Roaming AT&T vs. T-Mobile

[dougcurley]

When roaming in the US, does roaming utilize both the AT&T and T-Mobile networks? I frequently travel to Alaska, where T-mobile does not operate, but AT&T provides LTE service. Does anybody have experience to suggest whether Public roaming will work there? Thanks. 

[gohan84ever1]

*** Solved ***. SEPT 27, 2023

PM CSR forwarded my issue to Telus enginner and he figured it out.  Essentially... It's easier to gain access/register your phone to T-Mobile network because they aren't as strict on the type of phone that allows voLTE VS att.    If you have one of the phones from the big guys like Samsung, iPhone, probably Motorola as well.. It will be fine. Any phone you purchase from telus is also guaranteed to be fine also.   Connect to att LTE and it will be pretty solid.    My phone(s) are ones purchased overseas (xiaomi, poco) - and aren't considered to be on their approved list if you know what I mean.   This is the source of all my issues.  Next time I come back up, I will test it with my dang Pixel. LOL... Now I know... And hope you all can learn from it.   Just in case.... You can use this site to verify your voLTE compatibility. 

https://www.telus.com/en/support/article/how-to-use-volte

G luck! 

[DennyCrane]

T-Mobile is pretty solid, but I also notice AT&T can be hit and miss, in particular with 5G. But being in Alaska you obviously don't have that option.

[gohan84ever1]

5G doesn't show up in Ketchikan.  We set both our phones to LTE before we crossed over the border... Wife's iPhone is now working decent here... And I'm tethering off her.   My phone will Not connect to att 4G.  The other 4 networks all show forbidden underneath it.    And I can't get my **bleep** phone to connect in 4g/3g/2g.   I'm on the can/us plan. 

[gohan84ever1]

Literally... It depends on how the network is feeling.   It could work, could not, especially in Alaska.  It's like gambling on the cruise... You may or may not win here. 

[dust2dust]

@gohan84ever1- So you set the networks to 4G LTE (if it was on 5G)? Then manually connected to AT&T? That message is bad news though. So hopefully we haven't lost AT&T again.

[gohan84ever1]

New update.. Sept 26/2023 - currently in Ketchikan, no access for me on Android.   Trying to connect to att 4g, yields a registering not allowed, cannot connect.  Wife's phone which had issues last time.. Had No Problems!  Wtf.   She's got good speeds and I'm tethering on her.   We were in Seattle on Tmobile and no issues.   So really at the end of the day.. Huge ass YMMV.   We are both on the can/us plan... And I'm decently tech savvy, and no way can I get my phone to connect.. It's been an hour of me trying to **bleep** around.   Sent CSr a message... And let's see what will happen on the next stop/port.  *sigh*

[softech]

@gohan84ever1 

thanks for confirming we have roaming in Alaska again, finally  🙂

you were actually lucky that you had some connection on AT&T when you were in Alaska, althought not great :(.  AT&T has not been working for a year and T-Mobile has no connection there.  It was only where recent that roaming on AT&T starts working again.  

[DennyCrane]

@gohan84ever1

AT&T isn't supposed to work at all, but it seems something is happening (not sure if it's intentional or not). I was in Washington state yesterday and was able to phone and text on AT&T, but no data at all. I had to jump over to T-Mobile for full services, which isn't available in Alaska of course. 

[gohan84ever1]

OK... so wife is back, and I was walking through her phone... so on HER iphone ... both her and her sister swear the part in cellular / Talk & Data / 5G Auto ..that was NOT available for them to see.  So what I would suggest is...if you KNOW you are heading over the border... change your settings to LTE - and hopefully your internet will be more accessible than my wife.  Recap - on 5G mode in Alaska - connected to AT&T, but data was very very spotty - couldn't always connect to it.   I'm thinking it's the 5G that was screwing things up... hopefully someone who's going up can further test & confirm.

🙂

[softech]

@gohan84ever1 what iPhone she has and what iOS? So , did she go through this and cannot find the menu?

Settings app, tap Cellular, or Cellular Data, or Mobile Data. Turn on Cellular/Mobile Data, then tap Cellular/Mobile Data Options. Turn on Data Roaming.

[dust2dust]

@gohan84ever1- I'm also not an Apple guy. But those menus seem to be ongoing with the same thing for many iphone iterations. I was just playing around with the oh come on maybe more towards the friend. 🙂

[gohan84ever1]

LOL!  Yes, Roaming has been on the entire time.  Will pass on your text to her, and see if it's there...I tried to walk her through with another iphone here, but the screens are different... like I said... go figure.  =p

[dust2dust]

@gohan84ever1- Oh come on. 🙂 Settings, mobile data, mobile data options - turn on data roaming. In the same spot - voice & data - select 4G. Maybe it's set to 5G.

[gohan84ever1]

Correct - but *HER* stupid iphone...for some reason, she can't find the Network selection tab, her sister who's an avid iphone user went through her settings as well - and it's different than hers LOL - don't ask me - I'm android - so right now, she's connected to 5G still - can TXT, can call - but NO MMS (obviously) - and no Data.  Better than nothing I guess...  

[hTideGnow]

Hi @gohan84ever1 

so her phone actually connected to AT&T and voice working ? that is new.  But no reason not data.  Ask her to check if roaming data is on

[dust2dust]

@gohan84ever1- That is great news. Roaming data on? Of course cell data on? Maybe have her switch the phone down to 4G LTE. Maybe roaming on 5G isn't working.

[DennyCrane]

Wow that's great news that talk and text are working on AT&T in Alaska. That's definitely progress from no service at all on AT&T. Hopefully that's a sign of good things to come (i.e. data working too).

[gohan84ever1]

Wife is currently up ALaska right now (in port of Juneau) - she connected to 5G (AT&T) - but unable to get data going...any suggestions?   I've asked her to see if there's 4G network from AT&T for her to connect on to see if that will go.  Still waiting to hear back, her voice and sms are going through on the 5G network.

She's on the CAN/US plan currently, so hopefully the switch to it was worth it hahahaha.

Any suggestions would be great!

[popping]

---

@dougcurley wrote:

I wonder if this will change now that voLTE seems to be working now on Public (in Canada at least). 

---

Yes, I read a post yesterday that a PM member had the VoLTE working on his/her phone.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/VoLTE-is-now-working/td-p/956848

But PM has not announce the VoLTE support yet.  YMMV

@dougcurley 

PM may be testing the VoLTE feature ATM.  Check your phone or wait for official PM announcement.

[Hollister]

@dougcurley 

https://www.telus.com/en/support/article/how-to-use-volte

[dust2dust]

We're all waiting for reports from folks. I was in the states up to yesterday afternoon. No volte on T-Mobile. I guess I should have tried connecting to AT&T after this news.

So for now, no, not Alaska. If you're going then try connecting to AT&T and see if you can and see if you get the welcome text.

For here - nor in Richmond, nor in Kamloops.

[DennyCrane]

Where did you find that? On the Telus site? I'd argue it's not applicable anymore, or becoming not applicable as we speak. As of yesterday im now able to make calls with VoLTE on PM in BC. 

[Hollister]

@dougcurley 

See second bullet:

[dougcurley]

I wonder if this will change now that voLTE seems to be working now on Public (in Canada at least). 

[Yummy · Accepted solution]

It used to be both but now only recommendation is to connect to t-mobile.

According to Public Mobile:

PM will have T-mobile 2G network for US talk. Try to manually connect to T-mobile.

Roaming is for Data only. Voice and SMS text will still work.

Data will work on LTE, but will switch over to 2G to make a call.

However, the quality of service will vary depending on the different coverage areas when roaming in the USA.