Going to Montreal for a week (living in Toronto) and had some questions about the addons

[beerdude111]

So, as the title says, I live in Toronto, going to Montreal for a week and was wondering what's gonna work and what's not when I leave Ontario? (I have the Fall 2016 Promo plan). How do the addons work? I noticed some of them says 10 days so do they renew after 10 days until I cancel or do I get one and 10 days later it's gone and I never get charged again? I NEED to talk, nobody texts me because of WhatApp, so data would be nice but I can probably go WiFi hopping for a week, which addons do I need?

[Church171]

Hi, 

Thanks for your message.

When I finally read the whole thread I completed the process.

Thanks!

[srlawren]

@Church171 did you complete both steps of purchasing the add-on?  It's confusing if you've never done it before.  At first, it looks like you're buying it, but you're only adding funds to your account (topping it up) by the amount of the add-on.  When you sign into self serve, do you see an Available Funds amount more than $0?  If so, you probably didn't complete the second step.  Go back in to purchase it again, and this time it will be added properly.

EDIT: if this is indeed the solution to your problem, and you'd like to see this confusing two step process get simplified, please review and bravo (vote up) my idea here:  http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Public-Lab/Purchasing-add-ons-should-be-a-single-step-...

[Acekiller]

Try rebooting your phone.  That might be the issue.

[Church171]

Hi, 

How long does it take for the add-on to be active.

I bought mine over an hour ago and I still can;t make a phone call.

Thanks

[computergeek541]

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@horemans wrote:

I have not tried.. but it seems to me that texts can be sent a

globally. Does this suggest they can be received across Canada? I certainly do not see an add_on for that. If receiving text Canada wide is not included, it would be a major oversight to not have an add-on to enable this.

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While connected to the Telus network, the ability to recieve text messages is not affected by your current location. The only thing affected by that is calling, and that is because of long distance.  There's no such thing as "long distance distance data" or "long distance texts".  Both data and texts will work anywhere on the network.

[horemans]

I have not tried.. but it seems to me that texts can be sent a

globally. Does this suggest they can be received across Canada? I certainly do not see an add_on for that. If receiving text Canada wide is not included, it would be a major oversight to not have an add-on to enable this.

[pakmode]

You won't get a text message letting you know your minutes are out unfortunately. 

[Acekiller]

no, i don't think you receive a text message.  at least i didnt.

[TheOldVR]

Quick question on the same topic... do you receive a text message telling you that you are unable to receive calls due to not having, or running out of long distance?

It worries me that I could be in QC and miss urgent calls because I forgot to check my long distance minutes before leaving ON. A reminder would be awesome!

If not, I will propose this idea separately.

[computergeek541]

As said earlier, the 10 days add-ons are for roaming.  Going to Montreal or any other city in Canada isn't roaming.  Roaming is state of being connected to a different network.  Don't feel bad as many people confuse roaming with long distance.

Since your phone number is from Toronto, you do not need any long distance add-on while in Montreal to make outgoing calls to any Quebec phone numbers.

You will, however, need a long distance add-on to receive any calls while you are not in Ontario.  You will also need to use that long distance add-on to make outgoing phone calls to non-Quebec phone numbers while you are visiting Montreal.

If you do not get a long distance add-on, incoming calls while you are in Quebec, and outgoing calls to non-Quebec numbers will not function.

The purchased long distance minutes do not expire at at any preset time.  You free to use them until you have used them all up.

if this is frequent trip that you are making to Montreal, you may want to consider changing your plan so that you get one that includes national calling.  I know that to get a similar price, you would have to settle for only half the data over 90 days if you want similar pricing compared to now.  But, if you don't use much data, or if you find that you are using many long distance minutes on a regular basis, you might wish to think about that.  It all depends on your usage patterns.

[imm1304]

You're welcome.  Have a great trip.  

[beerdude111]

Oh, I didn't know SMS and Data would work out of province, that's awesome!!!

Thank you for clearing things up for me 😄

[imm1304 · Accepted solution]

Hi @beerdude111!

The 10-day add-ons are for US roaming.. so irrelevant to you.  

The long distance talk add-ons are the ones you want for your purpose to be able to receive calls or to make non-Quebec calls while in Quebec.  The long distance talk add-ons, $8 or $15, never expire until used up in full and can be used later to call long distance to 20 countries.  

The add-on purchase is one time only and not recurrent.  You are in total control of when to purchase add-ons.

Your data and sms/mms will continue to work just like home because these services are nationwide.  

If you don't get a long distance talk add-on, you can install a voip app such as Fongo or Google hangout dialer to make free calls using your data or wifi.  Without the long distance talk add-on, you will be able to make outgoing calls to the province you are in.. so local outbound calls to Quebec numbers will work.  BUT, you will have no incoming service without the long distance talk add-on.