What is going on with the network on March 17? Received SMS about possible connectivity issues

[erotavlas]

Text message i received is below.  Am I supposed to get a new device? Are they asking us to switch to Telus? What is going, I'm confused.  Also why is this being sent only 3 days before leaving us scrambling?

"Public Mobile here.

We are making upgrades to our network that may impact your connectivity with Public Mobile. After March 17th, your device may lose or experience a degraded connection.

To help you stay connected, we're teaming up with TELUS to offer you exclusive savings when you activate on a new device.

To redeem these offers, simply visit your nearest TELUS store and use promo code --. For a list of store locations, visit --

Need support? Contact us at --

Conditions apply. Subject to approved credit. While quantities last. Reply STOP or visit -- if you no longer wish to hear about Public Mobile offers."

[erotavlas]

Phone (calls and data connection) still working perfectly fine.  My phone has both 800 and 1900 bands so I guess it wasn't affected too much, I'm also in the greater toronto area with good coverage. haven't travelled out of the city to compare coverage as it was before the update.  but I plan to upgrade my phone by end of year anyway, my phone is from 2017 (sony xperia xz premium)

[slusagm]

@Lanky1 both with PM? Swap the sim cards between the 2 phones and test 

[Lanky1]

Oddly enough, i have a toronto area code and my husband's is a suburb area code. His works fine.  Anyway, I bite the bullet and get a new budget phone, samsung a16.  I don't want contract and I got a lot of data credits and add-ons I don't want to give up. PM plans still relatively competitive. Eventually everyone will be force to upgrade.

[slusagm]

@VJ11 the reason you got text and voicemail notification because they work on 4G bands.  With voice, with your older phone, it will need 3G which you phone's 1900 band on 3G somehow is missing or no longer works

[slusagm]

@kj99  @VJ11 what phone do you have?

PM prefer phones on this list (or the newer versions of those models)

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

[VJ11]

I don't think thats bands as much as coverage.. because at other areas/ places the phone work whereas the primary place I can't use it with voice, mind you I get SMS and voice mail notifications just fine..

[VJ11]

Have the same issue. The only difference is my phone is S8 international version. Funny, only two people in my household got the 17th March announcements not the other two Iphone 13 users..

[kj99]

how to check VOLTE capabilities on S10, as you said you have it?

[hTideGnow]

hi @kj99 

you can ask PM support to confirm

submit a ticket with CS Agent using Chatbot here:       
            https://widget.telus.tiia.ai/publicmobile/publicmobile.html 
             Type the question "Submit ticket", Then click the following in order: "Contact Us" ,  "Other",  "Log In".  
If any issue with ticket submission, you can submit  ticket by direct message:  
          https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437 

Remember CS_agent will reply to your Community inbox within 2 to 4 hours, please check your inbox here:
           https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/privatenotespage            

[kj99]

can you tell me what is to check on phone to be sure what has to be right in order to use PM on S10 Canadian version?

[hTideGnow]

hi @kj99 

with PM moving 3G bands around, it would just get worse for old phones.    So, instead of buying new phone, instead of hoping it will get better for PM (which it won't), you should consider moving to Koodo as Koodo will accept your phone for VoLTE 

[kj99]

Yes, but at our convenience not at forced instance like this, when can't find any deals, with economic hard times..

[kj99]

I would say its nonexistent, I got not registered on network errors frequently trying to make calls..Never received phone calls. went straight to voicemail.. changing addresses do have impacts though.. using from somewhere else do have the better connections.. From not registered to network all the way to full 5 bars.. May be that means its just the area I am using in or anything wrong with the phone's band or PM's signal strength to PM's "UPGRADING SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENTS" on 17th March..

Please help with any suggestions

[hTideGnow]

hi @kj99 

I still not sure why S10 is not working, it has the proper 3G bands for voice, both bands.  You still have trouble with the phone?

but S10 is a 6 years old phone, it is around time to get an newer phone anyway

[kj99]

Do you have any update now that it's been quite a while,, how are the calls and connection?

[kj99]

Absolute disaster with Samsung Galaxy S10 Canadian version... Always calls going to voice mail.. hard to make phone calls.. anybody have any fix? Please no guessing, they are changing from 4G to 5G, or 3G to 4G, or normal to VOLTE.. This should not even be allowed, as continued customers have to be taken care by providers..

[2f]

This will force people to get a 4g plan or 4g compatible phone and spend more money. Time to jump ship. My calling used to work and now it has been unavailable at the same location I was previously able to receive and make calls from.

[Cathy22]

That is the message I received too. So an option to pay more each month for what I have now 😕

[Cathy22]

Honestly this is what I'm wondering. Or a push to move everyone over to more expensive plans at Telus. 

[Sue-s1]

I have a galaxy 50 A and it's suppose to have volte.  But I don't see it on my phone at all. Anyways hopefully it will still work after March 17th upgrade.

[cellphoneuser1]

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@Sansan wrote:

Not to worry too much right now. From my understanding,  there is the 850 and 1900 MHZ. Public Mobile is getting rid of the 850 MHZ 3G band.

Your phone has both MHZ so you should be fine for now. When they move to the next faze then....

I'm sure someone will correct me if my understanding is not correct 🙂. 

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1900 MHz won't be as good indoors or from further distances. They aren't really getting rid of the 850 MHz band but they are moving it from 3G to LTE.

[Sansan]

Not to worry too much right now. From my understanding,  there is the 850 and 1900 MHZ. Public Mobile is getting rid of the 850 MHZ 3G band.

Your phone has both MHZ so you should be fine for now. When they move to the next faze then....

I'm sure someone will correct me if my understanding is not correct 🙂. 

[Karyathena1]

My phone is 3G. I'm toast. Weekend ruined

[slusagm]

@Lanky1 

A20 does not have both bands on PM and your phone could be impacted 

Since it is not a phone for  Canadian market and not supported by PM for VoLTE, you can see calls dropped.  Better to change to anothet phone.  Samsung A16, A35 or S24/S24 will be much better 

[Lanky1]

My husband and I have the exact same phone, he didn't get the text message. We have different plans but I'm on the cheapest plan.  I upgraded because the 4G plan was the same price as my 3G plan.  Our phone does not support 5G. 

It could be a way to get rid of the "non valuable" customers?!  I am going to wait and see.

[Cathy22]

It's absolutely ridiculous. At the very least they should have given more notice. I need my phone for work on Monday and I don't really have time to figure out a new phone this weekend, plus that limits it to what is currently in stock. The message I received suggested switching to a Telus plan in order to keep my current phone but that would be an extra $20 a month with no improvement or benefit to me.

[Sansan]

I haven't checked the phone today, but so far I didn't receive any message regarding this yet.

I have the Samsung A8 and S20, both of which works perfectly. 

[will13am]

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@Karyathena1 wrote:

But why the less than 1 business day notice? That's outrageous 

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I don't know everything about the timelines for the 3G shutdown, I think it is staged with segments of 3G spectrum repurposed over to 4G/5G.  With each step of transition, the 3G experience will degrade.  This is what the warning is about.  I don't see customer with non VoLTE capable phone suddenly losing calling capability overnight.  

[will13am]

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@erotavlas wrote:

The whitelisting of devices it the mean spirited move that will force people to buy new hardware though.  This is especially true in the US.  They have things locked down even harder than here.  

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I agree that maintaining a VoLTE whitelist is patently wrong.  If a customer's phone is not compatible, that is one thing.  To make matters worse doesn't help anyone.  The transition to 3G shutdown is a different beast.