5G roaming issue on West Coats Vancouver Island

[allendick]

I sailed around Vancouver Island recently and was counting on coverage from Ucluelet on down to Juan de Fuca as shown on the coverage map, however south of Bamfield, close in to shore in Canadian waters, I received a message, welcome to the US, blah, blah... blah,

My Pixel 7XL persisted in showing signal but with an R and providing no data. 

Finally, I wondered, and set the preference to 3G.  Suddenly I had data and no R.

What is the explanation for this potentially dangerous and obviously inconvenient issue?  

Instead of welcome to the US, an explanatory message would have been appropriate.

[allendick]

Easy for you to say.  Blame the victim. 

I had no intention of going to the US.

Cell providers know exactly where you are by triangulation.

The message I got should not have said "welcome to the US". 

Period. 

I was not in the US.

[DennyCrane]

Just set your phone to manual network selection and choose PM. Anyone near a border region has to contend with this, regardless of carrier. And as noted, it's a phone issue, not a PM issue. Thankfully there's no risk of overages on this prepaid service.

[hTideGnow]

hi @allendick 

this is a device issue.  And with Automatic, device always go for stronger one.  If you don't travel a lot, set to Manual and PM and no need to fiddle around after

[allendick]

Nobody should have to fiddle with settings to operate a phone in 2023.  

I don't recall any caveats on the coverage map that I consulted and relied upon.

I was well within Canada and should not have experienced this issue.

[allendick]

I saw three various US APNs when I looked.   However the phone was set on automatic. 

This a new phone last month and the settings were standard until I changed the preference. 

I later set it back to the original setting. 

The Canadian signals were not faint and that is the point. 

Most people do not know how to fiddle the settings, so this is a real issue.

[hTideGnow]

hi @allendick that US message was because the phone picked up the stronger US signal.  You need to lock to PM by changing the network to Manual and select PM