Roaming add ons

[Beth27]

Can someone help me? Just new in public mobile. I’m going for vacation in Turks and Caicos for a month next year . How do I use my service in there. Do I need to roam it here before I go there or I can roam my sim in there. Please I need help . Thank you. FYI… I here in Canada .

[Beth27]

Thanks for the info. Appreciate it much

[dust2dust]

@darlicious- Yes you're right. Why bother taking it along at all even if you're passing through the US. Nice to have it upon return though. But still, the test is seeing if forwarding to a voip app fully breaks after passing through the US and after connecting to a US tower.

If all goes as planned I'll be back in the US late February. Who knows, maybe there'll be volte by then. I'll have a go at other testing again. Like forwarding to a US number with roaming if the TextNow problem gets solved. And being sure to set all the forwarding options. (not global)

[darlicious]

@dust2dust 

In theory connecting to the 4G LTE network shouldn't affect call forwarding as you remain "unreachable" but connecting to the 2G network even for a second is quite high. If a customer on vacation cannot use their pm Sim card while away but may travel thru the US or near the border may want to remove the pm Sim card altogether possibly store it in the micro SD card slot or leave it at home with a friend or family member or leave a spare Sim card at home on the off chance call forwarding does default to voicemail and the call forwarding is vital then a Sim swap can be performed and call forwarding reprogrammed.

[darlicious]

@HALIMACS 

Nor do I....at least not to the US but I do have Portugal in my sights....

[HALIMACS]

Interesting discussion, @darlicious  & @dust2dust 

I don't have a foreseeable trip out of country so I cannot test.

[dust2dust]

@darlicious- It was my experience that the phone that was forwarded that did not get an add-on did not change the call forwarding options in the dialer. It seems I did not do full testing though. iirc I only forwarded unanswered. iirc. So my test call did go to voicemail as that would have been unreachable. iirc.

Nor could I test forwarding the phone with the add-on to my US number due to my TextNow mysteriously not being able to call that number. I'm still waiting for their techs to figure it out. It still doesn't. I thought it might have been the roaming factor. But I could of course set it.

[darlicious]

@HALIMACS @dust2dust 

It's to my understanding that if your phone connects to a US tower your call forwarding will default to voicemail. Unless you have a US Roaming add on you cannot reset the call forwarding back to your voip number or wherever you had it originally forwarded to...? Although if it only connects to the 4G LTE network vs the 3G (decommissioned) or 2G network then it may be unaffected?

[dust2dust]

@darlicious, @HALIMACS - I think it could be an interesting experiment. The forwarding setting doesn't change in the dialer. It's just that the call will go to voicemail somehow anyway. But then say you proceed onward out of the US. Will the forwarding work then? Worth a test for someone to try.

[CGO]

PM only roaming in US. you may get local sim or voip.

[hairbag1]

@Coverhiro....

being close to US border myself so I frequently get the same notifications you do about it. Just ignore those messages....you haven't been charged. Actually, with PM you CAN"T be charged for any extra charges unless you pre-pay for that extra. When you see that notification, just go in to your phone settings and manually select PM as the preferred network. ( I get that message while driving through Grand Forks BC and Windsor Ont...it only last for a few miutes while driving around, so I just ignore it)

Rest assured, you're not being billed for something unless you pre-paid for it.

[softech]

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@Coverhiro wrote:

On the other hand, I have been erroneously charged when operating near the border on numerous occasions.

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@Coverhiro as PM is a prepaid provider, you need to pay before you use any service, you won't get charged at all in this case

But if you live close to the border, you are close to the border all the time, you can manually select Public Mobile from the network and it will avoid your phone from connecting to the stronger US network 

[BKNS27 · Accepted solution]

@Beth27 

Unfortunately, PM doesn’t offer roaming service in Turkey or Caicos.

So you will need to purchase a local SIM in each country.

The other option is to download the TextNow app or WhatsApp and you can call or text when connected through wifi over there.

[Coverhiro]

@Beth27 Yes, I realized after signing up that Public Mobile doesn't have any roaming outside of United States. However, I don't think I have travelled outside of Canada or the U.S. in a long while so I should be okay. On the other hand, I have been erroneously charged when operating near the border on numerous occasions.

[HALIMACS]

@darlicious   Why?  Something to do with interfering with the forward to the VoIP??

"Just make sure your phone does not connect to a US cell tower during any flights or transfers in the US."

[darlicious]

@Beth27 

Ooh....that'll be a nice vacation. Public Mobile only offers roaming add ons for the US. If you will be mostly at a resort then you can rely on wifi. Download the textnow app and choose a Canadian phone number. Before you leave Canada call forward your pm phone number to your textnow number. Then any incoming calling will ring thru to your textnow number while on wifi or mobile data if you get a local Sim card. You will be able to return calls using your textnow number as well as text. You may want to give your friends and family the textnow number or leave it on your textnow voicemail. Just make sure your phone does not connect to a US cell tower during any flights or transfers in the US. (Keep it on airplane mode til you arrive at your destination.)