Voicemail not working while roaming is us with no roaming plan

[dfeist]

Just talking with tech support but no joy.

Wondering if anybody has a solution for the following issue. Have a pixel 4a with dual sims. One with public mobile and an eSIM with an American phone number.  When in the States I do not by any public mobile roaming plan as I use my American number. 

Issue, my public mobile sim connects to ATT network but with no roaming plan, anybody who phones my Canadian number automatically receives an error message “the client is not available at this time …” and cannot leave a voicemail message.  If my phone is off and I’m not connected to ATT my voicemail works as expected. 

1 solution was to remove my sim but that is not acceptable as I’m still able to receive but not send sms from public mobile sim without a roaming plan. This is needed for 2 factor authentication for many of my Canadian websites that use my public mobile number. 

Question, how do I get my public mobile voicemail to work?  Does this issue need to be escalated to tech support as it would appear to be a server side error given how my voicemail doesn’t work but receiving sms does?  Should a telco be able to block your voicemail when out of the country with no roaming plan?  Seems like I’m being forced into a rather expensive roaming plan solution just to have voicemail work. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. 

[DennyCrane]

Incoming SMS works in the US without a roaming plan because about a decade or so ago the government made it illegal for cell carriers to charge for incoming SMS. For most Canadian carriers that means incoming SMS are free in countries all over the world; in the context of Public Mobile it means free incoming SMS in the US because that's the only other country they have service in. They're not being nice, they have to provide it if they provide service there.

As to the callers not going to voicemail, I suspect it's a conditional forwarding issue with the way they setup voicemail. It's not illegal, as you can solve it by removing the sim as you noted. It is annoying though. Depending on how long you're gone, it might just make sense to purchase a talk/text roaming add-on for $15 for 15 days. It's very good value.

[HALIMACS]

Indeed all, receiving SMS messages in the US (without an add-on or Can/US plan), has been the case for quite a while.

It's the ONLY service which seems to work, likely because PM wants to be able to message users in the US to advertise a roaming option while they are there.

@dfeist  - i don't believe voicemail will function while you are in the US with the PM SIM card in the device.   If the device & SIM were in Canada, then of course it would work and you could access your voicemail remotely from the US, if your US calling service permits that calling to a Canadian number.

Please do let us all know what the Customer Support Agent's say about this, if you kindly would.

[hTideGnow]

thanks @kb_mv for explaining 

Then it sounds like forward to voicemail is not working.   CS agent can help to sort it out on the system 

[kb_mv]

@dfeist @hTideGnow @Handy1 As I understand this the OP is in the USA with a dual sim phone, using an American sim and number. His PM sim just happens to receive SMS without an add on which we all know is normal behaviour. I believe his problem is when someone calls his PM number they are not given the option of leaving a voicemail message instead they hear “the client is not available at this time …” and then it hangs up. I can see why he would be frustrated that people calling him on his PM number not being able to leave a voicemail.

@dfeist I would certainly want a decent answer for why this happens too. I use a travel sim for data only and TextNow when I go to the USA. No one really calls me though so I haven't noticed this behaviour lol.

[hTideGnow]

Hi @dfeist but you have no roaming plan and no roaming addon, right?

a workaround is to make and receive calls using VoIP app Textnow You just need wifi for it to work.  You can then use it to call and retrieve voicemail 

[Handy1]

@dfeist  PM only supposed to work in Canada and the U.S. with US roaming add on . So the fact you still get text is great . But shouldn’t be expected.and that would be true for voicemail also . And a US roaming can be as little $15 for 15 days