GPS phone for a child cannot connect to Public Mobile network?

[Fleecy77]

Hi everyone!

I just recently purchased this watch for my daughter for Christmas on Amazon and bought a Public Mobile SIM card with a $15/month talk/data plan with 500 mb of data.  This is the watch: 

https://www.amazon.ca/Tycho-Tracker-Geo-fence-Real-time-Tracking/dp/B078LH5QGZ/ref=sr_1_5?crid=23XO8...

The phone can make calls out and receive calls and can connect to the internet over wifi and the GPS tracking works in the house (I believe b/c it's connected to my home's wifi) but as soon as my daughter goes outside, it loses the signal.  The watch cannot seem to connect to Public Mobile's data.

I was informed by the watch's tech support to reset the APN on the watch by "texting" the watch from my phone:  pw,123456,apn,sp.mb.com,,,302220#  as Public Mobile's info is:

APN = sp.mb.com

MCC = 302

MNC = 220

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get the watch to connect to Public Mobile's data?  The watch runs on an Android system.

Thanks so much!

Lisa

[softech]

good news is that on the same Amazon page, at least 3 to 5 people said it works on PM.  you might want to post a question on the Amazon page and hope they will see and can link up and answer your question, too..

btw, interesting find.. hope there are more products like this.. and if it works out well, I might consider this too.

[Anonymous]

I also had a little look around last night and found some text codes for the gps. And the page from sheytoon also mentions something about an ip address. I don't know why they bother with different servers but maybe that makes a difference. But sheytoon's findings were better than my findings 🙂

But if there's a full code reference for this particular watch that would be nice.

[darlicious]

@Fleecy77 

The amazon link also contains a link to the set up of the watch on youtube. After downloading the app and logging in using the 123456 password it tells you to refer to the user guide to enter the APN for public mobile that @sheytoon has explained for you.

https://youtu.be/KyUs3mbZ6Ww

[sheytoon]

@Fleecy77 

Are there more detailed instructions available? If you can take pictures of the relevant configuration instructions and post them here, we may be able to help.

As long as voice calls are working, data should work too if your plan allows it.

The syntax appears to be correct based on similar instructions mentioned here:

https://alexjong.com/2016/07/05/review-q50-gps-smart-watch-for-kids/

Make sure the letter p (for "pw") is lower case. The 3 commas represent blank username and password of the APN, which is correct for Public Mobile.

[darlicious]

@dlambro 

All currently available plans offered by public mobile come with data. Despite the $15 plan saying it only comes 250mb of data when signed up with autopay it defaults to include the data whether you have autopay or not.

[dlambro]

I think you need to have a data plan with PM for the watch to work as it won't work on a talk and text plan only, so even though you have some free top up data the watch may not recognize this.  Other people have said that the watch did not work on talk and text plans, but then updated to a data plan and it started working.  You can try updating your plan to the $25/m plan, which includes 1GB data (1/2 + 1/2 with autopay) and see if the watch works.  Also, if you sign up for the $25/m plan, you still have time to take advantage of the special offer good to Feb 8th: 

"Start the New Year with a month of free service on us. Get one month of free service when you activate on any plan. Plus, get 5GB of free data on select plans."

[gpixel]

@BasesLoadedWalk 

make a call with your phone and tell me what happens to your network

[BasesLoadedWalk]

I'm no expert, but I just had a look at the watch on Amazon and it mentions that the watch uses 3G connection. I think Public Mobile is an LTE connection that has a data cap at 3Mbps. I'm not sure if PM has a 3G fallover band.

[Asher2]

Well yes. But the plan doesn’t come with any data if you don’t choose autopay, it comes with 250MB data IF you did choose autopay which you did.

So your total amount of data with autopay is: 250MB

Note: I know because I have the exact same plan.

[Anonymous]

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@Fleecy77 wrote:

I was informed by the watch's tech support to reset the APN on the watch by "texting" the watch from my phone:  pw,123456,apn,sp.mb.com,,,302220#  as Public Mobile's info is:

APN = sp.mb.com

MCC = 302

MNC = 220

---

That's an interesting string of data.

Is pw an actual password or is 123456 the password? You also have those 3 comma's in the middle. I'd sure like to know what they're for. Does your documentation say what all bits of data can be transmitted to the phone?

I assume the first comma is simply the and of .com. But maybe there's some other piece of data that could be after and before the second comma. Then the third comma would close that piece of data off. Or that there could even be more pieces of data and commas that could be inserted.

[computergeek541]

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@Fleecy77 wrote:

Hi there,  if I signed up with automatic pay through my credit card, I get an extra 250 mb of data. 

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250MB data for that plan already ncludes the Autopay bonus. it's 250MB total.

[Fleecy77]

Hi there,  if I signed up with automatic pay through my credit card, I get an extra 250 mb of data. 

[cavemantoronto]

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@Fleecy77 wrote:

Hi everyone!

I just recently purchased this watch for my daughter for Christmas on Amazon and bought a Public Mobile SIM card with a $15/month talk/data plan with 500 mb of data.  This is the watch: 

https://www.amazon.ca/Tycho-Tracker-Geo-fence-Real-time-Tracking/dp/B078LH5QGZ/ref=sr_1_5?crid=23XO8...

The phone can make calls out and receive calls and can connect to the internet over wifi and the GPS tracking works in the house (I believe b/c it's connected to my home's wifi) but as soon as my daughter goes outside, it loses the signal.  The watch cannot seem to connect to Public Mobile's data.

I was informed by the watch's tech support to reset the APN on the watch by "texting" the watch from my phone:  pw,123456,apn,sp.mb.com,,,302220#  as Public Mobile's info is:

APN = sp.mb.com

MCC = 302

MNC = 220

Does anyone have any ideas on how to get the watch to connect to Public Mobile's data?  The watch runs on an Android system.

Thanks so much!

Lisa

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The $15 plan only has 250MB of data, not 500MB.  GPS doesn't use data. Maps use data but you can download ahead of time for offline use. Set APN type to default.