Replacement for Home Phone & Wi-Fi

[DClarke]

Hello everyone!

I was wondering if anyone in the community could help me find out if it would be possible to use a Public Mobile subscription to replace a home phone and internet.

My parents live in a remote town where the landlines are third party (cannot use DSL), no cable and no fibre-op. They currently use satelite internet for both the phone and internet but it is incredibly spotty and often entirely unavailable even with a booster installed. There is good cell service in one spot of the house, however, and they would like to install one of those cellular network routers that take a sim card and can give you phone and internet access. I'm guessing they will want the $40/month plan that includes 4.5 GB of 3G data.

1) Does anyone know if it is possible to use a Public Mobile sim card and subscription in one of these routers?

2) Does anyone know if there are specific plans for this kind of usage aside from what is listed on the site? I'm particularly worried about the low amount of data considering it is for an entire family to use (3 cell phones, 2 tablets, 1 PC) and it is quite expensive to pay per gig if needed ($30/GB).

3) Can you think of any other options besides this? We're currently paying a very high bill for something that is never avialable and Public Mobile seems to have the best options in terms of price but we would love any other suggestions or experiences that people have had doing something similar.

Any help, suggestions, or advice would be greatly appreciated!

Cheers

[farmbot]

Think of it this way

Publicmobile sim card in cellphone with u r home# ported

Portable home# whever u take the cellphone.

Plus while the phone takes cell calls the phone also creates a wifi connection for ipads internet connection.

the cellphone powered by publicmobile is both.

throw away ur old panasonic home phone and use just the cell.

[wetcoaster]

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@DClarke wrote:

@computergeek541 Thank you so much for your reply.

We have really good cell service in the kitchen so the plan was to buy something like the Huawei B882 Hotspot (Amazon link) and set it up in the kitchen with a portal phone connected to it. Those routers have a phone jack to do so. Someone in another post mentioned that people have been using that model with PM and it is unlocked so that seems fine.

I was just double checking because you can see that the router comes with a heafty price tag. It's one thing to buy a test PM account but another to sink hundreds of dollars into a router that might not work haha.

You wouldn't happen to know if it is possible to just add a second phone number to an existing PM account, would you? Similar to how home phones can have additional numbers that will ring differently depending on which has been dialed. I'm also curious if PM would allow you to choose your own number so my parents could keep the home phone number that they've had for decades.

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As mentioned above  1 line per account and email.

However, you could play with forwarding options? 

Like, line A is your cell, line B your house phone. Program the house phone so that unanswered calls at forwarded to line A, where it could go to voicemail when unanswered. Or vice versa.

[gblackma]

@DClarke no, 1 account per email address . Would recommend activating the sim with a temporary phone number. And  port your parents number over from within your self service/ my account . In order to port it,  the other providers account must be active.

[DClarke]

We're not using Telus, though. We're currently using Xplornet which does via satelite but we have no connection a majority of the time and want to try to do the same thing using PM. Esentially using a router that would act like a cell phone but has a portable phone connected to it instead.

We're quite adamanat about using a router rather than just getting another cell phone as well because the connection is only available in the kitchen and you're stuck at the counter if you want to use the phone so we want something that we could carry around the house.

[farmbot]

Telus no longer supports the combination internet/home phone routers afaik

[DClarke]

@computergeek541 Thank you so much for your reply.

We have really good cell service in the kitchen so the plan was to buy something like the Huawei B882 Hotspot (Amazon link) and set it up in the kitchen with a portal phone connected to it. Those routers have a phone jack to do so. Someone in another post mentioned that people have been using that model with PM and it is unlocked so that seems fine.

I was just double checking because you can see that the router comes with a heafty price tag. It's one thing to buy a test PM account but another to sink hundreds of dollars into a router that might not work haha.

You wouldn't happen to know if it is possible to just add a second phone number to an existing PM account, would you? Similar to how home phones can have additional numbers that will ring differently depending on which has been dialed. I'm also curious if PM would allow you to choose your own number so my parents could keep the home phone number that they've had for decades.

[farmbot]

I know the pain of rural internet providers. The Gb data packages provided by publicmobile WORKS whenever and whereever the customer needs it.

[computergeek541]

@DClarke 

As long as you have good signal at yoru home location, I would say that the service should be fine as your main phone line. People can still make an argument about POTS (copper line) home phone service to still be more reliablle, but that's because of how you can have a phone that operates with the need for battery or a seperate electricity source. 

In terms of secuirty, a landline can simply be cut from outside or even just disconnected from the box (if it's not locked). Someone could even make long distance phone calls from your proprery (even if is your box is locked) by cutting the wire and then connecting it to a standard telephone.

I'll say that over the years, I've had more down time at my home on a Bell Canada landline than cellular service (even Wind), so I'll say that I believe that cellular reliability has improved enough that most people are now confortable using it as a primary phone.

As for using Public Mobile for home internet, it would work, most of the current plans have LTE speeds limited to 3Mbps, and the one plan that does have regular LTE speeds provides very little data. The speeds also tend not to be as consistent as wired internet.  However, that isn't even the main issue.  With the largest data package currently being offered providing only 8.5GB per 30 days, I don't seee it feasible for using this as your main internet connection. 

[gblackma]

You are welcome @DClarke . Glad that we could help you . Have a great rest of your weekend 

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@DClarke wrote:

Thanks! That helps a lot and is pretty much what I was looking for. We don't have any stats because we don't have a router or anything yet. I've only used the Rogers one which was locked to them and it seems most of the unlocked ones (like the NetGear one that I found) is made for 5G which PM does not offer in their plans from what I can see. That's why I was going into this entirely open to suggestions because I didn't even know what to recommend to buy or if there was anything else we could do. That post is great because it mentions a specific model and everything that I can look into. Thanks so much, I really appreciate it! 😄

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[DClarke]

Thanks! That helps a lot and is pretty much what I was looking for. We don't have any stats because we don't have a router or anything yet. I've only used the Rogers one which was locked to them and it seems most of the unlocked ones (like the NetGear one that I found) is made for 5G which PM does not offer in their plans from what I can see. That's why I was going into this entirely open to suggestions because I didn't even know what to recommend to buy or if there was anything else we could do. That post is great because it mentions a specific model and everything that I can look into. Thanks so much, I really appreciate it! 😄

Only thing I need to ensure is that the modem also includes the phone jack so we can actually use it as a phone. I'll look into it some more. It doesn't look like the one in the post does, only that the person wanted to use it for internet.

[gblackma]

@DClarke I found this link on a similar topic. https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/Do-data-plans-work-with-portable-router...

You can see the reason that I mentioned posting the stats. 

[DClarke]

I'll suggest it, thank you guys 🙂

I'll try to explain a bit what the device is. I had one once with Rogers, many years ago. The device itself was very expensive (about $400 but it was relatively new tech at the time) but it basically looked like a Wi-Fi router. It had a normal outlet plug and a slot to fit a Rogers SIM card. This particular one was locked to Rogers but I know companies like NetGear sell them unlocked. The SIM card made it so you could plug a telephone into the modem and use it as a normal house phone even though it was through the cellular network and it offered wireless 3G internet access for my PC.

I'm fairly sure that an unlocked mobile router with a PM SIM card would work but I just wanted to see if the community had an experience with this to know for sure and possibly get some details on router models. Unless someone else can come into the post that has tried this or has the knowledge to know for sure if it would work, the only option might be to sink money into it just to see.

I should also specify that I'd be looking for any other suggestions that might be avilable like if my parents could somehow get 2 phone numbers to work on one phone with one SIM card through PM. Again, the biggest issue right now is that they have no home phone, the internet access is secondary. 

[farmbot]

Test publicmobile for a month with cellphone hotspot. Take temporary #.

10$ sim plus 40$ month and see how far 5 GB go for them.

Probably much less than monthy fee for satellite.

don't cancel satellite.  Compare the services. 

[farmbot]

Telus and Koodo in Alberta only allow wireless home phone no internet from their locked sim in device. So doubtful if third tier publicmobile does. Telus in Alberta has separate different device locked to certain towers for wireless internet over LTE.  Not even available in all regions of Alberta only if cell tower under capacity.

[gblackma]

@DClarke a better way to go may be to list 3 of them here along with their capabilities, so that the more technical here can say wether that could work or not.

[DClarke]

We're just seeing if anyone knows for sure right now. We would have to actually buy one of those routers but if we can know for sure that a PM subscription would work in it, then we could cancel the satelite phone and internet bill and use the money to get the router and a new PM subscription. We just didn't want to finalize anything until we knew for sure. I'm just checking with the community here to see if anyone has experience trying this as well or any other solutions 🙂

[veev]

did you try to use your existing sim card from your phone to your mobile network router?

[gblackma]

@DClarke you have 2 pm sims on hand. And this is totally up to you. Why don't you insert 1 and try it? 

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@DClarke wrote:

I'm sorry for the slow reply. Yes, there is Public Mobile coverage at home. My parents have had PM on their cell phones for years now and turned me onto it when I returned from living abroad. That's why they were thinking of getting another PM sub and using it in one of the mobile network routers if possible but we're not sure if the SIM cards and plans would work.

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[DClarke]

@gblackma I'm sorry for the slow reply. Yes, there is Public Mobile coverage at home. My parents have had PM on their cell phones for years now and turned me onto it when I returned from living abroad. That's why they were thinking of getting another PM sub and using it in one of the mobile network routers if possible but we're not sure if the SIM cards and plans would work.

@farmbot The Wi-Fi isn't a huge issue although they would like to have a bit of internet back. They mostly go into town to download Netflix shows to watch at home and when I was living there, I would use a gaming cafe in the city to use the internet. The biggest issue is that their home phone no longer works as well with the satelite connection. They need something that is more stable which the PM network is.

[farmbot]

If u have publicmobile service on cellphone android phones allow hotspot wifi from cellphone to any wifi enabled device   ie.ipad etc.  Speed from wifi hotspot good for internet browsing music streamin email...Limited data up to 8 Gb not enough for video Netflex.  not sure how much data included with their satellite service.  online calculators to estimate data use. I use hotspot wifi from my publicmobile cellphone. Just beware of limited amount according to publicmobile plan. But no overcharge ever. Test it out in their house with a cellphone. Sim card not provisioned for wireless phone/router homephone. But #house landline could be ported later to publicmobile.

Good luck if u run the test.

[gblackma]

@will13am ? @DClarke Have you checked to see if PM has service in your area? https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/coverage

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@DClarke wrote:

My parents are in NB. The only provider that offers service in their area is Xplornet. It used to work quite well but now the connection is down so often that they don't even use the home phone anymore. The internet is essentially non-existant, barely able to send emails. It's rare I can actually call their home number as well. Even when it connects, it sounds like they live in a tin can. Especially for the price, the satelite option is just completely useless right now. They use their cell phones at home right now but they want to keep their home phone number and keep a phone at home.

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[DClarke]

My parents are in NB. The only provider that offers service in their area is Xplornet. It used to work quite well but now the connection is down so often that they don't even use the home phone anymore. The internet is essentially non-existant, barely able to send emails. It's rare I can actually call their home number as well. Even when it connects, it sounds like they live in a tin can. Especially for the price, the satelite option is just completely useless right now. They use their cell phones at home right now but they want to keep their home phone number and keep a phone at home.

[will13am]

@DClarke , which province do you live in?  One of the major brands such a Telus in BC will offer home Internet using cellular towers in rural areas.  That's the route you should investigate.  This service is purely for wireless use.  It's not suitable as a home Internet replacement.