Wifi Calling

[NorthernOnt_Mom]

I am unable to get wifi calling to work.

does PM support wifi calling?  My parents live in a rural area with no service.  I am hoping PM supports it so my kids can call my cell phone.

[funpig1]

@LitlLdy   You should start a new community thread and call it "Wi-Fi Calling Alternative" and explain your first hand experience and the method of using TextNow and call forwarding. I think a lot of PM customers living in areas with poor signals would really benefit from such a thread and you will earn a bunch of bravos for your efforts. 

I tested the conditional call forwarding *004* + tel number ** + X seconds + # + SEND and it works great.  When somebody calls my cell phone number, it rings X seconds and I have the option of answering on my cell phone. If I do not answer my cell phone after X seconds, the call is then call forwarded to the TextNow number which uses the stronger Wi-Fi to receive the incoming call. Best of all options, imo.

Here is link to PM help on call forwarding which you can paste in your thread: 

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/call-forwarding

[funpig1]

@softech with all due respect, who said anything about denying rural people from having cellular service or taking away anybody's service? The OP was looking for a Wi-Fi calling solution where they had poor or no cellular service. I suggested something which would cost nothing and complement their existing PM service. No need to go to Telus or Koodo and pay more money. @LitlLdy  Thank you for providing a perfect case in point.

[LitlLdy]

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@softech wrote:

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@LitlLdy wrote:

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o I submitted a support ticket to CS_Agent to ask them to fix the broken call forwarding on my account. Since then call forwarding works flawlessly for me. 👍🏻 

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@LitlLdy 

So, conditional forwarding works for you now?

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@softech , yes, it works flawlessly for me now. When VoLTE was introduced & broke call forwarding I submitted a support ticket way back then & tech support fixed call forwarding on my account on March 21, 2023. I made a post about it back then. 🙂

[softech]

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@LitlLdy wrote:

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o I submitted a support ticket to CS_Agent to ask them to fix the broken call forwarding on my account. Since then call forwarding works flawlessly for me. 👍🏻 

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@LitlLdy 

So, conditional forwarding works for you now?

[softech]

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@funpig1 wrote:

@NorthernOnt_Mom @Chalupa_Batman 

It does beg the question, why do you need PM or any cellular provider at all if you live in an area with poor cellular service.

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@funpig1 

I do not agree people live in rual areas shouldn't have cellular service

It is more a matter of which provider to choose to get the best coverage there.  And yes, Wifi Calling is a solution in this case.  For wifi calling, no tier 3 provider is offering this service.  So, people who does not have great coverage at home should look for Tier 2 and 1 providers like Koodo or Telus 

again @funpig1 we shouldn't take away celluar service for whose living in rural area without great celluar coverage

[LitlLdy]

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@Chalupa_Batman wrote:

If I remember correctly, which I think I'm not, I think @LitlLdy does this to save minutes. But she'll have to remind us.

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I am on the Public Mobile $15 Plan with 100 outgoing minutes, unlimited incoming, unlimited text/MMS messages, 250mb of data. So, Yes, I use the TextNow app for my outgoing calls for free when connected to Wi-Fi. I chose a local phone number on the TextNow app. It works great. Clear calls, no dropped calls. So, this helps me a lot. Plus when I have a poor cellular signal with Public Mobile I can make phone calls using TextNow when connected to Wi-Fi.

I have also forwarded my Public Mobile calls to TextNow app with no issues. It works for me due to I submitted a support ticket to CS_Agent to ask them to fix the broken call forwarding on my account. Since then call forwarding works flawlessly for me. 👍🏻 

Edit: I live in an area where theres no Telus towers & 1 Bell tower so the cellular signal can be very poor at times! 😞 It would be nice for those of us in these situations if Wi-Fi calling was an option with Public Mobile but it isn’t so I have to use a workaround especially for emergencies & necessities. 

[funpig1]

@NorthernOnt_Mom @Chalupa_Batman 

It does beg the question, why do you need PM or any cellular provider at all if you live in an area with poor cellular service. If you have good home Wifi and no landline, you can set up a TextNow telephone number on an old phone and just use it as your "home" phone. Tell the kids to call mom or grandma at their home number when theay are at home. Call mom or grandma on the PM number when they are traveling in the big city with a good cellular signal.

[Chalupa_Batman]

If I remember correctly, which I think I'm not, I think @LitlLdy does this to save minutes. But she'll have to remind us.

[funpig1]

@softech @Chalupa_Batman 

6. It also occurs to me that this call forwarding setup to TextNow may also benefit people with old limited minutes phone plans. It has been decades since I had such a plan, but I recall that one way to save your minutes was to call forward your mobile phone to another number. When a person calls that cellular number, the call is forwarded to the other number and the cellular minutes are not used. Is that the way it still works? If so, a PM customer with a old $13 or $15 limited minutes plan could use this method to conserve their minutes.

[funpig1]

@softech  I think you are missing the point. Yes, I am using the unconditional call forwarding to make this work. 

1. The whole point of this suggestion is for people who have lousy cellular signals who can't make or receive calls using PM cellular, but have Wi-Fi available e.g. at home or office. If you set up your phone with the PM call forwarded to TextNow, I am saying that you can make either PM calls or Wi-Fi calls. It's your choice. 

2. Any person who calls your PM number or your TextNow number will have their call directed to TextNow. When the phone rings, just answer the call.  If you do not answer, the person's call to PM or to TextNow will go to the TextNow voicemail.  What difference does it make if the message does not go to PM voicemail? You still get your voicemail message.

3. When you are out on the highway and there is no Wi-Fi, you still have the choice. As long as you have a good PM signal, you could phone from PM using your cellular number. Alternatively, you can phone from TextNow because TextNow will use your PM mobile data. Of course, if you are off in the mountain somewhere and there's no PM signal at all, you will not be able to make a TextNow call nor a PM call. Point is you are no worse off than before by having textnow on your phone.

4. I just learned another nifty trick while playing around with this. I set up TextNow on an old phone which does not have a sim. When somebody calls my PM number, the phone call is call forwarded to both my regular mobile phone and my old phone. Both phones ring and I have the choice of answering either one.  I can now have an upstairs phone and a downstairs phone using the same PM number! And if I don't answer the call, I can access the voicemail via TextNow using either phone.

5. There really is no need to switch the call forwarding on or off. You can leave the call forwarding on all the time and everything just keeps working until you decide you don't want to use it anymore.

[softech]

@funpig1 only unconditional forwardkng is working at this time.  The couple conditional forwardingsno longer work. 

Of course you can set unconditional forwarding to TextNow and it will work.  But after setting it, the forward to VM will no longer function (all calls forwarded to TextNow) and your PM phone will not ring until you disable unconditional forward.  Do you want to pay for a line  that you rely only with unconditional forward to TextNow?? or you willing to enable and disable the unconditional forward when you go out or come back home???

[funpig1]

@softech @NorthernOnt_Mom @Yummy @Chalupa_Batman @Jlund 

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-help/articles/call-forwarding

Yes, It works! The above link explains how to enable and disable call forwarding on your mobile phone. You just have to call forward to the textnow telephone number. When the TextNow app is open on your phone, any phone call made to your mobile phone number or to the TextNow phone number will go to TextNow. You can answer the call using TextNow.  If you fail to answer, the caller can leave a voicemail message on the TextNow voicemail, which you can recover through TextNow. As long as you have Wi-Fi or mobile data, any incoming call will go to textnow. 

To make an outgoing call, you have the option of dialing out from your mobile number (cellular) or alternatively making a Wi-Fi/mobile data call using TextNow. When your recipient receives your call, they will either see your PM number or your TextNow number on their phone display depending on which way you call out. 

I'm not sure I understand @softech 's comment that the PM voice will not work. 

Good luck.

[Chalupa_Batman]

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@funpig1 wrote:

@NorthernOnt_Mom @Chalupa_Batman @Yummy @Jlund 

I wonder if you can use TextNow as a workaround. 

You can open a free TextNow account and create a telephone number which uses Wi-Fi or mobile data for texting and calling. You can then call forward your PM telephone number to the TextNow number. Every time somebody phones your PM number, the call would be call forwarded to TextNow which utilizes Wi-Fi or mobile data and not the lousy cellular signal. When you call out, you have the option of using your PM number when the cellular signal is good. If the cellular signal is bad, you could make your call using your TextNow number, utilizing any available Wi-Fi. 

Another alternative is to use an app like WhatsApp. However, both the caller and receiver would have to have WhatsApp on their phone to communicate with each other. Good luck.

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Actually, yes, you can do so. I have forwarded my PM number to my TextNow and it works.

[softech]

@funpig1 for now, only unconditional forwarding works.  So, doing this means no forward to voicemail and the PM voice would not be working at all as it is set to unconditional forward 

of course, you can enable and disable unconditional forward when needed, but I don't think it is very practical 

@NorthernOnt_Mom btw, manually select 3G as the network mode does not help??

[funpig1]

@NorthernOnt_Mom @Chalupa_Batman @Yummy @Jlund 

I wonder if you can use TextNow as a workaround. 

You can open a free TextNow account and create a telephone number which uses Wi-Fi or mobile data for texting and calling. You can then call forward your PM telephone number to the TextNow number. Every time somebody phones your PM number, the call would be call forwarded to TextNow which utilizes Wi-Fi or mobile data and not the lousy cellular signal. When you call out, you have the option of using your PM number when the cellular signal is good. If the cellular signal is bad, you could make your call using your TextNow number, utilizing any available Wi-Fi. 

Another alternative is to use an app like WhatsApp. However, both the caller and receiver would have to have WhatsApp on their phone to communicate with each other. Good luck.

[Chalupa_Batman]

Hello @NorthernOnt_Mom 

Public Mobile at this time does not support WiFi calling. Only the 2nd and 1st tiers support it....  Telus and Koodo.

If your parents do have internet out there and a wifi router, look at getting them either VOIP land line or the TextNow app. It's free and uses either data or Wifi. I have 2 accounts and both are free and work great! Free calling and free texting.

[Jlund]

Sorry public does not support Wi-Fi calling. I have heard rumors this might be coming in the future but only rumors.