.

There are ways to minimize roaming charges.

5. Purchase a SIM for the area(s) you are visiting.

6. Use Roaming only on occasional days, not every day.

You would have received a text from Rogers saying you are roaming and to check the charges when roaming.  

Here's a link on Roaming:

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

Remember, it is your responsibility to check on this since each person may have a different set of preferences.  Also, roaming is similar with other service providers, but each has their own set of rules and charges.

If you don't do one of the above, you will likely encounter charges, regardless of other phone settings because some apps override cell preference and some apps do automatic downloads or use location services or some other function that causes them to be in touch with a cell tower in the international location.  As soon as the phone "sees" an international cell tower, there will be charges. One way to tell is if you don't see "Rogers" at the top of the phone but rather a service provider from the country you are visiting.

One other thing - I believe roaming days are measured based on Eastern Time Zone, so if you're in a different time zone and go past "midnight" Eastern Time, you will be charged for 2 days.

[Runswithscissor]

I’m in the same situation. What other provider would be better? It’s only Rogers or Bell, and their parasites?

[NotCellSavvy]

You are so right!  the only reason we stayed with SHAW, was because of their awesome customer service.  their CHAT was unbelievable.  an Agent within 1 minute.  so far, with Rogers, i've waited at least 3-1/2 Hours on the CHAT and finally disconnected.  Go into the shaw service center in Surray, to get some answers about how roam from home works, and the agent said "I don't travel, so I don't know", and recommended calling customer support.  Pardon me, but I thought that's what they were, in the service center?  I'm with you.  when the contract ends in 2027, if this doesn't change, looking at options

[ktmm]

I just turned off roam like home after got charged for 2 days from international travel. Went on chat after login, very quick pickup by agent and confirmed that roam like home is off and i sent transcript to myself so i got hard copy confirmation.

[rajavenkit]

Well, this has happened only with Roger's and not Telus. Also, I get an old email of Roger's interaction from 2023 sent to my email again on 28/07/2024 when I was travelling. Very suspicious. Unfortunately, I am not a developer to check the code to pinpoint which application / configuration in Android is resetting my settings

[ServiceMatters]

Recently travelled and placed my phone on airplane mode which should block any roaming fees. Charged Roam Like Home as well as long distance calls. They claim they sent a message that I had attained $50 of roaming fees which I never received. Losing a customer over $200 credit. Accusing me of not placing the phone on airplane mode, that I accidentaly deleted their message. All false claims. So to add to the fees they are now accusing me of being a liar. I have no issues paying for legitimate fees but this type of customer service is unacceptable. And keeping me on hold for hours when I am asking to send me the boxes and lables to return the phones to cancel my services for all four lines does not help you keep me as a customer. 

[LordDrakkon]

Did you place your device in Airplane Mode before leaving Canada and did it remain in Airplane Mode until you returned to Canada? Were you using any sort of apps to makes calls and texts over WiFi. Like WhatsApp? WhatsApp and some other popular apps have the ability to take your device out of AirPlane Mode and can even hand off a call made in the app to your carrier, on both WiFi and cellular.

[ServiceMatters]

Had Roaming on for the day I arrived only, the remaining days it was placed on Airplane Mode. I did use what's app however always on wifi. Had I received the message stating that I had attained $50 I would have been alerted that something was wrong but I never received anything. Once I arrived back and removed airplane mode I was flooded with messages that had been sent but even then I had nothing from Rogers.

[ServiceMatters]

CRTC and consumer protection need to be advised on these tactics as clearly they are finding ways to bypass the law by advising customers of roaming fees invoiced.

[LordDrakkon]

WhatsApp is more than likely the issue outside of whatever the charge is for the initial day. WhatsApp has permissins to hand of calls and messages to cellular, even when the device is in Airplane Mode. WhatsApp is aware of this and with tens of thousands of complaints, has done nothing.
One of the reasons I run GrapheneOS on Pixel devices and use things like Shizuku on others like my s23 Ultra, is to remove these permissions that are normally not accessible by the user.

[ServiceMatters]

If this is a known issue, shouldn’t the CRTC and Roger’s advise their customers of this known issue?

[_Pyo]

This is an absolutely ridiculous and exploitative practice imposed by Rogers. I have filed an official complaint on this matter.

[57]

@_Pyo and @ServiceMatters : Please check out the following two threads on this topic.  All service providers have similar "rules" and this is not limited to Rogers, rather customers need to familiarize themselves with roaming before leaving on their travels:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Account-Support/Roaming-like-home/m-p/518044/highlight/true#M3...

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Network-Coverage/Understanding-How-Roaming-Works/m-p/531963

[DM20241]

This service is frustrating, and there's no way to turn it off. I was travelling with my family, and we activated the roaming service on just one device. However, we discovered that all of our phones experienced roaming changes. No matter what we tried—turning on airplane mode and disabling cellular data—we still ended up with an automatic connection. I am seriously considering leaving Rogers.

[57]

@DM20241 : As discussed in the links in the post above yours, it is possible to avoid Roam Like Home charges.

Turning on Airplane mode should do the trick since your phone cannot connect to a tower.  Did you leave airplane mode on for several days, or the entire trip for example?  As soon as you turn off airplane mode, even briefly, the phone may connect to a foreign cell tower and you may be charged for RLH.  Taking out the Rogers SIM also works, as well as turning the phone off.

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@DM20241 wrote:
...we activated the roaming service on just one device.    I am seriously considering leaving Rogers.

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I don't know what you mean by this. RLH is active on post-paid phones/plans, unless you call Rogers before you leave to turn RLH off.  Most providers have similar charges and Bell even charges more in some instances.

[markahummel]

Rogers is now saying must turn roaming off AND airplane mode with wifi on.  This must be relatively new, as in the past all I had to do was turn roaming off.

[57]

@markahummel This is not really new, although you may have been able to get away with only turning roaming off due to the apps on your particular phone.  There are many ways to trigger roaming charges - Read the links in my post above (link again below) for additional information:

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Account-Support/Roaming-like-home/m-p/518044/highlight/true#M3...

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Network-Coverage/Understanding-How-Roaming-Works/m-p/531963

[mermaidme]

Exactly my experience today at the Rogers centre at Gerrard and Victoria park in Toronto.  The agent I saw this morning said exactly the same thing, I don't really know!!!!  What are they getting paid for?  If you don't know then you look it up or ask someone else you work with if they can help you, you don't just say I don't know.  He also told me that roaming "should work" on a cruise ship.  Well I studied the roaming page and it is not offered on a cruise ship.  I went back to tell him and got his supposed boss Max who told me that theoretically it should work!  OMG these guys are totally out to lunch.  I said well let's read the policy together because you are actually misinforming people who will pay for it big time.  He refused and said he knew what he was doing.  Really?  Why not sit down with me and show me that in writing then?