OnePlus phone

[sthadks]

I was planning to buy One Plus phone with 5G connectivity and both the IMEI number shows not compatible. Not sure why even new devices with 5g are blacklisted by carriers.

IMEI not compatible meaning $5 is charged monthly even for devices with 5G?

[conniechan]

Not all phones with 5G and VoLTE will work on the big 3 companies now. You can buy the newest phone outside of Canada and I can almost PROMISE you 99% it will NOT WORK soon. I have a few phones and found out the hard way because the big 3 companies now does regional locked on their phones. Either you sign up for a 2 year plan to lock you in for a phone plan or BYOD that is in the Canadian market. So good luck having your friend with a Global and International flagship phone work in Canada, not even the US version will work either. I have gone through the manufactures of the phones and the phone service providers over this. They have pointed each other to make it compatible to whatever version you imported. Because Big 3 Monopoly can control the regional sales to stop people from buying Global and International flag ships what has all the features and bands unlocked. Big 3 just Black Listed them to be incompatible to their services and wants you to buy their specific phones or sign in a 2 year contract to higher price service. I checked all my phones, they are all valid but they were Global and International and US they flagged them to be not compatible, but compatible to 3G Voice even though it supports 4G LTE and 5G, can't enable VoLTE (It is there, but your provider has disabled it for you). Now I am forced to buy a new phone when my flag ship phones of the past year is more features for no reason. The only exception if your outside country friend have a roaming package then it runs off their home country service provider wherever it is over our Big 3 networks.

Service provider says this:

Owners of One Plus phones should try to contact phone manufacturer to try to convince it to expand VoLTE compatibility to PM customers.

OnePlus says this:

This is to inform you that it depends up on network provider. Please contact network provider in this case. We appreciate your understanding.

So nothing changes. You must buy a Canada region phone listed with the big 3.

I hope this explains everything.

[Dunkman]

@sthadks 

According to PM, it is actually the phone manufacturers that need to turn on VoLTE for a specific mobile carrier. Since Public mobile only introduced VoLTE since 2022, their whitelist of phones is smaller than other mobile companies include parent Telus and Koodo which introduced VoLTE much earlier. 

Owners of One Plus phones should try to contact phone manufacturer to try to convince it to expand VoLTE compatibility to PM customers.

[slusagm]

To providers, OnePlus still considered as an imported phone (that's why none of the Big 3 providers selling OnePlus)

[sthadks]

@slusagm - One thing I am little confused about Publicmobile Telus is that why are latest phones with 5G 4G like OnePlus, Oppo not whitelisted and supported for VOLTE? To be honest, OnePlus has always been my first choice besides Samsung, Moto, Google and Iphone. With this rule or policy from carrier does it mean I have to give up the phone that I like to the cell phone companies which I really dont like 😃

[slusagm]

@sthadks One Plus 12R does not even pass the Telus IMEI test, so it won't be compatible here.  I would avoid

Honest, at this point, it is safer to stay with  Samsung , Moto, or Google if you want an Android phone 

[sthadks]

Thank you @softech , I currently have One plus 7T and was looking to buy One Plus 12R[International verison]

[softech · Accepted solution]

@sthadks 

It is not whether a phone is 5G or not.  The problem is a combination of 3G shutdown and the lack of VoLTE compatibility

While your One Plus phone has 5G and VoLTE, it is NOT compatible with PM's VoLTE network.  You can use the  IMEI checker on this page to confirm:  https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/volte 

Since your phone is not compatible with PM's VoLTE, your phone has been using 3G for voice, but is now affected by the 3G Network Shutdown that has just started in Manitoba:
https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/get-help/articles/3g-shutdown

If you’re using a 3G-only device, your phone will stop working after these dates:
Manitoba (Rural): January 12, 2026
Manitoba (Urban : Winnipeg & Brandon): Starting March 31, 2026
National: Starting March 1, 2027

There is really nothing much you can do other than to get a phone that is compatible with PM's VoLTE network.
iPhones 8 or later, Google Pixel 4 or later, Samsung S22/Flip 2/Fold 2/A15/A35/A55 or later, or other major brands of phones released after 2024 and are designed and sold for the Canadian market should work. 
If you are unsure whether a particular phone will work, share the model here and we can help