@Jesscross
If you're doing the activations and payments (or payment setups) for multiple Self-Serve accounts on one computer/browser then things will get muddled up.
"Clear cache" and "Clear cookies" on your web browser each time you want to login to a different Self-Serve account. Make sure any adblocker or scriptblocker features are disabled. "Secret" or "Incognito" browser modes usually work, but not always. The most surefire way to guarantee different accounts will always work properly is to use different machines or different browsers for each one.
Public Mobile's Self-Serve web portals are slow. A lot of things happen behind the scenes, a delay of a minute or two between operations is typical. And some days are worse than others. If you've already muddled things up with rushed or repeated attempts to hammer the activations through then the best thing to do is wait an hour or so before attempting to login again (after you clear browser cache/cookies/etc). Many Self-Serve problems sort themselves out if you just give them time.
You can put your active PM SIM cards into any unlocked and compatible phone to test. If you can borrow a phone from a friend or family or maybe even a sales rep at a cellphone kiosk, a phone you know works. It should take only a couple minutes to swap the SIM cards, restart, and test whether a phone calls or text msgs can be sent/received (on the other phone) with your PM number. If all this stuff works then the problem is not your Public Mobile service, it's your phone. If all else fails, you should take your new iPhones to the vendor to confirm they are not carrier-locked, or to get them fully unlocked (at zero $ cost to the consumer, as required by CRTC code), or to get them replaced with unlocked equivalents.
A carrier-locked phone will only work with SIM cards from one carrier/operator/network. Any phone which will work with SIM cards from two or more different carriers is not carrier-locked. But you can't be confident a phone isn't unlocked if you only test it on one carrier. And you can't believe any vendor's claims that a phone is unlocked - especially an iPhone - because too many of them are opportunistic, unethical, or simply clueless about what "unlocked" really means. Any reputable and competent vendor will be able to demonstrate the phone is unlocked by using SIM cards from two or more different carriers right in front of you.
