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How do I know if my phone will work on the Public Mobile network?

Lachlan_M
Retraité / Retired
Retraité / Retired

Public Mobile works on following frequencies: 

  • For 3G use (UMTS/HSPA): 850MHz/1900MHz bands
  • For 4G/LTE use: 1700MHz/2100MHz bands
  • For 4G/LTE use: 700 MHz band

Which means most of the 3G,4G HSPA/ LTE phones that are compatible with these frequencies will work on Public Mobile. If your phone is locked to specific carrier, you’ll have to get it unlocked. 

 

Phones compatible with Telus, Koodo, Bell, Virgin will work on Public Mobile network. All 3G, 4G phones from Rogers, Fido and ChatR are compatible and will work on the Public Mobile network. 

 

To verify if you phone will work on Public Mobile network click here 

 

239 REPLIES 239

MMack
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@Badgerconda wrote:

Hey, I'm an existing PM customer and my phone is starting to crap the bed.... looking at replacements and I'm wondering if this phone would work on the network:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Motorola-XT1955-2-Display-International-Model/dp/B07NPRQYP1/ref=sr_1_3?keyword...

 

I'm kind of clueless when it comes to figuring this out, so apologies if this is a dumb question.



I use a site called Kimovil, which is a good site to look up info about phones. It has a section that lists all the bands working on each network and if the phone has those bands.

 

Public Mobile uses mostly Band 4 for LTE Data, and Band 12,13 in Metro areas

 

Public Mobile also uses 3G Bands, B5 - 850Mhz and B2 - 1900Mhz for Voice/Text and 3G data.

 

The phone supports every available band in Canada and should be fully supported by Public Mobile, aswell as most providers in North America.

 

IMG_0448.PNG

 

 

 

Badgerconda
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Hey, I'm an existing PM customer and my phone is starting to crap the bed.... looking at replacements and I'm wondering if this phone would work on the network:

 

https://www.amazon.ca/Motorola-XT1955-2-Display-International-Model/dp/B07NPRQYP1/ref=sr_1_3?keyword...

 

I'm kind of clueless when it comes to figuring this out, so apologies if this is a dumb question.

vince90ca
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I am currently shopping for a new phone. I seriously consider the UMIDIGI F1 Play Unlocked International version (https://www.umidigi.com/page-umidigi_f1play_specification.html) which is supposed to be the "2019 Flagship Killer" according to some tech websites due to its excellent specs for 199.99 USD (including a AndroidAuthority coupon currently available).

 

The purpose of my post is to make sure this phone is compatible and will allow me to enjoy at 100% the Public Mobile network. Here are the specifications of this phone, including its frequency bands:

 

4G network

Both SIM slots are compatible with 4G, support 4G VoLTE in both slots simultaneously.

2G: GSM 2 /3 /5 /8

2G: CDMA1X BC0,BC1

3G: EVDO BC0,BC1

3G: WCDMA 1 /2 /4 /5 /6 /8 /19

3G: TD-SCDMA 34 /39

4G: TDD-LTE 34 /38 /39 /40 /41

4G: FDD-LTE 1 /2 /3 /4 /5 /7 /8 /12 /13 /17 /18 /19 /20 /25 /26 /28A /28B

 

I tried to check on the PM Community (but there is no info on the official spectrum of PM frequencies), with the site "Frequency Check" (https://www.frequencycheck.com/carriers / public-mobile-canada) and WillMyPhoneWork.net (phone model missing). According to Frequency Check website, the phone would work, but I would like advises about how can I confirm that it will really work so I'm not buying troubles.


Any advises / thoughts about how to confirm this phone is compatible and will allow me to enjoy at 100% the Public Mobile network would be much appreciated?

Thank you in advance for your help.


@cherryngai wrote:

What is HSPA network?


Just another type of network you need or phone calls won't work


@cherryngai wrote:

My plan is $120 per 90 Days 

  •  12GB Data
  • - Unlimited International Text
  • - Unlimited Provincial Talk

I believe my data is LTE


Doesn't matter if your data is LTE.  You need to have the 3g network compatible with your phone to do phone calls.

@cherryngai 

Here are your phone specs for network from this website:

https://www.gsmarena.com/huawei_mate_20_lite-9284.php

This phone should work with Public mobile since it has 3G:  850, 1900  

 

2G bandsGSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 - SIM 1 & SIM 2 (SNE-LX1 DS, SNE-LX3 DS, INE-LX2)
3G bandsHSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700(AWS) / 1900 / 2100 - SNE-LX1, SNE-LX3
 HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100 - SNE-LX2
4G bandsLTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 7(2600), 8(900), 20(800) - SNE-LX1
 LTE band 1(2100), 3(1800), 5(850), 7(2600), 8(900), 18(800), 19(800), 28(700), 38(2600), 40(2300), 41(2500) - SNE-LX2, INE-LX2
 LTE band 2(1900), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 12(700), 17(700), 28(700) - SNE-LX3

cherryngai
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

What is HSPA network?

cherryngai
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

My plan is $120 per 90 Days 

  •  12GB Data
  • - Unlimited International Text
  • - Unlimited Provincial Talk

I believe my data is LTE


@cherryngai wrote:

I would like to buy Huawei Mate 20 Lite (International Version). 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07J4Z9647

 

Does it work on public mobile?

 

  • LTE Bands: LTE band 2(1900), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 12(700), 17(700), 28(700)
  • Factory Unlocked cellphones are compatible with most of the GSM carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile, but are not compatible with CDMA carriers such as Verizon and Sprint. 

The HSPA network compatibility is far more important than my opinion because phone calls cannot be placed or received at Public Mobile on the LTE network, while the HSPA network can do both voice and data.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@cherryngai wrote:

I would like to buy Huawei Mate 20 Lite (International Version). 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07J4Z9647

 

Does it work on public mobile?

 

  • LTE Bands: LTE band 2(1900), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 12(700), 17(700), 28(700)
  • Factory Unlocked cellphones are compatible with most of the GSM carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile, but are not compatible with CDMA carriers such as Verizon and Sprint. 

Gonna need some 3G frequencies in there. Voice is on 3G here. You're good for data.

 

Edit: Yes this phone *should* work.

cherryngai
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

I would like to buy Huawei Mate 20 Lite (International Version). 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07J4Z9647

 

Does it work on public mobile?

 

  • LTE Bands: LTE band 2(1900), 4(1700/2100), 5(850), 7(2600), 12(700), 17(700), 28(700)
  • Factory Unlocked cellphones are compatible with most of the GSM carriers such as AT&T and T-Mobile, but are not compatible with CDMA carriers such as Verizon and Sprint. 

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@computergeek541 wrote:


I wouldn't trust the accuracy of checking compatibility with Public Mobile's tool.  It has mistakes, more so than some other online checking tools.  Telus's tool once told me that my Nokia E73 was compatible when it has neither 850 nor 1900MHz 3g.  I'll bet that the database still has that same mistake and that was years ago that I noticed that one.


@MJ23 the community recommends using https://www.willmyphonework.net.  It is missing some phone models, but the ones it does have are generally FAR more accurate than Public Mobile's own IMEI checeker.  When your phone is missing from willmyphonework, post here and community members can help hunt down the specs and determine compatibility.


>>> ALERT: I am not a moderator. For account or activation assistance, please click here.


@MJ23 wrote:

When you activate your phone on PM, the website asks for the IMEI number of the phone. Here, PM verifies the compatibility of the phone.

 

Alternatively, you can also check here:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-started

 

Thank you,

MJ23

 


I wouldn't trust the accuracy of checking compatibility with Public Mobile's tool.  It has mistakes, more so than some other online checking tools.  Telus's tool once told me that my Nokia E73 was compatible when it has neither 850 nor 1900MHz 3g.  I'll bet that the database still has that same mistake and that was years ago that I noticed that one.

MJ23
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

When you activate your phone on PM, the website asks for the IMEI number of the phone. Here, PM verifies the compatibility of the phone.

 

Alternatively, you can also check here:

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-started

 

Thank you,

MJ23

 

That's great, happy to hear your issue is resolved!

DallasL
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I guess I forgot to wrap thigns up! Once the Mod checked the SIM activation he discovered that the "SIM card status [was] not active" even though there was a "fully active Public Mobile account with a completed port request"! The Mod submited an activation request and 48 hours latter the SIM did indeed activate fully an all is now workign wonderfully! Thanks all, especialy @sheytoon for you help!

Well this conclusively shows the SIM is not provisioned (activated) properly.

 

I don't remember if you get a confirmation email. It's been so long for me. Guess you'll need a new SIM or a moderator to help fix the activation problems. Good luck!

DallasL
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@sheytoon thankyou for that lesson! Very intoresting. Having a screenshot of what it should look liek helps it make a lot more sence now!


My big achivment for today was that I was able to test the SIM on a Galaxy S8 today. It showed full bars but also returned the "Couldn't find network. Try Again Latter." message. So I am glad I didn't try buying a new phone yet!

 

Edit: Should I not have at least recived an email confirming my SIM registration?

Oh you definitely don't need to run it for more than a few seconds if the app is working correctly! Here's a sample from my phone:

 

Screenshot_20190104-200748.png

 

I filtered out a lot of the messaging (paging, RRC messaging, etc), just to focus on the attach procedure. To do this, I filtered only for NAS > EMM messages.

 

This shows the attach sequence. You can see clearly with my SIM, the first thing is my phone sends ATTACH REQUEST to network (orange direction is uplink [phone to network]; blue direction is downlink [network to phone]).


Then network asks me to authenticate myself in the AUTHENTICATION REQUEST message. I respond, and network moves to establish security for NAS messaging (messages exchanged between phone and Telus core network. These become encrypted such that even the base station cannot read their contents after this point).

 

After the security procedure is done, I am eventually given ATTACH ACCEPT and am allowed to set up bearers (sort of like tunnels) with the network. Once I'm done doing that, I send ATTACH COMPLETE message and the procecure is finished.


The very last message is me enabling airplane mode, which actually is the phone requesting a DETACH from the network 🙂

DallasL
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@sheytoon I just quit the app, it has been running for many hours now with nothing new.I had overlooked that all teh mesages were prefeced by RRC though! Here is a screen shot of what I am seeing:

 

Screenshot_20190104-162545.png

I have sent the Mods another message iquiering about "confirming the status of SIM provisioning", but I am a am afraid that I am out of my league and not sure I can ask overly inteigent questions or provide usfull details yet! 🙂

I am hoping to be able to try the SIM in my sister or brothers phone when I see them next Thursday as they have working Public Mobile acounts (and their SIMs in my phone). Hopfully I can find another phone to borrow befor that!

It sounds like the SIM card is not properly provisioned.

 

You should see some messages with RRC in the beginning (i.e. RRC CONNECTION REQUEST, RRC CONNECTION SETUP, etc).

 

It's possible Network Signal Guru (NSG) doesn't fully support your phone's modem. NSG is a diagnostics tool and provides helpful information for network troubleshooting. RAT means Radio Access Technology (i.e. 2G/3G/4G, and soon to be 5G). PM supports both WCDMA (3G) and LTE (4G).

 

SIB is System Information Broadcasts. These are messages broadcast from the base station (tower), and it's one of the first messages a phone will decode in order to find out where it is (which network, which technology, which frequency, etc). After MIB/SIB messaging, your phone should request to attach to the network with a series of RRC messages. This will always happen, regardless of SIM status. If you don't see these messages, it might be a limitation of NSG for your phone's modem. Once you are able to view RRC messaging, you can see if the network is accepting or rejecting your request. If you are rejected, the phone will go to emergency only, and usually will not show any bars on the screen. You can toggle airplane mode on/off to force the attach procedure.

 

You can ignore paging messages. That's for the network to page all users under a certain Tracking Area, and the network will ask one specific user to "wake up" in order to receive an incoming call or data session. This is how incoming services are delivered when a user is idle.

 

I would bug the moderator team again while you're waiting for another phone to test. They should do a better job confirming the status of SIM provisioning.

DallasL
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@sheytoon

I tried to get the 6 digit pin on my inlaws LG G4 this morning, but nothing so far. It shows full bars, and in the "Network Oporators" settigns there are two public mobile options: "RAT: LTE", and "RAT: WCDMA". I didn't know what to chose so I just selected "Select automatically". After a wile I got a mesage saying: "Your SIM card does not alow access to this network".

 

I then tried the WCDMA option, and after the "Registering on Public Mobile..." loading animation spun for a wile I again got a "Your SIM card does not alow a conection to this network".

 

So I tried the LTE option and got the same.

I am trying Network Signal Guru on my S3 now. I am not 100% sure how the app works. It looks more like a live monitoring app than one that runns times tests. Is that right? Right now It looks like most of the signaling page messages are about the device itself rather than the network. SystemInformation-BCH and MasterInformationBlock messages. (Update: over the last hour+ the only variation on "SystemInformation" and "MasterInformation" messages are various "Paging Type" mesages.) I will continue to keep it running and post an update if I see somthing new. 

Is there any chance I might have a faulty SIM card?

Thanks for the info!

 

The CSC is a carrier-specific customization that Samsung had in the past. On some models, it was allowed to be changed by the customer. It would only work on stock Samsung (if at all). I forgot you had Lineage on one of them. So that's probably not the issue.

 

Right now I'm thinking the SIM card is not activated properly. It seems like an authentication failure with the network. Your best bet to narrow it down is to try the SIM in another phone model.

 

If you have a lot of time and want to try something out of the box, you can also try installing Network Signal Guru on a rooted device that has a Qualcomm chipset. Here's the app:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.qtrun.QuickTest

 

I assume you're rooted since you've changed the OS already. If it does work and you get access to the modem diagnostics, scroll to the signaling page and let me know if you can see messages being exchanged with the network. I can help decode them.

DallasL
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@sheytoon Thanks for chipping in!

I am not familier with what the CSC is. I tried dialing *#272*IMEI# on my Liniage OS (Android 7) S3 and nothing happened? Or is that somthing that would only do somthing on the stock rom? I had to send my dads phone back to him, but I think I might be able to try one of my inlaws unlocked LG G3s tomorw.


My S3 shows no bars, and says "Emergancy calls only", and Preferred network type is set to "GSM/WCDMA/LTE".

In the mobile networks settings the one phone (Stock Rom) when I searched for network oporators I can see Public mobile but when I try to conect it says "failed to conect, try again latter". (If my memory serves corectly I think it was showing full bars with the Public Mobile card? but that may not be right.) On the other phone (Liniage OS 7) it says "Error wile conecting to network."

@DallasL, what happens exactly when you power up the phone with a PM SIM? Emergency calls only? Some other message? Any bars visible? Is it set to automatically detect a network and use all technologies (3G/4G)?

 

If it's available, you can try to change the CSC. It works on some older Samsung devices. This will factory reset your phone and erase all content, so please backup important info.

 

*#272*IMEI#

Where IMEI is a unique identifier of your phone, can be found by dialing *#06#

You can change the CSC to TLS (Telus) to see if it helps.

 

The moderator is giving you some bad information.

 

Last question, have you confirmed the PM SIM is active and functional by using it in another phone?

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@DallasL it is very strange.  There's no reason a network-compatible variant of an S3 shouldn't be able to work.  It's an old phone but was a very popular handset when it was current. 

 

I think the moderator is misinformed.  @Mary_M sorry to bug you but can you maybe review the info @DallasL has received from one of the moderators?  


>>> ALERT: I am not a moderator. For account or activation assistance, please click here.

DallasL
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Checked now at both links, all turns up ok. It would be wierd for both phones to sudenly be marked. (original owers being myself and my Dad).

In other parts of the message he did use the term "not compatable". Is it bad form to posta coppy of a privet message? I am just guna do it for clarity, as there doesnt seem to be any sensitive data in it:

The reason why you didn't receive your 6 digits code is because your phone is not connected to the network.

Your phone is not compatible with the Public Mobile network. It can be unlocked but still not compatible with the Public Mobile network.

 

Public Mobile works on following frequencies:

 

For 3G use (UMTS/HSPA): 850MHz/1900MHz bands.
For 4G/LTE use: 1700MHz/2100MHz bands.
However, even if the device supports some or all of the required frequencies, it will not be able to connect unless the device is approved for our network. 

 

On the Public Mobile website, a disclaimer is displayed just below the section where you enter your IMEI of your device, stating this following message : 

 

Disclaimer

This information is indicative only. Your device's compatibility with our 4G or 4G LTE networks is based on the radio frequencies of your device. Public Mobile does not guarantee that your device will work on our mobile network.

We do not guaranteed his compatibility.  I highly recommend you to try the phone with a Public Mobile SIM card, if possible, before purchase it.


 

This just seems realy strange to me.

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@DallasL I've never heard of a device not being authorized for PM use--incompatible yes, locked elsewhere yes, but not "unathorized".  OH wait.... could it have been added to the blacklist?  Check your IMEI using PM's checker here:  https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/get-started.  It's not useful for compatbility, but is for checking blacklisting.  You should also check here: https://www.devicecheck.ca/check-status-device-canada/.  


>>> ALERT: I am not a moderator. For account or activation assistance, please click here.

DallasL
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Thankyou for your responces Carld123 and srlawren! I apreaceate it.

@srlawren the M simply denotes the canadian edition of the phone, otherwise it is the same as the regular S3 SGH-i747 (i747M is the Canadian version. 1747 is AT&T's version)

 

I have an S3 with Liniage OS installed that is also unlocked (though it doesnt show up right) and access to an S3 with stock Rom (curently with Virgin) that is confirmed unlocked. Both were originaly with Koodo, both can phone out using the virgin SIM. Both will not conect to the PM network.

The modorator said "...even if the device supports some or all of the required frequencies, it will not be able to connect unless the device is approved for our network."

From searching the forums, it looks like other members have used S3s in the past anyway. I would be intorested to know if anyone still is.

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@DallasL having a hard time finding specs for that specific variant (ending in "M").  Do you know what carrier sold it originally?  Also:  could it be locked to your previous carrier?  The statement from the moderator is a bit perplexing, but if the phone was carrier-locked (to anyone but Telus or Koodo), that might be intepreted as "not approved".  


>>> ALERT: I am not a moderator. For account or activation assistance, please click here.
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