World Wide Texting Plan

[KamWest]

I go to a tropical destination twice per year for about 10 days. Mexico, Bahamas, Domincan Republic, Aruba etc.

The last time I went to ArubaI could not do banking because my text did not work for verification.

So yesterday I went to Rogers to get a temporary plan to use outside of Canada and the US. 

They tried incredibly hard to pull me out of the Public Eco System. I have 4 lines at Public and the deal Rogers offered me to switch was pretty impressive and the roam like home was attractive.

I have to say that it was the closest I came to switching because texting is super important to me and Public has no plan outside of Canada and the USA.

Here is why text is so important...

As soon as you leave the country and try to do banking or check your credit card, technically almost anything financial you get asked to verify who you are. Most of the time that is a text and Android phones cannot text without data. At first I thought I would use an internet texting program like Text Now but that is a different phone number and all my text verifications would not work with that number. 

So with Public only offering North America I was sooooooo close to moving my 4 lines. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that I am a Beta Tester for almost all things Google and I am currently testing the NEW MESSENGER BETA which does allow texting over the internet.

Incredibly enough that feature only works on Telus with a Google Pixel phone at the moment and I guess I have both 

I am heading out again in 3 months and if that feature is not fully active by then I have no choice but to move away from public because I cannot use Public in tropical destinations.

Would be nice if public had at least a basic voice/text addon that worked outside of the US and Canada.

[geopublic]

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@KamWest wrote:

I go to a tropical destination twice per year for about 10 days. Mexico, Bahamas, Domincan Republic, Aruba etc.

The last time I went to ArubaI could not do banking because my text did not work for verification.

So yesterday I went to Rogers to get a temporary plan to use outside of Canada and the US. 

They tried incredibly hard to pull me out of the Public Eco System. I have 4 lines at Public and the deal Rogers offered me to switch was pretty impressive and the roam like home was attractive.

I have to say that it was the closest I came to switching because texting is super important to me and Public has no plan outside of Canada and the USA.

Here is why text is so important...

As soon as you leave the country and try to do banking or check your credit card, technically almost anything financial you get asked to verify who you are. Most of the time that is a text and Android phones cannot text without data. At first I thought I would use an internet texting program like Text Now but that is a different phone number and all my text verifications would not work with that number. 

@KamWest  You should check with your bank and ask what happens when you are on vacation and will not be abl to recieve texts for 2FA. Most banks have workarounds like one-time backup codes, adding another number etc.

So with Public only offering North America I was sooooooo close to moving my 4 lines. The only thing that stopped me was the fact that I am a Beta Tester for almost all things Google and I am currently testing the NEW MESSENGER BETA which does allow texting over the internet.

Incredibly enough that feature only works on Telus with a Google Pixel phone at the moment and I guess I have both 

Yes, RCS will be a game changer for Android devices.

I am heading out again in 3 months and if that feature is not fully active by then I have no choice but to move away from public because I cannot use Public in tropical destinations.

Would be nice if public had at least a basic voice/text addon that worked outside of the US and Canada.

I agree but there always other ways like for example if you use a VOIP  service like (freephoneline.ca, and voip.ms) you can receive a text via email.

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[Anonymous]

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@KamWest wrote:

You cannot text and android from another country without data, I tried that. It worked inside Canada but as soon as I left it did not.

Once you are outside the country you cannot change verification service to email. It uses what the setting were and you cannot login until you verify yourself from within the country you are staying in.

That is similar on a lot of websites and especially financial institutions.

Even my password manager would not open without text verification.

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Yes. I had remembered that Amazon notices that you're somewhere else. As does Google. But I don't use texting for verification. I'm fine with email. Maybe it's even the better way after all this talk of not being able to tx/rx texts elsewhere. One can always get emails anywhere.

Again as for banking, I get or print bills. Then for that 10 day vacation elsewhere I schedule a future bill payment. Then I don't have to think about them while I'm away.

[KamWest]

You cannot text and android from another country without data, I tried that. It worked inside Canada but as soon as I left it did not.

Once you are outside the country you cannot change verification service to email. It uses what the setting were and you cannot login until you verify yourself from within the country you are staying in.

That is similar on a lot of websites and especially financial institutions.

Even my password manager would not open without text verification.

[Anonymous]

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@KamWest wrote:

As soon as you leave the country and try to do banking or check your credit card, technically almost anything financial you get asked to verify who you are. Most of the time that is a text and Android phones cannot text without data.

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Android phones can text without data.

I just log in to whatever financial service. But I also rarely do so. I guess I'm old school and get or print paper bills. Then I log into my bank and pay the bill. No text verifications needed. I rarely log into credit card accounts.

So I don't even know why all this text verification business exists 🙂

Edit: oh right...otherwise then I'll select getting an email for some kind of verification.

[KamWest]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 @KamWest 

But if it suits your needs then that's the decision you need to make.

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Yup, but I am hoping that text via the internet will be fully active for me by then.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed, if not you are right and I will probably have to switch away.

[Anonymous]

 @KamWest 

It just sounds more and more like this isn't quite the right service for you and your needs.

I don't know how roaming contracts work but I would imagine it costs money. Things that cost money get passed down to the customer (obviously) and thus producing higher rates. But if it suits your needs then that's the decision you need to make.