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3G USA

jyb
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Anyone with any more news from this joke phone company on fixing the USA roaming problem.? Very bad customer service. Paying for a plan with US roaming but they cannot provide service. 

12 REPLIES 12

darlicious
Mayor / Maire

@CountyDownIeUk 

Perhaps you need to read the terms of service again. No provider guarantees connectivity wherever and whenever. There is decent 2G coverage in the US (Alaska excluded and probably the US territories(?)

 

However pm should be more specific about the limitations that do exist with the 2G network T-Mobile has maintained so that customers can make a truly informed decision when purchasing US Roaming add ons.

CountyDownIeUk
Mayor / Maire

Should this be brought to the attention of the CTRC? Selling a product that does not work everywhere, where it could. 

darlicious
Mayor / Maire

@Runningman 

No. "4G" plans only relate to the data speed not the network per se as you are already on the 4G LTE network. The difference being that while in Canada your "3G" data speed is throttled to 3mbps on the 4G LTE network. It is not throttled in the US while on pm's US Roaming partner 4G LTE networks (AT&T and T-Mobile). Nor is your data throttled on pm's 3G network (which pm uses for voice calling thus the issue in the US) where you can get data speeds up to 20+mbps but average 10mbps to 12mbps depending on network traffic. SMS/MMS texts also work on the 3G network.

 

Luckily pm has 2 US Roaming partners unlike most Canadian providers who mostly use AT&T. T-Mobile has maintained its 2G (GSM) network and as a result when roaming in the US on T-Mobile with 2G network connectivity your phone will automatically drop down to the 2G network to send and recieve calls.

 

Do you travel to the US frequently?

Runningman
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Thanks for your candid response. Wondering, if we moved up to the 4g plan on PM, will the US Roaming work better?

Cheers

jor123
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

Honestly though - if it doesn't function properly anymore due to PM's lack of voLTE, it shouldn't be sold. 

JL9
Mayor / Maire

This really shouldn't be a surprise, this issue is well documented for months now and many suggestions would point you in another direction away from a PM roaming plan to avoid this very things as there are many alternatives that would be much more reliable and cost effective.

darlicious
Mayor / Maire

@jyb 

There has been no official update from public mobile regarding implementing VoLTE for public customers. So while you will still have to sit and wait to see if you will have minimal voice services when you go south this winter you will still have the same service you had for data and text which always uses the 4G LTE network first and only fell back to 3G if the 4G LTE Network was unavailable. While in theory it would fall back to the 2G network on T-Mobile now that is unlikely to happen since 4G LTE network coverage is very comprehensive in the US. So like all of us we will wait with bated breath for that big surprise announcement that telus has indeed implemented VoLTE calling for public mobile customers.

 

The alternative for public mobile will be to cancel your plan all together as they are not obligated to offer it to you for longer than 30 days. Of course you are always free to choose another provider or another plan but I don't think you will find one that will fit your needs at that price point.

 

The only competition out there that you have to choose from is fizz if you happen to be in Quebec and they do not offer voice services on their US roaming plans or add ons.

 

Secondary providers who do not offer US roaming plans only pay as you go billing or Roam like home service at $12 per day and capped monthly at $100 with videotron but more commonly between $240 and $280 per month on top of your plan amount.

 

Your other choice is to choose a first tier provider who offer unlimited US roaming for an additional $15 to $20 on top of their $95 unlimited plans. You must pay the additional $15/$20 every month to enjoy this perk. If you cancel it you cannot resubscribe to it until you have waited out at least 6 months up to one year (I believe).

 

There has been a couple of customers forced into giving up their $60 CANADA/US roaming plan because they needed the reliability of voice services and are now reluctantly paying $55 more per month then they were paying here at public mobile.


@will13am wrote:

 It is probably more useful than bashing Public Mobile which has already been overdone.  


Quite right. Everybody complains, nobody does initial research expecting miracle for the low price. They are buying US add-ons like deaf listing to birds' song. Why is it difficult to understand that PM's US add-on does NOT work as it used to due to many factors.

dust2dust
Mayor / Maire

Surely, through all this time since late Spring, with your $60 plan, you've tried every and all ideas to get something to work. We get the odd reports of the add-ons working...mostly... so I can only imagine that you must be able to get something working.

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

@jyb , there is no official news about how the 3G shutdown impact is going to persist.  We all know the solution is to offer VoLTE.  Do you have a personal data point to share?  It is probably more useful than bashing Public Mobile which has already been overdone.  

Alexandf
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@jyb 

open ticket with PM support and ask them to remove add-ons from your account to get credit.

 At https://publicmobile.ca/chatbot.

Start by typing "Submit a ticket", then click "Contact Us", Then click "Other", then click "Click here to submit a ticket 

have trouble with Chatbot: Private message CS_Agent 

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

Outdoorsman
Mayor / Maire

@jyb with the shutdown of 3g services it is only going to get worse not better other providers have already stopped offering  their us roaming packages 

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