Extended coverage

[Jd87]

My husband works out of town and he received a message saying his extended converge will be blocked. Now I am at home with a newborn and can't get a hold of my husband because of this !!!! He works in a rogers coverage area, he's gone for weeks at a time so what happens if I have an emerenrgy here or he has one there and I can't contact him because you blocked his extended coverage because your cell towers suck! How's that his fault, he's in YOUR coverage area yet he can't use his phone! We've both called to have this block lifted so he can use his phone, he has a family and a newborn and we can't talk or text I have no idea what's happening with him and he has no idea what's going on here! And you know the repose your agents gave us "Well maybe rogers isn't the company for you and you should switch (and pay $600 to do so). Really Rogers!! That's how you treat your customers by telling them you're not the company for us and to switch? We did switch to your company after years of being with another and this is what kind of service we get. Why should we switch he is in your coverage area, your putting a block on his phone because even though he's where you service it sucks so now we all suffer because of it. Very poor service both with your phones and your "customer service" if you can call it that!
Please contact me to get this resolved, I can't to weeks without talking to my husband not knowing if he's ok , and what if something happens here??
None of your agents seemed to care, maybe whoever is reading this message will.

***Edited Labels***

[RogersPrasana]

Hi @Jd87

Welcome to the Community Forums!

I can definitely understand how inconvenient this experience must be for you. Unfortunately, the block cannot be removed, but if your husband is in a Rogers coverage area his device would be able to connect on it's own or the device can manually search for a network to connect to.

RogersPrasana

[Jd87]

You would think that would happen, on your coverage area map the area he's in is yellow.. that would mean service but nothing, I've tried calling him all morning and nothing!
And why after 6 months of him being there is this just being blocked now? You would think it would have happened in his first month , so what changed on your end?

[gp-se · Accepted solution]

http://www.rogers.com/web/support/wireless/coverage/2178?setLanguage=en

I'm guessing he spent the majority of his time using the phone on Extended Coverage so Rogers blocked access.

[b-ry]

@Jd87

It sounds like your husband is working in a Rogers fringe area. The data coverage maps are meant to give a general sense of coverage, but other factors can come into play, weather, data traffic, etc. and sometimes your phone will switch over to Rogers-EXT --

I don't have EXT coverage as my plan is grandfathered -- but know of other Rogers and Fido customers with similar stories.

There is one thing you can try.... the steps will vary depending if you have Android or iPhone.

By default the phone should be set to select the strongest carrier signal it can get --- most of the time it will be Rogers.
But sometimes, it will connect to EXT even when a Rogers signal is present due to various factors.
This can be override,

Goto the Cellular Settings/Cellular Networks on the phone (I'm referring to Android, iPhone will be somewhat different)
Then goto Network Operators.

By default it should be set to "Choose Automatically" but if you go 'Search Networks' it will pull all the networks it can find -- and if Rogers has signal in the area, you can select that and it will force onto Rogers' network and your husband should be able to contact you.
Otherwise, if you cannot find Rogers as a network (not rogers, or rogers ext) then that "trick" won't work for you.

Secondly, there is another option. It is called WiFi Calling -- iPhones and some Android Phones have this enabled. It uses a WiFi network to connect calls and texts -- so if you have a phone capable of this and WiFi at the jobsite, this too might be an option as it doesn't rely on a traditional cellular network.

Hope that helps, if you have any other questions, feel free to reach out, I'll try to help out --

[Linford]

Very frustrating. We have the same problem. Stock answer. The block cannot be removed. Everybody that has this issue needs to make a little more noise. This block could easily be removed. Just nobody apparently has the authority or the willingness to remove it. I'll say this much for Rogers. Upon request they credited my monthly service fee for the duration of the block. This is simply the result of large corporations not being willing to cooperate with each other and everyone loses because of it.

[Josemanzune]

Rogers EXT. is a problem, if you have an Android OS (ie: Samsung, BB. Priv, Google etc.) with a Rogers tiny SIM card. I found this out by process of elimination. I tried my BB priv with Rogers SIM, and it DIDN'T work on Ext. but it DID work with the BELL SIM card. My family have iPhones and they have never been a problem, because it's not an ANDROID OS, even though they have ROGERS tiny SIM cards. I have also experienced EXT. issues in the US, with AT&T-ROGERS EXT. using ANDROID OS with SIM CARD Combo. Everything is fine in Metropolitan Areas, but when you leave these AREAS, and EXT. shows, the phone is no longer on line. Another thing: if you are in an EXT. area with WI FI around, turn OFF NETWORK with WI FI on Only. I now have 2 phones just in case: BB Priv with Bell Sim and an iPhone with Rogers Sim and they both work great in EXT. areas.

[rweather]

Although it is annoying that Rogers can block extended coverage access it does make sense from a business prospective because if Rogers gave customers unlimited extended coverage access then Bell and Telus wouldn't get any customers and vice versa.

[Linford]

I disagree. From a business perspective they both stand to gain by being as cooperative as possible. Unless you mean being able to force customers to buy 2 plans when 1 would cut it. At the very least they should offer an extended roaming package for customers who live and work within extended coverage areas.

[toolcubed]

Contact Office of the President to put in a complaint.  If Bell/Telus offer better coverage where your husband works (and without even knowing the location, I'll take a fairly confident guess that they do), then get the Office of the Pres agent to waive the early cancellation fees, and switch to a more reliable provider.  If native Rogers coverage is poor to non-existent, and they've blocked EXT, there should be no problem getting the cancellation fees dropped.

[BS]

The catch 22 in this one is that usually the cancellation fees on cell phone plans arise from the remaining fees on the phone, so you are just ending up owning the phone earlier (in general).

Also, just wondering, once you are past the permitted extended time and you can't get it free - is there no way to treat it as long distance roaming? Just wondering.

Bruce

[Linford]

They say no. There is currently no option in Canada for 'roaming'. It all under their ext coverage or nothing. Don't tell anyone this. In our case it was a temporary situation so we just bought another sim card from Rogers and 'brought our own phone' so no unlock fees. And now we can go another few weeks until the situation clears. Another option is to get our phone unlocked and just get a sim card from Bell/Telus to use with this phone but that would have cost another 50$.

[BS]

The requirements around the wholesale roaming rates in Canada was initially defined in legislation and managed by the CRTC and CCTC.

This is one to take to the federal representative for communications and indicate the hardship it is creating.  It was a great concept in that it provides for limited free roaming in Canada, but provides no solution for those who fall between the cracks like described here.

I like the idea of multiple sim cards - this is part of the reason I unlock phones now - it can create some problems with advanced feature sets baked in and managed by the cell provider, like WIFI calling and others, but in general, most can work ok.  I do my unlocks either online or local kiosk in a mall.  Much cheaper, and dispite all the talk of risks, I have only had one fail - just don't try it multiple times as you only get 10 - and work with a known company that refunds money if it fails.  The only one that failed was when my phone was 10 months into contract and Rogers had not released the IEME to the unlocking database - I would have had to go to Rogers, tell them to release it as per CRTC rules, and then go back to the company.  The company I did it with would do that for me, but decided not to as I got my daughter's old phone, unlocked it as she owned it for 11.00 Canadian - no problems at all.

Bruce

[Ewray89]

Roaming in canada!?!?!? (post merged)

I'm extremely upset I have paid off a phone with rogers and have two other phones currently under contract. I am being treated horribly I have lived at my house for 8 months and my other line got cut off no warning or nothing for roaming!! Suspended 30 days no exceptions no one is helping or wanting to fix this problem it never happened before this is false advertising biggest network in Canada??? I'm canceling both my phones if this isn't fixed phone me ASAP or I'm going else where.

[Ewray89]

On top of that your rep sold me one of the phones knowing full we it wasn't in your coverage area this is ludicrous

[RogersYasmine]

Hello, @Ewray89!

Thank you for joining us here in the forums and for posting your concern! We are sad to hear that you haven't been having the best experience with us recently. Your satisfaction is very important to us!

Based on your description of your issue, it sounds like the device that was cut off for 'roaming' may have been accessing an Extended Coverage area. We would need to have a closer look at your account to verify if this is true for your situation. 

Just to further explain, Extended Coverage allows our customers access to our partners’ networks for talk, text and data services across Canada when they are outside of the Rogers network coverage area. When you enter an Extended Coverage area you will see EXT, TELUS or a roaming indicator on your device screen and this is how you will know you are using the service.

Although there is no additional charge for this option, it is important to note that access to Extended Coverage areas is meant for occasional use only, and should not represent the majority of your usage for voice, data and/or text. We still need to make sure you’re using the regular Rogers network most of the time (50% +).

After 3 consecutive months of high Extended Coverage usage, a text message is sent to that specific phone number reminding them of our acceptable use policy. After 4 consecutive months of high usage, customers are blocked from accessing Extended Coverage for a minimum of 30 days. A notification of the restriction is provided at least 24 hours before the restriction is applied to give them a heads up. Customers may be permanently blocked from access to Extended Coverage if they continue to be identified as high usage. The Extended Coverage policy is outlined in the Rogers brochure, your wireless service agreement, as well as on rogers.com for your reference. 

For coverage area information, you may visit: rogers.com/coverage 

If you would like for us to review your account details to confirm if this is what is causing the block on your line, please do send us a Private Message @CommunityHelps and we will be happy to have a look! For more information on how our Private Messaging system works, please check out our blog.

Thank you,

RogersLaura

[Linford]

I fully understand what you're saying. At issue is the fact that customers are locked for 2 years into a contract so are not easily able to change providers if their job or other circumstances take them into a region that is not fully covered by Rogers. (EXT areas.) So ultimately, this fair use policy which is meant to result in "fair treatment." Is only fair for the big boys, namely the telecommunication companies, and very little about this system is in fact fair for the end user. As I said in an earlier post. If you're willing for the inconvenience of a new telephone number, there are temporary work arounds. But ultimately, there needs to be an option for customers to opt out of a contract in case urgent or important circumstances take them into an area not serviced by their phone company, or the phone companies need to cooperate with their service sharing like they do with their pricing plans. 

[Tiggerroo]

Same for us. My mobile (main #) not affected. Only husband's as the 2nd # on account. Best solution offered... Rogers says get a Bell phone. OMG. Have spent 3+ hours on 4 calls. Rogers says Bell to blame as we're "stealing services" from their tower. Which is 8 km away so get spotty service out here all the time. And home phone/internet/satellite all on Bell. Bell says they can't block phones, as it's illegal so it's Rogers fault. We say it is monopoly driven with a feckless CRTC that caters to big business, and biggest player wins over all. 

And it was cancelled without warning also. j