Doing wireless different has its ups and downs

[Dave_M]

Public Mobile Community,

It is almost 3 years ago to the day when I first walked into the Public Mobile office tasked with finding a way to turn the Public Mobile business around.  At the time, it had a limited network with a very expensive support structure (stores and a full-service call centre) that made it an unprofitable business.

So I rolled up my sleeves and along with the team, we began our journey to redefine how wireless service was delivered to Canadians.  Being blessed with Canada’s largest 4G LTE network, we wanted to find a way to give customers access to a great network while simultaneously benefitting from great pricing.  To do this, we needed to turn those expensive support costs upside down.

This is where doing wireless differently was born.  A wireless provider without a call centre - instead, an online community to support its customers.  No phones and phone discounts because, well, phones are really expensive.  No stores because as you might have guessed by now - they’re crazy expensive too.

I sat in countless focus groups and was told over and over again that we were crazy.  They would say things like “you can’t have a service without a call centre”, “you can’t be a wireless provider without selling phones”, “you have to have a store for me to go to”, and my personal favourite “I would never trust an online-only wireless provider.”

I could go on and on as this has been a very long journey to get us to where we are now, but instead I’d like to ask you for your continued trust and support as we work through some of the issues we are experiencing today.

We know some of you have been waiting a long time to hear back from us on various issues including activation/porting failures, future dated rate plan changes, and SIM delivery delays.  The truth is we have been overwhelmed by the sheer volume of activity the current promo has generated and we are doing everything we can to fix things.  I can ensure you that we have moved all our available resources to assisting you.

Here are some of the things we are seeing and some solutions and commitments from us:

For activation and porting failures:

• It is clear to us we will not be able to help everyone between now and the closure of this promotion on Sunday. We will not be extending this promotion but we will honour the promotion for anyone who had activation or porting failures during the promotion period (October 25-November 20).
• Our porting success ratio has been extremely good, however, we have noticed a volume of customers are inputting errors in their porting information. Please be very diligent in the information you are inputting to ensure the port request will be successful.

• Some tips for success on porting:
  • Your device’s IMEI is the most accurate method to port. Please note that your previous carrier would need to have that IMEI used on your old account. 
• • Separate the activation from the port. If you do the activation first you will have your account setup and ready to go.  You can then log into self-serve and complete your port.  This prevents incorrect porting information from affecting your activation.
• When not porting a number in we are seeing some customers being unable to see an available phone number. To fix this, you need to clear your browser’s cache.

Future dated rate plan change:

• We have existing customers who have future dated rate plan changes to get the promotional plan and, in some cases, the change is not sticking. We are aware of the issue and we are committed to ensuring the plan change is honored for you if you in fact had chosen a future dated rate plan change. This will also take us some time to catch up on so please bear with us.

For SIM card delivery delays or if your SIM card never arrived:

• This issue is predominantly driven by address errors or missing information – I’ve personally seen returns from apartment buildings with no unit number. Please be diligent when filling in your address.
• Additionally many of you who ordered recently are asking where your SIM is. Please be mindful that Friday, November 11 was a holiday for Canada Post so there will be some delays as a result. If you ordered Wednesday through Friday of last week, please check your mail tomorrow.
• If you order a SIM at this point (Tuesday evening), it will likely not arrive before the promo ends on Sunday. To help with this, we are organizing SIM card pick up locations in Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal for Friday and Saturday for anyone who wants a last minute SIM card. Details to come, but the location will be downtown in each city and the $5 for each SIM will be going to Prostate Cancer in the spirit of Movember.

How can you help us?

• If you have a problem, please only message once. We are getting 10+ messages from one person about one issue and that increases the backlog and wait time for everyone
• If you have extra SIM cards, give them to your friends or to Community members so they can join before the promo ends

Again, I’m really grateful for your support and your patience. I know that, with the above solutions, we will get through this together and prove that wireless can be done differently.

Sincecerly Dave.

[mingcaw]

Thanks for the update. I fully support your business structure and being able to keep the cost down for everyone. Other Canadian carriers have their rates way too high! 

I actually have the porting issue right now and have been very frastrated because it's been over a week and no one has helped me. But I understand that you guys are probably trying to cope with this promotion. I rather wait than going back to Rogers still.

[computergeek541]

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@takeone wrote:

What is the address for simcard pickup location in Toronto? And time?

Thanks

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Public Mobile has not announced location information yet.  They'll being posting that information on Thursday monring.

[takeone]

What is the address for simcard pickup location in Toronto? And time?

Thanks

[spetel]

Let me start by saying I like what you did so far. Love the option for self serve with no need for calling customer service.

One thing you did not cover, Dave:

You talked about honoring for people who had porting issues or who had activation or porting issues.

Does that include people who recieved faulty sim cards?

I got my 2 sim cards this monday and wanted to port 2 numbers from bell.

Activated one sim, which was dead (showed no sim).

I then used the "change sim card" on that same accoutn to the second sim card which started working, but left me without a sim card to port/activate my second phone.

I ordered another sim card, but in case it won't arrive before promotion ends, or if I am unlucky and get another dead sim card, would you be honoring the promotion for people in similar situations?

Thanks!

[ddsinthe6ix]

I just wanted to say that I had my problems solved and now I'm part of the Public Mobile family.  The service is much better than my previous provider (cough Rogers cough).  Even when I was very frustrated with my porting issues, I never felt alone ... probably because of this community and the transparency that other companies lack.  To those who are still waiting, hang in there!

[RogueMonk]

Three words -- Class Action Suit.

[Ionut]

Really doesn't matter. 

Actually this Wireless services prove that PM it's not for everybody. And i've seen this since they move online.

This is a service for smart people who try to save money. Not for those who like to argue and fight in store with employee for hours because of their own mistake or boredom at home..

I do  believe that sooner or later the glitches ,error and display error will be fixed and will run smooth. That smooth that will be an automated system where everything it's done without the presence of anybody.

And there's a lot of change which comes and goes like this wireless services. But we have to keep up with the updates. 

The most important part as soon as they aim for customers  and not for money everything will be fine.

[ShawnC13]

Great post that lays it all out there.  Including admitting there are some issues that have happened and they are doing their best to get to them.

[Magicite]

This is exactly what needed to be said.

The idea of having last minute pick-up locations is excellent! Great thinking. Also the idea that any porting issues will have the deal honoured is a nice touch. Well done Public Mobile! Glad to have switched.

[vrhanth]

Good one @Dave_M..! Thank you.

[srlawren]

@dtty87 it's definitely not about not caring or intentionally ignoring anyone.  They are simply swamped.  😞

@vn33 yes I hope so too!  I know it's been awesome for me for the past 13 or 14 months!

[vn33]

I hope in a month or so, when all the problems and backlog have been sorted out, people will smile knowing that they have signed up in a great deal!

[dtty87]

Thank you for the update. This helps those of us who are waiting for assistance to know that the delays are because of too many requests rather than in attention to our e-mails or posts. 

[trshtup]

Frankly I'm pleastly surprised at the service provided by PM.  All the features I have work the same as they did when I was with Bell, and really, I might have called their call centre once in my years with them.  I had an issue with my VM when I first switched to PM and it was solved expeditiously by one of the site moderators.  I'll sacrifice a call centre or physical location with my mobile carrier then same as I do with my bank in order to save a few bucks.  No Big Deal.

[bruizeman]

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@imm1304 wrote:

Hey @bruizeman,

This sounds really frustrating .. even thinking about being locked out of cell service on both sim cards gets me worried.  PM mods are overwhelmed but I wouldn't just explain away what you are experiencing.  You deserve to have service restored asap.  

I just read through your thread, it doesnt look like you sent a private message. Did you?

A private message or a webmail form the "Get Help" page are absolutely necessary at this point.  Please send your phone number, and sim card number via a private message to @Shazia_K so that they can easily identify your account and fix the issue.  

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Thank you very much @imm1304.

I have pm'd @Shazia_K with my information.

You are, frankly, awesome.

[Jsauter]

Thanks for the reply.  I have managed to get about 5 new activations to Public via this promo.  It was not a painless procedure for all of them, but in the end they all worked and everyone seems happy.  I did miss out of a few referrals because of system problems, so hopefully they can be resolved.

I think your team did a great job managing the load given the resources available.  

[canucks4life]

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daredogg wrote:

@canucks4life PM is donating its sales from the SIM cards... I don't see why they'd issue a receipt, since you actually haven't made a donation. If you want a receipt, make at least a $10 donation to the organization yourself (most charities don't provide receipts under $10). Just sayin'... 

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@daredogg I was planning on a bulk purchase of SIM's for future promos etc just hoping there was some incentive for taking the time and effort making a trip downtown.

[ugh]

@Dave_M thank you for the update, but you really need a way to triage urgent issues. It is not acceptable that my phone number which I rely upon has been out of service for days with no way to resolve it.

[ckl]

Thanks for the update and your dedication. You're doing a fantastic job!

[neo911]

@Dave_M Great to hear from you and getting to know the face behind PM. ( I guess the Big Boss 🐵 )

More power to you !. You and your team took a bold step which as you said was considered 'crazy' at that time. But as we all can say now it was the best decision taken by PM.

I have absolutely no problems with PM and am very happy with the business model and services of PM.

I am sure we will collectively try our best to help attain PM greater heights in this tough mobile telephony market in Canada.

Cheers to that !

[RLBL]

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@Rockdaddy22 wrote:
I thought, I was just told by an oracle that the imei is always current with the provider. I was thinking like you were. He said they got it when you insert the sim into the new phone.

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That was my impression as well. My wife was on her 3rd phone and me on my 2nd. We never told the provider (koodo) we switched phones and our ports went fine.

I did, however, ensure everyting was inputted as it appeared on my bill* (e.g. my name all in caps with proper spacing and a period after my initial)

* sometimes people think they are doing everything properly, but overlook a very minute detail that does not register as being important to them.  Ones and Zeros (some, if not many,  of you understand that completely)

[srlawren]

Wow awesome @imm1304 thanks for confirming! Good to know that's a viable option also. Will keep in mind for future.

[Rockdaddy22]

Thanks @imm104 I forgot it was you lol

[imm1304]

@Rockdaddy22, @srlawren

Yes, I said that the IMEI is checked every time a phone connects to the network.  Thats how the North American blacklist is enforced.

So the carrier knows the most recent device's IMEI you used on their network.  I tend to think that if you must enter IMEI, then simply enter the one from the device you most recently had been using with the previous carrier.  

On Monday night, I helped a friend activate 2 lines and port from Chatr.  Both of these accounts were more than 1 year old.  Both had recently bought new phones privately around 2-3 months ago.  We could not find Chatr account numbers from their online accounts.  So, we entered the current device's IMEI, Account PIN and the authorization names.  Ports were successful.  

Personally, I did not enter IMEI numbers and still ported successfully at least 3 times in the last year. 

[srlawren]

@Rockdaddy22 oh? Okay then I stand corrected! I still recommend the approach I laid out, but maybe IMEI is the better way after all?

[srlawren]

*for alternate contact number, that means any other phone number you could hypothetically be contacted at (you won't) in the event of an issue. This could be your home phone #, your work #, your boyfriend / girlfriend / partner / spouse's #, your parent's / sibling's / child's #... Basically any number other than the number you are porting in and your temporary pm number you chose during activation.

[Rockdaddy22]

I thought, I was just told by an oracle that the imei is always current with the provider. I was thinking like you were. He said they got it when you insert the sim into the new phone.

[srlawren]

@Dave_M thank you for this very personal story, and the thorough explanation. It was definitely overdue and I'm glad you took the time to write that excellent post.

To everyone stuck waiting for help and frustrated - - I hope you get resolution quickly. I know PM staff are working very hard, and I know that's little consolation when you are without service. I feel for you!

To everyone reading @Dave_M's porting advice, I think a little clarification around using your IMEI to port is needed: make sure you use the IMEI that your provider *thinks* you ar using, aka the one that you should be able to find in tour online account. I know when I ported from Telus a year ago, the IMEI they had on file was a couple of handsets old. This is because you can move your sim card to any phone and don't have to sign into your account t to update your IMEI on file if you don't want to think to. If your phone has changed and you try to use your current IMEI the port will likely fail or hang.

For what it's worth, in my own port and a few others I've helped port to pm, I've yet to see it fail if you accurately provide only your old provided's account number, an alternate contact phone number*, and your name precisely as it appears on your provider's statements/invoices/online account ad the authorizing name, and leave all other fields blank. This is my recommended technique, along with Dave's suggestion to activate first with a temp number and test your services fully before porting separately.

[VertigoHorizon]

Placed an order for 3 sim cards after hearing about the promo from a friend today who has been with PM for a while. Hope they arrive in time to take advantage of the promo but if they don't I'm only out the cost of the sim cards so not too big of a deal.

How ever a pick up in Calgary would have been great as others have mentioned. Or being able to set up an account before having the sim cards in hand would also be helpful. Not sure if there is much to be done about it and if I can't take advantage of the promo then that's just how it is.

Also, if I miss out on this promo, I can just hold on to the sim cards until I hear about another good promo at some point I suppose.

[homer]

It just means the promo plan really works!