US Roaming - proper description of plan needed

[Victorian1]

I am comparing options for a short trip to Portland OR next month. I cannot easily understand what I am actually getting with the roaming package. Is there any way to get Public Mobile to post a proper description comparable to what they provide with the regular plans ("Choose the speed and subscription that's right for you.")? Specifically:

What is included :
- does the plan provide unlimited texting from Canada to the US and US to Canada?
- does the plan include calls from Canada to the US and US to Canada?
- is the plan (as I infer from the posts here) limited to T-Mobile areas only?
- for users with 3G coverage in Canada, is there a way to get 4 or 5G plan for roaming, since (I infer from posts here) there is no 3G coverage in the US?

How do we get this request to Public Mobile's developers? I  am new to Public Mobile, and not much of a geek, just need to communicate with home while I'm away, so if I lose patience I will switch back to a service that has human chat for support. Or can anyone recommend a US sim card suitable for trips of less than a week?

[DennyCrane]

The applicable roaming add-ons are for use IN the US only, and provide access to call/text to/from the US and Canada. T-Mobile is the roaming partner, yes; there's no roaming service in Alaska because of this. As long as your device and account are VoLTE capable, you should be able to make phone calls without issue.

PM plans all include international texting from within Canada. To call the US you'd need a long distance add-on, which many of us get for free as a bonus at Christmas time. 

[will13am]

@Victorian1 , first off we need to clarify network activities undertaken while in Canada.  Your specific plan will inform whether you can call to the US as included minutes or need to buy add-on long distance minutes.  Generally most Public Mobile plans do not include calling to the US.  The roaming features which I believe you are most interested in has to do with the ability to conduct network activities while in the US.  For that there are a variety of roaming add-ons that facilitate each of talk, text and data while in the US.  From customer experience, it seems like connecting to T-Mobile is the only option.  Fortunately, T-Mobile coverage in the Pacific northwest is very good.  I have been to Portland and used the US roaming add-on with good success.  With respect to your question about 3G, 4G, all plan now allow connection to 5G, 4G and 3G networks (2G also on T-Mobile).  The plan tiers affect download speed throttling and do not specifically mean access restrictions to the network.  For calling from the US, you will need to have a VoLTE capable phone otherwise it can get challenging due to limited T-Mobile 2G network.  Please use this site to check hardware VoLTE compatibility.

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

[dust2dust]

Do you know if your device has been enabled for volte?

The talk and text is Canada/US including some other US protectorates.

The data is on LTE.

If your device is not on volte then it needs to be able to switch down to 2G either manually or automatically for talk. Text can also work on 2G if you did switch manually.

Yes, only T-Mobile. Coverage can vary. That's outside of Publics responsibility.

Whatever your plan here is has no bearing on roaming. Set the phone to automatic networks. It will only connect to T-Mobile. Set the phone on LTE etc. If you got roaming data then turn on roaming data.

Of course the Public account needs to be active the whole time.

[hairbag1]

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@Victorian1 wrote:

I am comparing options for a short trip to Portland OR next month. I cannot easily understand what I am actually getting with the roaming package. Is there any way to get Public Mobile to post a proper description comparable to what they provide with the regular plans ("Choose the speed and subscription that's right for you.")? Specifically:

What is included :
- does the plan provide unlimited texting from Canada to the US and US to Canada?...nope. It includes unlimited texting while active in US
- does the plan include calls from Canada to the US and US to Canada? Nope...you must be in US to be able to call US or Cdn numbers  with the add-on.
- is the plan (as I infer from the posts here) limited to T-Mobile areas only? Yes...T-Mobile only
- for users with 3G coverage in Canada, is there a way to get 4 or 5G plan for roaming, since (I infer from posts here) there is no 3G coverage in the US?... If you phone has volte activated you'll be fine.

How do we get this request to Public Mobile's developers? I  am new to Public Mobile, and not much of a geek, just need to communicate with home while I'm away, so if I lose patience I will switch back to a service that has human chat for support. Or can anyone recommend a US sim card suitable for trips of less than a week? TextNow is a free app that you can call most any Cdn or US number and uses your wifi avialble in most resorts, motels and even at Walmart.

added...

the PM Roaming add-on simply doesn't work in Alaska.

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