eSIM Compatibility with Public Mobile

[J_PM]

Hi Community, 

We're excited about the interest in eSIM and thought it would be helpful to share some easy tips before you begin your new eSIM journey! 

Looking to activate?
Simply download the Public Mobile App to get started. When you purchase your subscription in the app, we actually check your eSIM compatibility for you, ensuring that you get the right SIM for your device.

Checkout our latest eSIM blog post  for more information on the benefits of using eSIM. 

Not sure if your phone is eSIM compatible? 
You can easily use the IMEI checker to confirm if your device is eSIM compatible ahead of time. If you purchase your subscription through our website, the checker will be available within the activation steps. 

If you're unsure how to find your phone’s IMEI visit this help article for instructions. 

Can you find out if your phone us eSIM compatible online?

Absolutely. Most manufacturers have compatible devices noted on their support websites. Third-party sites also offer insight into which devices accept eSIM in Canada. Be sure to check your device’s specific make and model. For example, Canadian models of the Samsung S20 do not support eSIM, while other international models do.

Note: Here’s a list of common device manufacturers, with steps to access your settings to confirm eSIM compatibility. Steps may vary depending on your phone model.   

Spoiler

Samsung Devices:

1.     Open the “Settings” app.
2.     Tap “Connections.”
3.     Select “SIM card manager.”
4.     Look for the “Add Mobile plan” option. If it’s available, it indicates that your device supports eSIMs.

 IOS Devices

1.     Open the “Settings” app.
2.     Tap “Cellular.”
3.     Select “Add a New Plan.”
4.     If an option to scan a QR code appears, then your device supports eSIM.

Pixel Devices:

1.     Open the “Settings” app.
2.     Tap “Network & Internet.”
3.     Select the “+” sign next to SIMs.
4.     Check if the “Connect to Mobile network” page includes a “Download a SIM instead?” option. If it does, then your device is eSIM capable.

We’ve heard your questions about eSIM compatibility, and want you to know that we’re using your feedback to make it easier to access these tools before you activate. 

- Public Mobile Team

[Korth_]

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@softech wrote:

But while eSIM is "cool", there are disadvantages as well.  For eSIM, if you have a new phone, or if you ever wipe your phone, you will have to re-buy a new eSIM again.   There is no such problem with Physical sim card.

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You will eventually want or need a new phone. No phone lasts forever.

If you use eSIM then you'll have to buy a new eSIM at whatever price they charge ($5, $10, $15, $20+). This might be expected if you're replacing the phone simply because you want a newer model. It's "meant" to be expected when you're going through a normal provider at a normal store and buying a new phone on a contract. It's just an extra little cost if you're replacing the phone because it was lost, stolen, broken.

If you use eSIM, then your account is locked to that phone. The only way to switch it to another phone would be to buy and activate a new eSIM on the other phone (which again costs a little extra money). Compare vs physical SIM card which you can easily swap from phone to phone without any restriction, you have use a different phone every day if you like. You can use your same old SIM card on your fancy new phone when you upgrade.

You can switch SIM cards in one phone all you like, as well. While you're travelling out of country, for instance. This is not an option with eSIMs unless the eSIM-capable phone also has a physical SIM card slot.

I fail to see what is so "cool" about this commodity. Other than the fact that the marketing is trying to make it seem cool. It might have some application where control and restriction is desirable - say, a corporation is deploying phones to employees or whatever. But it's just more costs, more locks, more hassles for consumers. If phones every become eSIM-only (by ditching all physical SIM card slots) then consumers will be right back at the tiresome old "carrier-locked" and "OEM-locked" phone problems the CRTC attempted to abolish a decade ago.

[Mikeee]

I didn't know that, thanks, didn't know it'll wipe everything, i guess it's cause those data and contacts are bind to the sim itself, while you can transfer physical sim but not esim?

[softech]

@Mikeee 

pretty much phones with eSIM would work with PM

But while eSIM is "cool", there are disadvantages as well.  For eSIM, if you have a new phone, or if you ever wipe your phone, you will have to re-buy a new eSIM again.   There is no such problem with Physical sim card.

[Mikeee]

Are there any lists of types of phone that supported the esim?

[kittylover143]

I’m going through this as well!! Please update if you get it to work. 

[Korth_]

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@maximum_gato wrote:

 Everyone gets a welcome email nowadays? Esim activation went sideways after payment with an error message. No esim prompt. No welcome email. No QR code but customer support says payment went thru and the account is active?

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You should at least get an SMS from 100 or from 611 when you activate a new account. 611 is used to send payment reminders and messages - including a confirmation notification every time your plan cycle successfully renews, including a confirmation notification the first time your plan cycle starts. (At least, that's what I've seenon my own old phone long long ago, and on a referral's phone almost as long ago.)

It's not really a "welcome" message. But it is a "your payment works, your plan works" message.

[maximum_gato]

 Everyone gets a welcome email nowadays? Esim activation went sideways after payment with an error message. No esim prompt. No welcome email. No QR code but customer support says payment went thru and the account is active?

[Evan3456]

Hi! My phone has an eSIM, but when I completed the sign up it said unable to use the eSIM on the phone and to contact Public Mobile. However, the online bot does not understand and i cannot submit a ticket online as it gives me an error page. I have cleared my cache and am now stuck without any service. Is someone able to contact me please?

[dust2dust]

@Ac562- Go into the account profile and change the email address to some kind of useless junk email.

[Ac562]

Have turned them all off. Cancelled all 3 accts 

[Ac562]

I have unsubscribe from everything twice now! I have no more accounts, I have gone to another company.

[Korth_]

@Ac562 

If you're complaining about emails - just click the "unsubscribe" link at the bottom and you'll never get another one again (unless you sign up again).

If you're complaining about the "Public Mobile here..." SMS texts - there are a few that you can "unsubscribe" or "stop", and they'll always tell you how to opt-out in the message itself.

But you cannot "unsubscribe" from most of these SMS texts. Not the useful payment/account reminders. Not the useless marketing spam. Not the Telus/Koodo migration offers. The best you can do, if you think they're truly obnoxious, is to use your phone software to block texts from those incoming numbers. (And even then - if you're using the OEM default built-in SMS-handling software "app" on a consumer smartphone - you cannot block the mandated regulatory notices about CRTC/CCTS and 911/E911 on many new phones intended for the Canadian market.)

Beware that you cannot claim any gifts or freebies Public Mobile might hand out if you don't get the message. Maybe you never got the message (because you chose to get taken off Public Mobile's "subscriber" list). Maybe you just can't reply "yes" to a message you never got (because you blocked the number). Either way, I've seen people complain before because they aren't able to score that free/gift 5GB data add-on or 1000 minutes long-distance add-on which everybody else around here was happy to brag about. (That being said, these gifts/freebies are entirely random, there's really no way to predict if or when Public Mobile might choose to hand out more, even the xmas holiday gifts aren't something you should bank on in today's post-covid economy.)

[Ac562]

I have cancelled all 3 accts because of the customer service. Now,  I have changed subscription to not receive emails from community and still receive them. 
Take me off this list pls

[Yiz]

Exactly what happened to me..

[Korth_]

Multiple logins with multiple EverSafe 2FA is annoying. Especially since checking the "This is a trusted device" box or adding your current device to Trusted Devices in your EverSafe profile or using a completely new browser doesn't actually change this behaviour.

Why do I need to login twice to post things in the Community? Then once more if I choose to login Self-Serve, then yet one more time if I choose to check my Rewards? And why do I have to do the full 2FA every single time I login, without any (working) opt-out or disable choices? It is overkill, inconvenient, frustrating - especially since I'm not even convinced it'll actually add any useful security in the real world, lol, if anything, all the repeated login/password traffic will just make things easier for a middleman hacker to capture and copy my account identity.

@hschmeikal it must be even worse for you, since your second/subsequent logins seem to fail.

[hschmeikal]

I have exactly the same problem!  I cannot even use the chat function, because now I cannot even log in more than once.  The second time it tells me that my ID is not correct!  I cannot remember being THIS frustrated EVER by a mobile phone company! Do I actually have to go to a kiosk to get this resolved?  I cannot get over the irony that I cannot contact a phone company via phone!

[J_PM]

@kalamari We had a new version released today! Check out this post for live updates in app 

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Live-Changes-and-Improvements-to-the-Pu...

[TomKnez]

Hello.  I recently signed up for a Public Mobile plan and eSim (the eSim was free).  The eSim would not install on my phone so I purchased a Public Mobile SIM card and installed it in my phone.  My account is activated but when I use the Public Mobile app it keeps looking for an eSim.  How do I get the app to stop looking for an eSim and use the Public Mobile SIM card that is in my phone?  I also cannot log in to my Public Mobile account using a computer because Public Mobile sends a code to my phone (which of course is not working) so I cannot enter the code to prove it is me.  Any help/suggestions would be appreciated thanks!

[TomKnez]

Hi sk133.  Did you resolve your problem?

[kalamari]

If your eSim is not compatible with public mobile. Contact the public mobile CS at: CS_Agent and then request that refund you the $5 for Esim costs and the $10 for buying a new manual sim.  They are reasonable and considerate and often will give you a refund. Take note that after converting to eSim, your previous manual simm card is no longer good and cant be re-activated, you will have to buy a new sim.  My strong suggestion and experience is that you are better off NOT using the public mobile app. It has too many glitches and sometimes gets frozen and hanged up in the process.  Use your laptop or desktop instead to set up your esim.

[sk133]

Exact same thing happened to me. My number transferred over but eSim does not work. No service at all

[TomKnez]

I just purchased a new plan and eSim.  The eSim will not install from the Public Mobile app.  HELP PLEASE!  What do I do next?

[Korth_]

I was under the impression that eSIMs are still "new" (officially introduced circa-2016, have only been in the consumer domain for some 2-4 years now). Which means they ALL use the same formats and protocols, they're ALL fully intercompatible. They'll probably stay that way until some sort of unscheduled but unavoidable (and not back-compatible) eUICC hardware revision is necessary in the next decade or so. (There's already criticism about eSIM vulnerability vs various kinds of technical attacks, and such talk can only get more heated with more passionate calls to action as the years pass by and eSIM incidents/victims gradually accumulate.)

So if your phone has an eSIM then it should already be 100% compatible, no?

Unless the eSIM has been deactivated or blacklisted - because the owner reported the phone as lost/stolen/hacked/etc.

Unless the device is intended for foreign regions/markets - it won't work in Canada if it's incompatible with (or carrier-locked out of) CA/US/NA cellular radio/telephony systems.

[mellowheart]

The eSIM checking software is buggy.

Example: Try a Samsung S20FE IMEI in that tool. It will report that the phone is eSIM compatible. Thats just wrong information that misleads everyone. 

I am stuck with a "esim" subscription but no service because my S20FE will not do eSIM, so Public Mobile's eSIM checking tool is just plain lies.

[kalamari]

Esims are NOT free on public mobile. You are charged $5.60 to install esimm. The only time It s free is for brand new customers to public Mobile. Most other providers over esimm for free except public mobile and kudoo. Koodo charges $20 for esim. That is nuts!

[kalamari]

This had been a very frustrating problem with public mobile and it's unfriendly horrible  ever-safe ID software system. The solution would be select that you did not get the code. Then it would offer you the option of sending the 2-factor code by email. You would think that Eversafe should offer the option to choose alternative 2-factor verification in the initial screen just like google, facebook etc.  But oh noo, poor ergonomic design by eversafe, it offers importation options under sub menus...  A very illogical software design. 

[Gibbs]

I checked the phone compatibility with an esim.  All good.  Picked a 90 day subscription plan, paid the funds, and got to the last step where it says activate.  That is where it all fell apart.  PM now says the phone is not compatible.  As my subscription was with an esim that id not work in my phone I then bought a physical sim.  Phone did not work with the physical sim and after numerous chat sessions with PM they finally got the phone working with the physical sim.  That took 2 days.  The agony did not stop there.  Upon checking my CC I saw I was debited twice for the service.  Now the challenge is to try and get a refund.  The CS at PM I contacted really did nothing and told me only one payment went through.  I then did a screen capture and sent it to PM.  Still denial of over payment by PM.  Finally on day 3 a CS initiated an investigation with the finance dept.  Now it is day 4 and still the refund is pending and not approved as of yet.  If in the next 10 days I don't see a refund to my CC I will initiate a small claims action against PM.   It may be the only way to get a refund.

[kalamari]

Don't bother with public Mobile eSIM.   I installed eSIM but half of the time, my phone has no network with ESIM. I had network with the manual sim card.  All other carriers over free ESIM. Public Mobile charges $5.60. I am going to go back to manual esim and request that they refund $5. If I have difficulty, I am moving to another company. I have really had it with public mobile poor services and difficulty accessing customer support.

[Starstock]

Ridiculous happened to me too. Said it was compatible then after purchasing magically isn’t compatible anymore. The customer service is the most frustrating thing 

[Obsession0525]

eSiM is great. Transferred from Lucky to PM all within 30mins and the process was pretty smooth.