Rogers/Fido Reduce More Local Calling Areas

Rogers/Fido have just finished another round of reducing customer local calling areas. We originally reported about this back in August when the following cities were undergoing the change:

  • Sarnia (Ontario) – July 1, 2009
  • Windsor, London and Kingston (Ontario) – August 1, 2009
  • Kelowna, Nanaimo and Victoria (British Columbia) – September 15, 2009
  • Toronto (Ontario) – October 15, 2009

Well, Rogers has not only added MORE cities, but this just got personal for Vancouverites. Rogers/Fido, you now earn yourselves the royal NUMBER 19 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18).

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Completing by December 15, 2009, Rogers Wireless and Fido have and will be reducing the local calling areas for the following cities (dates included):

  • Calgary, Edmonton (Alberta) – November 1, 2009
  • Guelph, Hespeler-Cambridge, St.Catharines, Kitchener, Hamilton, Stratford (Ontario) – November 15, 2009
  • Vancouver (British Columbia) – December 1, 2009
  • Montreal, Quebec City, Trois-Rivières, Sherbrooke (Quebec) – December 15, 2009

What does this mean?

Local Calling Areas (LCA) are invisible geographic boundaries that determine which calls are billed as local calls and which calls are billed as long distance calls. Your LCA is the geographic area in which you can make or receive phone calls without incurring long distance charges. In other words, they are billed as local calls.

For the areas listed above, your LCA has been or will be reduced. What is Rogers/Fido reason for the change? Get ready for this one (emphasis added by yours truly):

The local calling area for the cities above will be changing effective the dates above to align with standard boundaries across the industry. These changes will provide you with clear boundaries of our local calling areas and may make your bill easier to understand.

Two things to take away from that. First, if Rogers/Fido are aligning their policy with standard boundaries across the industry, why wait until now to make the change?

And second, “may make your bill easier to understand“? The only thing that will be easier to understand is that your bill may be increased.

These changes, reducing your LCA, reduce the size of the area in which local calls are free. Now, depending on where you are, your once “local call” may very well be billed at a long distance rate. Translation: Higher Monthly Bill.

Also to note, the LCA is not a part of the contractual agreement that customers may have signed, so these changes are technically “allowed”.

Examples

The examples below are based off the assumption that you live in Vancouver and you have a Vancouver number (but you can substitute any city):

Outgoing Calls

1.) If you are inside your LCA and make a call to a number outside your LCA, you pay long distance (you are in Vancouver and you are calling Toronto).

2.) If you are outside your LCA and make a call to a number that is inside the calling area that you are currently in, you no pay long distance as this is consider a local call (you are currently in Toronto and are calling someone in Toronto).

Incoming Calls

1.) If you are inside your LCA and receive a phone call, you pay no long distance as this is consider a local call (you are in Vancouver and you are receiving a call from Toronto or Montreal or Halifax, etc).

2.) If you are outside your LCA and receive a phone call, you pay long distance (you are in Toronto and receive a call from Toronto or Montreal or Halifax, etc).

Call Forwarding

1.) If you are forwarding a call from your Rogers phone to a local number within your LCA, you pay no long distance as this is consider a local call (you are in Vancouver or another city and you are forwarding your calls to your home in Vancouver).

2.) If you are forwarding a call from your Rogers phone to a number outside of your LCA, you pay long distance (you are in Vancouver or another city and you are forwarding your calls to your friends house in Toronto).

Maps detailing specifics are available from Rogers and Fido.

Below are the details for the Vancouver, BC change:

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