topic Re: Basic question - define "International Texting" in Get Support

Basic question - define "International Texting"

Mothman — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 08:41:32 GMT

I am looking for an affordable plan for our daughters first phone, which will primarily be used for texting.

I had almost pulled the trigger on a different provider (won't mention the name), but then I realized that for their cheaper plans, when they say they include "International Texting", they mean ONLY international texting is included.. ie texts sent to a recipient outside of Canada. On those plans, every local/in-Canada text sent would cost on a pay-per-use basis. >_<

I doubted that info, but I got the same answer from three different reps from that provider.

So now I'm considering other providers, including Public.

In the case of Public, when the plans refer to "International Text", do they mean ONLY texts sent out of country?

Or do they mean ANY texts ... local, provincial, Canada, up to International?

Based on the results of my searching here, I THINK the second answer is the correct one, but I'm a little flustered by the answer I got from that other provider, so just wanting to confirm.

Thank you.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

hairbag1 — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 18:52:37 GMT

Welcome to PM. Any text to and recieved from anywhere is the answer to your question.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

Lieux — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 18:48:35 GMT

@Mothman wrote:
I am looking for an affordable plan for our daughters first phone, which will primarily be used for texting.

I had almost pulled the trigger on a different provider (won't mention the name), but then I realized that for their cheaper plans, when they say they include "International Texting", they mean ONLY international texting is included.. ie texts sent to a recipient outside of Canada. On those plans, every local/in-Canada text sent would cost on a pay-per-use basis. >_<

I doubted that info, but I got the same answer from three different reps from that provider.

So now I'm considering other providers, including Public.

In the case of Public, when the plans refer to "International Text", do they mean ONLY texts sent out of country?

Or do they mean ANY texts ... local, provincial, Canada, up to International?

Based on the results of my searching here, I THINK the second answer is the correct one, but I'm a little flustered by the answer I got from that other provider, so just wanting to confirm.

Thank you.

Yes the second answer is the good one. International...and local, provincial...Good choice with public mobile!

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

demon1102 — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 18:48:42 GMT

It means you can text anyone in the world .

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

sandpublic — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 20:57:37 GMT

@Mothman wrote:
I am looking for an affordable plan for our daughters first phone, which will primarily be used for texting.

I had almost pulled the trigger on a different provider (won't mention the name), but then I realized that for their cheaper plans, when they say they include "International Texting", they mean ONLY international texting is included.. ie texts sent to a recipient outside of Canada. On those plans, every local/in-Canada text sent would cost on a pay-per-use basis. >_<

I doubted that info, but I got the same answer from three different reps from that provider.

So now I'm considering other providers, including Public.

In the case of Public, when the plans refer to "International Text", do they mean ONLY texts sent out of country?

Or do they mean ANY texts ... local, provincial, Canada, up to International?

Based on the results of my searching here, I THINK the second answer is the correct one, but I'm a little flustered by the answer I got from that other provider, so just wanting to confirm.

Thank you.

For PM international texting it means Canada + Outside. If you are looking for a pure texting plan Koodo also has a prepaid Unlimited Canada + International texting plan for $15/month plus if you setup autopay you get a 10% discount so it work out to $13.50 every 30 days.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

srlawren — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 18:59:34 GMT

@Mothman wrote:
I had almost pulled the trigger on a different provider (won't mention the name), but then I realized that for their cheaper plans, when they say they include "International Texting", they mean ONLY international texting is included.. ie texts sent to a recipient outside of Canada. On those plans, every local/in-Canada text sent would cost on a pay-per-use basis. >_<

I doubted that info, but I got the same answer from three different reps from that provider.

@Mothman I know you didn't want to name names, but I've never heard of that before, and it seems a VERY odd thing for them to offer. Would you mind sharing which provider this was anyway? And was it pre paid or post paid?

@hairbag1 wrote:
Welcome to PM. Any text to and recieved from anywhere is the answer to your question.

@hairbag1 yes, but it's important to note: while you are phsycially in Canada (or more accurately: connected to a Canadian cell tower); many people mistakenly think the internationl aspect implies they can roam and text and that's just included in their plan (and as we know, it isn't).

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

will13am — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 19:41:01 GMT

@srlawren wrote:
@Mothman wrote:
I had almost pulled the trigger on a different provider (won't mention the name), but then I realized that for their cheaper plans, when they say they include "International Texting", they mean ONLY international texting is included.. ie texts sent to a recipient outside of Canada. On those plans, every local/in-Canada text sent would cost on a pay-per-use basis. >_<

I doubted that info, but I got the same answer from three different reps from that provider.
@Mothman I know you didn't want to name names, but I've never heard of that before, and it seems a VERY odd thing for them to offer. Would you mind sharing which provider this was anyway? And was it pre paid or post paid?

@hairbag1 wrote:
Welcome to PM. Any text to and recieved from anywhere is the answer to your question.
@hairbag1 yes, but it's important to note: while you are phsycially in Canada (or more accurately: connected to a Canadian cell tower); many people mistakenly think the internationl aspect implies they can roam and text and that's just included in their plan (and as we know, it isn't).

+1! I should add that given this is a prepaid service, there is never a surprise bill. All services must be prepurchased in advance.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

Mothman — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 19:49:41 GMT

@srlawren wrote:
@Mothman wrote:
I had almost pulled the trigger on a different provider (won't mention the name), but then I realized that for their cheaper plans, when they say they include "International Texting", they mean ONLY international texting is included.. ie texts sent to a recipient outside of Canada. On those plans, every local/in-Canada text sent would cost on a pay-per-use basis. >_<

I doubted that info, but I got the same answer from three different reps from that provider.
@Mothman I know you didn't want to name names, but I've never heard of that before, and it seems a VERY odd thing for them to offer. Would you mind sharing which provider this was anyway? And was it pre paid or post paid?

First, thanks to all for the clarification.

@srlawren , sure... being new here I wasn't sure if mentioning competitors was a faux pas.

The provided in question is Chatr.

The plans I'm referring to are the $25 "Unlimited Province-Wide Talk & International Text", and the $15 "100 Canada-Wide Talk and International Text" ones. (I assume the same for the $10, 50 Canada-wide Talk and 50 International Text" plan)

https://www.chatrwireless.com/web/chatr.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=PlanBrowse&setLanguage=en&s_cid=base:plans:en

You'll notice on these plans, if you expand the Details, it still specifies "International Text".

However on the more expensive, data-including, plans, if you expand the details, it specifies Texts to Canada, US, and International.

Under the Pay Per Use rates link, it shows under the Province-Wide and Nation-Wide plans that DON'T include data, there is a $0.40 charge per outgoing text.

I wasn't sure how to interpret this info, so I contacted Chatr. I proceeded through four individuals there as I was doubting what I was told.

One of them said these plans include texts "from Canada to anywhere", which sounds proper and normal.

However three of them specifically said that the non-data plans ONLY include texts to an International number. When I challenged the final rep on that, they confirmed it to be true.

As per their reps, their cheapest plan that includes unlimited local/Canadian texts is the $35 plan.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

srlawren — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 20:04:10 GMT

@Mothman wow, I see what you mean. That's.....really, really odd. Why would there offer a plan where you can't text to a Canadian phone number?? I understand your confusion, and why you're asking. Rest assured, at PM, international texting means from Canada to anywhere.

FYI not sure if you noticed or not, but a new $25 plan was announced today at public mobile, which includes:

- unlimited Canada-wide talk

- unlimited Internataional [yes, and to Canada and the USA] texting

- 500MB of "3G"-speed data [still delivered over 4G LTE, throttled to 3Mbps]

And if you sign up to AutoPay and keep it active, you will get an additioanl 500MB of "3G" speed data, for a total of 1GB.

This plan is pretty compelling. The announcement can be found here: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Get-500-MB-500-MB-AutoPay-bonus-at-3G-speed-for-25/m-p/336258

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

Mothman — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 21:08:54 GMT

@srlawren yeah, odd is a word alright... lol

I wondered why, specifically, their cheapest plans (you'd think targetting young people, students, lower income, etc) would lock into International texts only... how many of those people are texting people in... France? Russia? Weird.

Anyways, I did notice that $25 plan. It's more than we need for our daughter (plus we don't need the phone yet for her, I was just putting out feelers). But... I think I'm gong to check if my wifes old phone is compatible (currently paying ~$40 with Virgin, for less service than what this Public plan offers!) and if so, switch her over ASAP.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

krazykiwi — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 21:05:52 GMT

@srlawren wrote:
@Mothman wow, I see what you mean. That's.....really, really odd. Why would there offer a plan where you can't text to a Canadian phone number?? I understand your confusion, and why you're asking. Rest assured, at PM, international texting means from Canada to anywhere.

FYI not sure if you noticed or not, but a new $25 plan was announced today at public mobile, which includes:
- unlimited Canada-wide talk
- unlimited Internataional [yes, and to Canada and the USA] texting
- 500MB of "3G"-speed data [still delivered over 4G LTE, throttled to 3Mbps]

And if you sign up to AutoPay and keep it active, you will get an additioanl 500MB of "3G" speed data, for a total of 1GB.

This plan is pretty compelling. The announcement can be found here: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Get-500-MB-500-MB-AutoPay-bonus-at-3G-speed-for-25/m-p/336258

This makes the original $25 plan useless and kinda sets the path to increase data on the $35 plan, $10 extra to get an extra 500mb where if you pay $15 extra you get an extra 4gb.

The $35 plan should be 2.5gb + 500mb autopay bonus!

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

Mothman — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 21:09:26 GMT

Perhaps I'll work this question in here while we're chatting... assuming I DO move my wife from Virgin to here... is this a proper procedure?

- buy PM Sim card

- setup PM account with new phone #

- put PM sim card in the phone, unlocking the phone in the process (I have the unlock code from Virgin for the phone already)

- activate on PM, will have a new phone #

- Once we know we are happy and good to go, log into my PM account and port her Virgin phone # to the PM account, getting her 'old' # back, and this will have the added effect of closing the Virgin account

Is that all right?

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

krazykiwi — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 21:19:22 GMT

@Mothman wrote:
Perhaps I'll work this question in here while we're chatting... assuming I DO move my wife from Virgin to here... is this a proper procedure?

- buy PM Sim card
- setup PM account with new phone #
- put PM sim card in the phone, unlocking the phone in the process (I have the unlock code from Virgin for the phone already)
- activate on PM, will have a new phone #
- Once we know we are happy and good to go, log into my PM account and port her Virgin phone # to the PM account, getting her 'old' # back, and this will have the added effect of closing the Virgin account

Is that all right?

Sorry, not quite. You will need to set up her account with a different email address than yours for her self serve & her community account. When happy log into her account to do the porting of her old number to her PM account.

With PM there is only one person/number per account.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

srlawren — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 21:17:18 GMT

@Mothman as @krazykiwi noted, that's the generally recommended way from most of us in the community. Some people prefer to do the number transfer right away as part of their activation, but I think it's safer to do it the way you outlined.

PS if your wife's phone works with Virgin, and you already have the unlock code as noted, it will work with Public Mobile. Bell (Virgin's operator) and Telus (PM's operator) share their networks nation-wide and use the same frequencies etc. So you're good to go.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

sandpublic — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 21:25:13 GMT

@krazykiwi wrote:
@Mothman wrote:
Perhaps I'll work this question in here while we're chatting... assuming I DO move my wife from Virgin to here... is this a proper procedure?

- buy PM Sim card
- setup PM account with new phone #
- put PM sim card in the phone, unlocking the phone in the process (I have the unlock code from Virgin for the phone already)
- activate on PM, will have a new phone #
- Once we know we are happy and good to go, log into my PM account and port her Virgin phone # to the PM account, getting her 'old' # back, and this will have the added effect of closing the Virgin account

Is that all right?
Sorry, not quite. You will need to set up her account with a different email address than yours for her self serve & her community account. When happy log into her account to do the porting of her old number to her PM account.
With PM there is only one person/number per account.

If you have the ability to setup an alias for your email that will also work.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

sandpublic — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 21:44:08 GMT

@krazykiwi wrote:
@srlawren wrote:
@Mothman wow, I see what you mean. That's.....really, really odd. Why would there offer a plan where you can't text to a Canadian phone number?? I understand your confusion, and why you're asking. Rest assured, at PM, international texting means from Canada to anywhere.

FYI not sure if you noticed or not, but a new $25 plan was announced today at public mobile, which includes:
- unlimited Canada-wide talk
- unlimited Internataional [yes, and to Canada and the USA] texting
- 500MB of "3G"-speed data [still delivered over 4G LTE, throttled to 3Mbps]

And if you sign up to AutoPay and keep it active, you will get an additioanl 500MB of "3G" speed data, for a total of 1GB.

This plan is pretty compelling. The announcement can be found here: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Get-500-MB-500-MB-AutoPay-bonus-at-3G-speed-for-25/m-p/336258
This makes the original $25 plan useless and kinda sets the path to increase data on the $35 plan, $10 extra to get an extra 500mb where if you pay $15 extra you get an extra 4gb.
The $35 plan should be 2.5

Public mobile has matched Chatr's plan, except Public Mobile's price is $13
100 Canada-wide voice minute
unlimited text messaging to anywhere
250MB data (3g speed)
Autopay/preauthorized payment required

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

Mothman — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 22:58:01 GMT

@krazykiwi wrote:
Sorry, not quite. You will need to set up her account with a different email address than yours for her self serve & her community account. When happy log into her account to do the porting of her old number to her PM account.
With PM there is only one person/number per account.

Can't I setup my wifes phone under this (my) account? I know she'd prefer I deal with all this stuff anyway, so I'd rather not have a 2nd account if I don't need it.

This account I'm posting on is the only account we have here, I just created it today, I have not added a phone / sim to it.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

Mothman — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 23:09:18 GMT

@sandpublic wrote:
Public mobile has matched Chatr's plan, except Public Mobile's price is $13
100 Canada-wide voice minute
unlimited text messaging to anywhere
250MB data (3g speed)
Autopay/preauthorized payment required

Where do I find that plan? I don't see it listed on the Plans page... and that would very much fit the bill for the kiddo's phone.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

srlawren — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 23:19:21 GMT

@Mothman wrote:
Can't I setup my wifes phone under this (my) account? I know she'd prefer I deal with all this stuff anyway, so I'd rather not have a 2nd account if I don't need it.

This account I'm posting on is the only account we have here, I just created it today, I have not added a phone / sim to it.

@Mothman I think there was some confusion, and @krazykiwi assumed you were an existing Public Mobile customer yourself, and wanted to add a line for your wife. It doesn't sound like that's the case. In reality you will only have one Public Mobile line active--your wife's--right? If so then yes disregard the advice @krazykiwi gave you about the email addresses.

One additional clarificaiton--your community account and self-serve account are technically separate accounts. It's done that way so that people--like you have, and I did 3.5 years ago--can sign up to the community and ask questions without needing to already be a customer. When you sign up for your self-serve account (aka the actual phone line) for your wife, you could potentially use any email address you want for the login, but best practice is to use the same one you used for the community. This gives you 2 benefits: 1) easier to get help from the moderator_team if you ever need to, since they can easily find your phone line account based on your community email address, and 2) if you end up sticking around here and are helpful, you could potentially earn some community rewards; to receive those, you need to have the same email address in both places, or the automated system that hands out the reward $'s won't be able to complete that process for you.

Re: Basic question - define "International Texting"

srlawren — Wed, 13 Mar 2019 23:22:13 GMT

@Mothman wrote:
@sandpublic wrote:
Public mobile has matched Chatr's plan, except Public Mobile's price is $13
100 Canada-wide voice minute
unlimited text messaging to anywhere
250MB data (3g speed)
Autopay/preauthorized payment required

Where do I find that plan? I don't see it listed on the Plans page... and that would very much fit the bill for the kiddo's phone.

@Mothman technically, it doesn't exist yet. It was briefly visible in the "ready-made plans" section of the plans page, but was quickly removed. We have seem PM do this previously, and it usually results in a public announcement within a day or two. @sandpublic is assuming this will happen, and it likely will, so stay tuned to the Announcements area, and maybe hold off a day or two on activating to see if it gets posted.