Canada_US plan

[nick_dv]

Hello community!

this is just a FYI, I have a Canada_US plan, unlimited minutes and 50GB data. Went to NY last week and the service is terrible. Dropped calls, intermittent available network, suuuuper slooooow data.... so the conclusion is: don't jump on it, it's not worth it. I have a Samsung S23 in case you were wondering.

[nick_dv]

long story short, I paid for the plan, I have a relatively new phone, samsung S22, I charged the phone I dialed the numbers and did not worked. There were no instructions provided to manually change to TMobile, AT&T or whatever. This was my experience and I was disappointed.

[computergeek541]

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@will13am wrote:

The Public Mobile VoLTE whitelist can restrict certain capable hardware from the function.  In that case you have no choice but to go manual onto T-Mobile and hope there is 2G in the area.  I think you are better off getting a Google voice number and using that for talk and text as a workaround for lack of VoLTE access.  

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There's just no reason for Public to actively block devices from using VoLTE.  Customers know this is happening because some devices were working on VoLTE but that VoLTE servcie just suddenly stopped on some devices.  I'm aware that the official company line likely says something about the need to test compatibility or something along those lines, but what does Public Mobile gain by only allowing some devices to use VoLTE?  It gives the appearance of conflict of interest and customers will rightly wonder if Telus is getting something out of customers only buy specific devices.

[will13am]

Such is the life of a service provider.  There's two golden rules to customer service.  1.  The customer is always right.  2.  If the customer is wrong, see rule 1.

[will13am]

The Public Mobile VoLTE whitelist can restrict certain capable hardware from the function.  In that case you have no choice but to go manual onto T-Mobile and hope there is 2G in the area.  I think you are better off getting a Google voice number and using that for talk and text as a workaround for lack of VoLTE access.  

[will13am]

@eddieO , I always leave phone settings on auto unless manual is necessary.  I saw no martial difference between T-Mobile and AT&T

[slusagm]

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@DennyCrane wrote:

Many of the reasons would not be in Public Mobile's control.

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so true, many can't connect or don't know how to connect or turn on roaming, then they got upset with PM

[DennyCrane]

Always works great for me in Washington, Oregon, California, Arizona, Hawaii. There could be many reasons why you had poor coverage, including device compatibility, T-Mobile/AT&T coverage area, network congestion etc. Many of the reasons would not be in Public Mobile's control.

[slusagm]

yes, your phone could still choose AT&T because of strong signal, your phone won't know you need T-Mobile for voice, and there is no priroity you can set

So, manual selection is still the way to go if you need T-Mobile for voice.  But as you said, if your new phone is VoLTE, then automatic could be ok. 

[eddieO]

@slusagm, you could be right. I was thinking that because my wife was not able to make or receive calls on AT&T but data was working fine, that it was due to her phone not having VoLTE enabled on the PM side (her phone technically supports it), but maybe it doesn't mean both are equal and manually choosing might still be needed

[slusagm]

Automatic or not is not about whitelist, it is about your phone not able to choose the best network

When you are in Canada, the phone can only choose PM to work, less a problem.

When you are in US, they can choose T-Mobile or AT&T (some said Verizon as well), so, it has 3 choices but the phone might not choose the best one

[eddieO]

Hey @will13am, did you have similar experience connecting to T-Mobile & AT&T? I'm hoping with my newer phone that is on PM's whitelist that I can just leave Network Selection on Automatic and not have to fuss

[will13am]

The roaming coverage is the same regardless of which carrier brand we use in Canada.  That said, I was in the US Eastern seaboard in late April.  The coverage was good as was overall performance.  Speed tests registered over 100 mbits/s.  There were no dropped calls.

[eddieO]

@nick_dv, my wife and I both have the same plan. She used it for a week in Florida around 3 weeks ago and it worked very well for her on her older Samsung Galaxy S10+. We would video call several times a day using PM data with no freezing at all. She did find that T-Mobil worked best for her so she took off the Automatic setting for Network Selection, and manually locked onto T-Mobil as she was unable to make or receive calls on AT&T due to her phone not being a whitelisted VoLTE device for PM.

It does sound like users might need to go into their phone's settings to get the best experience

[colleeno]

@nick_dv Both my husband and I have had great service with no problems during multiple trips to Michigan using our Canada-US plans (iPhone 12 and iPhone XR). Ensure you are connected to AT&T or T-Mobile.

[Handy1]

@nick_dv @It can be hit or miss for roaming in some parts . Curious thou were you using 5G  ? Best to use 4G/LTE not 5G and be sure to connect to T mobile or At&T . I’ve read recently some have had luck using Verizon even