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Can’t make phone calls in USA

Polyian
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I purchased the $60 plan in order to have data, calls and txt in the USA. I’m down here and my data works but no phone calls. All I get is three beeps when I try to make a call. Can someone fix this, I bought the roaming service because I need a phone down here.

36 REPLIES 36

@Koteh  You would have to add funds to your account via your credit card. Then go to the plans and add ons page. Choose the roaming add on (US) scroll down the page and submit your payment. The add on will appear in your overview page. Reboot your phone and follow my instructions in my other post.

dabr
Mayor / Maire

@Koteh wrote:

I bought top plan that guy offer me with USA, 50$ plan 


The $50 plan only allows for calls to the US whilst you're in Canada.  If you are stateside then you need to purchase one of the US add-ons which are good for 10 days from the following list:

 

US Roaming6
For 10 Days
U.S. Talk, Text and Data Bundle
Unlimited Talk, International Text and 250MB Data for just $20 for 10 days.
$20
U.S. Talk and Text Bundle
Unlimited Talk and International Text for just $15 for 10 days.
$15
U.S. Talk Only
Unlimited Talk for just $8 for 10 days.
$8
U.S. Text Only
Unlimited International Text for just $8 for 10 days.
$8
U.S. Data Only
250MB Data for $10, 500MB Data for $15 and 1GB Data for $20 for 10 days.
From $10

 

 

Koteh
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

I bought top plan that guy offer me with USA, 50$ plan 

@Koteh  Did you correctly purchase the US calling roaming add on? Does it show in your account? Have you enabled roaming? Rebooted your phone? Manually chosen either at&t or Tmobile?

Koteh
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin
 

@cavemantorontoThe issue is TMobile chose to use dual band towers (66 and 71) to fill out extend their coverage. eg places from Wyoming down to Utah used to have spotty TMo coverage, now they do have coverage but only are on LTE 66 and 71. So in that sense TMobile is increasing their coverage.


@GinYVR wrote:

@emlphotoIf you don't have band 66 then just don't use TMobile and select AT&T. TMobile relies on Band 66 to increase their network coverage.


Maybe not increase coverage but capacity. Band 66 is a very high frequency.

@emlphotoIf you don't have band 66 then just don't use TMobile and select AT&T. TMobile relies on Band 66 to increase their network coverage.

Polyian
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

There was no problem with data so I didn't try to disable LTE

 

I'm back in Canada now so I can't do anymore testing

 

 

emlphoto
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Would disabling LTE help?

Polyian
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

My T-Mobile sim shows LTE when I buy the data add-on. Works fast on my IPhone XR and my wife's IPhone 6S.

The PM sim gave me LTE on the T-Mob network but I could not make or receive voice or txt... everything worked fine when I manually selected ATT


@emlphoto wrote:

I have an older iphone7 which does not support this band 66 from what I understand.  I would need the iPhone 8 or better I think 


Band 66 is not needed for phone calls. Band 66 is only LTE. Calls can be made on 3g and there are other LTE bands.

emlphoto
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I have an older iphone7 which does not support this band 66 from what I understand.  I would need the iPhone 8 or better I think 

@PolyianI think the issue is Public Mobile only supports 3G and up. TMobile coverage also relies on 2G. If you have an older phone which has 2G support the network is fine, but if you are looking at 3G and up you are at a disadvantage.

 

Unlike in Canada, US carriers still use older technology and not upgrading as fast to keep cost low.

Polyian
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I have a T-Mobile SIM card I have used for years, I keep it alive for three bucks a month and it's a pay go service that includes 30 minutes.

On my last trip I decided to try PM"s new Canada US plan for a month.

With both plans my phone was on auto carrier, the T-mob worked fine, the PM did not until I did as sugested here.

My phone works fine with T-Mob except when using the PM SIM card 

@emlphotoWith Telus you only get TMobile or AT&T. Sprint is pending to be merged with TMobile. Since cell phones only latch on the first tower it can get the signal on without caring the quality, if you want best coverage in the States, I would suggest get a phone that supports Band 66.

emlphoto
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Interesting, all I know is T-Mobile does not work where we're at...about 1 hour north east of Vegas.  We could call to Canada and the reception was terrible, call from Canada could not be made at all. After I switched to AT&T everything worked fine.  Sprint is also available but haven't tried them.   Maybe I'll have to switch once we leave this area and work our way back to Canada in a few months 

@cellphoneuser1It depends on the phone the person is using. TMobile used to have a much smaller network, but their network has been expanded and is comparable to AT&T BY using a band that is new and not well supported (Band 66). If one's phone supports that, it offers faster rates at congested areas like downtown areas. The question is whether the person has the phone that supports the band or not.


@emlphoto wrote:

I just had this same issue and never new you could change providers on a iPhone.  T-Mobile did not work, but when I switched to att, calls improved 100%. 

thanks for the info!!


Both networks should work and auto network should be ok. Forcing manual network shouldn't be need but at least it worked.

emlphoto
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I just had this same issue and never new you could change providers on a iPhone.  T-Mobile did not work, but when I switched to att, calls improved 100%. 

thanks for the info!!

Polyian
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Thank You, I had my phone set to on autoselect for the carrier and it chose T-Mobile. I switched to AT&T and everything is working fine. Thanks for your tip.

@kelvarnsenYou can refer to this past thread.

kelvarnsen
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Psygineer wrote:

@Polyian wrote:

I purchased the $60 plan in order to have data, calls and txt in the USA. I’m down here and my data works but no phone calls. All I get is three beeps when I try to make a call. Can someone fix this, I bought the roaming service because I need a phone down here.


Some area codes are not covered by the plan. I wonder if you happen to be dealing with one of those areas where PM doesn't have exchange service.

 

Calls made to numbers starting with the following six digit combinations are not included in U.S. Roaming talk Add-Ons or U.S. calling from Canada and will not be completed when dialed: 712-432, 605-562, 641-552, 605-475, 605-477, 712-775, 559-726, 530-881. 


Is there something special about those area codes? Like why are those specific number combinations not allowed?

VanZem
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@TK123 wrote:

From another posting about a similar problem on this plan.

**

First. Power off your Phone and Back On. When you switch on to a different carrier, sometimes the APN (Internet stuff on the network side) isn't always pushed to your phone.

If that doesn't work, I would suggest manually selecting AT&T or T-Mobile as the other person mentioned. This in theory should force the APN settings on to your phone.

If you are still stuck, the only other thing I can suggest is to Call Public in the AM - or chat online private message while on WiFi (because LTE/3G isn't working) to see if something is stuck on the backend.

There isn't a whole lot more I can think of trying out at the moment. I mean you could try to manually enter the APN for AT&T or T-Mobile however if you aren't 'advanced' to some degree then it may be a bit tough. If you do go that route, just Google "AT&T APN Settings" or "T-Mobile APN Settings".

Where you enter the information varies by phone, but a quick search should put you in the right direction. I don't believe iPhone users can manually enter this information....

**


What do you mean “Call Public in the AM” ?

Polyian
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

As pointed out I am new here. I clicked the accept button to let people know my problem had been resolved in hope of stopping the barrage of emails I was receiving with suggestions. I had no idea I was taking credit for a fix. I have attempted to correct my mistake with thanks credited to the one who gave me my fix. I don’t see what else I can do.

Anonymous
Not applicable

@Polyian wrote:

I thought I had pointed out the suggestion that solved my issue, I was not aware that I was required to name the person who made the suggestion. Guess I have some learning to do.

 

thank you Ginyvr for providing the fix that worked and thanks to everyone who offered help.


Some forums have like a close thread kind of function. This forum has that black Accept as soluton button where the OP selects a reply that answers their question.

This forum somehow calculates postings, bravos and solutions to reward the participation of community members.

To give yourself the solutuion is also frowned upon unless finally you come up with your own solution to the problem and we all sit here nodding thinking oh yeah nice find.

But you're new here. Whatever. Now you know.

XionBunny
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@Polyian wrote:

I thought I had pointed out the suggestion that solved my issue, I was not aware that I was required to name the person who made the suggestion. Guess I have some learning to do.

 

thank you Ginyvr for providing the fix that worked and thanks to everyone who offered help.


It's not a requirement so much as it's just polite and helpful is all.

Polyian
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I thought I had pointed out the suggestion that solved my issue, I was not aware that I was required to name the person who made the suggestion. Guess I have some learning to do.

 

thank you Ginyvr for providing the fix that worked and thanks to everyone who offered help.


@Polyian wrote:

The suggestion to switch carriers fixed my problem. Automatic had selected T Mobile and I switch to ATT and all is good.

 

thanks everyone 


Thanks for letting us know.

It would have been nice to acknowledge the input that solved your problem and give the solution to @GinYVR, who mentioned it.

XionBunny
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@TK123 wrote:

From another posting about a similar problem on this plan.

**

First. Power off your Phone and Back On. When you switch on to a different carrier, sometimes the APN (Internet stuff on the network side) isn't always pushed to your phone.

If that doesn't work, I would suggest manually selecting AT&T or T-Mobile as the other person mentioned. This in theory should force the APN settings on to your phone.

If you are still stuck, the only other thing I can suggest is to Call Public in the AM - or chat online private message while on WiFi (because LTE/3G isn't working) to see if something is stuck on the backend.

There isn't a whole lot more I can think of trying out at the moment. I mean you could try to manually enter the APN for AT&T or T-Mobile however if you aren't 'advanced' to some degree then it may be a bit tough. If you do go that route, just Google "AT&T APN Settings" or "T-Mobile APN Settings".

Where you enter the information varies by phone, but a quick search should put you in the right direction. I don't believe iPhone users can manually enter this information....

**


I've never known a apn to effect calling before, always thought that was for data issues/mms only

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