New customer, awful experience

[Newonsh]

More of a rant than a question. I signed up for Public a few days ago and ported my number from another carrier I'd been with for years. Public was a fair amount cheaper so I thought I'd check it out. Group messaging has not worked from day one. These are work related messages and I need them. I use Google Messages and have tried all the usual paths to solve it, cleared data/cache, restarted, turned off RCS, turned it back on, etc. Nothing. All group messages just show a spinning circle with an X and if I press them, nothing happens. The people who send them also have "unavailable" under them. 

I went through the useless waste of time of the chatbot, who didn't understand what I was asking as usual (I thought AI was supposed to be smart but not a single AI bot has ever solved my simple requests), until I was able to submit a ticket. I actually received a pretty quick response in the "community" (you got that right Public). However, when I responded with a detailed description I accidentally attached two of the same screenshot. When I hit the delete button on the top of the second picture, an entirely separate reply, it deleted the entire thread. Completely gone. I would now have to start all over with the useless chatbot. Not happening.

It'll be a very brief experience with Public. The customer support experience is a complete joke. Embarrassing actually. All to save a buck and offer prices that are still as expensive as any other country on earth. The other carrier has already offered a win back better than the Public plan so I'll be leaving Public tomorrow. What a terrible and frustrating experience. Hopefully it's better for others. 

[Sam-I-Am]

Can you share which carrier you went with? Thanks!

[Newonsh]

Thanks. I appreciate it. Here's hoping we get more competition in this country someday. We'd all find out real quick that the big three would all of a sudden treat their customers much better. I have a relative who works with one of them. He's told me many times that these companies don't care who's loyal or who stays because it's all about new sign ups. So they couldn't care less if you're a loyal customer or if you leave. What a different world than when a company wanted to keep customers satisfied and happy to keep business.

Maybe the government will quit bailing out these companies one day and make them work for a living. A man has to dream right?

[on2wheels]

Can't say I blame you.  When any company, no matter the service, makes the interface so confusing that a large portion of the public can't get what they want then there's something wrong.  I've been here long enough to have seen MANY threads started over this exact issue.  Plus the fact your phone is no different than any other Android and Google Messages should work just fine, there's no reason it shouldn't work.  I'm writing this in hopes the admin here sees it and takes it as feedback but I doubt they will.

Some back story: last January many of had our accounts suspended due to lack of payment, our credit cards were no longer accepted here.  We had to add a different card to get service back.  Turned out it was a system error all along that PM had to own up to but not after telling us the problem was at our end.  The point of this 'all online' business model is to save us all money, ok fine, no phone numbers to call = no paid tech support staff.  But when our plans are no longer competitive to the big 3 providers what's the point of us staying.  Then there's the old loyalty program fiasco...

Good luck @Newonsh if you do see this.

[Newonsh]

Yes I've done those things but they were not successful. I've switched phones probably 12-15 times over the last four or five years. I had the LG V30, V40, and V50 that I loved and used to switch between. I also had a OnePlus and Pixel. And I've rooted and used custom OSs many times. In all that time I've always used Google Messages and I've never had an issue. Then I switch to Public on the same phone and I immediately have issues with texting. I find it difficult to believe it's not a Public issue. Regardless, I had consistent website issues and find the Public "app", which really just opens the website, to be very buggy. I also find the support navigation to be particularly awful and confusing, which I suspect is on purpose to discourage people from bothering. And the badges? What even are those? It's quite childish and entirely pointless. What is the point when someone just wants help solving an issue? I pay for phone service for it to work. And when it doesn't, it needs to be resolved quickly. And this model inherently does not allow that to happen. Not for me. 

[hTideGnow]

hi @Newonsh you can still "uninstall" system app Google Message .  It will go back to the old original version and you can then "update" it after reboot

or you can also Clear Data and Clear Cache on app info and it will work too 

it is actually not a problem with PM but a device confusion after changing carrier

[Newonsh]

Well I'd say it's been a good run. But it hasn't. My brief time with Public has come to an end and I can't imagine I'll ever be back. After some of the most misinformed customer service advice I've ever received, and some helpful community members who suggested things that unfortunately didn't work, I've returned to my former carrier with a better plan than the Public one. 

To summarize, my group messaging stopped working the day I switched to Public. It was suggested to try different APN settings, which didn't help, and to uninstall Google Messages, which I can't as it's a system app on this phone. The CS rep actually told me that Public is not compatible with Google Messages or iMessage on iPhones. Which is so woefully incorrect it's hilarious. This all took several days of course. 

I made one call to my former carrier, it took roughly 10 mins on the phone for them to restart my old account and everything is the same as it was before. And now I have almost double the data for the same $29 price as Public. 

I believe this whole totally online subscription thing is a very flawed model and horrendous to navigate as a customer. Hopefully you all have better luck than I did. 

[Newonsh]

This is the most recent reply from the rep.

"Please carefully review the details in the previous message. But also, just like iMessaging from Apple is not a Public Mobile service, any other type of messaging service from Google, is also not a Public Mobile services. To use the actual cellular services, from the carrier / plan, you must use the device's messaging app. This is not really an issue, this is how it is with with all the carriers."

I'm actually shocked. This is just so incorrect. If this is the type of "expert" tech support I'm to expect with Public, it's not a good sign of things to come.

Messages is the system default app on this phone so I can't reinstall and I've already cleared the cache/data and restarted. I'm going to try a couple APN related things today and if that doesn't work, and I'm sure it won't, I'll likely be making the call to my former carrier and taking them up on their win back offer. I can't be messing around with this for days. I need it work and in the end, that's what I'm paying for. 

You guys have been helpful and I thank you for that. If I do find a solution, I'll definitely update. It's been a 🍰!

[on2wheels]

That CS rep is mistaken, Google Messages is not the culprit.  I sympathize with you, this site is not easy for new customers.  I've used Android for years, and recently iOS.  There is a way to clear the app cache as well, and you might have to do it before updating the app.  Someone figured it out on reddit a little while back when troubleshooting RCS to iphone issues.  

I had RCS issues and had to reset network settings to get it to work properly.  But yes it sucks when we have to go to these extremes for hardly any benefit to the prices here anymore.

[hTideGnow]

HI @Newonsh 

but please try uninstall and reinstall Google Message, it works for many

[Newonsh]

I have a Sony Xperia 5 III. All bands are supported so not a network issue. I've never had a Google Messages texting issue ever before. I've also trouble shooted all the suggestions from Internet searches and searching this community. No success. I will try manually inputting the APN settings you sent. Thank you for that. 

Interesting side note, I had another response from a CS rep on my ticket after losing the previous one, saying that group messaging and Google Messages are not supported by Public Mobile 🤨. That cannot be true. 

[hTideGnow]

hi @Newonsh 

before you leave, let's try again, as Google Message issue could be a Google problem and not PM

did you try actually uninstall Google Message and reboot and reinstall?

and what phone you have? maybe you just need to update the APN

APN: sp.mb.com
MMSC: http://aliasredirect.net/proxy/mb/mmsc
MMSC proxy: mmscproxy.mobility.ca
MMS port: 8799
MCC: 302
MNC: 220
APN Type: default,supl,mms