US roaming with Canada/US plan

[eddieO]

Hi all,

My wife will be travelling to the US tomorrow and it will be her first time using the 50 GB Canada/US plan. Her device is a Samsung Galaxy S10+ which apparently is VoLTE capable but is not on the PM whitelist of devices (interestingly she says she hasn't experienced any dropped calls so far, likely because her calls are going through 3G? but that's another topic). Since PM's roaming partners are T-Mobil and AT&T will she have any issues with voice calls? I'm hoping that both partners should have VoLTE already enabled but not sure if the issue of PM not having her phone whitelisted will negate that?

[softech]

@Phil_Adelphus 

yes, I also notice Verizon is added as a roaming partner, still waiting for people to confirm that they can use Verizon without problem.   And I think Verizon does not have a 2G network now so that won't help for non-VoLTE phones 😞

[Phil_Adelphus]

@eddieO  Verizon has also been added as a roaming partner but yes, she will have problems with voice calls unless she can connect to 2G on T-Mobile which still exists but is spotty.  It doesn't seem to matter whether the US carrier supports a model on VoLTE it only matters if it's on PM's list.  Might be safest to download something like TextNow or Fongo since text and data should still work.

[softech · Accepted solution]

@eddieO 

Yes, S10 is not VoLTE whitelisted with PM

she will need to try connect to T-Mobile and use its 2G for voice calls

As a backup, please setup a VoIP app as a workaround and use data to make voice calls on the app.  One good one is TextNow.  Download, setup and pick a Canadian phone number, and she can make and receive calls using the app with another 10 digits phone number using the mobile data or wifi