No 5G

[99entry]

I have an international unlocked Samsung A55 and I cannot get 5G even though my 75gb Canada/US plan calls for it. I have tried all suggested tweaks on my phone's settings to match suggestions from PM "help" and still nothing. They referred me to Telus' technical support (Quebec), and after a couple of calls and texts I haven't heard anything for 2 days. I've tried the new PM Sim in 5 phones (all unlocked and not under blackout -- CDN A53 5G, CDN A54 5G, US (Metro PCS) A54 5G, new Int'l A54 5G and finally my new Int'l A55 5G).  Would walking into a Telus brick and mortar be of any help?

[steaksauce]

Got a similar answer a while back. Unless its some sort of CRTC and/or other regulatory thing, the response makes zero sense. It would take a sysadmin like a few minutes to onboard our family of phones or at the bare minimum authorize individual serial/IMEI numbers for use on PM's network.

I'm sure I'm missing some hidden/unspoken context to this issue, but it surely can't just be as simple as Public Mobile management and/or sysadmin team are lazy?

[Osmanthus33]

Thank you! That's good to know! I got the A55 and it's a wonderful phone, especially with the expandable memory!

[99entry]

I purchased my A55 (unlocked) from Amazon US before it was released in Canada. Unfortunately PM doesn't recognize its serial number. They told me I would have to wait for PM to add it to their database. In the meantime, I have LTE in Canada and 5G in the US. I can live with that, for now.

[osmanthus]

What's the word? Did you ever get 5G speed? I just nervously bought the A55 from Amazon - I need the expandable memory! TIA

[steaksauce]

Wow. They removed my previous reply, guess my French was too much for their liking. Here's what resulted though, exactly as I thought:

Translation: "too bad so sad".

[Andre2825]

Hi did your a55 start working? 
I want to order one but I’m nervous it won’t work properly. 

[steaksauce]

So I got a call from PM's tech support, got someone from Tier 2 to help me out. This is what I got from that conversation:

1) The IMEI the Galaxy A55 is reporting is compatible with Public's bands, or at least reporting that it is.

2) Tier 2 tech support did not see the A55 attempt to initiate connection over NR or "5G".

3) Tier 2 tech support suggested I get in contact with the manufacturer (Samsung).

Samsung's tech support was very generic, did the whole script of "check if 5G is on", "are you sure?", "reset SIM card and restart", "restart again", etc. Basically ran through everything the PM support already did. Had zero additional insights, delegated me to a walk-in service center, where undoubtedly we'll run through the same thing again and will likely be even less able to help since the device isn't officially in Canada yet.

It really is either shaping up to Samsung's firmware is somehow not sending the handshakes needed by Canadian networks or PM has a whitelist and needs to update it.

[steaksauce]

The "solution" here isn't a solution. Did Telus tech support ever get back to you? From a technical POV, there should be no issues, if it's a carrier policy thing, that should be way more transparent to the customer, especially for a carrier that has what I can only imagine is a majority of new customers being BYOP.

[hflyer]

Hi, I'm about to purchase an A55 5G "Factory Unlocked" to be connected in Canada but I am afraid it wont get 5G. Can you confirm if you were able to get your's working?

Thanks!

[99entry]

Purchased in the US as an international. Even the "Canadian" phones on Amazon.ca aren't really "Canadian". No Canadian provider is selling the A55 yet.

[computergeek541]

---

@BKNS27 wrote:

@99entry 

It is common that the Samsung 5G phone will not show 5G but it is at 5G if it is showing 4G/LTE. You can do a speed test on your phone to confirm.

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 Any phone showing a connection to a 4G or LTE network is not using a 5G network.  I do agree that the plans that Public Mobile advertises as including 5G speed don't actually need the 5G network, but the LTE and 5G network are not the same thing.

[99entry]

Download 82.7

Upload 17.7

States that connection type is "LTE".

[hTideGnow · Accepted solution]

hi @BKNS27 you got mixed up, only S20 has that problem, other models of Samsung 5G are fine 

hi @99entry is yours a Canadian A55??

[99entry]

By that, you mean showing in the SIM card status?

[Handy1]

@99entry  

Speed test

https://www.speedtest.net/apps

and turn off wifi when doing the test @99entry 

[99entry]

My ignorance is in full view. How do I go about performing the speed test?

[BKNS27]

@99entry 

It is common that the Samsung 5G phone will not show 5G but it is at 5G if it is showing 4G/LTE. You can do a speed test on your phone to confirm.