Let me preface this by saying that I absolutely love PM. I've been a customer for many long years and I'm so happy whenever I use it in Canada, and I'm proud of how the brand has grown, and service and plans improved.
However, PM was also a source of the most traumatic vacation experience I have ever had. Long story short, just days into my 1-month vacation, my phone software gave up on me, and after factory reset, of course I was unable to receive any two-factor authentication text messages, as there is no way to use a public mobile number outside of Canada and the US - the one major deficiency that I suspected would one day hurt me with PM. As a result, I was locked out of my bank, my Google account, AND the Public Mobile account (as after recent changes there was no way to 2FA via e-mail), among others. As it happens, most of the critical services don't have a fallback anymore - it's text message or bust.
The consequences were immeasurable, as I was not able to retrieve my return flight information, I was not able to pay for planned airbnb stays (2FA for CC was out), I was not able to use Uber, Paypal, order food, change, check or pay my CC, check my bank statements for troubling transaction, or use any of the services that relied on my e-mail address or phone number. Frankly, it was a hellish ride.
As an unfortunate coincidence, during the same 1 month of no cell service I also lost my spot for a medical procedure, as I was not able to receive calls from my doctor trying to slot me into a new opening.
All the money I saved over the years with PM and much more was gone in a moment to mitigate this disaster caused by a policy that I knew could lead to trouble. I just never realized how big this risk would be. In the past, the lack of roaming functionality was painful to swallow, but it felt more like an inconvenience - all I had to do was get local phone numbers for data that were usually significantly cheaper than roaming packages.
However, in this day and age of SMS 2FA for everything, and remote "work from anywhere", having a cell service provider become virtually useless after leaving the country is inexcusable. I only now realized that this service policy oversight can be so dangerous. And the fact that workarounds don't cost providers nearly anything, or even make them a lot of money (in case of roaming packages), for the first time I felt like Public Mobile / Telus knowingly put their users in potential danger to maintain service segmentation.
This really hit me when I noticed that Rogers, Fido or Freedom all allow wifi-calling from abroad, where you can call or text during your vacation abroad for free as if you were in Canada (as long as you are connected to a wifi network). Needless to say, this is where after so many happy years with PM, I am going. Making a decision I am not happy with, leaving a brand I was really happy with (as long as I was in Canada), to a brand I never particularly wanted to switch to, due to outdated and potentially dangerous service policy decisions that have really hurt me.
As for why not another Telus or Bell brand, it is because they lock out Wi-fi calling from abroad to upsell their money cow of roaming packages - wi-fi calls go through, but get cancelled if a foreign IP address is detected. The infrastructure is literally there - some people have had luck with them going through if they use a VPN, but Telus/Bell are the North Korea of Canadian mobile service providers and lock their traveling users out behind a firewall to force them to spend big bucks on roaming packages if their phone faces issues and they still wish to return back home to Canada, or their doctors call.
Well, at least the other Telus/Bell brands offer roaming, so if one has an emergency situation, they are able to pay to use their phone. Public mobile did not give me this option, which sent me through a very unfortunate experience that I was hoping I would never wish to anyone.
For the sake of Public Mobile users, hoping that nobody else has to go through what I went through, here's my final message to Public Mobile / Telus:
Making your phone numbers virtually useless abroad is no longer an accepted segmentation strategy. In the age of 2FA via text for anything critical, it is putting your users in danger, with no fallback options if anything goes awry. Please, seriously consider:
1. Enabling wi-fi calling abroad to its users. At least for received texts/calls. It is going to cost you nearly nothing, as no roaming deals need to be made, and the infrastructure literally exists.
2. If the above is too much to ask, please enable roaming to at least allow users to receive communication abroad (which all budget cell service providers on earth that I'm aware of, outside of Canada, allow for free)
3. Or at the very least allow users to purchase roaming packages. You'll make a big buck, save your users' from potential danger, and maybe keep some more of them with you before they get burned like I was.
