37 replies to this topic

[Adina]

I'm sure many of you are no longer living with your parents, therefore paying your own phone bills, if you even have a cell phone. For now, I am living with with my parents and fortunately they're paying my phone bill. I have an iPhone so my bill is generally quite high, always above $70. I am currently with Rogers living in Toronto.

Now I'm confused about what would happen if I moved away. I'm planning on moving to London in September which is about 2 hours away from Toronto. First of all, I don't even know if that is long distance. If I were to be calling in Toronto, would I be charged long distance? I'm not sure what would happen because I would still talk to my friends from Toronto. I can't terminate my contract and start a new one in London because its a 3 year contract and in September it's going to be only 2 years.

I would appreciate some insight from those who know a thing or two about phone companies. I'm with Rogers if that counts for anything.

I think my parents will still be paying my phone bill as well, if that makes a difference.

[Yung]

If they are still going to be paying the bill then what difference does it make?

[Elindoril]

Can't you just get long distance on the plan? Really depends on how much you're going to be calling people with the phone as opposed to talking through other means.

Also, don't phones work with the number and not the location? As long as you had a Toronto phone number, would "local" calls still count as local? I'm not much of a phone expert.

[Cory]

Long distance charges do not exist as long as they are in the same country.

[NapisaurusRex]

Long distance charges do not exist as long as they are in the same country.

Roaming charges exist though.

[Cory]

Roaming charges exist though.

roaming =/= long distance.

Also, considering Rogers is one of Canadas biggest networks I don't think roaming will be an issue. They are also pretty well covered in both Toronto and London

[Adina]

If they are still going to be paying the bill then what difference does it make?

Because I'm not an asshole who makes my parents pay hundreds of dollars for my phone bill a month.

roaming =/= long distance.

Also, considering Rogers is one of Canadas biggest networks I don't think roaming will be an issue. They are also pretty well covered in both Toronto and London

When I was at a cottage for a week I created a huge bill because I was charged for roaming, but the cottage was about 3.5 hours away, yet still in Ontario. I have no idea how this stuff works, but if it's well covered in London, hopefully I'd be fine.

[Yung]

You could always not use your phone. See? Problem solved.

[Ladida]

I want to know why the HELL phone plans are so effed up in North America :| Two hours away in the same country and you have to worry about roaming? I'm pretty sure my brother's with Rogers, I'd ask him but he doesn't call anyone

[Elindoril]

You could always not use your phone. See? Problem solved.

And just go about without any portable communication device? Even I'm not that stupid.

[Boggart]

Ugh, why are phone bills so expensive in Canada...

I don't think your bill would change as well, especialyl within the same province. If I go to, say, Gimli Manitoba, I definitely did not pay long distance fees. Then again, I never made calls...

[Adina]

You could always not use your phone. See? Problem solved.

I would still need to pay monthly?
What problem does that solve?

Edited by Adina, 19 February 2012 - 08:37 PM.

[Ladida]

Ugh, why are phone bills so expensive in Canada...

I don't think your bill would change as well, especialyl within the same province. If I go to, say, Gimli Manitoba, I definitely did not pay long distance fees. Then again, I never made calls...

Another reason to love Canada

[Boggart]

Another reason to love Canada

because you'll have MY AXE?

[Ladida]

because you'll have MY AXE?

I hope that means you'll have my back!

[Dangocat]

I'm from Ontario but going to school in Vancouver. I go home sometimes in the summer but I finally figured out exactly how the long distance thing works...(using rogers too btw)

You will probably need to change your phone number to a London number. This won't affect your contract. You just ask for a phone number change. If you're in London, with a London number, calling Toronto would be long distance. However, if you kept your Toronto number, ALL incoming calls while youre in London will be long distance (even local calls).

How it works is.. outgoing calls, if you're in your zone, it will be regular local/long distance. Incoming are all local. If youre outside your zone, ALL incoming are long distance. Outgoing long distance is still long distance (if you call London from Toronto, with a London number). However, if you call a local number relative to the zone your'e in, it's local. So, if you had a London number, while in Toronto, you could call Toronto numbers for free, but receiving ANY calls is long distance.

Hope that makes sense...

Most plans have a My-10 canada-wide feature though. If it's the Canada-wide one, you should be able to call/receive from those numbers from anywhere within Canada (I believe, apologies if I"m wrong).

Edited by Dangobear, 19 February 2012 - 09:44 PM.

[Adina]

I'm from Ontario but going to school in Vancouver. I go home sometimes in the summer but I finally figured out exactly how the long distance thing works...(using rogers too btw)

You will probably need to change your phone number to a London number. This won't affect your contract. You just ask for a phone number change. If you're in London, with a London number, calling Toronto would be long distance. However, if you kept your Toronto number, ALL incoming calls while youre in London will be long distance (even local calls).

How it works is.. outgoing calls, if you're in your zone, it will be regular local/long distance. Incoming are all local. If youre outside your zone, ALL incoming are long distance. Outgoing long distance is still long distance (if you call London from Toronto, with a London number). However, if you call a local number relative to the zone your'e in, it's local. So, if you had a London number, while in Toronto, you could call Toronto numbers for free, but receiving ANY calls is long distance.

Hope that makes sense...

Most plans have a My-10 canada-wide feature though. If it's the Canada-wide one, you should be able to call/receive from those numbers from anywhere within Canada (I believe, apologies if I"m wrong).

Are you sure? Because London isn't that far. :| I 'm not sure how I would change my plan to accommodate for that, because either way I am going to be charged extra.

[NapisaurusRex]

Not quite true. I know in America we have long distance calls and roaming calls. Long distance is when you are in the same area as your Area code, but are calling adifferent area code. where as roaming is when you are in a different area calling anywhere else.

I'm also in the United States. I'm in a different state than my cell number is, so when people call me from work and stuff they have to call long distance. When people call me from where my phone number is though, it's not long distance. I have to dial the area code every time I call anybody though, no matter who I'm calling or where I'm at. There are very few places I have roaming charges though. I just have to pay taxes for the state the number is in and then a 'service' fee of a couple bucks a month because I'm out of state. My minutes apply to long distance equally to local though, so I don't worry about it too much.

[WharfRat]

I work managing a call center for the/one of the largest cellular providers in the country doing technical support/customer service work. I have no knowledge of canadian providers, but I can definitely answer this question regarding American service.

Of our customers, 99% are no longer on the old school, grandfathered plans... The majority of our customers are now on plans that cover the entire nation so roaming charges are nonexistent within the states. (I know this isn't what you asked...) Along with these nationwide plans, the cellular minutes are used on a per minute basis to any landline or cellular line within the country. The only time you pay "long-distance" minutes is when you are making or receiving calls from an international phone number.

I obviously have no knowledge about the plan your parents are on.... but a quick call to your cellular provider (or probably even browsing their website/chatting with online support will likely answer your question with 100% accuracy.

tl;dr I'd say 99.999% you won't be charged long distance calls on a cell plan. (If you were American... I know nothing of canadian mobile industry...) Call your service provider.

[Dangocat]

Are you sure? Because London isn't that far. :| I 'm not sure how I would change my plan to accommodate for that, because either way I am going to be charged extra.

I would say you should get a My-10 feature on your plan. I can't survive without it.

They're not far, but it's still long distance. I'm from Hamilton, and it's long distance to both Toronto and London. Brantford too, etc. Sometimes it's even long distance if it's the same area code (so stupid).

The best thing would be to ask rogers about how they charge you on long distance. They'd be able to tell you better than anyone else.

You can also get a $5 add-on which gives you 1000 LD minutes (canada-wide only) per month. These minutes still use up your regular minutes, so if you used up 200 minutes of LD, it would still deduct 200 minutes off your regular phone time, as well as 200 off your allocated 1000 LD minutes.

I work managing a call center for the/one of the largest cellular providers in the country doing technical support/customer service work. I have no knowledge of canadian providers, but I can definitely answer this question regarding American service.

Of our customers, 99% are no longer on the old school, grandfathered plans... The majority of our customers are now on plans that cover the entire nation so roaming charges are nonexistent within the states. (I know this isn't what you asked...) Along with these nationwide plans, the cellular minutes are used on a per minute basis to any landline or cellular line within the country. The only time you pay "long-distance" minutes is when you are making or receiving calls from an international phone number.

I obviously have no knowledge about the plan your parents are on.... but a quick call to your cellular provider (or probably even browsing their website/chatting with online support will likely answer your question with 100% accuracy.

tl;dr I'd say 99.999% you won't be charged long distance calls on a cell plan. (If you were American... I know nothing of canadian mobile industry...) Call your service provider.

Canada = land of horrible phone plans. There is never enough competition in Canadian markets for companies to offer good, cheap services sadly. In America, most companies offer nationwide talk/text, but in Canada you pretty much have to pay a premium for it.

There are exceptions like smaller phone plan providers like Wind and Koodo. Koodo = no long distance within Canada. Wind has "wind zones" in which there's no long distance. Those are basically just all the big cities and major urban areas. If you're in one of those zones, you can call/receive to/from anywhere in Canada. Useful if you live in a bigger city, although coverage isn't as great for both of these options (at least I have heard). And also you mentioned you're still in a contract so there isn't really that option of switching companies.

Edited by Dangobear, 19 February 2012 - 10:33 PM.

[havocide3]

The hell, roaming still exists?

Honestly, if Canada uses 611, just dial it and ask

[Ashlee]

Wow, Canadian phone plans sound extremely complicated! Makes me glad that we have simple phone plans in Australia. I have a $59 cap for my iPhone that includes about $450 worth of calls. I have a set rate for local landline calls within my area code (which is actually three states), a rate for landlines to the other states and one rate for all mobile phones regardless of where they are. I think I have free SMS but I never go over my cap.

You should just call your phone company and ask them what their rules are, and the best way to keep your costs low.

[SlaughterHouse]

I average between £100-150 a month using my iphone4s. Which is something like 160$-240$ a month

[Turnip]

Dang you guys have some expensive phone bills o.o
But nope, you only get charged long distance if you're calling to somewhere out of the country~ Call cards are pretty cheap iirc!


Also, pay-as-you-go is awesome! Especially if you're with a company that gives you extras for topping up (like Tesco gives you, say, £20 free credit if you top up £10 that month, and Orange gives you 400 free texts or something like that). You don't normally get as "nice" phones with that then when you get a contract/unlock your phone, but maybe look into it if you're super worried?