topic Re: new phone subscription in Get Support

new phone subscription

Shay20 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 18:42:32 GMT

Hello everyone,

I’m new here and could really use some advice. I recently moved to New York, but my current provider, PC Mobile, isn’t working here. I’d love to switch to Public Phone while keeping my current phone number. However, Public Phone requires a text message verification to my existing number—which I can’t receive since PC Mobile isn’t working.

I’ve read that there might be an alternative way to verify via email. If anyone has experience with this process or knows a workaround, I’d truly appreciate your guidance!

Also, if anyone has insights on Public Phone’s service quality in New York or the U.S. in general, I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Thanks in advance for your help. I really appreciate it!

-Shay

Re: new phone subscription

Meow — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 18:46:15 GMT

This works for logging in. I do not know if it will work for signing up...

If you did not receive or cannot receive your 2FA code by SMS - Click on: ‘Didn’t get a code’ and you will get more options. Chose email.

Re: new phone subscription

funpig1 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 18:58:23 GMT

@Shay20

Will you still maintain and pay with a Canadian credit card with a Canadian billing address? I think that will be the most important thing for setting up and keeping your PM account while you are in the US.

It would have been best to set up while you are still in Canada and had access to your PC mobile. You can still try and see if you can port while you are in the US. There is also a porting assistance number which I can message you. Whether it will work in the US is uncharted territory. Good luck.

Roaming is usually a bit inferior than subscribing directly to the local network. However, I expect that the coverage in metropolitan New York would be pretty dense. It doesn't hurt for you to try and then you can report back to the rest of us. It's not like you're signing a 3-year contract.

Re: new phone subscription

Phil_Adelphus — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 19:37:22 GMT

@Shay20 Since you can't receive the port authorization SMS from PC Mobile, you would have to talk to them to see if they would authorize it manually. I don't think there's anything Public Mobile can do in that regard.

Re: new phone subscription

Shay20 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 20:00:00 GMT

Is this process all via Public mobile app? I am new here thats why making sure i understand before jumping

Re: new phone subscription

Shay20 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 20:00:25 GMT

Yes i do have Canadian CC and billing address. Thanks lot for the advise

Re: new phone subscription

hTideGnow — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 20:07:04 GMT

hi @Shay20

you need to reply to a PC Mobile text on your PC Mobile sim card to approve the porting. This is something you need to contact PC Mobile and see if they accept verbal port approval

for your login, you need to wait for the port to complete so the verification text can be received. But if you have further question with PM support agent, you need to message them. You can submit ticket by direct message:

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

Remember CS_agent will reply to your Community inbox within 2 to 4 hours, please check your inbox here:
https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/privatenotespage

Re: new phone subscription

funpig1 — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 20:27:52 GMT

@Shay20

The advice by @Chalupa_Batman in the old Community thread to use a VPN to use a Canadian location is a good one. I noticed that when I did the google search, the Google AI has copied or used the same advice. We just need somebody to actually try it and confirm that it works.

As noted, the setup and activation are all done within the PM app. However, the approval to port your old number from your old provider must come from PC Mobile. You could try contacting PC Mobile and see if they may help you out. But neither PC nor PM may be too thrilled about helping people set up Canadian accounts to use in the US. They may not want to upset you-know-who and cause a cross border telecommunication war.

Do you have any plans to pop back across the border to visit home in the near future? Once back in canada, if there are no glitches, the new activation and porting process usually just takes a few hours.

Please let us know how it works out for you. Good luck.

Re: new phone subscription

Chalupa_Batman — Mon, 24 Mar 2025 20:27:59 GMT

Just to add to this, yes, you can use a VPN while in the US however, make sure your "store" you pick from either in iOS or Android is Canadian as you won't be able to download the app.