"Roaming" question

You should not be charged for just having the phone on. However, if you have the phone on and miss a call, you will be charged for the forward to VM at international rates. I was up in Toronto and had two calls that I missed while the phone was on and they cost me $1. If the phone is off and they bounce to VM you should not be charged.

 

Yes that is right. You are only charged when a call is made/received, NOT having the phone on.

Friends or family, in the US, that call your Cingular number are only charged normally, ie if it is a local call to your cell number for them, it is still local. You pay for the received call, $0.79/min.

 

I'm not sure if I understand your underlying question.

In the states, if a call is made, cingular mobile to cingular moblie and both party have free M2M, there is no charge.

If you call a landline (or non cingular customer), then your anytime minutes are used. If you receive a call from a landline (or non cingular customer). then your anytime minutes are used.

It works the same in Canada, except there is no M2M, and you pay 0.79$ instead of the anytime minutes.

My point is that someone in the states calling you (in Canada) does not pay long distance to you in Canada (or France, for example), just whatever the landline charge would be from their phone to you local home area code. That code be a local call for them, or long distance if they are outside your area code.

 

CELL CALLS:
The receiver: ASSuming you are not out of country/roaming, the receiver pays based on their plan per min, for Both incomming & outgoing calls.
Most carriers plans included a bunch of "free weekday mins" per month, unlimited nites/weekends mins, and/or unlimited calls to other people with the same carrier, so if you pick the correct plan you may never go over your basic monthly fee/included mins. The same flate rate applies regardless of where the incomming call originates.

The Caller: If the caller is calling from a landline, he of course would pay whatever his land plan requires to call the area code/number of the fone he is dialing. There is no "extra" charges to call a cellphone, just the "regular" cost associated with calling that area code/number. Like a cell plan, a landline plan may have free unlim calling, or the area code in question may be a "free " local call... BTW, The call to a cell is based on the the area code of the cell phone, NOT the location of the phone, so for example, If someone has a N.J. "201" area code on his cellfone, & happens to be in Hawaii with it, His friends in NJ are simply dialing a "local" free 201 number to reach him in Hawaii.
If the caller is dialing from a cellphone, his "mins used" are based on his plan, calls above the base "free and or unlimited" mins are charged accodingly.

 

See the Cingular FAQ on roaming:

http://www.cingular.com/customer_service/cingularworld/roaming/roaming_ques