Wind to PM

[vbobo]

Those who have switched in the gta and surrounding area I have a few questions to ask.

1) How has coverage and speed been compared to wind?

2) Is 4gb enough compared to your wind plans? I ask because it's LTE so I'm assuming pages load faster meaning more data consumed. I use on average 3gb a month with wind, sometimes less. Will I be okay with the 4gb a month?

3) I want to port my number over but have a wind tab balance, will it cause any issues? Should be receiving the sim card today or tomorrow!

[vbobo]

Yeh see I'm hoping not to have to clear my s6 completely to get lte working.

[nd]

@vbobo no it's a Nexus 5X. Maybe you can follow these steps for the S6, which I've modified from the source on the Rogers forum:

Power off device, take out sim and power on. Ignore the no Sim message and then boot in safe mode as below

How to boot in safemode:

Power off phone, let stand for 1 minute. Turn on the phone by pressing Power + Volume Down, once the screen lights up, you can release the Power button but keep holding Volume Down until you get to lockscreen.

If succesful, you should see a Safe Mode stamp on the bottom left. Once that's done, try going into settings and see if the LTE is available in network mode. If not, try manually selecting [Telus] as a network operator.

If all fails, boot back up normally and try changing CSC to [Telus]. First get your IMEI and write it down by pressing *#06#, then press *#272*YOUR IMEI HERE#, find [TLS], and click Install. This will factory reset your phone so make sure to backup before.

(source: http://communityforums.rogers.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/Android/thread-id/32026/page/3)

[vbobo]

@nd was your phone bought at wind?@nd was your phone bought at wind?

[cingkrab]

Actually, the PM (Telus/Bell) network uses mainly AWS (band 4) for LTE as well.  See these wiki articles:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_Mobility#Radio_frequency_summary

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telus_Mobility#Radio_frequency_summary

Bellus coverage is better not because they use another band, but because they actually have the money and the spectrum to expand their coverage.  700 MHz is only used in select areas (and older handsets don't even support 700 MHz).  This might change with Wind and band 66, but it's up to Shaw to put their money where their mouth is and roll out the LTE network.  Wind also need band 66 handsets to rollout also, since I doubt the V20 (the only band 66 compliant handset right now) is going to sell super well either, due to the pricetag and history of LG handset sales.

[nd]

Yes, I just switched from Wind to PM this morning and my phone automatically jumped on the LTE connection ("LTE" is displayed above the connection strength icon on my phone).

If you run into any issues, ensure Preferred network type in System Settings => Cellular Network Settings is set to LTE and then reboot your phone 🙂

[vbobo]

So are you saying if the phone supports it and says lte it'll be on the advanced connection already, or?

[teknowiz]

That depends on the phone itself. May display just LTE or 4G depending on phone and if it is loaded with Windmobile firmware baseband. If phone is running Android and purchased from Wind, to enable LTE you may may to follow steps from below link.

http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Phones-Hardware/Changing-Samsung-Phone-Info/m-p/53208

[vbobo]

Perfect thanks. One more haha sorry once again for all the questions.

If my device is lte-a compatible how will I know it's connected to lte-a over the regular lte? I ask because both devices I'll be using have 700mhz. Is it still the same Internet and mms settings I'll be putting into the phone?

[teknowiz]

Yes you can port number directly from Wind mobile, just provide Wind account number and pin.

As for IMEI, I don't belive it asks for that and should not be required at all for port out.

[vbobo]

Hey sorry two more questions to ask also:

1) Can I port my number immediately from wind when I'm activating the plan?

2) does it matter what phone imei I give when registering for the port? Example, I have an s6 with wind under my account but am currently using a blackberry passport as my week phone which is a diff imei number. Or should I just give my s6 imei during the process so there's no troubles?

[vbobo]

Wow thanks to the both of you for quick replies.

Does PM mean I'll finally have signal when going to crowded areas like basketball games, casinos etc? That's one thing I didn't like about wind, losing signal at events or big locations.

Wonder if I'll finally get signal in my basement. Would be awesome but won't be disappointed if I don't.

[stonechucker]

I moved from WIND a few months ago now, and have been happier that ever with my cellular service with PublicMobile, compared to WIND, and Rogers previously.

I'm in Brantford, about 20 minutes west of the GTHA.  Service here is great on the Telus/Bell network, compared to what I had with Wind.  Another hugh issue was the Wind vs. Wind Away networks.  I rarely had reliable coverage with Wind, and was always roaming on Wind Away, costing me more on my bill.

I've easily saved at least 33% against my Wind bills, and over 50% with Rogers.

[neilselden]

Hi,

I am in downtown Ottawa, and PM speeds are 3-4 times what my WIND speed were.  I am getting somewhere around 15-20Mbps download and 12-18Mbps upload with PM.

PM also uses a different (i.e., better) network technology, as compared to WIND.  WIND uses the AWS specturm, which is just plain lousy at penetrating buildings - especially concrete buildings.  No matter where you are, I would expect PM connectivity and speed to be much better than WIND.

4GB should be plenty - just because pages load faster does not mean you use more data.  That would be the case only if faster load times lead you to surf the web more.

Yes, you should pay off your WIND tab balance before porting over your number.  Not paying it off could (probably would) cause issues with porting your number.

I have to be honest, I hated WIND service.  However, PM is awesome!

Cheers,

Neil