How do I know if my phone will work on the Public Mobile network?

[Lachlan_M]

Public Mobile works on following frequencies: 

• For 3G use (UMTS/HSPA): 850MHz/1900MHz bands
• For 4G/LTE use: 1700MHz/2100MHz bands
• For 4G/LTE use: 700 MHz band

Which means most of the 3G,4G HSPA/ LTE phones that are compatible with these frequencies will work on Public Mobile. If your phone is locked to specific carrier, you’ll have to get it unlocked. 

Phones compatible with Telus, Koodo, Bell, Virgin will work on Public Mobile network. All 3G, 4G phones from Rogers, Fido and ChatR are compatible and will work on the Public Mobile network. 

To verify if you phone will work on Public Mobile network click here 

[Rockdaddy22]

That's awesome news 🙂

[Suchee]

@Rockdaddy22 NO the LG V20 is not working. (LG-H915)

UPDATE: factory reset got it working

[Rockdaddy22]

Glad you got everything working, hope you enjoy the fast data 🙂

[Suchee]

Device, i put the sim in a old one+1 and i got data

[Rockdaddy22]

Sorry for my ignorance, is this an LG problem or a Public Mobile problem?

[Suchee]

After 5 days of AWESOMENESS. ..BAM .. no data, did full reset, nothing. Now i find out no LG supported unlock bootloader for lgV20 H915(freedom)

help

[srlawren]

Wonderful, thanks for following up, @Suchee.  And, welcome to Public Mobile!  🙂

[Suchee]

In like sin.. Wow that was easy, 45ish min for activation on V20, and no reset!

[srlawren]

@Suchee hopefully you managed to get activated?

[Suchee]

Thanks srlawren.. never even heard about PM till july 2, trying to jump on the migration, have my Sim cards and have to wait till 2moro to port.. site down

No worries on the V20 reset, im going the custom ROM flash as soon as i can

[srlawren]

@Suchee yep once unlocked, that device is compatible, though you will almost certainly have to do a factory reset to get the data working correctly. You will lose all everything on the phone in the process, but LG have a backup utility that can help. @imm1304 can you give pointers on that, please?

[Suchee]

I was told to ask the community after I punched in my imei, it said it might work??? FREEDOM LG v20, trying to get it unlocked and ported!

[srlawren]

@NickelBomber based on the spec sheet you provided, yes, the US version will definitely work fine with PM.  Enjoy!

[Rockdaddy22]

Do you know if it works in Canada on any other networks?

[NickelBomber]

I did check that website first to see if it would work but it doesn't seem to have the Moto G5 Plus yet. I sent a form to let them know the device was missing but no response yet.

[Rockdaddy22]

http://willmyphonework.net/

[NickelBomber]

Greetings,

Will the Moto G5 Plus from amazon in the states work on public mobile? 

GSM Arena says it has the following network information:

NETWORK

Technology	GSM / CDMA / HSPA / EVDO / LTE
2G bands	GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
	CDMA 800 / 1900 - XT1687 (USA)
3G bands	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 - XT1687 (USA)
	CDMA2000 1xEV-DO - XT1687 (USA)
	HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - XT1684, XT1685
4G bands	LTE band 1(2100), 2(1900), 3(1800), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 12(700), 13(700), 17(700), 25(1900), 26(850), 38(2600), 41(2500), 66(1700/2100) - XT1687 (USA)
	LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 19(800), 20(800), 28(700), 38(2600), 40(2300), 41(2500) - XT1684, XT1685

[texwood]

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@Lachlan_M wrote:

Public Mobile works on following frequencies: 

• For 3G use (UMTS/HSPA): 850MHz/1900MHz bands
• For 4G/LTE use: 1700MHz/2100MHz bands
• For 4G/LTE use: 700 MHz band

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I believe the wordings needs clarification.

There are several bands that are considered 700 - bands 12, 13 and 17.  Which ones are supported?

Also, 1700/2100 should be "band" (singular) and not "bands" (plural). This is one single band (B4) that use 1700 as uplink and 2100 as downlink.  This is not two separate bands as in the case of 3G 850 and 1900 in the previous bullet point, where 850 is UMTS Band 5 and 1900 being UTMS Band 2.

[srlawren]

@computergeek541 thanks for letting me know about Videotron.  I guess I was thinking only of the national players, but I didn't realize Videotron run 3G over AWS.  🙂

[computergeek541]

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@srlawren wrote:

@tissan unfortunately it will not;  it only has AWS (1700MHz+2100MHz) frequency support on it's 3G radio, which means it is not compatible with Public Mobile.  I think Freedom may in fact be the only network in Canada that operates 3G on the AWS frequencies.  

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I know that Rogers and,Bell/Virgin sell a variant of the F4NR (model C441), and that one is in fact with Public Mobile after it gets unlocked.  Tissan, sometimes, carriers list incomplete or incorrect specifications for the phones that they sell.  However, I do believe that the F4NR  from Freedom really does have different hardware and does not have the required 3g bands for use on Public Mobile. 

@srlawren  Videotron also uses AWS for 3g.

[Rockdaddy22]

I'll just leave this here, it's a great resource.

http://willmyphonework.net/

[srlawren]

@tissan unfortunately it will not;  it only has AWS (1700MHz+2100MHz) frequency support on it's 3G radio, which means it is not compatible with Public Mobile.  I think Freedom may in fact be the only network in Canada that operates 3G on the AWS frequencies.  

[tissan]

Will the LG F4NR work on the Public Mobile network?

https://www.freedommobile.ca/plans-and-devices/mobile-devices/device-details/lg-f4nr

[srlawren]

@Dagasandra yes based on the specs you posted that phone will work very well in Public Mobile. Just make sure it is not locked to a carrier and you are fine.

[Dagasandra]

1. I have a Z5 Compact model E5823 from Europe. I was wondering if it would work in this network. Can you help me?

This are the specifications:

GSM Mhz band	Quad-Band 850/900/1800/1900
2G network	GSM 850/900/1800/1900
3G network	UMTS 850/900/1900/2100
4G network	LTE Cat6 700/800/850/900/1700/1800/1900/2100/2600 (Bands 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,12,17,20,28), TD-LTE 2300/2600 (Bands 38,40)

[srlawren]

@sonician so yes my most recently reply is correct, you will get full talk, text, and 3G data, and 4G LTE data in some areas.  Ideally you'd have at least band 4 and band 2, but in some areas bands 5 and 7 are available.  For example, I saw lots of it in Vancovuer area recently since I started paying more attention.  In areas where you can't get a band 5 or 7 signal, your phone will revert to 3G HSPA/HSPA+ data speeds, which are still quite decent for most tasks.

[srlawren]

@sonician good question!

The main cell tower map site I'm aware of is http://www.ertyu.org/steven_nikkel/cancellsites.html.  It's quite detailed, but you have to do some digging to figure out what bands are in use.  You can look at towers near you and click on them for details, but then you have to look at the combination of the frequency (1st column) and bandwidth (2nd column) to pick out what LTE bands are in use.  There is an explanation of it somewhere in the community, but I'm having a hard time finding it with the search.  😞

[sonician]

@srlawren This one is a Xiaomi RedMi Pro. I only had my Note 4 for a year, so I'm trying to find something reasonably priced to replace it, which means having to look for a decent Chinese branded one.

Is there a map that I can see where bands 5 & 7 would be available?

Thanks for the help!

[srlawren]

@sonician ah, yes.  So again talk, text, and 3G (HSPA/HSPA+) data are going to work fine.  You will get some LTE on bands 5 and 7 depending where you are at the time, but lacking band 4 is a bit of a blow for 4G LTE data.  If having fast data is important to you, you might want to keep looking.  If you're okay with the (slightly) slower 3G data most of the time, then this may well fit the bill.  Out of curiosity, which phone is this?

[sonician]

@srlawren, I think this is what you need:

2G bands GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2
CDMA 800 / 1900
3G bands HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100
CDMA2000 1xEV-DO
TD-SCDMA
4G bands LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 38(2600), 39(1900), 40(2300), 41(2500)