What is roaming?
When you are outside of the Cellcom service area you are roaming. This means you are using another wireless carrier’s equipment. The map that was included in your rate plan brochure indicates your service area. Depending upon the plan you chose, this might cover a portion of a state or several states. When you are outside of your rate plan area, you will see the charge as roaming fees. Choose your rate plan carefully! It is possible for you to roam in your home area. For example, in Madison, your phone would show that you are roaming, even if your home area is the entire state of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. This is because Cellcom does not have any towers in that area; you are roaming on a different carriers tower. In that case, since your rate plan includes the entire state of Wisconsin, you wouldn’t be charged by Cellcom for roaming: Cellcom would pay the roaming fees for that carrier.
Roaming is the ability for a cellular customer to make and receive voice calls, send and receive data, etc on “visited” networks, that is, GSM networks located outside the geographical coverage area of their home network. These “visited” networks can be accessed in the same manner as the home network. For example, a customer (with a GSM phone) is able to make and receive voice calls while travelling in Europe (an example of international/global roaming). There are 3 types of roaming: • National Roaming: The visited network is in the same country as the home network. • International Roaming or Global Roaming: The visited network is outside the home country. • Inter-standard roaming: The visited network operates on a different technical standard than the home network. See the official websites for further information about where customers can roam and the cost of such services.
