It's possible. They could enable outbound roaming with specific partners like AT&T or T-Mobile, and that could be totally independent of domestic VoLTE. It's up to Telus how they want to implement it.
@scormi1 "have to go to the United States for a month, what package do you suggest?"
None of PM's plans. Get TextNow and make do with contact via wifi or get their $10 plan for a month. If you get a Canadian number you could forward your PM number while away.
>>> ALERT: I am not a CSA. Je ne suis pas un Agent du soutien à la clientèle.
I don't think it's the roaming agreement that is the problem it's pm (or more like telus) not enabling voLTE calling for pm customers. It's seems its an all or nothing kind of service. Either everybody gets the service or nobody gets the service. So until both at&t and T-Mobile completely shutter their 3G networks pm can just add a disclaimer warning customers that their voice services ( in particular or anyone with a 2G/3G only device) may have their services impacted. Once voice services no longer function then pm must remove all US roaming add ons with a talk feature as they will be unable to deliver those services on those products.
Of course @sheytoon could weigh in on the impact of only having voLTE service in the US and pm's US roaming add ons with a talk feature.
I don't think they will make voice call on VoLTE. I think they need a different roaming argreement. PM posted a note regarding the roaming :
Important: As of February 22nd, 2022, some United States (U.S) carriers will begin turning down certain 3G/HSPA networks in the U.S. As a result, some customers using U.S. roaming add-ons may be impacted by differences in coverage or service quality (including 9-1-1 calls) when roaming in the U.S. This shutdown will not impact your service in Canada.
Related to this, I'm waiting to see what will happen after AT&T turn off 3G voice. So we go there with our trusty add-on and connect to AT&T as normal. Then try to make a call. Will the call fail? Or will it stay on LTE and connect via LTE. The kicker for me is if the phone has any VoLTE option greyed out and off (like mine). Will the option suddenly un-grey? Will we be able to use voice?
Canadian providers who say they only accept a limited amount of phones ( mostly the ones they try to sell you) are basically BSing their customers. If you have a voLTE capable phone it will most likely be able to use the service. There may be some more obscure Chinese produced phones that may not work but the vast majority of commonly used voLTE capable phones will work no problem.
@Nezgar Since VoLTE is the trend in US now, are they basically opening up all phones to be VoLTE compatible on the network or still only a small subset of phones allowed on the network?
I still curious what would happen when it is all VoLTE here , wonder if all phones will be accepted for VoLTE at that time.
There's more to the USA 3G shutdown that I feel will complicate things, like if your phone supports VoLTE in the first place, which is required to make calls over LTE even if you get a US provider SIM card. If your phone doesn't support VoLTE, or the US carrier doesn't support provisioning your particular phone, you may not be any further ahead... We'll have to see as more people provide feedback from their experiences...
Once they decommission the 3G network and pm has no voice service would that make a difference? Or would it still connect to 4G LTE and wipe out the call forwarding?.
As per @Nezgar 's post then you are better off getting any other sim card ( @BKNS27 's suggestion is a good one!) and leaving your pm sim card in a working phone plugged into the wall and call forward your pm phone number to your voip number ( textnow, fongo etc...) to recieve your pm calls and use a text forwarding app to send your pm texts to your voip number and just use the local or global sim card for data for your voip and internet needs.
public mobile offer U.S. Roaming 10 day packages, but there some important: As of February 22nd, 2022, some United States (U.S) carriers will begin turning down certain 3G/HSPA networks in the U.S. As a result, some customers using U.S. roaming add-ons may be impacted by differences in coverage or service quality (including 9-1-1 calls) when roaming in the U.S. This shutdown will not impact your service in Canada.
@darlicious Good info provided - however, I know for sure that "conditional" call forwards, if customized, all revert back to default public mobile voicemail service as soon as the phone registers to a US tower.
What I am not sure of is "unconditional" call forwarding also stops working when a Public Mobile phone registers to a US tower. If so, you'd have to remove the SIM from the phone before crossing to ensure forwarding continues to work, but then you can't receive texts, so that would be a conundrum... 🤷
HI @scormi1 PM Roaming is not cheap. (Actually, roaming is not cheap for any carrier). Data in US is a lot cheaper. Get a cheap US Data prepaid plan. In this case, you get that data that you need.
Then use some VoIP app to help to make calls and receive calls for free. Those VoIP app will work as long as yo have Wifi or Mobile Data.
Since you are only going to the US for one month and the upcoming decommissioning of the 3G network in the US that will likely affect your voice calls with pm your best bet unless you get a local sim card for a month or a global sim card would be to schedule a change plan on next renewal to the $15 plan and call forward** your pm number to a voip provider like textnow or fongo etc...you can recieve pm texts without a roaming add on.
Purchase the US 10 day roaming 1gb data add on so that you can recieve your call forwarded pm calls to your ie. textnow number. You can call out from text now and answer your incoming pm texts using your text now phone number/app all with your US roaming data add on.
There is some timing to be worked out to repurchase the same add on or you can overlap/stagger another data add on during the 24 hours you need to wait out to repurchase after the 10 day (240 hour expiry) or relying on wifi for 24 hours between roaming add on purchases.
But essentially depending on your data usage the most you will have to pay to have use of your pm service would be $15 plan+3×$20/1gb US 10 day roaming add ons=$75.
You can look into getting the 365 day/30GB roaming plan in the below thread that would help for any travel you may have planned in the next year to the US, UK, NZ, AUS and can also be used in Canada which for about $45 for the entire year and the pm $15/30 day plan would total $60 for your trip.
Here is some info about US roaming add ons that should help you.....
While you have to have an active plan to purchase and use US roaming add ons the type of plan you have does not affect the roaming add ons features.
US roaming add ons start the moment you confirm and submit your purchase in your self serve account and expire 240 hours later (10 days×24 hours).
You can pre-load the funds needed to purchase the add ons in your self serve account so you only have to log in, select the US roaming add on and then confirm and submit your purchase.
Wait til late as possible to purchase since they are immediately valid so on free wifi at the destination airport or stopping shortly before the border at mcd's or timmy's to buy the add on while on free wifi.
If you are staying longer than 10 days you must wait a minimum of 24 hours to purchase the same US roaming add on or contact the moderators to add it before the waiting period ends.
If you have two US roaming add ons with a talk feature that overlap the talk feature basically gets disabled. Avoid this....but you will have to get one removed by a moderator to get your calling feature back if this happens.
After purchase reboot your phone and manually select either at&t or T-mobile to get better reception. Some areas have better coverage by either provider so when travelling around the US you will be better served by choosing the provider with better signal strength by locale.
You will recieve incoming texts without any US roaming add ons. Adding the fongo app and textnow app for use on wifi are good to use for a back up plan or you could call forward your pm phone # to your fongo # before you leave Canada and purchase just the US data roaming add on. Fongo also works on mobile data (1 min=0.5mb/100 min=50mb) so you could still recieve incoming pm texts, recieve incoming pm calls to your fongo #/app, outgoing calls from your fongo number and outgoing texts from textnow for free or small fee from fongo.
All US roaming add ons have either unlimted text, talk or both. Only data has limits depending on your purchase 250mb/500mb/1gb. Once the data is consumed it will just stop you could then purchase different roaming add on, wait 24 hr to buy or contact the moderator to buy the same US roaming add on again. (* except talk as previously mentioned.)
Here is info on suspending and other options for your pm service when traveling as aforementioned :
You can turn off autopay and allow the account to suspend at the of your current 30 day cycle but this is your least advantageous option. Pay and reactivate by day 85 or so.
If you have an account balance that exceeds your plan amount then you need to suspend via the lost/stolen feature in your account before midnight eastern on the evening of your renewal. Then on day 85 or so resume your service to pay and reactivate.
Suspending via lost/stolen before midnight eastern will keep your voicemail active allowing you retrieve voicemail and any verification sent by phone calls. However your rewards will not be applied to your account. Moderator/CSA contact after paying and reactivating is necessary to have the rewards applied manually.
Voicemail can be accessed by calling your pm number from a different phone by calling your phone # and pressing * once connected and entering your 4 digit voicemail pin #.
If you don't have an account balance or enough balance to cover your plan amount you can suspend via lost/stolen after midnight but before 2 am eastern on the day of your renewal. Once your rewards have been applied (usually by 12:15 am et) then suspend your account. Voicemail access will be lost.
Switching to the $15 plan with rewards helping to cover a partial or full amount of your plan allows you to call forward your pm number to your fongo number before you leave Canada.. Now any incoming calling to your pm number will ring thru to your fongo number while on wifi or mobile data (w/a local or global sim card) You can access your fongo voicemail for all voicemail messages.
Most important mark on your calendar day 85 of your suspension and day 90. Do not forget when you must unsuspend your account via lost/stolen and/or pay and reactivate your service so you don't lose your phone number and account. Happy travels!
** Let me confirm if call forwarding changes at all with the new changes and using US roaming data add ons with our resident expert @Nezgar just to be sure I don't steer you wrong.
For a month, I would recommend seeking out a local pre-paid SIM purchase option. After you purchase, you simply insert the SIM card into your device, and presto!
You can purchase a 30-day SIM card for a fraction of the cost of adding 3 US Roaming add-ons, PLUS, you won't have to remember to manually add the add-on twice during that period.
Try T-Mobile or AT&T for pre-paid options - they have lots.
EDIT 2: the Public Mobile roaming adds start the 10 day (240 hours to be exact) as soon as you successfully add them to your account.
So if you choose this method, ensure you are adding them the day you are going in the USA, or when there, so you have the full 10 days to use them.
3G is shutting down in the USA, I believe starting in February 2022. So hopefully PM, does not allow the purchase of addons if service is not available.
