How does US roaming work?

[BEST]

How much of my plans call/texts/data still work while in US without buying US addons?

Can I still receive calls and texts?

[allagelman]

@BEST  Yes could still use your service without paying for anything in addition. For example, if your planning to be in Niagara Falls NY just make sure to turn off roaming. From my own experience if your near a Canadian border expect to get bars from local Telus tower as long as its within range. This will work even if your in the US. This works for any carrier. Worked great for me as I recall trying it with Freedom between years of 2015-2018.

For trips where you are going further into the US I would not recommend using a PM addon. For the price they charge you can just buy a T-Mobile Prepaid sim for the same price and it'll include unlimited data; some travel sims like this don't even require you to create an account.

To prepare for a trip; I recommend buying the sim from Amazon if you want to be prepared in advance. Most grocery stores in US also sell them. For example, Wegmans and Walmart.

This part is optional. What I do for myself, I have an extra smartphone for travel purposes. I would activate airplane mode on my main device and insert the travel sim in the secondary device.

[darlicious]

@BEST 

This is the big disadvantage of 90 day plans is they don't work well for suspension on long absences from home. Your $27 in rewards s that $9/30 days=$27/90days? And you really want to keep your unthrottled 4G LTE data? If so your best bet is a mint mobile plan in the US with call forwarding your pm number to fongo. This works better with a dual SIM phone but can still work if you only have a single sim phone too but you would need to put your pm sim card in a spare phone or pop it back in your phone every once in awhile to check for text messages.

With mint mobile's cheapest plan $15/4gb per 30 days (about $19 cdn) and your pm plan after rewards averaging $31 per 30 days you will be looking at about $50/30 days for full services in the US (unlimited US and to Canada and Mexico, texts and 4gb of 4G LTE or 5G data) and your incoming pm calls to fongo on your phone and your incoming pm texts.

[computergeek541]

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@BeachNBeer wrote:

@BEST  What can work without an add-on - You likely would receive incoming text as some have reported this. That's it!

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That's not even YMMV.  The incoming text messgaes while you're in the US is supposed to work even without a roaming add-on. Although it did previously work, this was made official at the same time Public Mobile stated that the glitch that caused people to stop receiving incoming text messages after returned to Canada was fixed.

[hTideGnow]

Oh, I missed that.  If @BEST  going US long, you can move to Fongo.  There is a one time charge to port the number in, I think $25.    But as I said Fongo text is not free to send.  You need to pay $10 / 3 months for outgoing text.  

I believe you can port into TextNow, too but I am not sure the charge.

With the charge and the trouble to port it out when you back into Canada, it really depends on how long you are going away. 

[Triguy]

If you want a long term plan while in the US then you might consider using mintmobile.com.

[hTideGnow]

Hi @BEST , 

Try  TextNow instead of Fongo.  They are both FREE and you can get a Canadian number. Free to make calls and receive calls.  But Fongo charges you to send out text and charge you to call US number.  Textnow is FREE for sending text and calling BOTH Canadian and US numbers

What you need to do before you trip to US, Forward  All calls to your Textnow phone number.  Then you have to remove your PM SIM.  If you leave our PM SIM on the phone and turn on the phone in US,  the PM SIM tries to connect to the US network, it won't work as you didn't pay roaming, but it will cancel your forwarding.   So, it is best to remove your PM SIM while you are still in Canada

With forwarding turned on to forward to your TextNow number, you will receive calls whenenver you have Wifi (or if you got a US data SIM, it will work whenever you are connected). 

[BEST]

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@darlicious wrote:

@BEST 

One question....Which plan are you currently on?

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@darlicious I am on the $40/12GB 90 days plan with $27 total rewards

How does call forwarding to Fongo work?

[darlicious]

@BEST 

One question....Which plan are you currently on?

Options for your account and service....

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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 contact after paying and reactivating is necessary to have the rewards applied manually.
4. 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 #.
5. 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.
6. 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. Be sure to perform all call forwarding while in 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!

Here is some info about US roaming add ons that should help you.....

1. 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.
2. 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).
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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.
9. 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.)

Happy travels and Stay--Safe!

[Dunkman]

@BEST 

It has been confirmed that you will be able to receive texts in the USA, without any roaming add ons.  The problem is unable to send texts, call or use data without any roaming add on.

Q: Will I receive incoming SMS while roaming in the US?

A: Yes, you will receive incoming SMS while you are roaming in the US for free. However, in order to respond to the SMS, you must have a US Roaming add-on which includes the SMS feature.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/ab/get-help/articles/us-roaming

If your account is suspended more than 90 days, then your account will be closed permanently and number lost.  

Here is one way to keep your number while away:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Paying-for-your-service/Extended-Absence/m-p/142735#M...

[Anonymous]

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@BEST wrote:

I would be there at least an year.

Would I be able to switch back to an expired plan later if I switch to the $15 plan now?

I want to keep using my current plan and phone number once I return but it would be a lot of extra cost if nothing in the plan works except ymmv incoming texts.

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@BEST 

review

Reactivate a suspended plan (publicmobile.ca)

and buy a local SIM card from there... and for your number with public mobile you do a suspended and pay every 86 days to you save your number.

and click Here link  to you know how to Change Your Plan online,

you can choose at your next plan renewal date. To change your plan.

[BeachNBeer]

@BEST  You can suspend your account for 90 days at a time. MAKE SURE  to set a reminder around 85 days to log into your account, un-suspend, pay then re-suspend for another 90days.  It is important to remember that although you can suspend for 90days that you reactivate a few days in advance. (85 to be safe) If it's past 90 days account is closed, deleted and you loose your number. You can switch to lower plan so it's cheaper. 

[HALIMACS]

@BEST 

You can allow your plan to go into a suspended state for up to 90 days, but then you'll have to reactivate it with a minimum $15 plan cycle, after which you can again allow it to go into suspended state for up to another 90 days.

You can repeat the cycle while you're away if you want to retain the account.

[HALIMACS]

@BEST 

No services that work while in Canada will work in the USA.

You need to buy a USA roaming add-on to either call text or use data.

These options are available under the plans option in the upper part of this webpage. Remember that these add-ons are only good for 10 days so plan your purchase accordingly.

[BEST]

I would be there at least an year.

Would I be able to switch back to an expired plan later if I switch to the $15 plan now?

I want to keep using my current plan and phone number once I return but it would be a lot of extra cost if nothing in the plan works except ymmv incoming texts.

[hTideGnow · Accepted solution]

HI @BEST  , Some people confirmed that you will still receive text when you are in US WITHOUT US Romaing.   But just receive, not send.  Could be a glitch so YMMV.  

How long you are there?  you can buy the roaming package , pick the one suits your need.  Or, if you are there long time, it is better to get the local prepaid data sim for data access.    You still won't receive PM calls.  But you can use VoIP app to make calls and give the number to your friend. 

[Anonymous]

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@BEST wrote:

Does plan data and bonus data add-ons only work in Canada?

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@BEST 

for the gifts holidays only working in Canada.

review Add-ons visit Here link...

[BeachNBeer]

@BEST  That is correct. Plan data and bonus data from gift's only work in Canada. 

[BEST]

Does plan data and bonus data add-ons only work in Canada?

[Anonymous]

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@BEST wrote:

I want to know what can work without buying these add-ons, I am looking to still receive OTP messages to my number during an extended stay in USA

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@BEST 

is will not working if you don't want to buy it Add-ons.

public mobile 30 day Prepaid Service No fees extra charges.

[BeachNBeer]

@BEST  What can work without an add-on - You likely would receive incoming text as some have reported this. That's it!

[BEST]

I want to know what can work without buying these add-ons, I am looking to still receive OTP messages to my number during an extended stay in USA

[BeachNBeer]

@BEST  Some report that you would receive text without a USA add-on. Can't reply!. You would need a add-on. Add-ons are for 10 days and start from purchase. So don't buy days before you go. 

Alternatively another option is you could download TEXTNOW app. Canadian number in your area that allows you to make Free calls  to Canada/USA and text over Wi-Fi. Has caller ID and voicemail if you're not online.

[Anonymous]

@BEST 

For US Roaming 10 day packages
Unlimited U.S. Talk, Text and 250MB Data Bundle = $20
Unlimited U.S. Talk and Text Bundle = $15
Unlimited U.S. Talk Only = $8
Unlimited U.S. Text Only = $8
U.S. Data Only 10 day packages
250MB = $10
500MB = $15
1GB = $20

when you visit U.S. and then Purchase it,

sign in to Self-Serve, to review your account, 

How To Purchase Add-Ons Using Your Self-Serve Account

Follow these steps:

1. Click on ‘Purchase Add- Ons’ on the Overview tab and scroll down to the Add-On calculator.
2. Click the plus sign (+) to add and the minus sign (-) to remove selected Add-ons.
3. When you’ve added all your desired Add-Ons, click ‘Buy Add-Ons’ or ‘Make a Payment’ below the calculator:
   • You will see ‘Make a Payment’ instead of ‘Buy Add-Ons’
4. Select ‘Confirm my purchase’,

5. after purchase successful you have to do Rebooting your phone
   what is meant by rebooting the device turn off and turn it back on.

review of Add-ons visit Here link...

make sure enable roaming on,
Try manually selecting either of  AT&T or T-Mobile, whichever works best for you,
for Re-Purchase Add-ons you need to wait 25 hours after the expiry first Purchase Add-ons or you need to Contact Customer Support Agent by CS_Agent, to do it for you..