@BlueB wrote:
@srlawren wrote:
@LATM the answers you received so far are correct. I believe you can do this with a VoIP service like Fongo or TextNow (and other similar services). I have not tested it, however.
This is an excellent idea... yes, it can be done! I've actually had this set up for different needs in the past. 🙂
Thanks for confirming, @BlueB.
@LATM there are some nuances to this approach. You basically have two options:
1) If you don't mind using a different phone number than your current Public Mobile ("PM") phone number for multi-device and you want to keep your current PM plan, you could set up a new Fongo account with a new phone number, and then sign into that account on your multiple phones and/or computers and give out that new phone number to your contacts or business/service providers as needed. This has zero cost (as the Fong account is free and you don't need to change anything about your PM account), and the "effort" involved is in updating anyone you want to ring you on multiple devices to use your new Fongo number to contact you.
2) If you need multi-device support with your current phone number you use with Public Mobile, you have more work and expense ahead of you. Essentially:
- you would need to create a new Fongo account, temporarily with a new phone number, and begin the process to port your PM phone number to Fongo, as described here: https://www.fongo.com/how-to-transfer-your-existing-phone-number-to-fongo/
- it will cost you $25 to do the port, and it can take a few days; during that time, you need to keep your PM account active, so maybe start the process about a week before your next renewal date to be safe
- doing this will cause your PM account to close permanently and your PM SIM card will become garbage (not reusable).
- in order to keep using your device while away from home/office (or other places with WiFi), you will need to open up a new mobile account. This can be with PM if you still want, or with any other wireless provider. Do NOT port your number into that account, activate it with a new number (which you effectively won't use--you'll just be using that account for the mobile data). You will need to get a new SIM card from whatever provider you choose (costs vary), and pay any activation fees (most waive if you do it all yourself online) and of course any monthly service plan costs, whatever they may be. If you had a great plan at PM that is no longer offered, you may end up paying more now every month to meet your needs.
There's probably more nuances to this but hopefully that's enough to get you started.
Texting is another consideration. If you go option 2 and port your number to Fongo, and want to do texting with that phone number, you'll need to purchase a monthly texting plan from Fongo, for a small fee. See the "paid features" section on this page for more details: https://www.fongo.com/fongo-mobile/. However, to the best of my knowledge, Fongo only does SMS so you will not be able to send or receive MMS text messages. So if you often exchange images/videos(not a great idea anyway) with people by text and/or participate in group chats via text, Fongo won't be able to do that.
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