[Damaged7]

Wirelessly posted

I was browsing through the site here and saw a few mentions of data roaming.

Now most of the time it was mentioned by someone overseas so I wanted to ask if this is a common practice here in North America?

I recently went out of town and if I'm gonna get a huge bill because I used data out of town I'm gonna be pissed.

I don't understand what it really is. I mean its data and its comming from the same source why would they charge extra because I'm not in my town?

[iLawCDN]

Wirelessly posted

Data works differently on a cellular network.

On a Cell Phone, everything gets linked back to your home carrier.

For example, I'm with Rogers and my home calling area is in Toronto. If I were in Australia, on Vodafone's network, for example, and I wanted to send an email to someone in Australia, the message would first go through Vodafone's network and handshake with Rogers' network. Then Rogers would relay that information to the internet.

Because of the handshake that must take place (phones must be somehow tied back to your home carrier's network to manage the services on your phone), that is why carriers charge roaming fees, to cover the extra cost of administering that handshake between carriers. While outside of your home network, you are essentially "renting" the usage of your local network. Similar to why you have to pay to rent a car when you are not home.

In most cases, as long as you are on your home carrier's network (the carrier your SIM card/phone is from, you shouldn't be charged extra. Please also note that carrier is country specific. For example, a T-Moble US customer would still get charged Roaming on a T-Mobile UK network.

I hope that helps.

[Damaged7]

It helps me understand why they would do it yes.

However, i'm not sure if I apply for this data roaming or not. I did go out of town, but i didn't leave my coverage area. If anything, i went somewhere where the coverage is better.

I suppose i should phone Rogers and see what they say, see how far i would have to go for this to kick in.

[dc/dc]

Since there are no other GSM providers in Canada to speak of, it's not really possible for you to roam at all in Canada. You should not have any extra charges in Canada.

However, if you traveled to the US, then you will receive extra charges as that is considered international roaming.

[iLawCDN]

As far as I know, Rogers defines roaming as "Outside Rogers Coverage Area"

So, as long as you are on the Rogers Network (i.e. your phone says ROGERS, and not AT&T or T-Mobile or anything else) you are not roaming.

I know it may be obvious to some, but please do not confuse roaming with Long Distance. You can be in Vancouver calling Toronto, and not get hit with roaming charges, but you will be hit with Long Distance, unless your plan stipulates otherwise (ex. Free Rogers to Rogers calling).

[Damaged7]

Wirelessly posted

Thanks. I think I was confusing data roaming and long distance.