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Is public mobile still supported on 3G connectivity with T Mobile for us roaming

colintham
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Is us roaming only supported on TMobile 3 G network?

11 REPLIES 11

MWH
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

I have no idea how/why US roaming does not work in many areas (and when I say roaming, I mean all services do not work - no data, no text, no calls).  I mean, my phone is perfectly capable of 4G/LTE, 3G and 2G - and even though I'm on a throttled mobile data service here in Canada, why should that cause me to have zero connectivity at all in the US?  It makes no sense to me.  Having said that, I'm happy to report that I did get services (data, text, calling) via T-Mobile this past weekend in Washington state.  So there's at least one place the roaming purchase works.  🙄

You might be kind of confusing some terms. 3G is used for voice here. Can also do text and data. You might be thinking of the marketing term used here - 3G - for data. It's actually speed. Or that's what they erroneously say. In that setting you mention, it uses the 4G LTE connection but throttles the speed down to an arbitrarily set speed for data. 4G can also do text.

So then you take the phone to the states. It's supposed to work on their 4G. That should allow text and data. But it's only T-Mobile that can allow us to use their old 2G for talk. That can also do text. Data, I'm not sure if they do the old Edge on that.

There are several "warnings" of the 3G problem in the states on the Public site.

colintham
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

The 3g service is already in its sunset phase and is not usable. I contacted public mobile to request them to stop  offering 3G roaming service in USA if it is so unreliable. The consumer should be advised and look for alternative for US roaming if they are on Public Mobile 3G plan.

tehKage
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

I just had the same experience in and around Syracuse NY, I was absolutely shocked at how poor the performance was. At times the download speed was a trickle, and other times it just didn't work at all...even in an area that seemed busy and close enough to the city centre.

 

I wish I had selected only 4g as the connection type but I left it in as Auto (4g/3g/2g)..I wonder if it was trying to connect via 2g even for data...

colintham
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

However T-Mobile has effectively shutting down their 3G network on July 2022 in New York City. As a result the public mobile US roaming is not usable in New York City.

MWH
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Just want to say that I've been to the US twice in the last two months (Nevada and Florida), and purchased roaming both times.  In both cases, the T-mobile coverage has been shockingly poor - absolutely horrendous,  basically non-existent.  It's enough to make me cancel my Publicmobile sadly, because I travel fairly often and can't afford to be offline for hours between WiFi connections.

dust2dust
Mayor / Maire

It's kind of a two-edged question. The actual answer to the question is yes and no. There have been reports of some areas still able to connect to T-Mobile on their 3G. But mostly not. AT&T seems to be not at all, if even anything.


@Yummy wrote:

@colintham wrote:

Is us roaming only supported on TMobile 3 G network?


Officially yes, but it all depend on area where are you and your luck.


Have you been able to connect to T-Mobile 3G network?  I did not come across any 3G connection in WA after the 3G shutdown date.  

Yummy
Mayor / Maire

@colintham wrote:

Is us roaming only supported on TMobile 3 G network?


Officially yes, but it all depend on area where are you and your luck.

Roaming on T-Mobile is on whatver network type is available in the area.  3g on T-Mobile has been shut down.  Voice service for Public Mobile customers will only work on the 2g network while roaming 

softech
Oracle
Oracle

@colintham   T-Mobile is shutting down the 3G network.  However, T-Mobile has both 2G and LTE network which we can use.  You likely just need to connect to T-Mobile, the phone will automatically switch to the proper network when needed.  It will use 2G for voice traffic, and LTE for data

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