Emergency Only signal, Can't Call/Contact/Text Anymore, No Account, Help ASAP

[apple86]

Recently went to public mobile like a few weeks ago with Walmart. Everything was fine until today. Started saying Emergency Only last night. Can't recieve calls, can't receive texts so I can't create an account. Is this the carrier's problem?

Have an old LG phone.

Don't have an account yet to message the Help Desk or whatever, because of this Emergency Only signal.

[srlawren]

@apple86 it it worked for a while then it really is unlikely to be either of the things I mentioned, in retrospect.  If you haven't already, please send a private message to the moderator team to ask them to check for any provisioning issues.  It sounds like your activation didn't properly take, for some reason.  

Here's all the details should you need them:

Spoiler

How can you get help with your account, activation, or service?

• Please contact the Community Moderator Team to get gelp with you account.
• They are Public Mobile support employees who can help with your issue (More details).
• Click here to send them a private message.

In your message please include:

• PM Phone Number, 4 digit PIN, Account email address, Detailed explanation of your issue

Don't know your pin?--provide any 3 of the following:

• Complete mailing address, Email address, Alternate phone number, Date of birth, Last top up date & amount

How long until they reply?:

• Office Hours: Mon-Friday 9am to 9pm, and Saturday & Sunday from 9am to 7:30pm [Toronto Time].
• Messages are replied to during office hours, in the order in which they are received
• Typical response time is between 1-3 hours, depending on message queue, but can be up to 48 hours.
• There is no need to send multiple messages.

How can I view my private messages between myself and a Community Moderator?

• How to view and reply to your private messages

[apple86]

@srlawren1. it could be that

2. I paid someone to unlock it, but at walmart I made sure with the sales guy it was unlocked for publicmobile to be used. After the switch, a few hours it said Emergency Contact Only, but after a few hours I was able to call test my phone. It's worked for a couple of days, not these past 1.5 days.

The sales guy had put in the sim card for me and registered the account to autopay. The thing is I didn't actually had an account on this website until I need to go home to register for a publicmobile account myself and need my phone to register the account, with a verification code sent to my phone.

Fido and others also seem to be doing that same method of registering accounts now.

[srlawren]

@apple86 you said it's an old phone and previously used at another carrier.  This raises two possible concerns:

1) Is the phone compatible.  Some older phones might be GSM-only and would work fine at Rogers/Fido/Chatr/Mobilicity(RIP) but not at Telus/Koodo/Public Mobile/Bell/Virgin/Lucky.

2) Is the phone locked to another carrier?  If you bought it prior to Dec 2017 (which it sounds like you did) from a carrier (which it sounds like you did), the phone would almost certainly have been locked to that carrier.  If the carrier was Telus or Koodo, then unlocking is not necessary since they run on the same (Telus) network and are all owned and operated by Telus.  If it was from anywhere else, and you haven't already, you would need to get it carrier-unlocked.

[apple86]

@will13amthanks. Actually, it's only been since June 1 I switched.

[will13am]

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@mimmo wrote:

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@jp2 wrote:

I'm not familiar with Walmart activation buy how can you activate without having an account? My understanding is the store sets up the account/activation the same way we do

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@jp2the walmart activation should be the same portal as ours, from what reports said.  and a self serve account should have been created during the process, unless an error occured which was not addressed.

@apple86  when you contact the mods please include the sim card number.  also is it possible that you activated 30 days ago? and your number is suspended?

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Activation at Walmart used to be identical to doing it at home.  There was privacy concerns as the agent can watch you key in the password and security question.  This has changed by way of a special activation portal which allow the activation to be completed without creating an account.  The customer is expected to go home and complete the account setup.

@apple86, is your phone able to detect the sim card?  That can result in emergency calls only.  If that is not the problem, it might be that you are past 30 days since activation and the account is now suspended.

[mimmo]

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@jp2 wrote:

I'm not familiar with Walmart activation buy how can you activate without having an account? My understanding is the store sets up the account/activation the same way we do

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@jp2the walmart activation should be the same portal as ours, from what reports said.  and a self serve account should have been created during the process, unless an error occured which was not addressed. Edit: see @will13am reply below

@apple86  when you contact the mods please include the sim card number.  also is it possible that you activated 30 days ago? and your number is suspended?

[jp2]

I'm not familiar with Walmart activation buy how can you activate without having an account? My understanding is the store sets up the account/activation the same way we do

[apple86]

@parentsIt's an old phone. That shouldn't be the problem though since I've used this phone  in another plan before going into publicmobile.

Also my other phone, which also switched to publicmobile, now can't call anyone saying I don't have a long distance plan... lol.

[apple86]

@RobertQcIt's not that.

[parents]

@apple86 did you purchase a phone outright from a carrier or it's with contract?

[apple86]

• Rebooted, doesn't work.
• No, I did not buy it from an unknown source. I bought my phone from a carrier.
• I can not Register for an account in order to do Self-Serve if I don't have an account. I can't have an account if my phone is not working, because I need signal to get a verification code to my phone to get an account. It's a rabbithole loop.
• I will send a message to the moderator. Thanks.

[parents]

@RobertQc he doesn't have an account yet so cannot check it's active or not

[RobertQc]

What is your IMEI number? It's easy to check the black list

https://www.devicecheck.ca/check-status-device-canada/

If it's not black listed take your sim card out and put it back in.

Does your account show you are still active?

[parents]

@apple86 please try to reboot your phone to see if the signal network is back on. Did you buy your LG phone via third-party like Kijiji or Ebay something? Just in case the phone has been blacklisted. You can check it here https://www.devicecheck.ca/check-status-device-canada/ you can dial *#06# on your phone for IMEI 15 digit numbers. You can use a laptop to create an account to log in self-serve. You just need your phone number registered with PM to create an account & email address. here is a link for video how to create an account just in case you need it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAHbFXfETAs

You don't have an account it doesn't mean you'll be lock out. If everything still doesn't work for you, you should

send a private message to the moderator team and ask them to help you out with that.  include your account# or phone#, as well as your account PIN (if know) to help speed up the identification process.

Click here to send the moderator team a private message.

You can find information regarding the moderator team by following this link.

How long until a moderator replies?:

• Office Hours: Mon-Friday 9am to 9pm, and Saturday & Sunday from 9am to 7:30pm [Toronto Time].
• Messages are replied to during office hours, in the order in which they are received
• Typical response time is between 1-3 hours, depending on message queue, but can be up to 48 hours.
• There is no need to send multiple messages.

How can I view my private messages between myself and a Community Moderator?

• How to view and reply to your private messages