Easy roam instructions are incomplete

[NFtoBC]

What is your confusion?

[Fransdb]

In the instructions in the "good to know section" it is states that in order not to be charged for easy roaming turn data roaming off. Even before the plane left, on our iPhone we switched cellular off as well as cellular data options. The iPhone states in that scenario that it restricts all data to Wi-Fi, including email, web browsing and push notifications. We stayed at a resort with Wi-Fi that we exclusively used. We never used cellular communication of any sorts. However. we were charged with easy roaming fee for each day we stayed at the resort a total of $ 420 for a service we never used. After 6 hours to be on hold, we were told that unique to the iPhone, we also should have switched of Auto-Join Hotspot. The iPhone states under this option that it allows to automatically discover personal hotspots when no Wi-Fi network is available. The help desk said they would in the future add this to the instructions for iPhones. We are with Telus for more than 20 odd years. This is the final straw and we will walk away from Telus to a competitor. 

I hope that answers your curiosity.

[Fransdb]

I made a mistake in my statement. It is not Auto-Join Hotspot, but it is under cellular Network Selection, switch of "Automatic"

[xray · Accepted solution]

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@Fransdb wrote:

This is the final straw and we will walk away from Telus to a competitor. 

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The problem is with how specific phones interact with the other networks even with roaming turned off. This is not specific to any carrier.

https://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/Account-Support/ROAMING-CHARGES/td-p/489265

On a recent trip to SFO my wife's phone leaked some data usage on the day we landed and triggered roaming charges. My phone didn't. Both phones had roaming turned off before we got on the plane. Oddly enough my wife's phone only did this when we landed but not on any other day. This is behavior between the specific phone and the local network. Switching providers will not change this.

I agree the instructions could be better. To be absolutely sure roaming will not trigger the phone should be in airplane mode which turns off the cellular signal completely or you could take out the SIM card which is a bit more inconvenient should you need to use roaming in an emergency.