US Roamimg Volte and alaska coverage

[christinand]

So it sounds like US roaming won’t work in alaska from another thread i read. Any eta when public mobile will introduce volte? It would be a shame to switch from public mobile just because of this issue. I have an older 2017 samsung a5 and i’m not 100% sure an esim would work. I don’t go until end of june so i figure there is time for public moble to introduce the volte.

[softech]

---

@christinand wrote:

1. I hope i’m tagging @CS_Agent appropriately, just to return to the alaska topic i really hope public mobile will pay so public mobile users will have alaska coverage again.

---

@christinand   just open a proper ticket with PM and voice your concern 

BTW, look like VoLTE will be enabled in the next couple months, some said Jun.  Hopefully with that, roaming on AT&T will be back and maybe Alaska roaming will resume too

To open ticket with PM support:

1. Please open ticket via Chatbot (need access to My Account): At https://publicmobile.ca/chatbot.

Start by typing "Submit a ticket", then click "Contact Us", Then click "Other", then click "Click here to submit a ticket ↗" 

2. If you have trouble with Chatbot or you don't have access to My Account: Private message CS Agent at: 

    https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

**Monitor your Community inbox (envelope icon on the top right) after the ticket is opened.  CS Agent will reply to you there

[dust2dust]

If you go all the way up to your first message and click on the little arrow to the upper right and click edit, does the subject line show and can you edit it?

Not too long though, it will get truncated.

[christinand]

Thanks dust2dust and softech. Thats good to know.

[christinand]

1. I hope i’m tagging @CS_Agent appropriately, just to return to the alaska topic i really hope public mobile will pay so public mobile users will have alaska coverage again. Alaska is a really popular destination for british columbians due to cruises. I also don’t know how to change the title as i wanted to add alaska in it for searching.

[dust2dust]

Your brother in law is not getting the full picture. And I'm only talking about Public. No you don't "need to be able to specifically use lte". As my chart shows, we can use T-Mobiles 2G for talk and text and allegedly data but I haven't verified that. We can also use T-Mobiles lte for text and data. All of those phones you mention should be fine for both 2G and lte. By the way, 4G = LTE.

[softech]

@christinand   I am pretty sure s9 can work on roaming.  I tried it, afterall, S9 is not that old.  if the S9 did not work, it could be a band issue, was the s9 phone from US or Canada?

Galaxy S6 should work, too, although I am not 100% certain

[christinand]

Thankd dust2dust. My brother in law says the problem is you need to be able to specifically use lte for roaming and not all the old phones can do this. So my dads s10 will work but my sisters s9 won’t. So it is doubtful my mom’s s6 or my phone will work for 4g roaming. Not sure what you think about this.

[dust2dust]

The S6 should be fine. An antique like yours with the same concerns though.

It is all rather confusing the way providers mix things up. There are technology levels and there are speed levels. Note the bolding in the reply from softech. This place uses 4G LTE primarily. It uses 3G UMTS for calls. The 3G and 4G marketing terms they use are about data speed. They're intentionally muddying the waters with their mixed up terminology to confuse their customers.

But it turns out that their 3G can use the data version of 3G called HSPA.

If one were to set their phone to LTE-only then they would get the services in the little table I did earlier. Data and text. If they were to set their phone to 3G-only then they would get the services in the little table I did earlier. Data and text and talk.

For roaming, set to LTE-only then they would get the services in the little table I did earlier. Data and text. Set to 2G-only then they would get the services in the little table I did earlier and maybe data (the other user seems more interested in ignoring my question to verify the claim that data works on 2G on T-Mobile. He holds grudges apparently rather than helping fellow customers). Set to the usual 3 levels of 4G/3G/2G, the phone should drop down when a call happens. Sometimes this doesn't happen even though it did in another area. Then the phone needs to be set to 2G-only. Some phones have also removed the capability to set it to 2G-only.

[christinand]

Thanks softech, lol to dust2dust's comment that my phone is ancient. Well my mom (who has public mobile) has a samsung s6 so even more ancient! I'm hoping at least the 2g will work with her phone. (And fyi i'm upgrading my phone but sad as battery is still good and nice small phone.

[softech]

@christinand Yes  T-Mobile that we use for roaming still has 4G and 2G for us.  (They have 5G but not for us)

[christinand]

Thanks softech,

So, just to clarify the states still has 4g and 5g but they don't have 3 g? 3g will work on 4 g at reduced speeds. 2g is still available on t mobile at this point.

Thanks i will try and remember to give out some bravos for you and dust2dust. I'm confused how you get dollars off.

[softech]

@christinand 

one thing and don't get confused:

 The 3G plan you have is a 3G speed plan.  It does not mean you can only use 3G network.   Instead, you are allowed to use 3G network on its full data speed and you can use 4G LTE network at reduced speed, 3Mbps..  Those who signed up for 4G speed plan are allowed to use 4G at full speed, 100Mbps, but still need 3G network for voice call

In US, some older systems and rural area still using 2G network, hence they  have decommissioned 3G network but T-Mobile still keeping 2G at the moment  Our roaming voice cannot use 4G as we don't have VoLTE wobbled, so, the voice  calls need to settle on the older and unreliable 2G network in US

[dust2dust]

Your family are confused. Are they with Public? Again, 5G has no bearing on any of this. It's otherwise just marketing to sell new phones. Nobody goes on to say that well yes of course it will still work on older networks.

Somehow or other a deal was struck with T-Mobile to allow us to talk on their old 2G network that they still run although with less coverage. AT&T seemed to have said sayonara to us.

[christinand]

Thanks softtech and dust2dust

I think there is some confusion in my family that only 5g will work. I'm still confused if public mobile US plans are 3g how they work on 5g? Was it only 3g that was eliminated in the US then not 2g? Well, i think the main thing is that we just try it out on a short trip across the border. As for alaska i'm disappointed it no longer works. So nice to have it on my last trip to alaska. Any chance in lobbying public mobile to get coverage given how many british columbians go across?

[dust2dust]

@softech- Do you have notes indicating that data will work on the old 2G/EDGE/GSM on T-Mobile? Like if someone set their phone to 2G-only? I didn't buy roaming data so I can't verify it for myself.

	Talk	Text (SMS)	Data
Public 3G	x	x	x
Public 4G		x	x
T-Mobile 2G	x	x
T-Mobile 4G		x	x

[softech]

@christinand data and voice and text will work on 2G, except the data will be very slow

Data and text, but not voice, will work on 4G/LTE

you don't have to worry about 5G.  Your phone should work on 4G or 2G 

[dust2dust]

5G is not a part of this discussion. We can only do 2G, 3G, 4G. No phone is 5G-ONLY. Perhaps review what I wrote earlier.

[christinand]

Thanks softech, putting aside the alaska question, should data and messaging work on 2g if your phone doesn't support 5g?

[hTideGnow]

hi @Dunkman thanks for the great news about VoLTE in June.  I thought we had it yesterday already with the voice problem 🤣

[dust2dust]

First of all, that A5 is a bit of an antique and no longer takes security updates for internet security.

I don't remember if AT&T allowed roaming for us in Alaska. Alaska seemed to have only become an issue when the 3G stopped so maybe AT&T worked for us at that time while maybe T-Mobile did not. Currently, we can't even connect to AT&T anywhere though and definitely T-Mobile not working for us there.

So what we have for talk is 3G for us in Canada. 2G only with T-Mobile. Text works on both 3G and 4G for us. Text also works on 2G with T-Mobile and also 4G. Data works on 4G all around and also 3G here. Again, no AT&T.

5G is an unrelated matter. 4G will be with us for some time yet.

VoLTE uses 4G (the LTE part obviously). We don't yet have that here. Maybe perhaps roaming might open it up some day even before it might be opened up here. I don't know. Maybe that might bring back AT&T. I don't know. Maybe that would open up roaming in Alaska. I don't know.

[softech]

@christinand   first VoLTE won't help your roaming trouble in Alaska.  

Your roaming issue is that we cannot connect to T-Mobile's partner in Alaska, no data or connection at all

VoLTE only allows voice over LTE.  So, your phone that does not support 5G can take advantage to use the LTE/4G network to receive voice calls in states that we can get roaming (again not Alaska).   The reason we need VoLTE for voice is that PM  uses only 3G for voice in Canada (which is ok for us), but US has no 3G network anymore, so, for voice roaming , we now need to use the outdated T-Mobile 2G network.  If VoLTE is enabled, we can then have much more relaible voice service in US.  

[christinand]

After reading about volt it sounds like it is a more voice over solution. Will it still help with data and messaging? Will volte work in the us if my phone doesn't support 5g?

[christinand]

Thanks. I see my phone doesn’ support volte so i’ll need a new phone. If the phone worked in alaska in 2019 (i’m on a cruise ship) then it seems it would work with volte. I read the article the other mayor posted and it sounds like there is limited tmobile coverage. Thanks both for all this useful information!

[christinand]

As i said it worked in 2019/so i don’t know what the problem is now unless its 5g.

[BKNS27]

@christinand 

No idea when Volte will be introduced on PM.

If you are on a cruise, there should be wifi on the cruise ship.

[Dunkman]

@christinand 

Public mobile should introduce VoLTE by June.  Public mobile is actively pursuing this feature.  Hopefully, VolTE should be available to customers within 1-2 months. We were told within the first quarter of 2023.  

Whether VoLTE will help with roaming in Alaska, not too sure.  T mobile has no presence in Alaska.  AT&T mobile has limited coverage.  

Here is an older thread:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Get-Support/Phone-not-working-in-Alaska-US/td-p/85651...

Here is the coverage map:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/coverage

[softech]

@christinand yes, T-Mobile customers can free roam on GCI.  But we roam on T-Mobile and we are not included in this deal T-Mobile has with GCI

[christinand]

Thanks. It sounds like gci is a partner of tmobile so one would think it would work. But maybe the problem is gci is 5g. Thanks i’ll have to do some research.

[softech]

@christinand 

check this 

https://www.rvmobileinternet.com/guides/north-to-alaska-mobile-internet/

[softech]

@christinand get local mobile sim that works in Alaska.  T-Mobile has no  network there.  You have to check first