Use in US

[KJ311]

Does the new $34 a month plan cover usage while in the US. I am a snowbird and usually buy a US sim to use for 5 months. If I could have the same phone and number and connect automatically when crossing into the US that would be great!

[Nezgar]

To make phone calls with a Public Mobile plan that includes USA roaming your phone needs to be VoLTE capable, and not only on Public Mobile's (Telus) device allow list, but also on the allow list for whatever carrier you will be roaming on (ie AT&T, T-Mobile) for calling to work while in the USA.

Without VoLTE capability, you will only be able to use data and send/receive SMS/MMS. If your phone is older than 2018, it's pretty much guaranteed not to support VoLTE. The "trick" to force the phone to 2G and T-Mobile works in some areas (worked for me in San Diego, California in early 2023) but it does not work in other areas (like Spearfish, South Dakota last week...) as the 2G network has been fully decommissioned there.

I have a phone that is working with VoLTE in Canada on Public Mobile (BlackBerry keyONE, running Android 8.1) but this same phone does not work with VoLTE while in the US because it's not on the allow list for those networks...

To guarantee you have some ability to call while in the USA if you are not 100% sure about your current phone, you can setup a free account with TextNow which will allow you to make calls over mobile data/Wi-Fi. Sign up while still in Canada, as I think you might have some restrictions in choosing a Canadian number if you try to sign up while in the USA.

[Handy1]

@KJ311  Yes that’s exactly what it means , it’s a true snow bird plan . Use in the  US just like you were at home . Just remember to have data roaming turned on in phone settings . And set phone to 4G/LTE not 5G and connect to T mobile or AT&T . And enjoy your time away 🙂

[slusagm]

for Alaska, make sure you connect to AT&T as there is no T-Mobiel network there

[slusagm]

there are 2 different $34 plans, one for Canada only and one for Canada-US.  If you got the correct Canada-US plan, then you can use the service in US just like in Canada.  Just make sure you turn on data roaming on the phone and connected to T-Mobile or AT&T

[DivaRB]

If you are referring to the Can/US $34 plan.  YES. I was just in the US yesterday and as soon as we crossed the border my provider switched to Verizon and it worked seamlessly!  Very impressed.  There was no issue at all. We used my phone for GPS all day and no issues.

one thing to note though is that you must have data roaming turned on at all times otherwise no matter which country you are in service can be inadequate.

hope this helps.  Happy travelling.

ps we are going to alaska in sept so it will be interesting to see if it works there too!

[eddieO]

@KJ311, yes it will work Canada to Canada, Canada to US, US to Canada and US to US, calling, texting and data. My wife was just in the US last month and it worked well using T-Mobile but also AT&T. Just make sure the $34 plan you select is the Canada/US plan as there is another $34 plan that does NOT have US but has unlimited throttled data

If your phone is not on PM's VoLTE whitelist of devices: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/volte then you might need to manually select T-Mobile for calling as they still have 2G service whereas AT&T does not and 3G no longer works in the US