topic Re: 3g being cancelled in Get Support

3g being cancelled

JoJoBean8888 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:26:04 GMT

Hi, when making outgoing calls there is a message about the 3g network being shut down and to contact Telus before the call is connected. Is everyone getting this message regardless of having a 4g or 5g phone?

Re: 3g being cancelled

slusagm — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:27:42 GMT

hi @JoJoBean8888 the 3G is an issue for phone that is not VoLTE whitelisted with PM or does not have VoLTE

What phone do you have? Use the IMEI checker to confirm if your phone is able to use VoLTE here:
https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/get-help/articles/volte

and can you confirm which province you are at?

Re: 3g being cancelled

computergeek541 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:35:26 GMT

@JoJoBean8888 wrote:
Hi, when making outgoing calls there is a message about the 3g network being shut down and to contact Telus before the call is connected. Is everyone getting this message regardless of having a 4g or 5g phone?

Not everyone is hearing this message when trying to make a call using the 3G/HSPA network. I tried this and do not get the message, so this could be account specific depending on a specific customer network usage patterns or possibly based on the type of device that is detected by the network.

Re: 3g being cancelled

hairbag1 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:36:26 GMT

@JoJoBean8888

would be helpful if you would let us know what city and province you're in.

Re: 3g being cancelled

JoJoBean8888 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:37:50 GMT

I'm in Manitoba and have a samsung s20 ultra

Re: 3g being cancelled

slusagm — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:39:47 GMT

@JoJoBean8888 wrote:
I'm in Manitoba and have a samsung s20 ultra

yes, Manitoba will have 3G network decommissioned first

and S20 is not on the VoLTE whitelist. For Samsung phone, you will need S21 and above to use VoLTE on PM network

Re: 3g being cancelled

JoJoBean8888 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:42:45 GMT

Well this sucks. I had asked customer service months ago about this and they said I have 4g and it wasn't a problem.

Re: 3g being cancelled

hairbag1 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:45:50 GMT

@JoJoBean8888

sounds like you'll need to upgrade your cellphone if you wish to continue service with PM. Likely all cell providers in Manitoba will be affected also...not just PM.

Re: 3g being cancelled

JoJoBean8888 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 02:47:11 GMT

Thank you everyone for your help!

Re: 3g being cancelled

plettp1 — Tue, 03 Mar 2026 03:37:39 GMT

we are getting the message to.we cant verify the IMEI number on public mobiles web site. but we can verify that the IMEI number is good on Telus web site. here is the link for telus to verify

https://www.telus.com/en/support/article/how-to-use-volte

Re: 3g being cancelled

seaforthcastle — Fri, 01 May 2026 13:20:40 GMT

We got a text message from Public Mobile:

We're enhancing our network to bring you faster, more reliable service. To make room for these upgrades, we'll begin retiring our 3G network on March 1, 2027.
After the shutdown, your device will no longer work on the Public Mobile network. To avoid service disruption, you will need to switch to TELUS.
To help you stay connected and make switching easy, we've teamed up with TELUS to offer you exclusive savings on 5G plans like GB for $15/mo. Plus, you can keep your current device and phone number.

So, we went to PM and checked our IMEI for both phones and guess what? Neither of them will work going forward. Very disappointing. What's bad about PM is not being able to figure out what phone models actually work because we do not have IMEIs for just any phone to enter into this checker. Telus has a similar IMEI checker which reports our phones work there. SHOCKING. Let me say this, there is simply no reason we would choose to go to Telus despite the marketing push because the price is twice what we are paying now. I am a senior and don't have money to throw around willy-nilly because some management executive at PM has decided our phones should no longer work even though according to Telus both are voLTE capable. The calculation is pretty simple, even if I had to buy a new (used) phone for $300 that would work (if I could figure out what that was) it would pay for itself in 10 months. If I went with Telus I'd be throwing that $30 more a month (plus tax) away. Not happening. I don't have money to burn like that. I suspect a lot of other people are in the same position. PM has to sort this out because we won't be choosing PM or Telus if they can't get this figured out better than they have it now.

Re: 3g being cancelled

hTideGnow — Fri, 01 May 2026 13:18:32 GMT

@seaforthcastle

so, what phones do you have?

we can suggest what phones to change to based on your budget

Re: 3g being cancelled

seaforthcastle — Fri, 01 May 2026 16:18:33 GMT

We have a Samsung S9 and an LG Velvet. We have been looking around.