Roaming in the US

[Jewar54]

  Before I left for the US, I checked on the community to what  would I have to do to use  international minutes that I received when I signed up and found that I would have to do nothing. Fast forward to needing it and I couldn't even text. I ended up paying for the add on and managed to get text, no phone. My guess is 3G is not supported in the US, frustrating . It would have been nice to know this before I paid for add on and wasted vacation time trying to figure out problem. Roaming was to AT&T

[DennyCrane]

@Jewar54 iPhone 8 and above are on the VoLTE list:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/volte?&&&&gad=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwmvSoBhDOARIsAK6aV7...

And yes, eventually Canada will shut down their 3G network as well. Not sure when, so you probably have some time yet.

[Jewar54]

The most important piece of information , the phone being too old I wouldn't have thought of. I mostly use it as a phone so hadn't worried about upgrading. What version of i-phone would I need to get, I would probably buy a reconditioned  phone. Will Canada be dropping 3G as well?
Thanks again

[DennyCrane]

@Jewar54 Your plan doesn't matter as much as your actual phone does. Even though you might have a 3G plan, that isn't stopping you from accessing the 4G or 5G networks. It just means PM slows your speed to what they call 3G speed.

Your issue is that the iPhone 7 is not VoLTE compatible at PM, so you won't be able to use it to make phone calls in the US unless you happen to find an old 2G signal to manually connect to. No plan change or roaming add-on will change this, as the device simply won't let you use VoLTE, which is a dependency for phone calls in the US.

Data and SMS should work fine with the appropriate *roaming* add-on though. For voice calls you'll want to upgrade your phone if that's important to you when roaming.

[Jewar54]

Thank you for explaining a few things to me. I was under the impression that the bonus minutes were for US minutes.  I am back in Canada, the phone is a I-phone 7. I will probably get rid of 3G shortly. it just hasn't been a problem before now. I will know to buy the add on next time

[Phil_Adelphus]

I was surprised at this in PM's VoLTE page under US Roaming:  "If there is no VoLTE coverage or if customers don’t have a VoLTE-Roaming enabled device, customers will continue roaming on the 3G/HSPA network."  

[BKNS27 · Accepted solution]

@Jewar54 

You can also connect to the T-Mobile and AT&T network while in the USA.

International calling only works if you are in Canada but you can receive text while in the USA but you can’t reply/send.

The service in the USA will be on 4G/LTE or 5G.

In the future, you can use WhatsApp or TextNow on WiFi for calling and texting if you don’t want to purchase a Roaming bundle.

[DennyCrane]

It's unlikely someone on this Community advised that international long distance minutes would work in the US. And this seems to be your first post. You always need *roaming* add-on or plan to be able to use your phone in the US.

And yes, the lack of a 3G network in the US will impact phone calls if you don't have a device that is VoLTE compatible on PM's network. Text and data are unaffected by their 3G network shutdown. What phone are you using?

[Phil_Adelphus]

"My guess is 3G is not supported in the US, frustrating"

All the major carriers in the USA shut down 3G in 2022.   When you say you checked with the community, did you actually ask the question here?

[JRod]

@Jewar54 

Are you still in the US? Can you check to see if your device is VoLTE supported by Public Mobile? 
https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/volte

If you don’t have VoLTE support you would have had to manually connect to T-Mobile and put your phone on 2G under your voice and data settings. 

As for the international calling minutes that were included when you signed up those are for calls made within Canada. The US Roaming Add-On’s are the only ones that allow your device to be used outside of Canada. 

[hTideGnow]

HI @Jewar54 

International minutes is not for roaming.  Those minutes are to be used FROM Canda calling other countries

and to use the service in US, talk , text or data, you will need to buy the appropriate US roaming add-on.  YOu got it yet?