International roaming

[ryanmi]

Hi there,

I'm going to China for couple weeks. Just wondering will my phone have signal there? I probably need my cell to receive some sms. Thanks.

[srlawren]

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@piggykiller wrote:

i have to say it in chinese.lol

回去买张天神卡月租5元/一个月。 800M/元一天，不用不要钱，联通的很好用。PM除了美加什么信号都没有。我都用中国的号做国际漫游。

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For anyone interestered in what this says but not already familiar with Google Translate, here's the translation into English:

Go back and buy a Zhang Tianshen card for 5 yuan / month. 800M / yuan a day, do not need money, Unicom is very useful. PM has no signal other than the United States and Canada. I use the Chinese number for international roaming.

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[piggykiller]

i have to say it in chinese.lol

回去买张天神卡月租5元/一个月。 800M/元一天，不用不要钱，联通的很好用。PM除了美加什么信号都没有。我都用中国的号做国际漫游。

[Luddite]

If you have forwarded your PM number to a fongo.com number and installed an SMS forwarding app http://supportz.com/5-sms-forwarding-apps-for-your-android-device/ then PM has free international roaming wherever you connect to free wifi. 

[hocuspocus]

The best way to do this is to get a local sim card in China.

[krazykiwi]

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@ryanmi wrote:

Hi there,

I'm going to China for couple weeks. Just wondering will my phone have signal there? I probably need my cell to receive some sms. Thanks.

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No, PM does not have an agreement outside Canada/US. 

Try something like Someone_here suggested or maybe get a cheap local sim while you are in China and give your contacts the number.

[popping]

PM does not have international add-on.  

You can get local SIM card when you arrive.

Setup WhatsApp for communication back to Canada on WiFi.

[Someone_here · Accepted solution]

@ryanmi, with PM there is no roaming except in USA.

You can use a free Internet app to receive SMS (you'll need to notifiy your contacts to use your temporary number instead), make sure to chose one that is available and working (not blocked) in China.

Here is a second option: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/TRAVELING-Can-I-Forward-my-SMS-to-another...

And finally a third option, similar to the second one: https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/19/17479554/android-messages-how-to-text-from-web-feature 

EDIT: this link highlights both Android and iOS solutions, instead of Android only (the other link is still good though): https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-send-free-text-messages-online/ 

 A fourth option: as mentioned by others, getting a local SIM. You'll have to make sure your phone bands are comptable with the ones available there.