Consumer cellular international roaming

by Out of touch in Canada
(San Diego)

When traveling to Canada we discovered to our horror that you need to take "So the motto with a Consumer Cellular phone when traveling abroad is to “Leave Home Without It!” seriously. Here we were at Toronto airport trying to connect with the party who was picking us up and the message on the cell phone: "Call not allowed".

When I phoned customer service to unblock international roaming the representative started the process and then came back with the response that it couldn't be done. Because we had not been a Consumer Cellular customer for more than a year and were on autopay, Consumer Cellular would not unlock international roaming on the phone which in effect made it as useful as a boat anchor for cellular use outside the U.S.

When I asked a supervisor where this was stated, she said it was in the contract information that we received. When I asked her to read it to me she referred to their billing department and came back with the answer that "there were so many plans they couldn't possibly tell each customer the restrictions on each and customers were expected to ask the question".

Also her comment that "not many customers travel outside the U.S." told me that in the eyes of Consumer Cellular their AARP customers are doddering old fools who very rarely travel internationally and have don't use cell phones when they do. The lesson; don't assume you can use your Consumer Cellular while outside the U.S.

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Hi,

Thanks for the info. As a sidenote, Greatcall Jitterbug does allow roaming in Canada at no extra charge as long as that is not your primary use of the phone - meaning you can't live in Canada and use it as your regular cell phone.

So if you travel to Canada again in the future and haven't gotten things straightened out with CC then you might want to consider this option.

Regards,
sb (admin)