Updated info on US Roaming....
Spoiler
Public Mobile's roaming partner's AT&T and T-Mobile began the decommissioning of their 3G (HSPA) networks this year (2022) with AT&T starting on February 22nd and T-Mobile on July 1st 2022. This affects the voice services in the US when Public Mobile customers purchase and use 10 Day US Roaming Add ons. Public Mobile posted the following notice on the add ons page at publicmobile.ca/plans earlier this year once AT&T began decommissioning their 3G network.
Important: As of February 22nd, 2022, some United States (U.S) carriers will begin turning down certain 3G/HSPA networks in the U.S. As a result, some customers using U.S. roaming add-ons may be impacted by differences in coverage or service quality (including 9-1-1 calls) when roaming in the U.S. This shutdown will not impact your service in Canada.
But how does this impact your services when roaming in the US? Public Mobile customers will still connect automatically (with the autoconnect setting in your phone) to AT&T's and T-Mobile's 4G LTE networks to send/recieve SMS/MMS texts and use mobile data (depending on the 10 Day US Roaming add on purchased). However US Roaming talk add ons and/or talk components of US Roaming bundles will be impacted. Until VoLTE is enabled for Public Mobile customers the ability to use their voice services will be dependent on the remaining network connectivity with its roaming partners.
AT&T is virtually unusable at this point for voice services with their 3G network decommissioning nearly complete. Going forward US Roaming Talk add ons can only be used by manually choosing T- Mobile. In areas where the 3G network has not been decommissioned customers will still connect to the 3G network for voice services. In areas that no longer have access to the 3G network customers may be able to connect to T-Mobile's 2G (GSM) network. In the coming months connectivity to T-Mobile's 3G network will also disappear until only access to their 2G network will be available.
2G networks have been maintained by some mobile network providers as it was the fallback option for voice services before VOLTE was developed for the 4G LTE network and still plays an important role for certain technologies and provides better signal coverage over long distances and building penetration.
T-Mobile has not confirmed a date for the decommissioning of their 2G network. Updates will be posted on their website. Your phone will automatically switch to 2G to send or recieve a voice call. You will be unable to text or use mobile data during a voice call.
This map shows T-Mobile's 2G network coverage.....
**Localized 2G network coverage can be found by using the link at the bottom of this post.
The best workaround for these issues would be to download a voip provider like textnow that offers free calling and texting on WiFi and mobile data. Purchase a 10 day US Roaming data add on. You can receive incoming pm SMS texts. You can send and receive MMS texts. You can send SMS texts on text now along with send and receive voice calls. MMS texting works but does count against your roaming data. Calls and outgoing SMS on textnow will only use your mobile data while away from WiFi. A US Roaming data add on will provide you with all of your services on your phone albeit in a slightly round about way.
For basic info on 10 Day US Roaming Add ons and how they work read the spoiler below....
Spoiler
- While you have to have an active plan to purchase and use US roaming add ons the type of plan you have does not affect the roaming add ons features.
- US roaming add ons start the moment you confirm and submit your purchase in your self serve account and expire 240 hours later (10 days×24 hours).
- You can pre-load the funds needed to purchase the add ons in your self serve account so you only have to log in, select the US roaming add on and then confirm and submit your purchase.
- Wait til late as possible to purchase since they are immediately valid so on free wifi at the destination airport or stopping shortly before the border at mcd's or timmy's to buy the add on while on free wifi.
- If you are staying longer than 10 days you must wait a minimum of 24 hours to purchase the same US roaming add on or contact the moderators to add it before the waiting period ends.
- If you have two US roaming add ons with a talk feature that overlap the talk feature basically gets disabled. This is the issue if you hear 3 beeps and your call disconnects after 1 minute and 53 seconds. Avoid this....but you will have to get one removed by a CSA to get your calling feature back if this happens.
- After purchase reboot your phone and manually select either at&t or T-mobile to get better reception. Some areas have better coverage by either provider so when travelling around the US you will be better served by choosing the provider with better signal strength by locale.
- You will recieve incoming texts without any US roaming add ons.
- All US roaming add ons have either unlimted text, talk or both. Only data has limits depending on your purchase 250mb/500mb/1gb. Once the data is consumed it will just stop you could then purchase different roaming add on, wait 24 hr to buy or contact customer support to buy the same US roaming add on again. (* except talk as previously mentioned.)
After purchasing a US Roaming add on and once stateside ensure you enable roaming on your phone, reboot and manually choose either AT&T or T-Mobile as your network provider.
Only US Roaming data add ons or add on components will appear on your overview and usage pages. US Roaming talk and text will appear under "My Plan" details accessed from the overview page.
Please note:
Public mobile has limited roaming coverage thru its partner AT&T in Alaska. T-Mobile does not work for roaming in Alaska.
To see 2G network coverage for specific areas use the link below...
