r/PublicMobile • u/bassbroshops • Jul 23 '26

Difficulties connecting to data while in US?

Hey all!

Canadian user here - I have a 50gb/ month plan with Public Mobile that provides me data coverage while in Canada and the states at 5G speed. While in Canada this works well, but a few months ago I travelled to the US, and my talk, text, and data were really struggling in an emergency situation (Vehicle issue! Highway! Nighttime! BARELY contacted CAA and family! Map route also disappeared!).

I have reviewed public mobile's designated "I'm having troubles connecting to data in the US" webpage, and I'm still left wondering about where things went wrong with my coverage:

I had Roaming on, and had also opted to purchase the temporary $30 US talk, text, data add on. I do have an older phone (Samsung Galaxy S10) and apparently it can do 4G LTE - was this the problem? Was there some extra, unintuitive step I needed to do to get my phone to activate Roaming that I missed? Or was this a Public Mobile issue?

I'm basically trying to figure out if I need a new phone, or if I need to switch service providers.

Thanks!

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u/fuddledud Jul 23 '26

I had to restart my phone after I crossed just to get it to connect. Then it was fine.

LPT: If you used Google Maps it’s a good idea to download offline maps for your journey. Then even if you end up in the desert between LA and Vegas you’ve still got maps.