Activation Problems

[Jh1978]

I needed to set up 4 new accounts for non-English speaking newcomers.  2 went very smoothly. With the next setup, I entered my financial information, and then couldn't get any further, so now I have an account with funds on it but can't activate this account. 

With the fourth setup, I entered the financial information, entered the SIM id number without the SIM card inserted, as instructed, selected a phone number and then it told me to contact customer support.   

In each case, money has been charged to my credit card but I cannot use the phone numbers. 

Help is much appreciated.

[Katiemorris]

This is a classic Public Mobile activation “half-created account / charged but not fully provisioned” situation. It’s stressful, but it’s fixable — and you didn’t do anything unusual wrong.

What’s likely happening

Based on what you described:

• The payment went through, so an account/subscription was created.
• But the activation process failed partway (SIM / eSIM provisioning step).
• That leaves:
• money charged
• phone number not fully active
• system stuck in “contact support” state

This is a known issue with Public Mobile activations (especially multiple activations in a row or SIM/eSIM mismatches) where accounts get created but don’t complete provisioning properly.  

What you should do immediately

1. STOP trying to re-activate more accounts

Don’t retry activation again on those same SIMs or cards. That can create duplicate failed subscriptions and more charges.

2. Check if the accounts actually exist

Log into each Public Mobile account and check:

• Does it show ACTIVE subscription?
• Or “subscription not activated” / stuck setup?

If it’s stuck, it is not usable yet, even if you were charged.

3. Contact Public Mobile support (this is required in your case)

You need an agent to:

• manually complete activation OR
• refund duplicate/failed activations OR
• reset SIM provisioning

Start here:

• Public Mobile Help & Support
  Then use:
• “Start a chat” → escalate to an agent / ticket

Or direct support path:

• Contact Public Mobile Agent Team

When you message them, clearly say:

“I created multiple subscriptions. Payment was taken, but activation failed on steps 3–4. SIM/eSIM shows error and I cannot proceed. I need activation completed or refunds for failed activations.”

4. What to include (this speeds it up a lot)

Have ready:

• Email used for each account
• Last 4 digits of credit card(s)
• Approximate timestamps of each attempt
• SIM number(s) used (or “eSIM attempted”)
• Screenshots of the error message (“contact customer support” screen)

Important reassurance

• You are not stuck permanently
• The numbers are likely reserved but not live
• Public Mobile support can either:
• activate them properly, OR
• cancel and refund the failed attempts

[Sansan]

You could uninstall the app from the individual phones and try again and see if that will help if not, you'd need to submit tickets for each of the accounts that are not working.

https://widget.telus.tiia.ai/publicmobile/publicmobile.html