US roaming talk and text.

[Jck1]

I purchased a US data, talk and text bundle. The data has been working fine, although it has not been showing any of my usage in my account. My account shows that I have the data and have the unlimited minutes and texting, but every time I attempt a phone call I get the message that I need to buy minutes and every time I text I get a message that my plan does not include US texts. I have three days left on the purchased bundle and I will be in the US for quite a bit of time and would like to have the ability to use the bundle I paid for.

[dust2dust]

@doublefault- Well that's crappy. We had two phones with us and landed and turned off airplane mode and connected to T-Mobile and the phone with roaming worked all fine along with the welcome to the us text. The phone without roaming also got the text. There was a bit of no reception area going along the hilly windy bit south of Lahaina but then before Lahaina and points north it was all fine.

[doublefault]

I was in Kihei then Lahaina.  No phone in either.  ☹️

[Community_QA]

never tested it myself, but  Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands is clearly stated on the site that it is part of the roaming

[esjliv]

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@dust2dust wrote:

@esjliv- what complete and utter balderdash from support. How ridiculous. While I don't recall reports of experiences in Puerto Rico or US Virgin Islands, the service definitely works in the Hawaiian Islands. My bet would be that it works fine on those other areas.

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I did take the message with a grain of salt @dust2dust.

[dust2dust]

 @doublefault - All services worked fine for me in West Maui like the Lahaina stretch. Were you maybe in the south side like the Kihei stretch? I didn't test reception there. But as with all providers, some specific areas may not have coverage.

That phone should certainly be able to use 4G.

Changing to 2G shouldn't be required. The phone should drop down automatically when a call happens.

You need the internet to use a voip app. The internet can be wifi or cell data service.

@esjliv- what complete and utter balderdash from support. How ridiculous. While I don't recall reports of experiences in Puerto Rico or US Virgin Islands, the service definitely works in the Hawaiian Islands. My bet would be that it works fine on those other areas.

[esjliv]

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@doublefault wrote:

Thanks for the info.  I looked at network settings on my Samsung S7 and have a choice of  3 network modes for data roaming.  auto connect, then WCDMA only and GSM only.  Which one would put me into a 2g network?

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@doublefault 

"Though both are developed for mobile communications, GSM is used in 2G networks and WCDMA is used in 3G networks. Most people prefer WCDMA to be used as it is newer and transfers 3G data that is faster than 2G data."

Also, just to share with you a ticket I had in with a CSA agent, not too long ago.

They said below. If this is at all true, why isn't this listed in their Roaming Section of the purchased addons in our My Account. 🙄

When they refer to Islands, I presume they mean "U.S. Virgin Islands" as listed in their Get Help article. But, hey, isn't Hawaii a bunch of islands too? LOL 

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/us-roaming

If your services didn't work well, whether it was user error or not, I'd submit a ticket and explain this to them. 

It REALLY should be clearer how to use the Roaming.

[computergeek541]

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@doublefault wrote:

Thanks for the info.  I looked at network settings on my Samsung S7 and have a choice of  3 network modes for data roaming.  auto connect, then WCDMA only and GSM only.  Which one would put me into a 2g network?

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GSM only

[doublefault]

Good info!  just a quick question.... do I need to have data to use the VoIp app TextNow?  I really don't want to buy data and wifi isn't always available.  

[doublefault]

Thanks for the info.  I looked at network settings on my Samsung S7 and have a choice of  3 network modes for data roaming.  auto connect, then WCDMA only and GSM only.  Which one would put me into a 2g network?

[doublefault]

I'm in Vancouver but was visiting Maui.  Using a samsung s7... 

thanks for the 4g info             

[softech]

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@doublefault wrote:

Bought the talk/text bundle for Hawaii, carrier was T mobile and it doesn't support 3G.  Paid $15 and all I got was texting, very disappointed. No way around this I guess unless I pony up the money for 4G coverage up here!

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@doublefault   your talk situation with 2G has nothing to do with the 3G speed or 4G speed plan you have. Whichever plan you use, you still can only use T-Mobile 2G network for voice. The reason is simply PM has not enabled VoLTE yet, so all voice goes on 3G or 2G network.  And in US case,  there is no 3G there so you need to use 2G network.

The 2G network there is unreliable.  A workaround is to download VoIP app TextNow from appstore, set it up and then use the app to make and receive phone calls (on a different phone number assigned by TextNow)

[dust2dust]

@doublefault  - Whereabouts are you (for interest)? What make and model of phone are you using? Can you set your phone to 2G/GSM?

4G won't help you. It's only about data speed in this case.

[esjliv]

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@doublefault wrote:

Bought the talk/text bundle for Hawaii, carrier was T mobile and it doesn't support 3G.  Paid $15 and all I got was texting, very disappointed. No way around this I guess unless I pony up the money for 4G coverage up here!

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@doublefault 

PM roaming talk depends on the 2G T mobile network which has unreliable coverage in the USA.  Data and text should work fine.  

[doublefault]

Bought the talk/text bundle for Hawaii, carrier was T mobile and it doesn't support 3G.  Paid $15 and all I got was texting, very disappointed. No way around this I guess unless I pony up the money for 4G coverage up here!

[dust2dust · Accepted solution]

That's correct. While the add-on is active, you won't see it in the purchase list. But when it does show up after it expires you will need to either contact support to re-buy or wait 12 hours for it to drop off the add-on list. The wait might also be 24 hours.

If you like though, when it does expire, you could buy the other talk/text bundle as a workaround. You could buy any of the data add-ons too.

[Jck1]

I am sure I purchased a bundle. However, the bundle I purchased no longer exists. I also did not see that bundle a month and a half ago when I went to the US. The reason I am not second guessing whether it actually happened is because all of the services show up in my account. I have unlimited talk and text in the US for two more days now, and 3 gb of data. 
I may look into getting prepaid data while here for the rest of my stay, but that does not change the fact that I paid for a service that I did not receive. I am also not in an area where I can drop into a local T-mobile to grab a SIM.

I did submit a ticket so I’ll see how that goes.

Thanks for the info.

[Meow]

According to Public Mobile:

PM will have T-mobile 2G network for US talk. Try to manually connect to T-mobile.

Roaming is for Data only. Voice and SMS text will still work.

Data will work on LTE, but will switch over to 2G to make a call.

However, the quality of service will vary depending on the different coverage areas when roaming in the USA.

[softech]

@Jck1 if you still in US for some time, why don't you buy local data prepaid and use VoIP app for text and voice?

since you have data now, text should work, you sure you got the bundle?

If you are sure, open ticket with PM support and have them to confirm on the back end

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