Incoming calls when traveling outside province

[Ooops]

Hello Mods:

I have searched this threads and most posts indicate that incoming will not work without add-on if you are traveling outside home Provine.

I have experienced otherwise.

I have PM province-wide plan and live in Ontario (Ontario number with 613 area code). I was traveling to Calgary, Alberta in April for three weeks and was able to receive incoming calls on my PM Ontario number - (No add-on for long distance); the incoming calls mostly were from my home - Ontario and also local calls. My outgoing worked for only within Alberta calls.

So can the members WHO HAVE USED province-wide plan WITHOUT add-on outside home province please share and shed some light if we do not need long-distance add-on for INCOMING calls when traveling outside home-province

Appreciate the community helping each other.

[stonechucker]

@Tocibs, yes, this was an issue that has finally been resolved, and for the most part is now understood.  The issue was previously, the service provider was giving wr9ng information.

[Tocibs]

Double_J is correct.

I'm from Ontario traveling to BC (have unlimited Province wide calling).  Was able to receive all incoming calls as if I was in my home Province.  Can call any number within the Province of BC (the Province that I was visiting) with no LD.  The only time I needed LD is when I call a number outside of my visiting Province (i.e. I need LD if I call back to my home province of Ontario).

[stonechucker]

@Someone_here cut and past with the footnote numbers attached is wonderful when they remember to update marketing information after changing the source location.  Oh, Public Mobile...

[Someone_here]

hey did changed the wording of the policy in the Knowledge Base article, but they haven't in the conditions of the offers shown on the front page... ?!

[ShawnC13]

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@Double_J wrote:

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

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@Double_J wrote:

@ShawnC13 No man, yes there was a written policy change but in the real world I've had numerous confirmations that long distance was not needed to make local calls in the new province or receive calls.  People just like to interpret what they read differently.

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That is what I said there was a policy but what was actually happening in real world experience differed.  I had the same experiences but up until last week it was described as a glitch in the policy when it was how it always worked

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Show me were they use "glitch" in the policy?  PM purposes makes the policy vague so that it is assumed people will need to buy an add on. 

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They don't use glitch. I am just saying what would have been the explanation.  I am totally agreeing with you that their policy was incorrect and did not reflect real world use.  I am just providing the history or what I have experienced and seen in my time here.

[Double_J]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@Double_J wrote:

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It is not a "nice bonus" when it has always been the case for all carriers as you mentioned above.   

I'll disagree with you on that, only because from what Public Mobile always told us (up until now), it wasn't supposed to work - even though it always has.

Its not considered nation-wide long distance and never was.  It was always supposed to happen just like all the other carriers.  Dont forget PM is owned by Telus and runs on their network.

Sorry, but that's not correct.  When you are outside your local calling area and receive a call on your cell phone, that is a long dstiance call, regardless of whether or not is already included in your plan.  When you have a plan that includes provincial calling and you answer a call while you are outside of the province of your phone number, that by definition is a national-wide long dsitance call to answer any phone call. 

 There was never a need for LD minutes unless you needed to call back home while travelling in Canada.  Therefore, the need was never diminished.  Its just that PM did a good job making their policy so unclear that people assumed they needed it. (FYI add-ons are a major income generator for all carriers).  This is what I have been trying to tell you all that you don't need to buy add-ons if you dont really need them.   It doesnt have much to do with Canada wide plans being similar in pricing to province wide plans.  Plans are disigned to meet the needs of different user groups.  Its a give and take.  You want Canada wide Calling you may give up on something else and vice versa.

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I'll give you that the need was never diminished, as you're right, the add-on was only needed to call  out to a different province than you were currently in.  It appears now that they are actually kind of telling us that.  Before, the online information was telling us one thing, but the information was wrong.

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Hey man thanks really appreciate it.  I dont understand why a paid official PM employee makes a post with a simple chart indicating if LD is needed or not depending on the calling scenario.  As mentioned earlier keeping their policy vague allows them to get away with a lot.  Thats the problem with PM is that you actually can't call in to confirm accurate details.

[computergeek541]

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@Double_J wrote:

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It is not a "nice bonus" when it has always been the case for all carriers as you mentioned above.   

I'll disagree with you on that, only because from what Public Mobile always told us (up until now), it wasn't supposed to work - even though it always has.

Its not considered nation-wide long distance and never was.  It was always supposed to happen just like all the other carriers.  Dont forget PM is owned by Telus and runs on their network.

Sorry, but that's not correct.  When you are outside your local calling area and receive a call on your cell phone, that is a long dstiance call, regardless of whether or not is already included in your plan.  When you have a plan that includes provincial calling and you answer a call while you are outside of the province of your phone number, that by definition is a national-wide long dsitance call to answer any phone call. 

 There was never a need for LD minutes unless you needed to call back home while travelling in Canada.  Therefore, the need was never diminished.  Its just that PM did a good job making their policy so unclear that people assumed they needed it. (FYI add-ons are a major income generator for all carriers).  This is what I have been trying to tell you all that you don't need to buy add-ons if you dont really need them.   It doesnt have much to do with Canada wide plans being similar in pricing to province wide plans.  Plans are disigned to meet the needs of different user groups.  Its a give and take.  You want Canada wide Calling you may give up on something else and vice versa.

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I'll give you that the need was never diminished, as you're right, the add-on was only needed to call  out to a different province than you were currently in.  It appears now that they are actually kind of telling us that.  Before, the online information was telling us one thing, but the information was wrong.

[Double_J]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@Double_J wrote:

I tested this with having someone call me from BC, Alberta, Ontario and intertionally. All calls were received. 

.

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That has always been the case for all carriers and all plans.  For the person receiving a call, it never matters where the call comes from.

Now, as for receiving calls while you and your phone are outside of the province that your phone number is from, technically, that is a national-wide long distance call to answer any call.  As for Public Mobile always allowing the call to be answer for those with only a provincial calling plan, that wasn't really supposed to happen.  The policy change in the online documentation is interesting though.

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The policy may say that but I would argue the policy makes no sense.  As a visitor to another province, the policy allows outbound calls within the visited province as if it is the home province.  If making these provincial calls are allowed, then how does it make sense that receiving calls are not allowed?  It is the calling party that generally pays any charge for a call.  If outbound calls are included then so are inbound calls. 

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Long distance has historically just been a reason for carriers to charge extra.  As for receiving a call outside of a lcoal calling area (or proinvce in the case of Public Mobile calling plans), that's just how long distance has always worked for an incoming call.  There are still some customers (at other carriers) who only have plans with local calling.  A customer with local calling and a Toronto phone number would have to pay long distance to answer any phone call when outside of that city's local calling area. 

But yeah, it's a way for the phone companies to charges both parties in call.  Someone calling from L.A. to Toronto (the outgoing caller pays LD) and if the receiving caller only has local calling , the receiver would also have to pay long dsitance - but only if outside of the Toronto area.    All this probably adds to the confusion and the mistaken belief that it somehow matters to the person answering a call where the call comes from.

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Finally someone who gets it.  It is simply a cash grab.  Ambiguity in policy causes confusion and thus greater sales.  However, I will note that when I called Rogers about this over 10 years ago, they will declare it is free if you ask them specifically.  They will tell you that you need LD only if you want to call back home.  

[Double_J]

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

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@Double_J wrote:

@ShawnC13 No man, yes there was a written policy change but in the real world I've had numerous confirmations that long distance was not needed to make local calls in the new province or receive calls.  People just like to interpret what they read differently.

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That is what I said there was a policy but what was actually happening in real world experience differed.  I had the same experiences but up until last week it was described as a glitch in the policy when it was how it always worked

---

Show me were they use "glitch" in the policy?  PM purposes makes the policy vague so that it is assumed people will need to buy an add on. 

[Double_J]

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That has always been the case for all carriers and all plans.  For the person receiving a call, it never matters where the call comes from. 

But when receiving those calls when travelling in other provinces (with province-wide calling plans), this has always been a nice bonus at Public.

It is not a "nice bonus" when it has always been the case for all carriers as you mentioned above.   

Now, as for receiving calls while you and your phone are outside of the province that your phone number is from, technically, that is a national-wide long distance call to answer any call.  As for Public Mobile always allowing the call to be answer for those with only a provincial calling plan, that wasn't really supposed to happen.  The policy change in the online documentation is interesting though.

Its not considered nation-wide long distance and never was.  It was always supposed to happen just like all the other carriers.  Dont forget PM is owned by Telus and runs on their network.

Many of us already were aware that these incoming calls were always working.  But now that Public Mobile is telling us that incoming calls will work (even when travelling outside of the phone number's province), the need for Canada-wide long distance calling plans is certainly diminished.  One can now feel assured that all incoming calls will come through, texts and data will be fine, and for calling outside of the province that the user is currently in, something such as Hangouts Dialer could be used.  There's now very little reason to pay extra for Canada-wide calling at Public Mobile, and that could partly be the reason for some plans being the same price for provincial or Canada-wide.

 There was never a need for LD minutes unless you needed to call back home while travelling in Canada.  Therefore, the need was never diminished.  Its just that PM did a good job making their policy so unclear that people assumed they needed it. (FYI add-ons are a major income generator for all carriers).  This is what I have been trying to tell you all that you don't need to buy add-ons if you dont really need them.   It doesnt have much to do with Canada wide plans being similar in pricing to province wide plans.  Plans are disigned to meet the needs of different user groups.  Its a give and take.  You want Canada wide Calling you may give up on something else and vice versa.

[Double_J]

@will13am  Hey man, yes the policy is poorly worded by PM officials.  They need to do some work on it. 

Outbound calls within the visiting province are inlcuded in unlimited province wide calling plans.

Receiving calls from anywhere in the world while in the visiting province are included as well.

Only calling back to your home province while visiting another province requires long distance minutes. If you buy an LD add-on, those minutes will only be deducted when calling back to your home province.

Hope that clears it up for you.

[computergeek541]

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@will13am wrote:

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@Double_J wrote:

I tested this with having someone call me from BC, Alberta, Ontario and intertionally. All calls were received. 

.

---

That has always been the case for all carriers and all plans.  For the person receiving a call, it never matters where the call comes from.

Now, as for receiving calls while you and your phone are outside of the province that your phone number is from, technically, that is a national-wide long distance call to answer any call.  As for Public Mobile always allowing the call to be answer for those with only a provincial calling plan, that wasn't really supposed to happen.  The policy change in the online documentation is interesting though.

---

The policy may say that but I would argue the policy makes no sense.  As a visitor to another province, the policy allows outbound calls within the visited province as if it is the home province.  If making these provincial calls are allowed, then how does it make sense that receiving calls are not allowed?  It is the calling party that generally pays any charge for a call.  If outbound calls are included then so are inbound calls. 

---

Long distance has historically just been a reason for carriers to charge extra.  As for receiving a call outside of a lcoal calling area (or proinvce in the case of Public Mobile calling plans), that's just how long distance has always worked for an incoming call.  There are still some customers (at other carriers) who only have plans with local calling.  A customer with local calling and a Toronto phone number would have to pay long distance to answer any phone call when outside of that city's local calling area. 

But yeah, it's a way for the phone companies to charges both parties in call.  Someone calling from L.A. to Toronto (the outgoing caller pays LD) and if the receiving caller only has local calling , the receiver would also have to pay long dsitance - but only if outside of the Toronto area.    All this probably adds to the confusion and the mistaken belief that it somehow matters to the person answering a call where the call comes from.

[ShawnC13]

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@Double_J wrote:

@ShawnC13 No man, yes there was a written policy change but in the real world I've had numerous confirmations that long distance was not needed to make local calls in the new province or receive calls.  People just like to interpret what they read differently.

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That is what I said there was a policy but what was actually happening in real world experience differed.  I had the same experiences but up until last week it was described as a glitch in the policy when it was how it always worked

[Double_J]

@stonechucker  I still have a few lines with PM.  By the way do you just stay at home all day and browse through these forums all day?  Is it really worth the $10 to $15 bucks you get each month? As for my hard on, at least I can get one man.

And yes, there is a tremendous amount of misinformation on this topic, but yet you refuse to admit the real world workings of the network.  Maybe get off the computer once I a while and get outside and smell the fresh air.  You will thank me for it.

[will13am]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@Double_J wrote:

I tested this with having someone call me from BC, Alberta, Ontario and intertionally. All calls were received. 

.

---

That has always been the case for all carriers and all plans.  For the person receiving a call, it never matters where the call comes from.

Now, as for receiving calls while you and your phone are outside of the province that your phone number is from, technically, that is a national-wide long distance call to answer any call.  As for Public Mobile always allowing the call to be answer for those with only a provincial calling plan, that wasn't really supposed to happen.  The policy change in the online documentation is interesting though.

---

The policy may say that but I would argue the policy makes no sense.  As a visitor to another province, the policy allows outbound calls within the visited province as if it is the home province.  If making these provincial calls are allowed, then how does it make sense that receiving calls are not allowed?  It is the calling party that generally pays any charge for a call.  If outbound calls are included then so are inbound calls. 

[Double_J]

@ShawnC13 No man, yes there was a written policy change but in the real world I've had numerous confirmations that long distance was not needed to make local calls in the new province or receive calls.  People just like to interpret what they read differently.

[computergeek541]

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@Double_J wrote:

I tested this with having someone call me from BC, Alberta, Ontario and intertionally. All calls were received. 

.

---

That has always been the case for all carriers and all plans.  For the person receiving a call, it never matters where the call comes from. 

But when receiving those calls when travelling in other provinces (with province-wide calling plans), this has always been a nice bonus at Public.

Now, as for receiving calls while you and your phone are outside of the province that your phone number is from, technically, that is a national-wide long distance call to answer any call.  As for Public Mobile always allowing the call to be answer for those with only a provincial calling plan, that wasn't really supposed to happen.  The policy change in the online documentation is interesting though.

Many of us already were aware that these incoming calls were always working.  But now that Public Mobile is telling us that incoming calls will work (even when travelling outside of the phone number's province), the need for Canada-wide long distance calling plans is certainly diminished.  One can now feel assured that all incoming calls will come through, texts and data will be fine, and for calling outside of the province that the user is currently in, something such as Hangouts Dialer could be used.  There's now very little reason to pay extra for Canada-wide calling at Public Mobile, and that could partly be the reason for some plans being the same price for provincial or Canada-wide.

[stonechucker]

@Double_J, when I am wrong, I will say I’m wrong.  I wasn’t wrong to quote previously the OFFICAL policy as it had been documented until the change this past weekend.

since you seem to have found a better plan elsewhere, as I read earlier today, why don’t you give up your hard on to say people are intentionally misleading subscribers.

[ShawnC13]

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@Double_J wrote:

Ok guys, I think there are alot of people in this forum are misleading customers.  I have just come back from my trip and have tested my phone.  I am on a province wide calling plan which is unlimited.  

I was able to call any number in Alberta (Calgary, Edmonton) as part of my plan.  I was also able to receive calls from anywhere.  I tested this with having someone call me from BC, Alberta, Ontario and intertionally. All calls were received.  The only thing I was not able to do was call BC numbers.  THIS IS THE ONLY TIME YOU NEED A LONG DISTANCE CALL ADD-ON. 

There was no policy change as I checked with someone who conducted the same test over two years ago with the same results.  I also used to work for a major telecommunications company and this is the same functionally by all major players in Canada.  

It should be noted that some people are provided financial incentives for posting here.  When PM is paying their kickbacks for managing this site, they will have influence over the people who provide wrong information.

In theory if you were a resident of BC and travelled across Canada, your provincial plan would allow you to always make local calls as you move from province to province.  You will only need long distance add-on if you want to call back to your home province or the province that you are not currently in.

Dont be fooled into buying something that you don't really need.

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There was a change in the OFFICIAL POLICY stated by PM on long distance.  This didn't change what was happening with real world experience.  The person who tested this two years ago would have been told that what they are experiencing was a glitch in the  system and not in line with the OFFICIAL Policy that PM had for their long distance. 

Any rewards PM offer is not enough to influence people.  The information that was provided was what OFFICIALLY was out there on how it should work.  They were not trying to get you to buy something you didn't need they were just providing you with PM's official stance on the Province wide calling and Long Distance addons, that were change just recently to represent what actually happens so things line up now.  Real world experience and Official Policy statement.

As for getting into name calling that was totally uncalled for and not sure why you even had to go there.

[Double_J]

@stonechucker Man you wont give up about your updated policy.  I just told you that I have checked this with several other people and they had the same results 3 months ago, 6 months ago and 2 years ago.

This was always the case.  You guys told yourself that it wasn't.  Just admit that you are wrong man. 

[stonechucker]

Yes, @Double_J, you are correct.  But as we found out this past weekend, the offical statement from Public Mobile has now changed.  The statement now reads that incoming calls and texts are received anywhere you are connected to the Public Mobile network.

Until last week, this was not the case.

[Double_J]

Ok guys, I think there are alot of people in this forum are misleading customers.  I have just come back from my trip and have tested my phone.  I am on a province wide calling plan which is unlimited.  

I was able to call any number in Alberta (Calgary, Edmonton) as part of my plan.  I was also able to receive calls from anywhere.  I tested this with having someone call me from BC, Alberta, Ontario and intertionally. All calls were received.  The only thing I was not able to do was call BC numbers.  THIS IS THE ONLY TIME YOU NEED A LONG DISTANCE CALL ADD-ON. 

There was no policy change as I checked with someone who conducted the same test over two years ago with the same results.  I also used to work for a major telecommunications company and this is the same functionally by all major players in Canada.  

It should be noted that some people are provided financial incentives for posting here.  When PM is paying their kickbacks for managing this site, they will have influence over the people who provide wrong information.

In theory if you were a resident of BC and travelled across Canada, your provincial plan would allow you to always make local calls as you move from province to province.  You will only need long distance add-on if you want to call back to your home province or the province that you are not currently in.

Dont be fooled into buying something that you don't really need.

[mimmo]

@Double_J there is no need for name calling.  Until that article was posted less than a week ago provincial calling was limited to your home province.   I even asked Allan to clarify the statement in that article because it seemed to go against the official word.   

Also most people on the forums would as @stonechucker suggested reccomend buying the long distance add-on, as the ability to receive calls while out of your home province was a considered a glitch, which could be fixed at any point and cause users traveling w/o the add-on  frustrations if their service stoped working.

[ute1978]

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@Double_J wrote:

@stonechucker Whether you are a techy or not, doesnt mean you know policy and fuctioning of long distance.  You said yourself you have never tested it, so we would appreciate you not contributing on something you are not 100% sure about.  @mimmo just corrected you.  Based on your contribution, you would have steered many people in the wrong direction.

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Oh well. Funtioning of the long distance add on is not 100% right. 

@stonechuckeris right. Other members might have other experiences.

Like me. I have been using Public Mobile for the last 2 years. When I joined I only had the provincial talk feature and added the 400 minutes add on and I still have some of it left, because:

No matter where I am in Canada I can receive calls from all over the world for free. No minutes are deducted from my add on.

I have an Excel sheet with all my incoming and outgoing calls and in those last 2 years I got about 2000 minutes of calls from which half of them were outside my home province. Glitch or not..... So you see, real life experiences differ.

[stonechucker]

Okay, @Double_J, that statement from Public Mobile has only just been posted within the last couple of days, and up until that, every document on this website has officially said incoming calls While in a province not your home province, would require an LD addon.

in the two years I have been a subscriber, I have never had the opportunity to test, as I have not been out of my home province, nor would I have been able to test, as I hate an LD package off 200 minutes from very early in my subscription here.

When other have stated the do have service such as described above, I will say, your mileage may vary, as the official stance.....yardage yadda yadda.

@mimmo linked this new statement from Public Mobile.  This was the first time I’ve seen it.  My post that you now continuing to discuss on this issue, I wrote before I knew about the new statement.  I apologize that I didn’t know about it, and if I had know about it, I would not have written that post.

[Double_J]

@stonechucker Whether you are a techy or not, doesnt mean you know policy and fuctioning of long distance.  You said yourself you have never tested it, so we would appreciate you not contributing on something you are not 100% sure about.  @mimmo just corrected you.  Based on your contribution, you would have steered many people in the wrong direction.

[stonechucker]

@Double_J, I’m a techie, a former help desk worker on my employers IT Support team,, moved to database support, and now work in a different field for the same employer.

Im a geek, a nerd, a self taught computer and other electronic gadget guy, I know business processses.

i like to tinker and assit where I can.

Thanks for calling me a douchebag.  Only those comments make me really care.  I will know ignore you as much as I can.

[Double_J]

@mimmo  Great contribution man!  This is the type of support people are looking for, unlike the childish attitude by @stonechucker. Good call man you put him in his place.  He was making a big show that we have to buy an add-on but you put him in his place.  Its weird how he doesn't apologize for this.

[stonechucker]

No I don’t.  I’m just a big supporter of the product, and an active supporter in the community.

[Double_J]

@stonechucker Whats your problem man.  Why are you wasting your time responding to this if you dont want to help.  You sound like a real douche bag man.  If you cant help don't respond.  We all dont have time to scavenge through these boards like you do.  Most of us have better things to do with our time.