Help with deciding on Roaming options for a Canadian doing a USA road trip

[Steveca]

Just upgraded to a 20 GB 5G plan active as of December. Planning a road trip from Winnipeg down into the Southwest US. How do I get 2-4 weeks, calling and data coverage while I'm in the US? Steve (67yrs) Manitoba

[Grand_Total]

Hi @hTideGnow Thanks for the explanation. I'm in a similar situation myself. I shall switch to the plan I need ahead of time if a suitable plan appears, otherwise I may be forced to go with a US plan. Actually if ANY Canadian carrier comes up with what I need I may switch out, but I'm hoping Public Mobile will.

[hTideGnow]

HI @Grand_Total 

depends on OP's current cycle end date  and his trip date

if he needs the roaming before end of this cycle, he would have to request plan change using Change now, which PM will charge immediately, and the remaining days of the old cycle would be a waste

[Grand_Total]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

hi @Steveca if you just updated thr plan and the road trip incoming, it should not be great to change to Canada US plan now

I don't understand. Why would it not be great to change to the Canada US plan now?

[DennyCrane]

@Steveca Makes sense, but I'll all depend on what plans are available then. Up until a few weeks ago there was actually a $50 Can/US plan, but that seems to have disappeared for now.

Also note that you may not get your $34 plan back when you return. It'll totally depend on what current plans are available when you get back.

[Steveca]

Thank you. I had 2.5 GB plan before I upgraded to the 20GB 5G plan yesterday. But it doesn't renew till Dec.

So your suggestion of switching to a Canada US plan seems like the way to go for Feb and half of March while I  am on the road in the US, then switch back to the 20 GB plan when I get back. Make sense? Steve (67yrs) 

[Steveca]

Thank you

[Steveca]

Thank you 

[hTideGnow]

hi @Steveca if you just updated thr plan and the road trip incoming, it should not be great to change to Canada US plan now

So, either get the 15 days addon or get local US data instead 

[DennyCrane]

Option 1: Change to the $65 Canada/US plan while you're away. If your current plan is $34/20GB, that's a $31 upgrade charge per cycle that you'll be away. And even if your renewal cycle date doesn't line up, it might be worth forcing an early renewal into that plan for the first day of your trip anyway (assuming your trip is 4 weeks in length). Then schedule a change back to your old plan for your next renewal.

Option 2: buy roaming add-on's which are good for 15 days each. Note that at the end of the first 15 days you'll have to wait up to 24 hours to re-buy the same add-on, or you have to message @CS_Agent to do it manually.

Regardless of option chosen, make sure your phone settings are configured properly:

1) Set your Preferred Network to 4G/LTE (not 5G)

2) Set your Network Selection to Automatic

3) Ensure Data Roaming is enabled

You'll also want to make sure you have a VoLTE capable device on PM:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/volte

[Phil_Adelphus]

@Steveca   I just wondering if going for that long you might be better to get a Canada/US plan rather than expensive data add-ons but it would depend on the timing since you'd want to do that at renewal - are you leaving before renewal?  Just adding that you might not want to risk your current plan not being available when you want to switch back.

One thing to check is whether your phone is VoLTE capable/enabled otherwise voice calls would have to be on T-Mobile's 2G where you can get it, because the USA has done away with 3G.

[Chalupa_Batman]

Hey @Steveca 

Winnipeg here too! You can buy a talk and text add on but it's only good for 15 days. You'd have to log on via wifi to purchase another 15 day add on when the other expires. Or the other option is to just switch over to a Can-US plan for the month then switch over to a different plan when you get back