Things to check before using your mobile phone abroad
- Review the roaming rates for the countries you’re visiting.
- Check out the Mobility solutions available for travellers.
- Set up your phone for travel.
- Familiarize yourself with how to use your phone abroad.
Roaming rates
When you’re outside Canada and you make calls, send text messages, or use data, roaming charges apply. View the roaming rates by country or region.
International roaming is not currently available for smartwatches. To use mobile services on your watch when you’re outside Canada, keep your iPhone close to your Apple Watch. The two devices will connect via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi.
Mobility solutions for travellers
There are three options for avoiding roaming charges while abroad.
Use local Wi-Fi
When Wi-Fi is available, you can connect to it to access the Internet.
Once you’re connected, you can make calls and send and receive text messages as though you were in Canada thanks to the Wi-Fi Calling feature. This feature also allows you to make free local calls in more than 100 eligible countries. Learn more about Wi-Fi Calling.
Activate the Daily Traveller Pass
Get access to your plan’s services for 24 hours, in more than 100 countries, for a fixed daily rate. Learn more about the Daily Traveller Pass.
Subscribe to a travel plan
Get a Mobile plan that also covers the US, Mexico, and more than 100 other popular travel destinations. Discover our travel plans.
Call us anytime, toll-free, anywhere in the world by dialling 611 on a mobile device linked to a Videotron plan.
Setting up a mobile device for travel
Before leaving, check the following settings on your mobile phone.
VoLTE feature
To get optimal coverage and use the Wi-Fi Calling service, enable the VoLTE feature.
Wi-Fi Calling
To make calls and send and receive text messages via the Wi-Fi network, enable the Wi-Fi Calling service.
Data roaming
To use your mobile data abroad, you must enable data roaming. If you don’t plan on using your data, you can disable this feature. Learn how to enable or disable data roaming.
Using your mobile device abroad
Here’s some helpful information to make it easier to use your mobile phone while travelling.
Enabling airplane mode
If you plan on using your cell phone exclusively with Wi-Fi, we recommend you enable airplane mode. This mode prevents your device from accessing the cellular network for calling, texting, or using the Internet.
Monitoring your data usage
You can track your usage of the Daily Traveller Pass and your call minutes, text messages, and data from the User Centre + app (available on Google Play or the App Store) or from the online Customer Centre. You need to be online to track your usage, so be sure to connect to a Wi-Fi network if you don’t want to use mobile data.
Calling Canada from abroad
Even if you have a Canadian mobile plan and device, you must follow these steps to make a call to Canada from abroad:
- Press and hold the 0 key until the + symbol appears.
- Dial 1, the area code, and the telephone number of the person you’re calling.
Calling Videotron from abroad
Call us anytime, toll-free, anywhere in the world by dialling 611 on a mobile device linked to a Videotron plan.
611 may be inaccessible on cruises or in extraterritorial zones. In such cases, dial 1-877-380-2611.
Don’t forget anything thanks to our handy list
To help you get ready to travel, review our pre-travel checklist, also available in a printable format.