USA Roaming Review

[kb_mv]

I recently had occasion to travel to the USA and in light of a number of complaints about US service while there, I figured I would throw in my 2 cents worth. I travelled through the following states: Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Maryland. I have two phones, a Pixel 5 and a Samsung Flip 4. Both are on the same $34/50GB Canada-USA 5G plan. Both phones are VOLTE enabled and both phones always have roaming turned on. Both also have 5G preferred in the network selection.

Overall service was excellent. When I crossed into Maine I received the "Welcome to the USA blah blah blah...". I did nothing to either phone other than ignore these welcome messages. Both phones hooked up seamlessly. Voice calls to and from both Canada and USA numbers worked without issues. SMS and MMS were the same. My data worked seamlessly. About 50% of the time I was on AT&T, 40% on T-Mobile and 10% on Verizon. AT&T provided a 5G data connection about half the time. T-Mobile was 5G about 40% of the time and I don't recall seeing other than LTE+ on Verizon. I used both phones as hot spots, running a laptop and streaming on a Fire TV without issue.

A successful use of the Can-USA plan on both phones. This trip was the reason I picked the plan I did and I am happy with the results. I know more than a few people seem to have issues in the USA, maybe with the add ons as opposed to the USA plans? YMMV

[DownEast]

I’m using an iPhone 11 with the 50GB Can/USA plan in California. Data roaming and automatic carrier selection enabled. My phone has connected to Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile with no issues. Ignore the welcome text to the US suggesting you get a roaming plan, and you are good to go.

Folks with a phone that doesn’t support VoLTE will need to be thinking of an upgrade in a year or two. 3G is on the way out in Canada after next year…

[hTideGnow]

hi @jmbfit 

the reason to use T-Mobile is to try to use the 2G network for voice calls.  But I think T-Mobile already started the process to shut down the 2G network, so, you might not get it everywhere

[jmbfit]

Thanks he tried manually adding T-mobile but still couldn't call out. we will work on it. he is not techy at all so tonight I will check somethings out with him

Thanks

[slusagm]

no, not waste money. She can still use data and use data to make app calls. WhatsApp is the top choice for app calling 

[eddieO]

@jmbfit, my wife has the same phone and when she manually connected to T-Mobile only, she was able to make and receive calls on their 2G network. In the end, she found using WhatsApp for voice calling on AT&T worked well and was also able to make video calls 

[jmbfit]

Thanks I guess

so a waste of $$ getting the Plan dang he is going to be P???ed. 

[slusagm]

S10 is not on PM whitelist for VoLTE 

you can try to connect to T-Mobile and it night work with its 2G network.  But if not, then no other workaround 

if you really need to make calls, use VoIP app or app calling 

[jmbfit]

Hi my husband is in the states and we both have Can-US plans. his Samsung S10 can txt and get data but not not get calls or call out can you share with me how you got your wife's phone to work. 

Hopeful

Jmbfit 

[slusagm]

anks @kb_mv for the review.

i used all 3 roaming networks and they all worked well

not sure why some people have problem, but i think some places do not have strong signal and people don't know how to switch network manually

[ShawnC13]

Great post, I have had no issues with my Can/US plan either.  I didn't know PM used Verizon though so that is interesting.

[eddieO]

Thanks for sharing @kb_mv. I really think the reason we do see posts with customers having issues with their Canada/US plans in the US is because they likely do not have VoLTE whitelisted devices and are unaware of how it will effect their voice calling. My wife's Galaxy S10+ is not whitelisted even though it supports VoLTE but I was able to coach her through changing her settings to get it to work on T-Mobile's 2G. Hopefully as more newer phones come out Public Mobile can do a better job of adding these phones to their whitelist so that customers can have more options when it comes to devices.