Community

John_G1 · Friday

Is there any alternative to a text message with an authentication code, to verify our identity when we are logging into Public Mobile?

When one is outside North America, one cannot get text messages, so having another method of 2fA would be very helpful. How about an email address? I understand from other discussions here that setting up an authenticator app may be administratively difficult for Public Mobile - though I'm not sure why it would be. It's certainly not uncommon in other enterprises.

And if one lost one's phone when out of the country - which is not as rare as one would hope - then one is even more inconvenienced without another method of 2fA.

It seems to me that this should not still be a problem, years after people started to rely on 2fA. Maybe it isn't, but I have not found the solution here yet. Guidance? Reactions?

Thanks

John G

John_G1 · Friday

Maybe I'll come back in a few days when I have tried to log on from a non-trusted device and see if it offers me the option to have my code by email. If so, then I will know which answer to accept as the Solution...

softech · Friday

@John_G1

don't wait. As my reply back in 4:57pm, I suggested you simply open a ticket with PM and they will sort it out

John_G1 · Friday

I have been a subscriber to Public Mobile since about 2017, so I have had LOTS of occasions to get a 2FA code via SMS - including today. I tell the system to trust my device, but that does not last forever. So I will give it a week, or try to sign on from a different computer, and see if it offers me an emailed 2FA code. Saves having to track down a customer service person.

Chalupa_Batman · Friday

@softech wrote:
@Chalupa_Batman wrote:
Actually, you can't do it yourself. Technically the system does it for you at the start of your account. Often, and yes, I do say often, the system doesn't set it up properly and this has been going on for as far as I can remember.

Actually, it is not a matter of "system doesn't set it up properl". As said above, for security reasons, you will only be given the email or voice message choices if you have got the 2FA code via SMS once. Most people do not have those options because they have not completed the requirement to receive the 2FA code via SMS after the activation

Hello @softech

But what I said is accurate that only CS Agents can resolve it and to contact them with the link already provided. Hence the reason I feel that @John_G1 chose my answer as the solution. Now, you've removed it. That's unfortunate.

softech · Friday

@Chalupa_Batman wrote:
Actually, you can't do it yourself. Technically the system does it for you at the start of your account. Often, and yes, I do say often, the system doesn't set it up properly and this has been going on for as far as I can remember.

Actually, it is not a matter of "system doesn't set it up properl". As said above, for security reasons, you will only be given the email or voice message choices if you have got the 2FA code via SMS once. Most people do not have those options because they have not completed the requirement to receive the 2FA code via SMS after the activation

John_G1 · Friday

so you use your phone to access your Public Mobile account (and not just to make calls with the PM SIM)? I hate doing that - my fingers are not nimble enough. I want to use my laptop with a real keyboard.

And using Face Recognition would probably mean I would have to keep my beard or get rid of it, rather than deciding every year or two to change...

smp999 · Friday

I set up Face Recognition on the App. It does not ask for the 2FA

John_G1 · Friday

Thanks.. So PM remains as user hostile as it has always been. Not a surprise, but a bit of a disappointment.

I will go to the CS agent in due course, then.

Chalupa_Batman · Friday

@John_G1 wrote:
I know that. I just have not yet figured out how to set up my PM account to send me the confirmation code by email. No shortage of people advising me to do that, which I knew already. Nobody so far to tell me how.

Hey @John_G1

Actually, you can't do it yourself. Technically the system does it for you at the start of your account. Often, and yes, I do say often, the system doesn't set it up properly and this has been going on for as far as I can remember.

The only people who can set it up for you is Public Mobile CS agents. A link has already been provided by folks here on how to contact them. Once it's set up, then you'll be able to move forward with 2FA code aspect of your account.

John_G1 · Friday

I know that. I just have not yet figured out how to set up my PM account to send me the confirmation code by email. No shortage of people advising me to do that, which I knew already. Nobody so far to tell me how.

I see those three choices pasted in by Yummy - I guess they appear after one has failed to get a code sent to the phone. So maybe it's easier than I had thought, and one does not have to specify it on one's account settings, just deal with it case by case - assuming that PM HAS my email address before I leave. Of course it does, since it's my user ID...

Yummy · Friday

Yes, it is called e-mail. If you cannot receive 2FA from PM there is an option to receive it by e-mail.

hairbag1 · Friday

@John_G1

one of the accounts I manage is set up to send 2FA to email only...works great. You'll hafta consider that yourself if you do alot of travel outside NA.

John_G1 · Friday

I get that. I went into the Public Mobile site looking for a way to give them an alternative method of sending me the 2FA request. They have my email, of course - but when I was logging in today, it did not offer me any choice but an SMS text message. (I did not decline that or say 'can't receive that' - maybe I should have.) So if it has to be set up before I leave the country - which I understand, that's why I am trying to do it now - it is not obvious how to do it.

This can't be a rare issue for PM subscribers.

hairbag1 · Friday

@John_G1 wrote:
I did not see anything on the Public Mobile site that would allow me to specify an email address for a 2FA message. That would be fine, I can get email anywhere in the world.

You must set it up that way before going away as you won't get sms anywhere outside Canada (or Mx / US with correct plan).

John_G1 · Friday

All this seems like a royal PITA to figure out from abroad, given how hard anyone at PM can be to contact (in my experience from a few years ago). Wow!

And it's hard to open a ticket with PM if one cannot log on for failure of the 2FA method. Sounds like the catch-22 of opening an account that I ran into a few years back. So one is compelled to open a whole new community account, with some other email account - I guess most people(?) have more than one - and hope with fingers crossed that one does not need 2FA to open *that* one!

John_G1 · Friday

I did not see anything on the Public Mobile site that would allow me to specify an email address for a 2FA message. That would be fine, I can get email anywhere in the world.

softech · Friday

@John_G1 for security reasons, you will only be given the email or voice message choices if you have got the 2FA code via SMS once

To get the alternate methods, click Didn't Receive Code or Resend Code on the 2FA screen

But if you don't see those choices, you will need to submit a ticket with Public Mobile Customer Support and they will sort it out.

Please open ticket using Public Mobile Expert Messaging using your Community/EverSafe account. Select Start a Chat to begin:
https://expert-messaging.publicmobile.ca/guest/pre-chat
**You'll get email/SMS alert when agent replies. or monitor here: https://expert-messaging.publicmobile.ca/message-centre

** If you cannot receive 2FA code via SMS and unable to open ticket, please setup a new Community account using another email and DO NOT link a phone number to it. You can then create an Expert Messaging ticket with this new account.

hairbag1 · Friday

@John_G1

2FA to email is an option as long as you can receive emails where you are at.

John_G1 · Friday

I am not seeing any alternative method of two-factor authentication to the text message to the phone. BUT if one is overseas where one cannot receive text messages generated in Canada, then one is out of luck if one wants to do anything to one's account.

This is where an authenticator app - Google's or Samsung's, no doubt there are others - would come in very handy.

Or even a 2FA message to an email address, at least for the duration of the trip/holiday/absence.