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How to avoid roaming charges from Telus/Koodo on iPhones out of Canada

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This article is applicable to customers of Telus and Koodo only, as I only have access to their services. If you use other carriers, please share your experience: hello@letsplayinside.com.

Myth

Turning off “Data Roaming” in Settings > Cellular > SIMs > [Telus/Koodo mobile #] would completely avoid roaming charges.

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Not true. Why?

Roaming charges from Telus/Koodo start to apply when you:

  1. Use data
  2. Send a text (texting)
  3. Make a call
  4. Receive a call
Source:

1. Use data

Turning “Data Roaming” off in settings only helps address this one, but not others.

2. Send a text (texting)

While receiving a text message won’t trigger roaming charges, sending a text message will, because the latter is sent over Telus/Koodo’s phone network.

How do you know you’ve sent a text message? 😖

Don’t be like me. You can see my reply looked “GREEN”, which means it was sent over the phone network. I accidentally triggered roaming charges!

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Solutions

  • Do NOT send or reply to any text message on your phone at all. You can tell by the green “up arrow” icon.
    • Note: sending messages using WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat or Telegram is fine, they are not “text messages”.
  • If you have a Mac laptop with you, use it to reply to messages in BLUE with the Messages app. Blue messages are iMessages.
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3. Make a call

Pretty self-explanatory, if you make any call while out of Canada you will trigger roaming charges. There is no way around it. Telus/Koodo said Wi-Fi Calling feature won’t work while out of Canada. Not sure about other carriers.

Solutions

  • Use Internet calling apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Slack Call, Zoom …
  • If you are travelling to the USA, TextNow gives you a free US number and allows free calling to local US numbers. Don’t use that number for 2FA though!

4. Receive a call

Pretty straightforward, right? Not at all!

I did not accept any phone calls but still got charged! 😖

Take a look at my bill. WTF? I did not make any call during my trip (I was on the plane to the USA at 9:17 a.m. on @January 30, 2023 actually!), and have no idea who 778-580-4001 is!

So, I called Telus/Koodo to get to the bottom of this.

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Voice calls that go to voicemail are subjected to roaming charges 😡

Turns out that declining (red button) or not picking up an incoming voice call would trigger roaming charges because I have voicemail in my plan and all these voice calls will be “directed” to my voicemail. Telus/Koodo treated this as if I made a call! !@#$%^&*!@#$%^&*

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Solutions

  • If you don’t mind NOT seeing any incoming calls, you can turn on “Airplane mode”.
  • I am going to remove voicemail from my plan because I find it more of a nuisance with so many spam calls. There is no option to “disable” it temporarily (many carriers in other countries do offer that), and the only way to get voicemail removed with Telus/Koodo is to call their technical support. 😩

Takeaway - What I have learned

  1. Disable or remove the voicemail feature on my plan.
  2. Don’t just turn off “Data Roaming”, turn on “Airplane Mode” all the time too.
  3. Only turn off “Airplane Mode” when I need to receive text messages (2FA from many services like online banking, finance apps and work stuff require text messages), which is the whole reason I cannot take out my Telus/Koodo SIM card.
  4. Still a good idea to have Easy Roam enabled for 2 reasons:
    1. If I accidentally trigger data charges, I am paying $12 per day at most. Rather than a thousand-dollar-bill because Telus/Koodo charges $5 per MB!
    2. If my local Wi-Fi or travel eSIM is not working and I need voice call or data access in an emergency situation, I have the option of using it for $12 per day.