No Service - how do you get support?!

[DougCollinge]

I have an apparently good phone here that won't connect to Public Mobile. Public Mobile shows up in the network operators list but I get "Unable to connect. Try Later." when I ask it to connect. I have 5 bars of signal strength, so I presume the radio on the phone is working. Must be Public Mobile just rejecting my phone. I have tried all the usual stuff:

- checked my account status: active

- rebooted the phone multiple times

- reseated the SIM multiple times

- reset the connections parameters

- unlocked the (Telus) phone

- suspended and unsuspended the phone

I think I have run out of options - I don't think there is anything else I can do by myself. @CS_Agent is not answering my private messages, since this problem emerged yesterday. This is NOT adequate support!

[DougCollinge]

UPDATE: in case anyone finds this thread in the future I am updating it with the information that the phone itself was the issue. Long story but the antenna connector was loose so the phone only worked in the vicinity of a cell tower. Now that it is fixed it works again with no change to the PM plan. 

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions and help!

[jor123]

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@DougCollinge wrote:

Where would I get a suitable SIM on short notice?

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I believe you can buy them at Walmart? 

[sheytoon]

With a Galaxy S6, you can dial *#2263# and force the phone to lock to one band at a time to see what's happening.

Try it for LTE B2, B4, B5, B7, B12.

Also try WCDMA B2, B5.

[DougCollinge]

Yes, that could be, I suppose. I don't know how to check for that. Thanks for the suggestion.

[DougCollinge]

Thanks for your suggestion! It's a Samsung GS6. Yes, I suppose it could be an intermittent antenna but I don't really believe that since it worked properly for hours in another location and it won't work at all, even for seconds, in this location.

[srlawren]

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@sheytoon wrote:

Is it possible your phone's antenna connections were damaged or disconnected when you had it serviced?

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@DougCollinge I apologize if you've already posted this info somewhere--I skimmed this thread and didn't see it mentioned--what phone model are you using?  This may not apply, but some iPhone 6/6S models develop intermittent antenna connection issues after a period of time of working flawlessly.  I've seen a few of those come up in the community over the years.  In fact, back when I was still a community oracle, I met a guy that was having the issue and gave him one of my spare SIM cards to help rule out a SIM card issue.  When it didn't resolve it, he went to an Apple store and it turned out the antenna connection was in fact loose and only working intermittently.  I have seen other examples of this in the community.

@sheytoon your note about antenna reminded me of this, thanks!

[sheytoon]

Is it possible your phone's antenna connections were damaged or disconnected when you had it serviced?

It sounds like some bands are working, but not all.

Towers do not have the ability to reject individual users.

[DougCollinge]

UPDATE: I spent some time tonight in a different location and suddenly found my phone connecting. It worked there for a couple of hours but now that I am home it won't connect again. To me, this behaviour suggests that the phone will only connect through certain towers, though I have no idea why that would be. But it's definitely a datapoint...

I sure hope those moderators get in gear soon. This is very obviously a technical problem.

[GinYVR]

@DougCollingeI recommend you swap the SIM card with another phone first to swap to narrow down whether it is the SIM card problem or not. Did you verify your IMEI # to be your original one after you got your phone back?? A black listed IMEI would also give a similiar symptom.

[DougCollinge]

Thanks!

[ChuckYeah]

Do you have a Walmart nearby?

Some more spots here in this post by @pm-smayer97 :

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Retail/Where-to-buy-SIMS-for-Public-Mobile/m-p/302311...

[DougCollinge]

Where would I get a suitable SIM on short notice?

[DougCollinge]

Mostly the same but not entirely:

 APN type: internet + mms

Mobile virtual network operator value:

4D

The setting you have for APN type is not a choice that is available on my phone. I tried setting MVNOV to 4D4F like yours but it did not make a  difference.

[geopublic]

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@DougCollinge wrote:

Yes, that's what I meant. lost/unlost.

It did, in fact, work on PM for years. I had the phone serviced (new battery) and it connected for a while after that, so it wasn't broken, then stopped connecting.

Waiting 11 days is just a disgrace.

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@DougCollinge  Some customers with similar issues were advised by the moderators to change sim in order to fix the problem. If you are in a hurry, maybe worthwhile purchasing a new sim and do a sim swap via selfserve. If it fixes the issue then notify the moderator team and ask them to credit back the cost of the card to your account funds.

[goldilock]

@DougCollinge If the problelm just emerged yesterday, and depending on when you contacted a moderator, it takes aproximately 48-72 hours (2-3 days) to receive a reply. Be patient, a moderator will respond and will help you when they get to your message in queue. 

[Lar]

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"The fact it was a Telus phone means that it should have worked with PM. It's the same towers. The mod team took 11 days to really start anything for me. That is a bit longer than the average though. Hopefully you will get something from them by tomorrow. The only thing I don't see on the list is the Lost-Stolen trick (unless that is what you meant by the Suspend/Unsuspend or the add $1 trick. Other than those, it does look like you have tried everything on your end other than testing the SIM in another phone to see if it is just a defective SIM."

Yikes!   11 days to start fixing a customers problem.  I wonder if that's a record? If that happened to me I'd be looking for another provider.  Cheers

[DougCollinge]

Yes, that's what I meant. lost/unlost.

It did, in fact, work on PM for years. I had the phone serviced (new battery) and it connected for a while after that, so it wasn't broken, then stopped connecting.

Waiting 11 days is just a disgrace.

[Psygineer]

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@DougCollinge wrote:

I have an apparently good phone here that won't connect to Public Mobile. Public Mobile shows up in the network operators list but I get "Unable to connect. Try Later." when I ask it to connect. I have 5 bars of signal strength, so I presume the radio on the phone is working. Must be Public Mobile just rejecting my phone. I have tried all the usual stuff:

- checked my account status: active

- rebooted the phone multiple times

- reseated the SIM multiple times

- reset the connections parameters

- unlocked the (Telus) phone

- suspended and unsuspended the phone

I think I have run out of options - I don't think there is anything else I can do by myself. @CS_Agent is not answering my private messages, since this problem emerged yesterday. This is NOT adequate support!

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The fact it was a Telus phone means that it should have worked with PM. It's the same towers. The mod team took 11 days to really start anything for me. That is a bit longer than the average though. Hopefully you will get something from them by tomorrow. The only thing I don't see on the list is the Lost-Stolen trick (unless that is what you meant by the Suspend/Unsuspend or the add $1 trick. Other than those, it does look like you have tried everything on your end other than testing the SIM in another phone to see if it is just a defective SIM.

[ChuckYeah]

Try checking your apn settings. These are mine:

APN Settings:
Name: Mobile Internet
APN: sp.mb.com
Proxy: Not set
Port: Not set
Username: Not set
Password: Not set
Server: Not set
MMSC: http://aliasredirect.net/proxy/mb/mmsc
MMS proxy: 74.49.0.18
MMS port: 80
MCC: 302
MNC: 220
Authentication type: Not set
APN type: default,mms,agps,supl,fota,hipri
APN protocol: IPv4
APN roaming protocol: IPv4
APN enable/disable: APN enabled
Bearer: Unspecified
MVNO type: GID
MVNO value: 4D4F 

[geopublic]

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@DougCollinge wrote:

I have an apparently good phone here that won't connect to Public Mobile. Public Mobile shows up in the network operators list but I get "Unable to connect. Try Later." when I ask it to connect. I have 5 bars of signal strength, so I presume the radio on the phone is working. Must be Public Mobile just rejecting my phone. I have tried all the usual stuff:

- checked my account status: active

- rebooted the phone multiple times

- reseated the SIM multiple times

- reset the connections parameters

- unlocked the (Telus) phone

- suspended and unsuspended the phone

I think I have run out of options - I don't think there is anything else I can do by myself. @CS_Agent is not answering my private messages, since this problem emerged yesterday. This is NOT adequate support!

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@DougCollinge  Try the PM sim in another phone. Does it connect?