SIm Activation

[Rossville]

I was helping a friend register their new sim but we ran into problems. After completing step 1 Account Setup under Activating Sim we clicked the continue button. The screen showed active for a long time before we received a message saying not to panic but the activation had failed. We were instructed to try again. When we try to register the SIM again we are now told that the SIM number is invalid. We have checked several times and we are entering the correct number. We found instructions to wait an hour and try again but that did not work. Same message that the SIM is invalid.

Any suggestions?

[Rossville]

Thanks to all who helped. There were three issues here but all have been sorted out.

The SIM activation process did not complete and an error message was generated at the end of the process advising to retry the activation process. This cause confusion because the SIM had, in fact, been activated. Waiting an hour to retry did not work, the SIM remained activated.

A user account was not created and the phone was not connecting to the network on its own. We were able to determine the phone number assigned to the SIM once we were able to manually connect to the network. In the end this wasn't necessary because the number assigned to the SIM was correct. The port request had gone out even though we weren't notified of it. Once we knew the telephone number we were able to create an account manually. Creating an account requires receiving a text message which the network was able to send even though the phone was not able to receive texts from anyone else. Once the account was created we were able to register for Autopay however the phone was still not working.

Porting of the number (it was a cell to cell port from the Bell network) completed overnight some 24 hours later. The phone now works properly.

Throughout the process there were no notifications sent to the email that was attached to the account so we were unaware of the status of any activities that might have been occurring behind the scenes.

This community was a great help in understanding how the process works and getting the problem solved. 

[computergeek541 · Accepted solution]

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@Rossville wrote:

Progress

Not sure if these issues were time related but we have made progress. After manually selecting the network we were able to place an outgoing call and identify the phone number. Using that number we were able to manually create an account and set up auto pay. All is working now except we can't call the phone (we can  call out but nobody can call in). Public Mobile can obviously contact the phone because they sent a security code in a text message when we enabled the account. When I send a text it says it will wait until the number is available. When I call I get dead air, no messages just one very faint beep.

Suggestions? Is this just a matter of waiting until tomorrow for everything to go through the system?

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Not receiving calls is an indication that number porting failed or isn't complete yet. If that's the case, not even Public Mobile could call you to talk to you. That's the reason an alternate contact number is asked for during the process. Incoming text messages actually work if they come from inside the Telus group of brands, but not if they're sent to you from elsewhere.

[Rossville]

Progress

Not sure if these issues were time related but we have made progress. After manually selecting the network we were able to place an outgoing call and identify the phone number. Using that number we were able to manually create an account and set up auto pay. All is working now except we can't call the phone (we can  call out but nobody can call in). Public Mobile can obviously contact the phone because they sent a security code in a text message when we enabled the account. When I send a text it says it will wait until the number is available. When I call I get dead air, no messages just one very faint beep.

Suggestions? Is this just a matter of waiting until tomorrow for everything to go through the system?

[will13am]

@Rossville , you are going to need the moderator team to assist with the porting.  It also seems like you have other issues with the account set up.  Please contact the moderator team as already instructed.  

[Rossville]

We manually selected Public Mobile as our network and we were able to make an outgoing call. We tried to log into the account again but we are unable to do that. We have not set up a credit card nor have we ported the phone number so not sure how the outgoing call worked. Not sure of our next step either.

[Rossville]

Yes we waited several hours. We tried this before I first posted. We are currently trying a few of the other suggestions. Will post once we have tried them.

[geopublic]

@Rossville  Try your sim in your phone. If it connects to the PM network then clickhere to register your selfserve account.
 If not, then submit a ticket to PM for help. 

To submit a ticket to the Moderator Team, please start a conversation with the Public's virtual assistant, SIMon by clicking the icon below:

If you are still having problems contacting Public Mobile then click here. The link  sends you to the private message function and adds the moderator team as recipient for a private message. You just have to enter a title and text in the body of the message describing the problem and post. The message will be received by the moderator team and they will respond to it. You will receive the response in your private message inbox.

Please note that account verification may be required when contacting the Moderator Team 

[kselmak]

@Rossville 

It has not been an hour yet since you posted the question

Had it it been an hour since it failed

The session does lock it for : about 50 minutes

Please try again in incognito mode if it had been an hour, if not wait for a bit longer please

Best luck

[Rossville]

Not registered on network when we try the SIM in the phone.

[gblackma]

@Rossville try manually selecting PM as your network and restart your phone.  Turn your phone off, wait 30 seconds and restart it.

[Rossville]

We tried this already. We also tried doing the registration from a completely different computer using Chrome incognito mode. I should add that we entered a referral code during activation and the bonus now appears on their friends account. We tried logging into a Public Mobile account using the information we used on the activation screen but we get login attempt failed

The first activation attempt appeared to have started but never completed. We never got to the part where we requested a number port or to enter credit card information. It appeared to die while trying to progress from the first activation screen. I think it suggests that we got partially registered (the SIM is in the database) but that the rest didn't complete. We found a help article that suggested we wait for an hour before trying again but that didn't work either.

Do I need to contact Public Mobile to fix this?

[kselmak]

Most likely your sim is locked into the old session

Should work again in an hour

[gblackma]

@Rossville try clearing your browser history, go to private/ incognito mode and try again to activate. Here's an article on activating https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/activation-account-set-up . When you get to the credit card field:
1. Enter the credit card address exactly as it appears on your statement.
2. Leave the apartment field blank, if applicable enter your apt in the street address field ie xxx - street address.
3. Enter your postal code without spaces ( if there is a space on the credit card statement then enter the first 5 digits only with the space).