ER\VC charges with airplane mode!

The 1 minute with er/vc wasn't a real call. It was there to denote an event triggering easyroam. 

As you mentioned you were always on airplanemode. Was the airplane mode turned on when you were in us or while you were in Canada. As well, was there any text saying you were roaming at all?

No nothing, I was on airplane mode and could not get any texts or use WIFI or make calls.

When I had access to private WIFI I received an email saying that I’m roaming, I checked if I was still on airplane mode and proceeded to ignore the email.

Let me flag a rep to look into it. It seems strange.

Hi @WA1996 

Upon checking, we can see that the Easy Roam has been triggered due to outgoing text messages.

Have you had the chance to check the usage in self serve https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help/monitoring-your-data-self-serve? 

Yes, these were sent over Wi-Fi on airplane mode

Eh, did you meant you were using wifi calling to send SMS? If so, you would be charged as if you were roaming normally. 

Yes the app says send message via wifi, I’ve done that before when I don’t have service and it worked fine before with no extra charges.

If regular text messages are sent over wifi calling while roaming, charges will apply, you can learn more about wifi calling here https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help/wifi-calling

I don’t know how this could happen with airplane mode turned on!

There should be no cell service at all, wifi calling is using wifi and not cellular service I do no understand why I should be charged for that?

Short answer is: Wifi calling has always been part of the your normal plan. Any sms and voice calls when you were using wifi calling would be counted toward your normal plan. Although using wifi from your end, your call, sms would stiil be routed to wifi calling services of Koodo to reach other people.

If you want to avoid the roaming fee while using wifi calling, you need a vpn that routes your wifi to a server in Canada. By doing so, you can have a Canadian ip address and wouldn't be charged for roaming

This is ridiculous, I am charged $14 for sending 2 text messages on Airplane mode and on wifi. My text went through immediately. Why did I not get a notification telling me that this text will cost me $14?

The roaming warning text was a courtesy sms. The lack of it doesn't void your roaming fee. It is normally sent by the local cellular carrier. If you didn't connect to any, you wouldn't receive it.

I did not have these issues with the other service providers, this is all new to me. Last time I went to the US I was charged $14 for making a phone call while waiting in line before crossing the border. Now with airplane mode I still get charged for roaming. $28 charged for no reason.

Thank you for explaining the unreasonable service that Koodo provides, but I will be changing providers ASAP

To prevent this from happening again, I would suggest you to manually select your network to Koodo, so that your phone does not automatically connect to a nearby U.S. cellular tower. 

Seriously? I got charged $14 while being in Canada and you tell me I should disable roaming so that I don't get charged while being in Canada?

If Koodo policy is to charge people for providing no service whatsoever and customer support tells me to disable my services to prevent bogus charges, this is just another reason to switch.

Other carriers are doing the same thing with WiFi calling overseas. If WiFi calling was the reason you think of switching, I recommend you research other carriers first.

And @MilkyWay misread your thead

This was in the US there’s no sea between Canada and the US

I don’t think Milky Way misread anything, he suggested that if i’m in Canada and near US towers then I  should disable my service so I don’t get automatically connected to those towers and be charged roaming. This is the worst solution I’ve ever heard. I was with Freedom mobile then with Fido and had no such issues, I would cross the border and only 5-15 minutes later I would get a text saying I’m on roaming zone, first time in my life i’ve been charged roaming while being in Canada and worse than this when on airplane mode with no cellular service, it’s a mockery.

We are not telling you to disable your service. I only recommended that you manually select your network to Koodo to avoid any unnecessary roaming charges for future reference.

@Dinh is right that most carriers will charge roaming fees for wi-fi calling outside of Canada. The only exceptions are Freedom Mobile, Rogers, and Fido. 

Great, I’ll take the win back offer from Fido in this case.

I think @WA1996 makes a very valid point here. Customers are told to turn off data and data roaming and even to use airplane mode.  There is no mention of watching out for wifi calling.  This would be something I would have easily missed too.

Also the wifi calling page has conflicting info.  It says wifi calling is only available in canada, but also If using Wi-Fi calling while roaming, roaming charges will apply.

https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help/wifi-calling

@Flo Koodo is there a way to confirm if the text messages were sent via cellular network or via wifi calling?

Im going to flag this to a rep again to see if we can get some more info and possibly a better resolution.

 Hello ! 

Indeed, WIFI Calling is not available outside Canada.  Attempting to use it while roaming will lead to charges.

From what I can see, the text messages on the 30’th show as international text messaging that were sent through the normal network. 

If not connected to a network or on airplane mode, text messages can stay with the status “Waiting for connection”  and are automatically sent as soon as the device connects to a network, even for a moment (in the case that airplane mode was briefly turned off). 

You also have the option to speak with our technical support team in regards to the usage of that day. 

As for the roaming while in Canada, @MilkyWay provided a great option if you are near the border and you do not want to be charged roaming. All devices have the “Automatic search” turned on in the network settings and will search for the best signal available, depending on the towers nearby.

Roaming is included in that option. Setting the device to manually stay connected to Koodo will make sure that the phone does not auto switch to a US tower which would be closer to your location and has a stronger signal compared to Canadian one. 

Layering onto this issue with my 2 Esims. I have 2 Esims. One from Verison and one from Koodo on the same phone. I am continually getting charged hundreds of dollars in overages due with Roaming, wifi and data off on the Canadian sim. Why is that? Why does Koodo think that I am roaming?

If you look at your usage, what is causing the roaming charges?

The problem stems from being near the US border. Koodo will ping to a US tower while still on the Canadian side. Given that 85% of Canadians reside within 100 miles of a US border this must be a frequent problem. The only way to change that is to remove Koodo from Automatically connecting, which I cannot change on my iphone 14. There are many items that need to be switched off in order for charges to not be put through. Some include wifi calling, data, and roaming. Nowhere does it explicitly state on the site that you need to do this in order to avoid charges. This needs to be spelled out somewhere. It makes operational sense to post this information so that customers are not spending hours calling and trouble shooting in or switching plans just so that they can resolve this issue. This issue has not been resolved for me still. It should not be so difficult to acknowledge that this happens and provide preventative measures to avoid the issue and the customer should not be liable for items that are clearly not a “customer” issue. Blaming the customer when you did not provide adequate information is not a way to retain your loyal customers. Having customers wait for a “callback” and then get repeatedly hung up because a Koodo rep cannot resolve the issue is not a way to retain customers. Provide adequate training to reps and give them resources to resolve issues. Do not transfer to technical support where the phone rings and no one picks up.

You can definitely do so on iPhones!

When you turn off automatic, and wait a few seconds, you’ll be given a list of the carriers available to you to connect to, then just select Koodo. 
It’ll look something like this: