I suddenly have no service

[ekung]

Hello

I suddenly have no service.

I've paid my bills and it is up to date.

This happened suddenly yesterday afternoon And I haven't been able to use my Phone.  Anyone have this problem? 

Please help.

Thanks.

[sheytoon]

What a mission! This is really disappointing to read. Looks like your issues are not getting the traction they need.

Maybe @Mary_M can jump in and help. She's one of the most helpful mods I've seen.

Mary, are you able to help @ekung and @pavellyzhin ?

[ekung]

Ok here's where we're at. After sending an agree e-mail to my mod, they sent a pleasant one back telling me to verify my login (the one used to get into the self-service site). I enter the information 3 times and it doesn't work so now I'm down to the last attempt and I'm not going to do it because then I'll be locked out or something for good. I've double-checked the bloody username and password each time and I can sign into the site itself no problem but I can't seem to authenticate using the stupid like the mod sent me. Of course it couldn't be that easy. Anyways, it looks like I need to complete a few quests before they'll even do anything for me.

[pavellyzhin]

Update: 8 days without phone! 

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@LovesToPM wrote:

@Pizzaeh, I totally agree with you.

@ekungand @pavellyzhin, Please do keep us updated.

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[LovesToPM]

@Pizzaeh, I totally agree with you.

@ekung and @pavellyzhin, Please do keep us updated.

[Pizzaeh]

@ekung and @pavellyzhin, this is very unfortunate and I understand the frustration.  You should do whatever you need to do for the safety of your family and to carry on with your daily lives.  I couldn't imagine a week without my main phone number.  I hope you can still update these threads, once an explanation is available.  

[ekung]

I sent this to the mod who told me to "be patient" after a week without any service or responses from their "fraud department" if such a thing exists. I am losing sleep over thinking of the possible safety issues of my situation. I need to get another SIM from somewhere at least until I have time to shop for a better provider that doesn't just leave me hanging when things get bad. 

"Tomorrow it will be one week without any service. Understand that we have no land line and it's already become a safety issue especially with kids. There is no information and not even a SIM card in the mail. I've met others in the community who have the same issue at the same time and as SIM swapping is social engineering, Public Mobile is responsible for having let this happen due to lax security standards. My husband and I have referred several people to your service and now that it's literally become a safety issue I will need to spread the word about this and find another provider if this can't be solved by tomorrow. Please respond."

[ekung]

Absolutely. This is ridiculous. No information, no replacement SIM (not even in the mail). A week with no service (we don't have a land line) and it's already become a safety issue. This is baloney!

[pavellyzhin]

I am seven days without a phone now. If nothing changes tomorrow, I will go and  buy a sim card of another provider. 

[ekung]

Mine was the afternoon of the 28th. Could be same people. It sucks!

[pavellyzhin]

I have been waiting since March 27. I got a reply today that my issue  is still work in progress.

[ekung]

Hope Public Mobile

a) Gets our phone service back ASAP (some of us really need it for our day - especially since we don't have a land line).

b) Improves their security around issues like this so that if it was a socially engineered swap or even if it was hacking that it doesn't happen again to others.

I wonder how common this is and if it happens on other carriers.

[Pizzaeh]

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@pavellyzhin wrote:

In my case (I have identical problem), I do not use public WiFi. I spend 5 minutes to get from my home with internet access to my office with my working internet. And I have enouph data for weekends if I have to go anywhere else. So, I do not think that public wifi was involved.

I could also see a connection between this case and mine. Mine happent last Wednesday and still is not resolved.

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@pavellyzhin thanks for updating the thread(s).  Two similar cases, that occurred around the same time.  

[pavellyzhin]

In my case (I have identical problem), I do not use public WiFi. I spend 5 minutes to get from my home with internet access to my office with my working internet. And I have enouph data for weekends if I have to go anywhere else. So, I do not think that public wifi was involved.

I could also see a connection between this case and mine. Mine happent last Wednesday and still is not resolved.

[LovesToPM]

@ekung 

That's good to know. Hope you get a replacement SIM to get back your phone service.
Although I would seriously consider getting a new email address and new PM account. I may be overreacting, but once an account has been hacked, it is never 100% safe. Check out what info the hacker may have gleaned from your account(s).

I'm thinking the hacker logged onto your Public Mobile account to perform the Sim swap. Not sure what Public Mobile can do to prevent unauthorized use, except maybe require confirmation/authentication via customer email or alternate phone number.

I doubt the Sim swap was done through moderator, as the hacker would need to provide more information, such as our account number, phone number... But see now, the hacker has all this info and may be able to do it again?

[LovesToPM]

@ekung 

That's good to know. Hope you get a replacement SIM to get back your phone service.
Although I would seriously consider getting a new email address and new PM account. I may be overreacting, but once an account has been hacked, it is never 100% safe. Check out what info the hacker may have gleaned from your account(s).

I'm thinking the hacker logged onto your Public Mobile account to perform the Sim swap. Not sure what Public Mobile can do to prevent unauthorized use. Except maybe require confirmation/authentication via customer email or alternate phone number, or answer secret question?

I doubt the Sim swap was done through moderator, as the hacker would need to provide more information, such as our account number, phone number... But see now, the hacker has all this info and may be able to do it again?

[LovesToPM]

@Pizzaeh  it looks like public wifi usage was the culprit in this case. So the emails may be the same or not. For this case, the hacker would have access to all accounts @ekung  used.

[Pizzaeh]

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@ekung wrote:

No losses so far - I've cancelled PayPal and my credit card company alerted me right away and did not let the charge through. I will start using a VPN for public wifi from now on and avoid logging in on public wifi. I've changed several passwords and I've gotten rid of most accounts that don't use authenticator software for 2FA (the ones that use SMS only like PayPal). Thanks for the tips on police.

Here's a question: what safeguards does Public Mobile have against SIM-swapping. Seems like it only involves socially engineering you way into getting a mod to swap your SIM. Aren't there security questions involved in doing that?

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If they did it through the self-serve account, then all they needed was your user name(email) and password.  Then they could change the SIM within the self-serve account.  Security questions or verification would only come into play if they contacted the moderators via private message.  I would be curious to know how this went down, but probably PM won't divulge all the details due to privacy/security concerns.

Question, since PayPayl was also involved with the other subscriber's case, was the same email address used for both PayPal and Public Mobile accounts - you don't have to answer this question.  I was just curious because of the similarity between the two cases.

[ekung]

No losses so far - I've cancelled PayPal and my credit card company alerted me right away and did not let the charge through. I will start using a VPN for public wifi from now on and avoid logging in on public wifi. I've changed several passwords and I've gotten rid of most accounts that don't use authenticator software for 2FA (the ones that use SMS only like PayPal). Thanks for the tips on police.

Here's a question: what safeguards does Public Mobile have against SIM-swapping. Seems like it only involves socially engineering you way into getting a mod to swap your SIM. Aren't there security questions involved in doing that?

[LovesToPM]

@ekung 

Public Mobile account, Paypal and Credit card being compromised? Unfortunately you've been hacked. I'm guessing you have a keylogger virus installed on one or more of your devices. Or is it possible, you accessed all these accounts while using public wifi?

If losses are significant, it could be good idea to notify your local police.

I mean if another SIM was activated, this hack was done locally in Canada, not overseas.

Police may get Public Mobile to identify the area from which the SIM was used and also the IP address the hacker used to log onto your PM account.

And if you have home insurance, your losses may be covered. A police report will help.

[sheytoon]

@ekung, looks like identity theft in progress. Call your banks, other accounts that use 2-factor authentication ASAP, be on guard for other accounts being compromised.

[Pizzaeh]

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@ekung wrote:

Oh great it turns out I've been "SIM swapped" (https://www.wikiwand.com/en/SIM_swap_scam) which explains why I got an e-mail from Paypal wanting me to change my password as well as my credit card company warning me about a purchase. How did they do that to Public Mobile without a person to talk to on the phone? Sounds like an inside-job?

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Well, that could very well have happened.  Can't say for sure...

Here is an eerily similar thread from the other day.  The last post has a theory on how it may have occurred.  Strange thing is, PayPal is involved again, but that could just be a coincidence.  Tagging some of those other subscribers (@pavellyzhin , @Omarh , @computergeek541 , @srlawren ) to keep them in the loop.  Send a message to the moderators to let them know it happened to you as well.

[ekung]

Oh great it turns out I've been "SIM swapped" (https://www.wikiwand.com/en/SIM_swap_scam) which explains why I got an e-mail from Paypal wanting me to change my password as well as my credit card company warning me about a purchase. How did they do that to Public Mobile without a person to talk to on the phone? Sounds like an inside-job? Or someone who is in the community was able to convince a moderator to do it? What are the steps taken before anyone who yells "my phone got stolen" is allowed to swap a SIM to a new number?

[Pizzaeh]

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@ekung wrote:

I am on an autopay 3 month plan that has not run out. The phone works properly. I've tried taking out the SIM and reinstalling it, resetting the network, turning off an on the phone, changing the APN, etc. It says "No Service" on my iPhone 8 (no calls, no data, unable to connect to Public Mobile automatically or manually in the settings) - this after making a few calls yesterday morning and by the afternoon it said "no service". The only thing I can think of that might be a coincidence is that I had purchased a US Roaming add-on that just expired yesterday but I'm no longer in the states anyway so it would make sense that it would continue to work in Canada as normal (my husband had the same add-on and his works perfectly fine).

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Yes, it's the US Roaming add-on...I've heard of problems when it expires....looking up exampes now.....

Here read this post by @SD08 talking about expiring US Add-on causing problems when it expires.

@SD08:

"This is actually a known bug that sometimes occurs after the US roaming add-on expires, as moderator Mary_M informed us here:
http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Re-Not-Receiving-Text-Messages/m-p/140776/...

According to moderators, it usually self-resolves itself within a day after expiration. The advised course of action is to power-cycle your phone after returning to Canada or after the add-on expires. If it doesn't resolve within a day, you should get a moderator's assistance via private message. They can try re-pushing the SMS service center # in the back-end. 

"

You can contact the mods here , if you haven't already done so.  Good luck.

[ekung]

I am on an autopay 3 month plan that has not run out. The phone works properly. I've tried taking out the SIM and reinstalling it, resetting the network, turning off an on the phone, changing the APN, etc. It says "No Service" on my iPhone 8 (no calls, no data, unable to connect to Public Mobile automatically or manually in the settings) - this after making a few calls yesterday morning and by the afternoon it said "no service". The only thing I can think of that might be a coincidence is that I had purchased a US Roaming add-on that just expired yesterday but I'm no longer in the states anyway so it would make sense that it would continue to work in Canada as normal (my husband had the same add-on and his works perfectly fine).

[srlawren]

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@ekung wrote:

Hello

I suddenly have no service.

I've paid my bills and it is up to date.

This happened suddenly yesterday afternoon And I haven't been able to use my Phone.  Anyone have this problem? 

Please help.

Thanks.

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@ekung the previous responses have asked some very good questions that will help us nail down your issue.  If you are on the $10 or $15 plan and suddenly can't call or send texts, it probably means you ran out of those.  If you're on an unlimited talk and/or text plan, that is obviously not the case.  You could also have used up your plan data (assuming your plan includes any) or add-on data (assuming you purchased any data add-ons).  OR, could be something entirely different.  If literally nothing is working, is your phone showing any messages like "invalid SIM", "not registered on network", "emergency calls only", etc?  If so, what exactly does it say?  And have you tried powering it off and back on again?

[LovesToPM]

Was your plan changed yesterday?  Best to contact moderator asap as it can take up to couple of days to resolve.

Please elaborate on no service. Is it complete shutdown? Or anything at all? Text in/out, Phone in/out, Data?

Can you try switching your SIM onto another phone? First rule out any problems with your phone device.

[Lieux]

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@ekung wrote:

Hello

I suddenly have no service.

I've paid my bills and it is up to date.

This happened suddenly yesterday afternoon And I haven't been able to use my Phone.  Anyone have this problem? 

Please help.

Thanks.

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Which plan do you have? Is your self serve account shows ACTIVE? When is your renewal date?