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Can I send a text to Canada in the US without a US roaming addon.

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

I'm in a border city right now and I thought I would connect to AT&T for fun, turns out I'm able to send text messages over a US network without an addon ? Is this a glitch or is it intended to be like that ?

21 REPLIES 21

The only caveat is that my info is getting to be rather old now. Most came from a good friend on the inside at Telus mobility but he passed away far too young in 2015.

 

AE_Collector

@AE_Collector 

Thanks I knew you would be in the know about such things no thanks to @hairbag1 !!😃

BlueB
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@BearFBI 

Very interesting - thanks for the note and some interesting information on your experiment!  I suppose anything is worth a try when you're in that situation.  I'm curious to try it when I'm around the border too, although I probably won't have the same "luck" as you... thanks for sharing!

 

Also thanks to @AE_Collector for the insight.  🙂  It's always enriching to learn different tidbits in this Community! 

 

Sidenote for @Anonymous, the OP was telling us that it worked and asked about some details surrounding it, not directly asking about Add-ons or instructions to fix things.

@BearFBI 

This topic sounds like ‘the Border Zone” at work to me. When there are communities on each side of the Canada/US border there would constantly be issues with people being billed for roaming (on cell plans that allow roaming and bill for it) when they hadn’t left their own country.

 

In the case of Telus and their roaming partners they created a Border Zone by mapping cell sites close to the border on each side of the border into the Border Zone. Your phone may show roaming and be on the network from the other side but if it is a site mapped into the Border Zone it will allow calls and likely texts as though you were connected to your normal network. Not sure about data.

 

AE_Collector

Anonymous
Not applicable

@hairbag1 wrote:

@Anonymous wrote:

@hairbag1 wrote:

@darlicious wrote:

@BearFBI 

The person who would know more about roaming agreements would be @AE_Collector .


Not so sure there's any "agreements" to be aware of...as the Right Reverend @Anonymous is fond of saying...sometimes strange things happen at PM. This might be one of'm.


 @hairbag1 : To potentially turn off even more people from recognizing my existence...does Reverend work for an atheist? 🙂 I hardly deserve such a salutation nonetheless.


Humble too !!

Well I'll amend the salutation to...the "Right Revered"  🎩


 @hairbag1 : To potentially turn off even more people from recognizing my existence...is "Left Revered" a thing? 🙂 Again...I hardly deserve any such salutation.


@Anonymous wrote:

@hairbag1 wrote:

@darlicious wrote:

@BearFBI 

The person who would know more about roaming agreements would be @AE_Collector .


Not so sure there's any "agreements" to be aware of...as the Right Reverend @Anonymous is fond of saying...sometimes strange things happen at PM. This might be one of'm.


 @hairbag1 : To potentially turn off even more people from recognizing my existence...does Reverend work for an atheist? 🙂 I hardly deserve such a salutation nonetheless.


Humble too !!

Well I'll amend the salutation to...the "Right Revered"  🎩

Anonymous
Not applicable

@hairbag1 wrote:

@darlicious wrote:

@BearFBI 

The person who would know more about roaming agreements would be @AE_Collector .


Not so sure there's any "agreements" to be aware of...as the Right Reverend @Anonymous is fond of saying...sometimes strange things happen at PM. This might be one of'm.


 @hairbag1 : To potentially turn off even more people from recognizing my existence...does Reverend work for an atheist? 🙂 I hardly deserve such a salutation nonetheless.

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@hairbag1 Exactly

 

Wouldn't surprise me if VoLTE suddenly pops up on my phone one day 🤷‍

 

This is a cellular carrier we're talking about. Strange things happen not just with PM. 

 

I managed to use data on my rogers prepaied plan with no data once. It lasted for a day or two, free data lol  


@darlicious wrote:

@BearFBI 

The person who would know more about roaming agreements would be @AE_Collector .


Not so sure there's any "agreements" to be aware of...as the Right Reverend @Anonymous is fond of saying...sometimes strange things happen at PM. This might be one of'm.

@BearFBI 

The person who would know more about roaming agreements would be @AE_Collector .

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Anonymous Nah I'm far from the border now, I was going to play around with it more but I forgot. 

 

Next time.... 

 

Mabey someone elese thats near the border could try and fiddle around ? 

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @BearFBI : If you're still able to play around with it then look for the R and maybe get the welcome text and then see if calls work.

I got the welcome text last weekend when I was near the border. And the R. But I didn't think to play around with it.

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Anonymous crap, I wonder too. 

 

 

Too late now lol, back in my City. 

 

When I walked a bit closer to the border I picked up Verizon signal too, wonder if I would've been able to connect to that. 

Anonymous
Not applicable

 @BearFBI : So much for that theory. I wonder if you had not connected to AT&T but still had roaming and the welcome text whether calling would work.

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Anonymous "It's a known published official fact that we can receive texts in the US without an add-on. Then, I believe there are agreements with the providers along the border for a bit of a buffer zone to let you use your services either side. But not very far."

 

That's quite interesting actually, may have been possible.

 

Data and calls didn't work at all though. 

BearFBI
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@softech "so, the top of the screen showing you are connected to AT&T while you text??"

 

Yes, I manually selected AT&T and it said R at the top which indicates roaming, I also got the welcome to USA text message too. 

 

Data and phone calls didn't work but i was able to text no problem, receive and send !

 

Sorry for the late reply's, been in and out of cell reception lately.

Anonymous
Not applicable

It's a known published official fact that we can receive texts in the US without an add-on. Then, I believe there are agreements with the providers along the border for a bit of a buffer zone to let you use your services either side. But not very far.

softech
Oracle
Oracle

 

so, the top of the screen showing you are connected to AT&T while you text??  but I think that is a glitch too..

 

 

I heard that you can receive text in US without a roaming package but I think you do need the package to text out.

 

 

 

Anonymous
Not applicable

@BearFBI 

you can't text without roaming package,

 

all purchase Add-on One Time and they will immediately start working,

 

how to Purchase Add-Ons Through Self Serve

To purchase Add-Ons using your Self-Serve account, follow these steps:

  1. Click on ‘Purchase Add- Ons’ on the Overview tab and scroll down to the Add-On calculator.
  2. Click the plus sign (+) to add and the minus sign (-) to remove selected Add-ons.
  3. When you’ve added all your desired Add-Ons, click ‘Buy Add-Ons’ or ‘Make a Payment’ below the calculator:
    • You will see ‘Make a Payment’ instead of ‘Buy Add-Ons’ if there are not enough funds in your account to make the purchase.
    • If you don’t have sufficient funds to purchase the Add-Ons, you will be asked to make a one-time payment equal to the price of the Add-On, less your current available funds. Click ‘Submit’, then ‘Go back’: now the button below the calculator will say ‘Buy Add-Ons’.
  4. Select ‘Confirm my purchase’, and you’re off to the races!

 

and do rebooting your phone -This one is quick and simple,

 

what is mean for Rebooting the phone means to turn off your phone and turn it back on again.

 

Good Luck and enjoyed your trip

Dunkman
Oracle
Oracle

 

@BearFBI 

Not intended.  Probably a glitch.  People have reported that able to receive texts in the USA without roaming package.  Occasional person likely yourself have noted able to send text also.  

Meow
Mayor / Maire

With PM service you can send SMS/MMS to ANY country in the world, nothing to do with you being able to somehow connect to AT&T.

Are you sure you are actually connected to USA network? Does you phone says 'connected to AT&T' or similar instead of Public Mobile????

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