New Android user, have a few questions

[bynming]

Hi, my contract with Bell is expiring soon and I was planning to use Fongo in the future with my Nexus 4. I have a few questions though.

1- My friend sent me a text message on my Fongo phone number, he was charged 15 cents (so now I owe him a beer). Does buying an Unlimited Canada Text add-on make texts free both ways?
2- The text message that I received was not even a text message... It was some sort of voicemail type thing and I don't understand what's even going on. If I subscribe to unlimited texts, will I be able to text normally?
3- Can I use a Bell data plan with Fongo to make phone calls and send texts through the mobile data?

[bridonca]

1- My friend sent me a text message on my Fongo phone number, he was charged 15 cents (so now I owe him a beer). Does buying an Unlimited Canada Text add-on make texts free both ways?

No. Your friend gets charged whatever tariff is on his phone plan.

2- The text message that I received was not even a text message... It was some sort of voicemail type thing and I don't understand what's even going on. If I subscribe to unlimited texts, will I be able to text normally?

Yes. If you do not subcribe to a Fongo text plan, you can only send texts to other Fongo users. You can recieve texts from anyone though, even with the free plan

3- Can I use a Bell data plan with Fongo to make phone calls and send texts through the mobile data?

Yes. Sometimes the calls do not work so well, because VOIP over 3G/4G can be spotty at times, but text messages though wifi and data work great. The voice calls are probably good for most of the time, but I would not use it for important calls.

[bynming]

Thank you for your response, I really appreciate

1- I selected a Montreal number with the 438 area code and he has unlimited texts in Canada with Rogers and he still somehow got charged 15c. If I can't figure this out, it might be the thing that prevents me from using Fongo
Rogers sent him this text message: "Yr msg successfully delivered to 438-228-2XXX, (+0.15)Thx 4 using Rogers Wireless TXT 2 Landline"
I assume that the problem lies in that for some reason, that number is cataloged as a landline number? Or that account? If I do adopt Fongo, I'll transfer my own number from Bell

2- The text message he sent me didn't appear anywhere in text form. It was a voicemail telling me someone sent me a text message. It was odd.

3- Adequate for voice calls is good enough for me. I'll probably upgrade to an LTE phone or tinker with my Nexus 4.

[bridonca]

Fongo tends to use newer exchanges, and these exchanges sometimes do not get updated quick enough by other carriers. unless someone mentions it to them. You would have to to get your friend to get Rogers to update their number database to reflect that (438) 228-XXXX is indeed covered by the Rogers tariff. Your friend should also ask to get his 15 cents back.

[bynming]

Thanks for the response. So if I were to use my current number with Fongo, Rogers wouldn't charge him for future texts right? Since my current number would be in the right database regardless of which carrier I used for it?

Forgive all the questions, I'm not familiar with how telecoms really work.

[bridonca]

I do not pretend to guess what Rogers thinks. Rogers should have had that new Fongo number data based, but chose not to for whatever reason. These exchanges do not pop up out of the blue. They have to be registered with the CRTC and other exchanges have access to that information. But I digress.

If the exchange on your old number has been established for some time, it probably will not be charged an extra tariff from Rogers. That is assuming it is a cell phone exchange and not a telephone exchange. Again, it is up to Rogers to determine what it decides to bill.

[bynming]

Yes I would use the cell phone number that I currently have with Bell with Fongo, so I take it that phone number is correctly logged as a cell phone in the databases then?