PC Mobile selling SIMs now?

[cmstlist]

I wonder if the iPhone is somehow hard-coded to try and use the default APN for certain messages it sends to Apple or to the carrier.

You could always just talk to PC and ask them what the 15¢ charges are. Seeing that your SIM is supposed to expire soon anyway, couldn't hurt!

[ceredon]

I wonder if the iPhone is somehow hard-coded to try and use the default APN for certain messages it sends to Apple or to the carrier.

You could always just talk to PC and ask them what the 15¢ charges are. Seeing that your SIM is supposed to expire soon anyway, couldn't hurt!

Going to try activating unlimited texting ($0.50/day) and see if that stops the drain.

[mikereidis]

If you can, avoid international texts:

http://mobile.presidentschoice.ca/pc.../HowTos/HowTos

14. Send an international text message
....
International text messages are not included in the text messaging bundles offered by PC mobile. There is no guarantee of actual delivery within a specific period of time. Text messages to countries that are part of the NANP (North American Numbering Plan,) which do not require the international dialing code '011', are charged at $0.15 per sent text message. Incoming international text messages are subject to a $0.20 per message charge.

[ceredon]

^AFAIK, only Apple's FaceTime uses international SMS to register and I've disabled this. But it has to be texting that is/was draining my balance. Nothing else is billed out on $0.15 increments that I know of.

if it is some other process that is sending silent texts, then I will need to get a texting package for my wife's phone unless I can find what process is sending them. It would be a deal killer. If the drain keeps happening now that I activated the texting plan, I will take cmstlist's advice and call PC and ask where the charges are coming from. Will probably do this even if the charges stop now, to try to isolate what process is texting.

[cmstlist]

Not to mention, PC Mobile may be able to tell you which number the text messages are going to.

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[ceredon]

Not to mention, PC Mobile may be able to tell you which number the text messages are going to.

Sent via the HowardForums Android app

That's my intent. Since I added unlimited texting my balance has not dropped at all (other than the $0.50 daily charge for texting). It's been almost 2 hours with no charges, whereas previously is was maybe every half hour I was losing $0.15 or some multiple.

[cmstlist]

I got curious and I had some extra time on a bus transfer, so I dodged out to Superstore on Marine Drive. There were SIM cards for Solo, Bell and PC just hanging there. Bought a PC SIM, and a quiche for lunch.

I wonder, after the balance expires, how long do we have available to refill, before they toast the SIM card?

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[mikereidis]

I wonder, after the balance expires, how long do we have available to refill, before they toast the SIM card?

RTFF ? I think it'd be in their best $ interest to always allow SIMs to be re-activated, albeit perhaps with a new phone #

http://mobile.presidentschoice.ca/pc...tent/FAQ/FAQ#9

9. What happens if my account balance expires?

If your account balance reaches expiry, you have 240 days to top up your account before your service is disconnected. If that happens, you may also lose your PC mobile phone number. Fortunately, you can reconnect your PC mobile service, and a new mobile number will be assigned to you.

[cmstlist]

Ahh thanks for that. But I know sometimes the policies are different for CDMA vs HSPA, and the FAQ doesn't seem to have been updated to reflect the existence of SIM cards.

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[mikereidis]

I called today and got a woman with an accent. She couldn't figure out where the $9.40 went at first, then said there was a $5 call and a $2.95 call etc or some-such.

I explained best I could to her and after a few minutes (speaking with supervisor no doubt) she said she could reverse charges ONE TIME ONLY, next time it's my wallet/SIM.

I tried to call on my mobile (free, right ?) but couldn't because I only had 10 cents there and I guess I needed at least 20. I guess PresChoice doesn't use 611 ? Or does that go through to Bell ?

I want to change my phone number, had no time on activation yesterday, but will hold off. For all I know my full data access is a mistake that might be fixed with a new number.

My full data access is still working today. I made my first voice call calling my own number for 50 seconds and got charged 40 cents (includes ringing time?). Anyway, point is those fast account depletion charges aren't happening anymore with proxy.bell.ca APN.

I DID note that voice quality was better on the Rogers network, but I don't care with the data service I'm getting.



IMO, stuff like this is one MAJOR plus for pay as you go plans with relatively little in the account. I've been reading stories about the big guys going after people retroactively and even claiming the customer was trying to defraud. And I think we've all heard the stories about the unexpected multi-thousand dollar bills.

So right now, at worst, I can only lose $10. If I fill up with $100 for a year, that then is the most I can lose.

Anybody know the dollar amounts versus expiration ?? I don't see it on their site. I know smaller amounts are around 30-60 days and $100 is good for a year. Can you get $50 for 6 months or similar ?

[cmstlist]

No idea. Superstore only had the $15 and $25 amounts on their shelves.

[ceredon]

^I am fairly certain my deductions are not data/APN related at all. When I first activated, I used maybe a total of 1 or 2 MB and lost my entire $10. Today I burned through over 40MB and have only had about $4 deducted and this includes the $0.25 daily data and $0.50 for the daily texting.

I am going to be calling in a few minutes (just need to look up a dumb phone model for when the ask what phone I am using), but in the meantime, I swapped back to my normal SIM and configured SMS copy to my google voice account, which it copy all in and out bound SMS to that number. I wanted to see if I could catch any of these possible mystery SMS, but after an hour, nothing so far.

[cmstlist]

I also note that the URLs on the SIM package are broken. "Visit pctelecom.ca/SIMterms for SIM Terms & Conditions" - that redirects me to a page with no SIM-aware information. And on the SIM holder itself, "pctelecom.ca/support" which takes me to a "not found" page. Clearly this is a "soft launch" :P

Edit: 10 minutes later, the SIM is activated. Quiche is still in the oven Dropped it into my Motorola Milestone but I made sure to disable mobile data completely first so I can put in the right APN settings before trying to connect. Will report back.

So far it sees three networks that it's calling "PC mobile", all of them, but it's failing to register. Presumably the SIM is just coded to use that name for all CDN networks regardless of compatibility. Aha, after a few more minutes it registered.

I called #7266 to get info on my balance etc but the IVR system gave me "technical difficulties". I guess I'm not quite in their system yet. And when I texted M to 72767, the message didn't send.

[ceredon]

Spoke to PC Mobile. Charges were definitely text related. There was a $0.45 charge for data, but I ignored that as I didn't want him wondering why I had a data charge if I have unlimited data. The SMS charges were short code SMS. He wondered aloud if it was iPhone related as some iPhone apps send shortcodes and these are billable as SMS. Anyway, that is cleared up. I have to figure out if this is worth it for me to switch my wife over now. Since she will be using an iPhone too, I wouldn't want these random texts to delete her account, but at the same time paying an extra $10/month for unlimited texting, when she isn't a texter, seems like a waste and reduces the value for us.

For interest sake, the numbers he gave me were 44615, 49988 (which he said corresponded to brightworks.rbc.[something I can't remember])

[cmstlist]

Is your wife a heavy data user? If not, maybe Telus prepaid would also be a viable iPhone option with $20/month for 250 MB data and unlimited SMS, and voice is 20¢/min if you're on such a package. And it sounds like they are not huge sticklers about which APN you use, and extra data is not disproportionately punitive.

Regarding 49988:
http://theiphonewiki.com/wiki/index.php?title=Facetime

The iPhone sends a Registration Request SMS silently to this UK number (as identified by the +44 country code): +44 7786 205094. AT&T customers have their own local number for FaceTime activations: 28818773. In Bell and Telus carrier bundles, version 7.2 the number is: 49988.

No idea about the other one.