topic Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage? in Get Support

USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

MB01 — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:33:47 GMT

Hello Community: Last year I went to the USA with an add on based on my 3G plan, and coverage was very poor. Public Mobile does advise that 3G is becoming unsupported in the USA, so this is fair.

What I want to check with the community is that if I upgrade to a 4G plan, will the USA add ons actually work? They are based on AT&T and T-Mobile, so it should be very good. However, I want to check before I do this.

It is very unfortunate that Public Mobile does not support e-SIM. Last year my work around was to buy a Google Fi SIM in the USA, which worked very well, but you need an actual US address to register.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

umnikke8 — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:38:10 GMT

Service will work in the US regardless of plan, somewhat spotty however. It will use whatever it can find of the 2G network for calling and use the 4G network for data. VoLTE has just started rolling out so you will soon be able to use that in the US as well. To reiterate, it doesn't matter if you have a "3G" or "4G" plan you use the same networks.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

hTideGnow — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:41:26 GMT

hi @MB01

VoLTE roaming could have arrived:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/volte

add

How does VoLTE impact US Roaming?VoLTE Roaming services are now available in the US enabling Public Mobile customers to place and receive calls over the LTE network. If there is no VoLTE coverage or if customers don’t have a VoLTE-Roaming enabled device, customers will continue roaming on the 3G/HSPA network.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

dust2dust — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:39:52 GMT

The 3G or 4G information is about speed. You are almost certainly using 4G already just throttled speed.

We don't yet have new information about AT&T and VoLTE but T-Mobile still works as they have for a while. Data and text should be fine. Talk needs the old 2G network. Coverage is up to the roaming provider not Public. 2G is even less. Your phone needs to be able to switch down or also able to manually switch.

Until we hear more results about using VoLTE there.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

Aiden — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:51:13 GMT

You mentioned e-sim

does your phone support 2 sims? Either 1 psychical and 1 esim or 2 esim?

what I have done is bought an esim from Keepgo using referral for bonus data

setup that esim as data only

signed up for a free Fongo number that I call forward my PM number to

so when I go to us, my Keepgo esim takes over and I use it to call/receive calls using the Fongo app and iMessage works as my txt (it doesn’t send/receive regular txt but that’s ok for my use cases)

just an alternative since Keepgo let’s you choose T-Mobile or ATT and if your phone also supports 5G you get those speeds too

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

softech — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 18:54:34 GMT

@MB01 Google Fi support eSIM? if so, then PN uses physical sim and let others use the eSIM

And look like VoLTE is now enabled on US roaming as of a help article this afternoon

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

computergeek541 — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 19:01:21 GMT

@softech wrote:
@MB01 Google Fi support eSIM? if so, then PN uses physical sim and let others use the eSIM

And look like VoLTE is now enabled on US roaming as of a help article this afternoon

VoLTE while roaming in the US has been available since February 22, but only if the Public Mobile account has VoLTE already enabled and if the device is VoLTE capable. As of now, only some accounts have the feature turned on. VoLTE while roaming won't function if the update to the specific account hasn't yet been made.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

BKNS27 — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 19:10:06 GMT

@MB01

IT doesn't matter if there is eSIM. It is up to T-Mobile what is available on their system.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

MB01 — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:13:28 GMT

Thank you for your comment re: 3G & 4G. What I am referring to is this note by Public Mobile (please see below). Since I travelled to the US last year after this date, I assumed my extremely spotty connectivity was due to the fact I had 3G (I realize this is an artificially throttled to 3G plan). What I am wondering is that because of the note below from public mobile, if I upgrade to a Public Mobile 4G plan, will my US connectively be better?

"Important: Important: As of February 22nd, 2022, United States (U.S.) carriers have started turning down certain 3G/HSPA networks. As a result, customers using U.S. roaming add-ons will be impacted by differences in coverage or service quality (including 9-1-1 calls) when roaming in the U.S. Customers may also experience changes to services such as welcome messages, voicemail notifications, usage notifications for voice, notifications when trying to make an international call, interactive voice responses (IVR), as well as the ability to set up voicemail while in the U.S. This shutdown will not impact your service in Canada."

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

MB01 — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:17:31 GMT

Thank you for your comments. I posted a reply about the 3/4G thing also made by another person. Hopefully that clarifies why I'm asking.

Also, several people have commented on VoLTE - thank you everyone who posted that. Helpful. Does not cover data though, so I'm still trying to solve that problem.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

dust2dust — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:19:40 GMT

Again, the 3G here is UMTS for talk. That is what is no longer available in the states. The 3G speed is simply the data speed when on LTE. Your service is most certainly on LTE. It only drops to UMTS 3G when calling.

For roaming, on T-Mobile, as so far known, talk needs to use their old 2G because their 3G UMTS is no longer operating. But text and data will work fine on LTE.

Adding - volte IS data on LTE. We haven't heard yet whether those that have volte here have roamed yet and whether they use volte and whether they might also use AT&T in addition to the current T-Mobile.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

MB01 — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:19:31 GMT

Thank you for this good suggestion. I'll look into it!

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

BentoB — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:29:24 GMT

Darn, I just switched to PM to make use of the USA addon, plus other things. I suppose service should be less spotty in metropolitan areas (e.g. downtown seattle, san fran, etc.)?

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

MB01 — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:28:04 GMT

Ok thank you. That clarifies it better. I did not realize the 3G/US network note by Public Mobile was voice only - which it sounds like VoLTE will eventually fix. However, I did have really bad reception (for data). Others I travelled with who had regular (ie. full feature) plans, had no issues. When I bought a Google Fi physical SIM, suddenly I too had great connectivity (again data). I would have thought that since Public Mobile is teamed with T-Mobile & AT&T, coverage should not be an issue since they are large carriers.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

softech — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:30:39 GMT

@BentoB

do you currently has VoLTE ? If you just joined in the last 2 or 3 weeks, the system could have enabled VoLTE for you already.

Enable it on your phone and check. If VoLTE works, then you can use VoLTE on your US roaming as well , which would help a lot and likely less trouble

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

BentoB — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:42:59 GMT

Thanks @softech!

I just joined PM yesterday. lol

I do believe VoLTE is enabled on my Pixel phone automatically as per the June 2022 software update:

https://9to5google.com/2022/08/23/google-pixel-volte-roaming-update/

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

softech — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 20:44:36 GMT

@BentoB you are lucky!!

if you ever test your roaming, let us know if VoLTE works on roaming on T-Mobile and AT&T

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

DennyCrane — Wed, 15 Mar 2023 23:31:45 GMT

esim has zero relevance to your probem

If you can make calls on 4G/LTE (VoLTE) at home (some of us can now), then you'll be able to make calls with a roaming add on. Data and text always worked when roaming (with an add on).

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

MB01 — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:12:21 GMT

Yes thanks for that. I realize E-sim is unrelated to my problem. It's only a side comment in case PM reads these threads. It is an unfortunate restriction by PM because with it you could more easily travel & switch to another provider quickly & retain your number (like in Europe this is very easy). And yes, it is a stated PM restriction to not allow esim. I have not actually tried it because of this - only physical SIMs, which work great but change your number.

As far as data, it was NOT my experience that data worked when roaming. To put it bluntly, it was garbage on a road trip down the west coast of the USA. I literally almost never had it roadside. I needed access to maps and so I broke down and got Google FI on a physical SIM that I bought at a Target, and it was magic (but you need a US address to register a SIM card, unlike most anywhere else in the world). It worked astonishingly well - I literally never again had limited service. Including on remote roads all the way back up the Sierra Nevada mountains.

Just my experience.

I appreciate everyone's input. Not sure I have a solution other than to try it again & trust PM may work this time. Seems like upgrading to a PM 4G plan will not change my chances.

Re: USA Add Ons - 4G Coverage?

dust2dust — Thu, 16 Mar 2023 00:20:39 GMT

For your future travels, using google maps, you can download map areas while on the internet somehow and then use them offline while not connected to anything. Turn on location services (GPS) and it will show you where you are on that offline map and move along with you. If you don't need a voice telling you to turn here and there with live directions or you don't care about live traffic updates then ... can you read a map? You can zoom in and out, you can rotate the map, you can get the same points of interest like restaurants etc in the area. Obviously only limited information if you click on one.