Activating a PM SIM for a Telus smart hub

[Sidney_Isle]

I've seen bits and pieces on the forum (which is great by the way), but am confused about how to move a Telus Smart Hub from Telus to PM.  I have a phone running fine with a PM number and account and I have a physical SIM card for PM that I want to use in the smart hub. The smart hub has been running on the Telus service and is fully paid off. My goal is to move the smart hub over to PM as a cost saving measure. (It's a ZTE MC8010CA unit running on the Telus 5G network now.) 

Basically, I'd like to activate a new SIM card and swap it into a smart hub in place of the Telus SIM and have it moved over to PM.

If I create a new PM account for the smart hub (different email), can I select a plan and activate the SIM externally from my phone? (My phone does not support SIM, only e-SIM, so I couldn't activate it there and then move it over). I need a way to activate the SIM and install it in the smart hub. Do I need to install it in the hub first? Are there any setting changes to worry about in the hub or will the SIM card take care of that (such as routing data correctly). Are there any issues with 2FA to be concerned with since the smart hub will have the SIM card, not my phone? (There is a web interface to the hub, which I believe can be used to receive SMS messages, but of course the SIM would have to activated already?)

Thanks so much for any detailed insight!

[Sidney_Isle]

Thanks again for the input!  Sounds great. Setting up an e-SIM with the new account avoids using the hub for that at all. Then transfer to a physical SIM for the hub via the app. Folks with a phone that accepts a physical SIM card could skip this step. Set up 2FA via email to be able to see anything related to the hub account.

[will13am · Accepted solution]

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@Sidney_Isle wrote:

Thanks for the info!  My phone is a recent iPhone, so e-SIM only. I think I see what you mean about activating an e-SIM and then transferring to a SIM, but if it can be done, I'd like to just activate the SIM directly and not risk messing about with my phone which is working fine. (When we first moved over to PM, we had glitches with porting one of our existing numbers across). 

It sounds like you are suggesting that I could activate a new account on an unused e-SIM in the phone, then transfer the service to the physical SIM (which can't be installed in the phone, but shouldn't matter?), and then install the SIM in the hub? I'd get a new phone number for the hub via the e-SIM activation and then it would be moved to the SIM. Then my phone would just carry on with the e-SIM I'm already using?

The hub is data only. Through the web interface over the WiFi, I can see SMS. My concern would be activating the SIM with it in the hub and then finding that a catch 22 is not being able to receive an SMS as part of activating the account. 

Thanks again. 

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@Sidney_Isle , you are correct with describing the process.  iPhones can accommodate multiple e-SIMs.  You should be able set up a second Public Mobile account on the same phone using the e-SIM option.  Once you replace the e-SIM with p-SIM in the account, that will deactivate the e-SIM which you then delete off the phone and you will be left with the original e-SIM.  

[Sidney_Isle]

Thanks for the info!  My phone is a recent iPhone, so e-SIM only. I think I see what you mean about activating an e-SIM and then transferring to a SIM, but if it can be done, I'd like to just activate the SIM directly and not risk messing about with my phone which is working fine. (When we first moved over to PM, we had glitches with porting one of our existing numbers across). 

It sounds like you are suggesting that I could activate a new account on an unused e-SIM in the phone, then transfer the service to the physical SIM (which can't be installed in the phone, but shouldn't matter?), and then install the SIM in the hub? I'd get a new phone number for the hub via the e-SIM activation and then it would be moved to the SIM. Then my phone would just carry on with the e-SIM I'm already using?

The hub is data only. Through the web interface over the WiFi, I can see SMS. My concern would be activating the SIM with it in the hub and then finding that a catch 22 is not being able to receive an SMS as part of activating the account. 

Thanks again. 

[Sidney_Isle]

Thanks so much for the feedback. The hub is just used for remote location internet access, not voice. It's a cottage that is monitored when we're not there, so the hub is left on all the time. When we are there, we of course have our mobiles with us. The phone is a newer North American iPhone, so it only supports e-SIM. Hence my goal of activating a new account on the SIM card and then installing it.

[will13am]

@Sidney_Isle , if you have a phone that can accept a p-SIM it would be the simplest way to activate the new account but otherwise it can be done by getting an e-SIM first on activation and then switching to a p-SIM using the change SIM feature in the self serve account.  The process should not require the hub to receive any 2FA codes.  The hub should be able to navigate the APN settings from the SIM data like any device that accepts a SIM card.  

@Dunkman , the problem that I had with using the Public Mobile service in an unlocked device had to do with VoLTE voice calling which should not be a problem here.  

[Dunkman]

@Sidney_Isle 

First of all, even though your device is supportive by Telus, your device likely will not be able to access VoLTE on the PM network.  If not VoLTE with PM, your device may not work properly on the PM network, especially when the 3G network is decommissioned in the near future. 

@will13am  had issues getting similar Telus device to work with Public mobile network.  He may share his experience.  

If you have a friend with Public mobile SIM card, you may want to try that SIM card in your device to make sure that it will work properly.  

As for activation, you could activate on any phone and then just move the SIM card into your device.  Only hassle is if you need to access your account, you may need to move the SIM card into a phone to receive the 2FA text doe to access your account.  You could also get 2FA email instead.