Something very wrong with Fido prepair service

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berkes@gmail.com - 23 Sep 2005 04:35 GMT

I've got to say, no technology service has EVER pissed me off as much
as Fido does. I'm using a unit that belongs to a family member, since
they are traveling they wanted me to keep it active so I have been
using it mildly.

I have never seen anything eat through the minutes like the Fido
prepaid service does. Let me give you some examples. If you access your
voice mail by originating a call from some other phone, and your cell
phone is turned off... you still get charged DOUBLE airtime for the
duration of your voice mail session. Which goes on and on, of course,
since there doesn't seem to be any way (not even under help) to skip
through messages, delete prematurely, or otherwise navigate the
mailbox.

If you receive a long distance call on the Fido phone, you also get
charged at least double airtime. I say "at least" because neither Fido
support knows, neither can I get a reliable measure.

I started getting very picky about the airtime balance calculation when
I noticed dollars disappearing. Something strange seems to happen when
I receive a call from another Fido phone -- there was one day I lost
several dollars for no more than 5 minutes of talking. I am very
suspicious of Rogers/Fido and the way they calculate airtime use.

On top of that, there's that damn voice prompt system they use with the
slow talking Fido voice, which not only misunderstands me half the time
but which also triggers on any kind of background noises -- why aren't
there numbers I can punch in, press #1 for the goddam account balance,
etc?

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Steven Fisher - 23 Sep 2005 18:18 GMT

> I've got to say, no technology service has EVER pissed me off as much
> as Fido does. I'm using a unit that belongs to a family member, since
[quoted text clipped - 9 lines]
> through messages, delete prematurely, or otherwise navigate the
> mailbox.

7 does this for me. Or is it 7-7? Not sure.

Can't help with the rest, though, since I don't use prepay. Good luck.

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repatch - 24 Sep 2005 00:30 GMT

On Thu, 22 Sep 2005 20:35:06 -0700, berkes wrote:

> I've got to say, no technology service has EVER pissed me off as much as
> Fido does. I'm using a unit that belongs to a family member, since they
[quoted text clipped - 6 lines]
> off... you still get charged DOUBLE airtime for the duration of your voice
> mail session.

Only if you pick up the message with your cell phone. If you call the
voicemail server directly from a landline it costs you nothing to receive
your messages.

> Which goes on and on, of course, since there doesn't seem to
> be any way (not even under help) to skip through messages, delete
> prematurely, or otherwise navigate the mailbox.

Of course there is, you just don't know it, which isn't really your fault
since it's not easy to find.

1 - go back some seconds
1-1 - go back to begining of message
3 - go forward some seconds
3-3 - go to end of message
7-7 - delete message
9-9 - save message

> If you receive a long distance call on the Fido phone, you also get
> charged at least double airtime. I say "at least" because neither Fido
> support knows, neither can I get a reliable measure.

If you receive a call outside your local calling area you are charged
airtime plus long distance, this is common to most cell phones.

> I started getting very picky about the airtime balance calculation when I
> noticed dollars disappearing. Something strange seems to happen when I
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
> there numbers I can punch in, press #1 for the goddam account balance,
> etc?

Used to be number prompts, Rogers changed it to voice.

My recommendation? Dump Fido prepaid and switch to Rogers prepaid, that's
what I did. They allow you to check you account activity online with
rogers prepaid, plus the coverage is WAY better under Rogers then under
Fido.

TTYL

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Jeff Bamford - 24 Sep 2005 14:38 GMT

>My recommendation? Dump Fido prepaid and switch to Rogers prepaid, that's
>what I did. They allow you to check you account activity online with
>rogers prepaid, plus the coverage is WAY better under Rogers then under
>Fido.

Fido coverage is the same as Rogers -- it is the same network.
However, with prepaid the rate is currently the same as a promotion. It
will likely incur a surcharge if you're in an "extended" area in the
future.

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repatch - 25 Sep 2005 02:55 GMT

>>My recommendation? Dump Fido prepaid and switch to Rogers prepaid, that's
>>what I did. They allow you to check you account activity online with
[quoted text clipped - 5 lines]
> will likely incur a surcharge if you're in an "extended" area in the
> future.

Exactly, which is why the coverage ISN'T the same, at the moment you get
away with being on Roger's network without extra costs, that WILL change,
meaning additional costs.

Best option IMHO is to just switch to Rogers now. TTYL

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berkes@gmail.com - 24 Sep 2005 01:03 GMT

> I started getting very picky about the airtime balance calculation when
> I noticed dollars disappearing. Something strange seems to happen when
> I receive a call from another Fido phone -- there was one day I lost
> several dollars for no more than 5 minutes of talking. I am very
> suspicious of Rogers/Fido and the way they calculate airtime use.

Let me give you an example from today. At the start of the day I
checked the balance and it was $12.10. During the day, there was an
incoming phone call which I denied and which got redirected to my voice
mail. I did not answer the call. At the end of the day, I dialed into
the voice mail (which is in a different area code) and was on the line
for 3 minutes.

Then I checked the balance again, and it was $10.75 showing that
checking my voice mail cost me $0.45 per minute on a "$0.15 per minute
all the time" voucher.

Does anyone know of a way to check voice mail if I'm outside the area
code, without being charged TRIPLE airtime?

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Timbonee - 26 Sep 2005 22:31 GMT

Agreed!

Someone should put this puppy to sleep for good!

> I've got to say, no technology service has EVER pissed me off as much
> as Fido does. I'm using a unit that belongs to a family member, since
[quoted text clipped - 25 lines]
> there numbers I can punch in, press #1 for the goddam account balance,
> etc?

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