Cellphone users want roaming charges capped

lumix · Mar 4, 2013

Suggestions:
• Impose a $50 limit on roaming charges
• Notify customer when a certain amount of data, such as 10MB is used

The majority of Canadians would like to see a $50 cap on their wireless data roaming charges, and more than half don't touch their mobile devices during trips to avoid billing surprises, a new study says.
CBC News
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44 per cent of Canadian consumers surveyed online in October 2011 said they simply turn off their phone when travelling to avoid "bill shock," while 16 per cent left their devices at home
CBC News
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Travellers can rack up hundreds or even thousands of dollars in charges in very little time. For example, Toronto marketing consultant Robert Lendvai was charged $600 for a 20-second download of a PowerPoint presentation while on a 2009 vacation. Vancouver woman Alanna Fero was asked to pay a $27,000 phone bill when she returned from a trip to Egypt.
CBC News
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Telus's customers are notified when they use 10 MB of data and are asked if they want to continue using data.

CBC News
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"To ensure customers don't come home to a larger than expected bill, upon reaching 100 MB of usage, data roaming service is suspended and can be restored either at the customer's request or automatically after 30 days from the start of their data roaming," - Bell spokesman Jason Laszl

CBC News
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lumix · Mar 4, 2013

Fido customer gets $22,000 phone bill for roaming charges

Matt Buie’s son used approximately 700 MB of data, or what equals about 12 hours of streaming YouTube video. Buie got a text message from Fido saying that his phone was going to be shut down for security reasons due to the high data usage, but not before accruing a $22,000 bill in roaming charges.

..One of the changes to the wireless industry being sought by Canadians is a cap on wireless data roaming charges at $50.

..Buie says that he wished he had been cut off at a certain limit rather than accrue thousands of dollars of charges. Customers of competitor Telus automatically have their data usage cut once it surpasses the $200 mark.

Full Report
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lumix · Mar 4, 2013

B.C. woman gets charges for cell phone roaming in her own home

Jane Goundrey lives in B.C. near the province’s border with Washington, and like many Canadians, often uses her cell phone in and around her home.

Unfortunately, that’s costing her more than $400 in roaming charges.

A customer of Rogers Wireless, Goundrey says that she has been charged for roaming because the powerful signal from U.S. carrier AT&T in Washington is far stronger than that of Rogers, so her and her family’s cell phones switch to the U.S. network, CBC reports.

Full Report
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lumix · Mar 4, 2013

"If I have been a Telus subscriber, they'll shut down my phone at $200...." (Fido charged Matt Buie $22,000 instead)

Night Of GuardianS · Mar 5, 2013

Roaming on my Nexus 4 android phone is always turned off.

Stuntman · Mar 10, 2013

I would think that allowing users to use a local SIM card to avoid roaming charges would be more desirable. Unfortunately in North America, most cell companies lock their phones to prevent this.

lumix · Mar 25, 2013

Some valuable lessons from Burnaby resident Matt Buie.. fight to the end.

Dad talks $22,000 cellphone roaming charge down to $200
Man published free how-to guide for others who feel mistreated by cellphone service providers
CBC News
Mar 24, 2013

The man who successfully fought $22,000 in cellphone roaming charges is back with a guide to help others do the same.

In a CBC Go Public exclusive earlier this month, Burnaby resident Matt Buie accused Rogers of price gouging after his son racked up $22,000 in data charges while on a family vacation in Mexico.

Buie got a text message from Fido, which is owned by Rogers, saying his phone was being shut down “for security reasons” because of “excessively high” data charges.

The company immediately offered to cut the charge to $2,200.

"They said, 'Yes, we'll pretend that you signed up for an international roaming package, and we have here that your phone downloaded 758 megabytes of data,'" Buie told CBC's As It Happens host Carol Off. "'We could charge you $30 a megabyte, but we'll only charge you $3 a megabyte.'"

"I did not accept that," Buie said.

He kept negotiating because he says the company was using the “shock factor” of the huge initial charge to get him to settle for a bill that was still too high.

"My cost could not have been anywhere near a dollar," Buie said.

Buie, who works as a financial planner, argues Telus would have cut off data access when the bill reached $200, but Fido didn’t alert him until three days of charges had piled up.

Buie told Fido he would be willing to pay the equivalent of the Telus cutoff point, at which point Fido agreed to slash the bill to $500.

But Buie still refused to pay, taking his complaint to the office of the president at Fido. The company eventually reduced Buie's charge to $200.

Despite the cost in time and stress, Buie considers it a victory.
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Buie has helped publish a toolkit to help other Canadians negotiate excessive and unexpected cellphone charges down to reasonable amounts.

He advises customers to write a letter of complaint to the president of the telecom company, and to send a copy to CRTC chairman Jean-Pierre Blais, Minister of Industry Christian Paradis as well as members of the media.

"I think the more light that comes to this — I knew nothing about this before my vacation — I think we will see change," Buie said.

Buie's step-by-step guide to negotiation with telecom customer service can be found on the website OpenMedia.ca.
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Cellphone users want roaming charges capped

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