topic Re: Please explain "mobile data" and "data roaming" in Get Support

Dropped calls in the USA

lefty4666 — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 20:05:46 GMT

Just completed a 20 minute conversation with CAA Niagara about an important insurance issue. The call was dropped 6 times over 20 minutes. Fortunately the CAA rep was very patient, kept calling me over and over and we finally concluded the issue. Now this event was from CAA to my cell in Temple Texas, since I could not call from here - CAA number is not available from this area. T Mobile is showing on my cell from time to time. Then my wife had to interact with CAA Niagara - they called her but she could also call them with her cell and Virgin. Her 20 minutes proceeded without a single dropped call.

Re: Dropped calls in the USA

hTideGnow — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 20:07:48 GMT

Hi @lefty4666 which US network you are using ? TMobile or AT&T?

Check your My Account to see if you got 2 different Add-ons that have TALK on it. If 2 roaming Add-on with TALK existing together, it will cause dropping of calls

Re: Dropped calls in the USA

JL9 — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 20:42:49 GMT

why is that? confusing each other and cancelling each other out?

Dropped calls in the USA

darlicious — Thu, 07 Apr 2022 20:45:19 GMT

@lefty4666

As @hTideGnow has alluded to the glitch causing your dropped call issue you will need to contact customer support to remove one of the US Roaming add ons that has a talk component and they will credit your account.

Here is some info on US Roaming add ons that you may find useful.

While you have to have an active plan to purchase and use US roaming add ons the type of plan you have does not affect the roaming add ons features.
US roaming add ons start the moment you confirm and submit your purchase in your self serve account and expire 240 hours later (10 days×24 hours).
You can pre-load the funds needed to purchase the add ons in your self serve account so you only have to log in, select the US roaming add on and then confirm and submit your purchase.
Wait til late as possible to purchase since they are immediately valid so on free wifi at the destination airport or stopping shortly before the border at mcd's or timmy's to buy the add on while on free wifi.
If you are staying longer than 10 days you must wait a minimum of 24 hours to purchase the same US roaming add on or contact the moderators to add it before the waiting period ends.
If you have two US roaming add ons with a talk feature that overlap the talk feature basically gets disabled. Avoid this....but you will have to get one removed by a moderator to get your calling feature back if this happens.
After purchase reboot your phone and manually select either at&t or T-mobile to get better reception. Some areas have better coverage by either provider so when travelling around the US you will be better served by choosing the provider with better signal strength by locale.
You will recieve incoming texts without any US roaming add ons. Adding the fongo app and textnow app for use on wifi are good to use for a back up plan or you could call forward your pm phone # to your fongo # before you leave Canada and purchase just the US data roaming add on. Fongo also works on mobile data (1 min=0.5mb/100 min=50mb) so you could still recieve incoming pm texts, recieve incoming pm calls to your fongo #/app, outgoing calls from your fongo number and outgoing texts from textnow for free or small fee from fongo.
All US roaming add ons have either unlimted text, talk or both. Only data has limits depending on your purchase 250mb/500mb/1gb. Once the data is consumed it will just stop you could then purchase different roaming add on, wait 24 hr to buy or contact the moderator to buy the same US roaming add on again. (* except talk as previously mentioned.)

Happy travels and Stay--Safe!

Please note currently due to the decommissioning of the 3G network in the US by pm's roaming partners at&t has already begun this process but as of March 3rd 2022 still has some areas that are still served by the 3G network. T-Mobile has an end date of July 1st 2022. This will affect the ability of pm customers to send and receive voice calls and emergency service such as 911 while in the US and using pm's US roaming add ons. The current work around is to download a voip app such as textnow or fongo for use while on wifi or mobile data for voice calls when in areas no longer served by the 3G network which will eventually include all areas served by at&t and T-Mobile.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account in your private messages only include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #

Puzzled by Public Mobile Service in the USA versus here in Canada

lefty4666 — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:26:48 GMT

Just completed a 2 week trip with my wife into the USA, purchased a 10 day package just before leaving, after about 6 days, got an alert that most of my data was used up, bought a 2nd package. In central Texas within 10 miles of 3 cities with a total population of about 200,000 people, 100 miles south of Dallas-Ft Worth, 50 miles north of Austin. T Mobile sometimes showing on my cell - 75 to 80% of the time - "Emergency Calls Only". Sometimes - "can't call that number from your calling area". Much of the time can not access the internet via my Hot Spot. Sometimes can not even access the internet via a massive institutional (hospital) wifi system. Could not access my voicemail, no way to reset the forgotten password. Dozens of dropped calls in mid-sentence. Meanwhile my wife's cell via Virgin and a roaming package works flawlessly in all regards. Home 3 days - the Public Mobile system is working like a charm, calling, texting, hot spot, voicemail(no password required), etc. Looks like I need a different approach for USA cell use. Thoughts?

Re: Puzzled by Public Mobile Service in the USA versus here in Canada

hTideGnow — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:32:55 GMT

HI @lefty4666 Did you try AT&T as well? Did you disable Automatic network and use Manual selection to choose T-Mobile or AT&T?

I think the reception and reliability in US is more of less out of PM control

What kind of phone do you have?

Re: Puzzled by Public Mobile Service in the USA versus here in Canada

dust2dust — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:34:16 GMT

Could you show us an image or copy/paste of your payment history so we can see what you bought and when.

It would have been preferable to leave it manually on T-Mobile as AT&T is currently shutting down their 3G.

Wifi in a hospital is unrelated.

I suspect the add-ons you bought 6 days in were another talk part.

Re: Puzzled by Public Mobile Service in the USA versus here in Canada

hairbag1 — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:35:28 GMT

Your 10 Day US Roaming options last for 240 hours from when you actually buy them. After 240 hours, you need to wait for 24 hours before rebuying...you can't just buy the same add-on before old one expires + 24 hrs. It is puzzling...I know.

Re: Puzzled by Public Mobile Service in the USA versus here in Canada

esjliv — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:35:28 GMT

@lefty4666 - Did you buy the same addon within your first 10 days of buying the first one?

Roaming addons in the USA with Public Mobile services are finicky if you are buying the same one or trying to overlap the same type of addon within the 240hours after purchasing it. Or even 24 hours after the addon expires.

It is silly really.

It usually requires assistance with a customer support agent to have the same one added within this period of time, or you can purchase a totally different addon so they 2 same do not overlap.

If your travel plans in the USA are for longer than 10 days consider a travel sim, or stay up on these finicky things. I am sure many people use these addons successfully, but Public Mobile DOES NOT explain these strange hiccups very well.

This service likely needs some fine tuning and more clarity to the customers.

Re: Puzzled by Public Mobile Service in the USA versus here in Canada

softech — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:37:14 GMT

@lefty4666 Roaming is always truoble and pricey. And with US started turning off 3G , Roaming talk would be more unreliable than ever

If your wife was going with you on the trip, you really should have got US local data, you would have spent less and would have got a lot of data. And if you got local data there, if there is any problem, you can always head into a store and ask them to help. For voice calls and text, you will have to rely on VoIP app then.

Re: Puzzled by Public Mobile Service in the USA versus here in Canada

JL9 — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:40:38 GMT

I second this suggestion not just on potential savings but also on the reliability of the service as it looks like the 3G situation in the US is causing a lot of headaches for PM users getting the Roaming add on.

I don't understand "Data"

lefty4666 — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:41:40 GMT

I purchased two Public Mobile plans sort of end to end before leaving and while in the USA and when I look at the usage information, all seems ok in terms of no unexpected charges, numerous voice events, a few text events, numerous data events - about 500MB in total, all of them tagged "web". I assume that indicates that I had acheived internet connection via my hot spot or the hospital wifi system. Now, I checked emails and sent emails and read articles from my emails and goggled some. Do these activites all consume this "data"? Some of these events were 5 -- 10 minutes in duration and show 70 and 75 and 80 MB each time, some were shorter and used 20, 30, 40, 50 MB. It looks like that I may need to load up much more "data" for even my modest activities while travelling. Thoughts.

Re: I don't understand "Data"

esjliv — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:50:29 GMT

@lefty4666 wrote:
I purchased two Public Mobile plans sort of end to end before leaving and while in the USA and when I look at the usage information, all seems ok in terms of no unexpected charges, numerous voice events, a few text events, numerous data events - about 500MB in total, all of them tagged "web".

"web" is using your data connection/service at some point.

I assume that indicates that I had acheived internet connection via my hot spot or the hospital wifi system. Now, I checked emails and sent emails and read articles from my emails and goggled some. Do these activites all consume this "data"?

If your DATA option is turned on in the settings of your device, even when you are connected to a wifi zone, apps can use DATA in the background. So to prevent this from happening and using DATA unknowingly, best to turn of DATA completely when in WIFI areas, or ensure your check your settings in your phone and each app to ensure all background data is turned off.

Some of these events were 5 -- 10 minutes in duration and show 70 and 75 and 80 MB each time, some were shorter and used 20, 30, 40, 50 MB. It looks like that I may need to load up much more "data" for even my modest activities while travelling. Thoughts.

See my comments above to your inquires.

Re: I don't understand "Data"

dust2dust — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:50:41 GMT

It's possible you may have settings on the phone to use cell data if wifi is weak or unconnected. Hotspotting could easily use a lot of data depending on settings on the devices using the hotspot.

Please explain "mobile data" and "data roaming"

lefty4666 — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:51:37 GMT

As I recently struggled to get connection to the internet while in the USA, with Public Mobile packages in place, via my hot spot or the hospital wifi, I turned on mobile data.....sometimes ok, sometimes not. I turned on mobile data and data roaming.....sometimes ok, sometimes not. Back at home - wifi off, mobile data on, hot spot on = instant internet, every time. Should I just stay home or leave my cell in my desk drawer when I travel?

Re: I don't understand "Data"

hTideGnow — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:51:57 GMT

HI @lefty4666 what you meant by "purchased two Public Mobile plans sort of end to end before leaving and while in the USA", you bought two roaming data add-on before your trip to US?

Data events are MMS receive and sending and do not count towards your data bucket

Yes, checking email, google things would consume data.

Re: Puzzled by Public Mobile Service in the USA versus here in Canada

Luddite — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:52:22 GMT

Yes with 3G now hit & miss in USA, the only dependable add-on is data. In which case, get a TextNow account and train all your friends to use that number when you are in USA. For $10 they will hold your TextNow number indefinitely when it's not being used.

For longer stays pickup the TextNow SIM and their data plan. If you can survive without data, they also have free cellular calling/texting while in the US.

Re: Please explain "mobile data" and "data roaming"

esjliv — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:52:44 GMT

whoops @lefty4666 - did you mean to add this to your other post...https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/I-don-t-understand-quot-Data-quot/td-p/813803

Re: Please explain "mobile data" and "data roaming"

softech — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:53:52 GMT

@lefty4666 When you are in US, you will have to turn on both Mobile Data and Data Roaming.

Data roaming means you are using data outside of your own network or country. So, when you are in USA and you want to use Roaming data, you need to enable Data Roaming as well as Mobile Data

Also, when you want to use the network in US, you have to manually change the network carrier from Automatic to either T-Mobile or AT&T

Re: Please explain "mobile data" and "data roaming"

Luddite — Mon, 18 Apr 2022 19:56:10 GMT

@lefty4666 Don't stay home! You only live once. 🤔

Check out my post in your other thread for a possible solution to your travelling woes.
Of course vacationing Canada eliminates all these issues. 🥴