topic Re: Phone keeps switching to Emergency Calls Only - Sometimes restores after toggling airplane off/o in Get Support

Phone keeps switching to Emergency Calls Only - Sometimes restores after toggling airplane off/on

Gnilias — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 19:02:30 GMT

Long story short. My service has started to be terribly messed up/near non functional at my house, and often on the road.

The phone often shows "Emergency calls only" or No Service, instead of "Public Mobile" in the upper left side of the screen.

Wondering what options I have to fix. I've reset all network settings on the phone (Samsung A16 5G SM-A166W). Things have been working great for roughly a year, and just started acting up in the last 3 weeks or so. Getting really frustrating.

Re: Phone keeps switching to Emergency Calls Only - Sometimes restores after toggling airplane off/o

TheSterlinger — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 19:21:04 GMT

@Gnilias if you have have a physical SIM card you could try it in another phone for a few hours and tests for incoming and outgoing calls.

It could be a device issue that's not supported by Public Mobile.

Re: Phone keeps switching to Emergency Calls Only - Sometimes restores after toggling airplane off/o

Gnilias — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 19:27:02 GMT

It is an esim, so can't do that. It's worked flawlessly for almost a year, leading me to believe that it isn't an unsupported device.

Re: Phone keeps switching to Emergency Calls Only - Sometimes restores after toggling airplane off/o

slusagm — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 19:31:17 GMT

can you still login to the PM app? login and buy a new eSIM from Account-> Purchase Sim card -> eSIM.

it should be free if your current eSIM was purchased over 15 days ago

Re: Phone keeps switching to Emergency Calls Only - Sometimes restores after toggling airplane off/o

TheSterlinger — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 19:33:53 GMT

Public Mobile only support certain phones and this one is not one of them. You can check the device's IMEI to verify.

It also depends on your location. They did shout down 3G services in MB I believe in December .

You could check this link and see if this could be what's affecting you.

You could also ask a Customer Service Agent to see if they can refresh your account on their end to see if that will fix the issue permanently.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/get-help/articles/850-turndown

https://widget.telus.tiia.ai/publicmobile/publicmobile.html

Re: Phone keeps switching to Emergency Calls Only - Sometimes restores after toggling airplane off/o

Gnilias — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 19:49:41 GMT

Sterlinger: I checked the band requirements, this phone appears to be compatible. Starting up a CS agent ticket.

slusagm: I can log in, it's telling me an esim is 5$. Not sure what I'd be accomplishing by buying a new sim.

Re: Phone keeps switching to Emergency Calls Only - Sometimes restores after toggling airplane off/o

BKNS27 — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:33:10 GMT

@Gnilias

I had this issue with my previous carrier and the fix was to reset the Network setting on my phone but you will need to reconnect to home wifi.

Re: Phone keeps switching to Emergency Calls Only - Sometimes restores after toggling airplane off/o

Gnilias — Wed, 11 Feb 2026 20:56:34 GMT

Thanks, did that before posting. Also went through customer service just now. They did a refresh on their end as well. I've reset/restarted everything a time or two now... appears the device may be malfunctioning. It has 0 waterproof rating and is about a year old... I guess it's time has come.