Blog Post: Public Mobile's Canada-US Plans

[J_PM]

The More You Know: Unleash Borderless Connectivity with Public Mobile's Canada-US Plans

If you frequently travel between Canada and the United States, you've likely faced challenges with your mobile service, like missed calls, inability to use data, or unexpected fees. Public Mobile’s Canada-US Plans aim to solve these issues by providing a consistent mobile experience across both countries. In this blog post, we'll delve into how a CAN/US Plan isn't just a choice, but a passport to seamless communication across the border.

Understanding Canada-US Subscription Plans

Public Mobile’s CAN/US subscription plans offer a seamless communication experience in both countries. You can use your mobile services, including data, in Canada and the U.S. just as you would at home, eliminating the need for temporary roaming add-ons. The best part? Your plan features, data speed, and data pool remain consistent, regardless of which side of the border you're on.

Benefits of Canada-US Subscription Plans

1. No Time Limits: Unlike U.S. Roaming add-ons which last for 15 days, your CAN/US Plan operates continuously.
2. Uniform Data Usage: Whether you have 10GB or 50GB, your data pool remains the same across both countries.
3. Consistent Experience: Your plan works the same in Canada and the U.S., providing a reliable and predictable user experience.
4. No Extra Charges: Say goodbye to surprise fees and extra charges for using your phone in the U.S.

Who Can Benefit from Canada-US Plans?

CAN/US Plans are not just for the globetrotters among us; they offer tangible benefits to a range of people:

• Students Studying in the U.S.: No need to juggle two SIM cards or phones. Use your Canadian number to keep in touch with family back home and also to network in the States.
• Cross-Border Workers: If your job has you shuttling between Canada and the U.S., a CAN/US Plan will seamlessly blend your work and personal life without compromising on service quality.
• Families Across Borders: Visiting grandma in Florida or cousins in New York? Keep one reliable plan to stay connected with loved ones on either side of the border.
• Vacationers: If you love vacationing in the U.S., this plan eliminates the need to buy separate roaming packages or local SIMs each time you cross over.

By offering the same data, text, and call allowances in both countries, CAN/US Plans are a one-stop solution for various communication needs.

The Flexibility of Canada-US Plans

One of the most appealing features of CAN/US Plans is their sheer flexibility. Unlike roaming add-ons, which are time-sensitive and can require a bit of micromanagement, CAN/US Plans let you enjoy a 'set it and forget it' experience. Once you've chosen your plan, you can effortlessly roam between Canada and the U.S., all while retaining the same data bucket and plan features. There's no need to adjust settings or manually select networks. The CAN/US Plan does the work for you, letting you focus on what really matters, whether that's closing a business deal, visiting family, or exploring new cities.

Roaming Add-Ons and Limitations

If you're not on a CAN/US Plan, Public Mobile still offers U.S. Roaming add-ons that last 15 days each. These add-ons offer various combinations of talk, text, and data for use in the U.S. However, they come with limitations, including expiration dates and restrictions on multiple purchases of the same add-on.

Roaming Add-Ons are ideal for the occasional traveler to the U.S., offering 15-day packages with solid coverage from our partners, AT&T and T-Mobile. While there are some coverage limitations, particularly in Alaska, these add-ons provide a flexible, short-term solution for keeping connected stateside.

How to Get Started with Canada-US Plans

If you're looking to move onto a Canada-US plan, check our latest subscriptions here. It's a simple, quick way to explore the options available to you for seamless connectivity across Canada and the United States.

Wrapping Up

Public Mobile’s CAN/US Plans are designed to liberate you from the hassles of cross-border mobile usage. With unparalleled consistency in service, data allowance, and user experience, our CAN/US Plans are the future of stress-free communication between Canada and the United States. Make the switch today and embrace a world without borders.

[DennyCrane]

@4star601 From the perspective of the person calling you, it makes no difference where you are; they are still calling a Canadian number. You may incur charges for leaving your home area and taking a call, but obviously not in a situation where you have a Canada/US plan that includes it.

[4star601]

I am connected 5G AT&T right now.   California  180 speed down

[4star601]

One gotcha for my situation is I am trying this new canada-us and assumed all is good. I am after all in the USa.  However my wife uses a cheap Tmobile plan when we are in the USA.  By cheap I mean no cost except .10 a minute or outgoing text.  So I finally decided to test things out...after all I am in the USA right...Well the TM plan costs $1 a minute for calls to Canada and though I am in the USA my number is considered Canada...so $1 a minute!!!!!  Found it before spending a fortune, so set up a voip USA number tha forwards to my Canadian number.  She dials US and gets forwarded to my Canadian number located in USA.

Very rare situation I guess but I really thought I would be considered in the USA while here.  Nope.

[DennyCrane]

Yes. But for calls to work in/from the US you need to ensure you have a VoLTE device.

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-help/articles/volte

[raykwanpm]

Does this plan permit me to make calls from Canada to USA and vice versa?

[DennyCrane]

@Joey120750 Yeah, we don't have access to Telus' support channels and vice versa. It's all separate. At Telus you could also phone in and talk to someone, but at PM that's not a thing. The chat bot should work, but it hasn't for a long time; now the only way to contact support is via direct message.

Hopefully they're able to help you.

[Joey120750]

Thanks Denny, I just did . The reason I mentioned the sim is because when I was Telus customer the online help worked and I was able to get in contact with online CS agent , but when I switched to Public mobile and inserted their sim , now I have no access and the online support is not reachable as I always get "error404" every time I try to post a ticket !!!

[DennyCrane]

@Joey120750 The sim should have nothing to do with accessing PM support. You do that via this community, with your Joey120750 login. Click this link to send a direct message to support:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

Then keep an eye on your inbox (top right) within this Community portal. Better yet, ensure your direct message email notifications are turned on.

[Joey120750]

I guess public mobile should have sent me an email stating these steps to get my phone working in the us and not letting it to guessing. The problem doesn't end there , but once I subscribed to public the online support that previously worked fine when my sim was by Telus now is not not working and I can't file a ticket since the only response I get is error 404 !

[diams]

Yes, it works no problem over 2g network. Indeed once call established, no internet at all. That is another annoying problem. Public mobile and htc hate each other. For some stupid reason they do not want to be provisioned with VOLTE, so even in Canada once call established, Internet going over 3g only. Absolutely stupid technology. I will never buy phone based on each cell operator, i am traveller.

[DennyCrane]

@diams ah

Do phone calls work? As far as I'm aware no HTC phone is on PM's VoLTE whitelist, so I wouldn't expect voice calls to work in the US with that phone.

[diams]

My plan 5g canada-usa

Phone LTE, HTC U12+

T-Mobile works fine, but coverege not good 

[DennyCrane]

@diams That's odd then, it should have worked. But as long as T-Mobile had coverage and you could connect, you should have been able to use all of the roaming services.

Edit: To clarify, is your plan 4G or is your phone only 4G capable? What phone do you have?

[diams]

Thank you for the update. My phone 4G only phone 

[DennyCrane]

@diams AT&T 5G doesn't work. It's supposed to,  but it doesn't. If you forced your phone into 4G it would probably work.

[diams]

Interesting. Just came from USA. The only network works for me there is t-mobile. At&t doesn't allowed me to be connected no matter where and how many times i tried. I able to see both of them, but can't connect to at&t.

Any clue?

[DennyCrane]

@Joey120750 WiFi has nothing to do with Public Mobile, so you might have had bigger problems if that was one of your issues.

You can ignore that text; it's automated for everyone, whether you have a US plan or not.

For US roaming to work you must ensure you turn data roaming ON in the network settings on your phone. You also should set your Preferred Network to 4G/LTE vs 5G, and make sure you're connected to T-Mobile or AT&T. If you have your phone in Automatic network selection, this should happen automatically; if you had your phone manually locked to PM at home, you won't get service in the US unless you change that.

To contact staff you need to send a direct message to @CS_Agent or click this link:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

[Joey120750]

It wasn't that easy for me ! I subscribed to the plan on the 05th of October 23 , traveled to the USA on 25th of the same month , as soon as I crossed the border I received a text message from Telus and public mobile advising me to buy the add-on for two weeks!!! Puzzled by the messages I thought I misunderstood the terms of the plan despite that I contacted the online CS of public mobile and they confirmed it's for both countries. The phone went dead not able to make calls or access WiFi or Internet ! Tried the online CS chat nothing works! I had to buy a USA phone and plan for 100$us . I returned on the 15th of November and the phone worked again but I can't get in touch with CS 😕

[foreverkayla8]

Here's hoping they listen and offer a cheaper option for those that travel just a little bit 🙂

[DennyCrane]

@foreverkayla8 Yeah I wanted my parents and inlaws to be able to get in on that $34/20GB sale too, but sadly it's for new customers only. That's not uncommon for carriers to offer juicy deals to aquire new customers. It's unfortunate for us, but it is common. Thankfully with PM you are not locked into a contract, so you can port out and then back in as a new customer at any time. You'd just have to do the math to ensure the $5 savings wouldn't be wiped out with loyalty or other discounts that you wouldn't get as a new customer. My parents for example would still pay less than $34 on a $39 plan with their discounts, so in reality they are actually paying less as an existing customer if you look beyond the sticker price.

[DennyCrane]

@foreverkayla8 In your case roaming add-on's probably make more sense. They're actually a very good value. I used to buy the talk/text bundle for $15/15 days, and then get a travel esim for data. But even $30 for 3GB + calling and texting for 15 days is great value for the odd trip. The $50 Canada/US plan is targeted to customers who make frequent and/or longer trips to the US. You're not going to find a plan with roaming for much cheaper than that.

[foreverkayla8]

For me, paying $11 more a month means a total of $132 extra a year.  I don't travel that often to consider this jump worth it.  I would love the convenience of not having to purchase an add-on, but at least I can keep the same number with those (I was previously buying travel SIMs before switching to PM [the main reason for switching]).  Hopefully they will hear us and will offer a cheaper plan with less data.  I also wish the website worked in that I could get notified when new plans are added.  I did sign up a couple times but was never notified.

[foreverkayla8]

My plan is $5 cheaper for new customers, which I find ridiculous.  Why do new customers get better deals than active ones?

[DennyCrane]

@foreverkayla8 Not me. Like you, I only need 15GB/month at most, but I place a high value on the US component of the plan and am willing to pay $50 for that benefit. I also don't need 5G. I'd love a 20GB 4G Canada/US plan for less than $50. The data itself doesn't cost PM much, as the infrastructure and bandwidth is already there. They want as much revenue as possible out of us though, and extra data and features such as US roaming are the carrot they feel we need to bump up our spend.

If all we needed was Canadian data, we can get 10GB more for $5 less at the moment:

 

[foreverkayla8]

I assumed people were loving the $50 plan because it seems people just want more and more data these days.  I only got the 20GB plan because it was $4 more and 4 times the data, so I figured, why not, just in case.  Not sure I like (or even understand) the idea of the 90 day subscription.

[DennyCrane]

@foreverkayla8 Many of us would, but I doubt we'll see that anytime soon. Regardless of how much data they throw at us, they've made it clear that the entry point to a Canada/US plan is $50. I hope we might see something for $5 less at some point, but I'm not holding my breath. We haven't even seen a 90 day discount on the Canada/US plans.

[foreverkayla8]

I think the Canada/US plan is a fantastic idea, but I would love to see a cheaper/less data option.  I work from home so I don't need tons of data, but I do like to travel a few times a year.  I currently have 20GB and that's way more than I need (I typically use less than 2GB).  I would love to see an option of 10GB Canada/US for $30 or something similar.  Anyone know how/where to make this suggestion?

[golfball]

I suppose so, but that isn't keeping up with the competition. Freedom, Rogers and Telus all offer unlimited data in both countries AND have the option of including Mexico as well. And even at PM you can get unlimited CAN data at a lower cost.

These plans would be even more enticing with an uncapped option just in case even though most would never need/use it.

[DennyCrane]

@golfball Probably because of the additional costs they incur when we use their roaming partners' networks in the US. They're giving us large buckets of data with these plans, but they are likely trying to ensure reasonable use by not allowing unlimited throttled data in the US.

[golfball]

I do have a question, why do the Canada/US plans not offer unlimited data at reduced speed once you reach your allotment like the other plans?