Roaming on or off?

[Phono]

I just signed up for the Canada/US plan. Should roaming be turned on or off on my Samsung phone?

[sheytoon]

I don't think disabling data roaming would have any impact on battery.

The toggle is for DATA roaming only. The phone is still going to roam when it's in automatic network selection mode.

[DennyCrane]

That's where my head is at too. If anything I would think automatic network connection would have a better chance of killing your battery (in low signal or border towns) than roaming data would, because with the latter you're already connected to the network and it's just a question of whether to allow data to be flow to/from the device or not. 

[dust2dust]

@DennyCrane- I had also never heard of it and so did a little bit of reading trying to find the logic. in my reply I concluded that battery consumption with roaming data on is mostly irrelevant in our case in Canada/US.
When connected to Telus/Bell the phone is fixed on. When that connection gets weak or lost then sure the phone is cranking out power trying to find a signal. Roaming data really doesn't matter overall because the phone is working hard trying to get reconnected and you the user want it to. Maybe it's using that little bit more power searching for the home network plus anything roamable. The user won't care. Get me reconnected.
When actually roaming in the states then it's only connected to one provider (currently as far as we know) and the same rule applies. You the user want it to get it connected and aren't going to care that it's working hard trying to. And roaming data has to be on anyway.
At the border, the user will set the manual network so that it's not connecting to the US. So it's fixed to Telus/Bell. Same rule applies, you the user want it to get reconnected. adding - and it won't roam anywhere anyway because it's manually set to Public.
Now with the roaming plan, you the user aren't going to care. Connect here. Connect there. Don't care. Just keep my call and video or music going and do what you have to do to keep connected.
Then for those that don't leave their data on all the time then roaming data isn't being triggered anyway.
For those that do then it's back to the rule. Work as hard as you need to to keep connected.

So it's simply irrelevant. For us here. The user isn't going to care. And yes, there are no overages here.

Maybe @sheytoon could give some technical insight on this idea of excess battery consumption leaving roaming data toggled on when in Canada or the US.

[DennyCrane]

Whoa whoa whoa, why would having data roaming on have any impact on the battery? I've never heard that before, and TBH I don't understand the logic there. Unless you live near a border town and have to deal with constant switching back and forth, I don't see what the problem is. 

I recommend everyone on PM leave data roaming on all the time. Reason being is there are no overages, and if it's off (which is the default on most phones) you'll be on here complaining that your data didn't work when you eventually travelled. It's easier just to leave it on. There is zero chance of overages with PM because it's prepaid. Now if you are with a post-paid provider my advice may vary, depending on your level of technical savvy.

But long story short, you absolutely need data roaming on when you go to the US. Even though you have a Canada/US plan, it's still roaming and as such your phone needs to be set accordingly. 

[dust2dust]

It's an interesting part of roaming.

Roaming and battery drain would only be a factor if one leaves data on all the time. Otherwise, the phone isn't trying to use data anyway therefor roaming isn't relevant.
For us here, there is no roaming throughout Canada. If near the border then one would normally connect manually to Public so therefor no roaming is happening. Having the roaming toggle on would again be irrelevant. The phone is just always connected to Telus or Bell when in range. When out of range then there's nothing else to roam to anyway so again irrelevant.  If one goes to the states then it's only T-Mobile that we connect to and yes that's roaming. But it's only the one provider. With this new plan then you would want to have roaming so that you can be in and out of the states and data would work seamlessly. If you go out of T-Mobile range and the phone sees AT&T but AT&T is denying entry then that's for that period of time. Not long after you would be back in T-Mobile range. Except of course Alaska. You just wouldn't have service so you would turn things off anyway.

I would say this would all be much more relevant for being a customer of a European provider and roaming throughout Europe. We have two countries here. And Mexico won't work anyway.

But it's an interesting proposition.

[softech]

@Phono 

leaving Roaming Data on will drain your battery faster.  You phone will be constantly searching for signal and it will be even worse when you are in area with poor signal.

Also, while roaming cost you nothing on the new plan, if you live on the border, your phone could be connected to T-Mobile while you are in Canada, data traffic and calls would have routed longer.  Again, this might not be a big concern since your plan is free anyway, but I would turn it off the battery drain concern

[dust2dust]

@BKNS27- And so...it doesn't matter because there are no extra charges here. I leave mine on, just because.

[BKNS27]

@Phono 

You can leave it enabled since you have the Canada/USA plan.

If you don’t have the Canada/USA plan. You won’t be able to make or receive calls, reply to texts (you can get text) and no data.

[Handy1]

@Phono  Then yes absolutely leave it on no worries 

[Phono]

I live on the border, and go over weekly, so should I just leave it on to save fussing around? Thanks.

[BKNS27]

@Phono 

You will need to enable Roaming and connect to the T-Mobile Network.

[Handy1]

@Phono  You can turn it on . But mostly only important if you go to the US for a trip