Article Summary
Rogers offers simple and affordable plans for traveling to the US and throughout the world. Roam Like Home plans cost $7/day for the US ($12/day in 125+ other countries) to let you access your talk, text, and data plan while outside Canada. Rogers also offers Canada+US Share plans letting you travel between the two countries without any additional fees.
It wasn't long ago that traveling to the US or internationally meant leaving your cell phone at home. Roaming charge horror stories where customers are charged thousands of dollars just because their phone continued to receive text messages can make any traveler nervous.
Rogers Roam Like Home features lets you use your current minutes, texts and even data while going abroad. Where once you needed to research local mobile carriers, if your phone is supported, and how to configure your phone just to work in another country, you can now just make the trip and forget about excessive overage charges.
What Are My Rights When Roaming?
The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) has a Wireless Code of Conduct that protects the rights of consumers when it comes to overage charges on cell phone bills. Once your carrier recognizes that you've traveled to an international roaming destination, the account holder AND the device user must be notified at no charge. You can opt out of these notifications by contacting your carrier, but you should keep them active.
It is up to your wireless provider to suspend roaming overage charges once it reaches $100 within a single monthly billing cycle (unless you've expressly consented to additional charges). Be aware that if your trip spans two billing cycles then you can incur that $100 maximum charge twice.
The cap applies on a per-account basis. If you have a Family Sharing plan then the $100 maximum overage only applies once to the account, not for each and every cell phone line on that account. Any roaming add-on you buy counts towards this cap. So, if you buy data to be used in the US for $20 then the most your carrier can charge you at the end of the month in overage fees is $80.
While roaming internationally, it's up to you to make sure you stay within the limits of your plan. Carriers typically provide an account management app or website where you can track these details in real-time. The Wireless Code of Conduct only ensures that you don't wind up with a $8,000 bill when you come home.
Beware Flights and Cruises
Flights and cruises are awesome, but you might find yourself with hundreds of dollars in overage fees if you're not careful.
Turn off data roaming before hopping on a plane or cruise ships. Once on the plane or on the open ocean, talk, text, and especially data rates can be astronomically expensive. If that happens, you may need to contact your carrier once you get back on land to authorize overage charges just to get service again.
For a quick way to block unwanted data use, turn on Airplane Mode. Even with Airplane Mode turned on, you can manually enable WiFi or Bluetooth.
Rogers Canada-US Travel Rates
Rogers Roam Like Home solutions offer your simplest choice for any Canadian to take your smartphone, plan and phone number with you when you travel. In the past, international roaming costs were prohibitively expensive. Today they can be only a small additional fee.
You should always track how much time you talk and how much data you use since incurring overage charges in another country can still add up quickly.
Daily Plans: Contact Rogers to get the Roam Like Home feature started and you can take your existing plan minutes, texts and even data with you to the US for $7/day. Calls within and back to Canada are unlimited. When you return back to Canada the service will automatically stop. To find out if you have Roam Like Home enabled text travel to 222 from your Rogers device.
Vacation Plans: After 15 days per monthly bill ($105 total) then you can continue using Roam Like Home for the rest of that billing period without additional charges. Be aware that this depends on when your billing period starts and ends, not necessarily by calendar month.
Regular Visitor: Every Rogers cell phone plan offers unlimited local calling or you can get unlimited nationwide calling for $5/month more. Add another $15/month to get Canada+US talk, text and data. Calls between the two countries are free and you get full service in the US the same as Roam Like Home but without the daily fees.
Rogers International Travel Rates
Just like their US plans, Rogers offers a variety of options for their customers who travel outside Canada for just a quick trip or on regular business.
Daily Plans: With Roam Like Home, you just travel and forget about it. Rogers will add $12/day to your month-end bill, but your calls within the country you're visits (and those back to Canada) are the same as your monthly plan. You get full use of the data on your plan too. You may have to enable have Roam Like Home first, but just text travel to 222 from your Rogers device and find out if you have it.
Vacation Plans: You're only charged $12 over 24 hours from when you start using your minutes or data. After that you won't be charged $12 until you use your phone again. So, if you make a call on Monday morning, but then don't use your phone again until Thursday evening, you won't get charged for Tuesday or Wednesday (or Thursday morning).
After using Roam Like Home for 15 days in a billing month you can keep using your minutes and data without any additional fees. The total cost on your bill is (15 x $12 =) $180/month plus taxes. Remember this is by billing month, not calendar month so be aware when that starts.
Regular Visitor: Rogers doesn't currently have plans for other countries like the Canada+US Share Everything plan which lets you call and travel across two countries using just one plan.
The continental US, Alaska and Hawaii are supported with this plan as is Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Countries With Rogers International Roaming
More than 125 countries are supported across the globe by Rogers Roam Like Home service, covering nearly all of North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. Check out the Rogers Wireless roaming options site for the most up-to-date list.
Choose a Destination Carrier Plan
Rogers has one of the best cellular networks in the world with service covering more than 95% of Canadians. Canada also features some of the most expensive plans in the world. If you don't need to keep the same phone number, you may be able to jump on a daily or monthly plan once you arrive at your destination.
You'll need to be aware of a few issues:
- You'll have a different phone number. Email and social media connections will remain the same so long as you're using the same phone. However, this brings up another issue:
- Your phone needs to be compatible. You may want to check which carrier will work with your phone's technology. As a general rule, phones that work on the Rogers network will work on AT&T and T-Mobile networks. In other countries any device that runs on a modern LTE network (most phones sold within the last four years) should work internationally on any carrier.
- Your phone needs to be unlocked. Since December 2017 all phones bought in Canada must be sold unlocked or unlocked immediately after purchase. You need to confirm that you can use your phone on a different cell network, especially if you bought a phone before 2018. WhistleOut has a complete guide to help you unlock a cell phone in Canada.
- Who has the best plan for my needs? WhistleOut has sites around the globe to help you find the perfect plan for your needs. Every site has a comprehensive search tool that can help you find the best cell phone plans for your needs; including per-day plans, data packages, and network compatibility check. If you know the address where you'll be staying then the WhistleOut Cell Phone Plans tool can even help you find which network has the best coverage.
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