topic Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes? in Get Support

Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

hush — Wed, 05 Jan 2022 16:38:28 GMT

I have the basic $15/month plan and unsure if calling a 1-800 number uses up my plan minutes? For example does the plan treat 1-800 numbers (outbound) no differently than any calling any other phone number?

Thank you,

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

gblackma — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 03:14:12 GMT

@hush check to see if it will. Take note of the amount of minutes in your plan, call the 1800 number, hang up before a minute and see if you lose one. Stay safe.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

hush — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 03:17:37 GMT

Will do that - thanks for the idea. Guess its a question that may not have been asked before?

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

fdrcamb519 — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 03:20:25 GMT

@hush

@hush wrote:
I have the basic $15/month plan and unsure if calling a 1-800 number uses up my plan minutes? For example does the plan treat 1-800 numbers (outbound) no differently than any calling any other phone number?

Thank you,

I did a search older post and it said its free

free.https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/Can-I-call-a-1-800-toll-free-number-if-I-am-on-a-province-wide/m-p/26018

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

hairbag1 — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 04:14:11 GMT

@hush wrote:
I have the basic $15/month plan and unsure if calling a 1-800 number uses up my plan minutes? For example does the plan treat 1-800 numbers (outbound) no differently than any calling any other phone number?

Thank you,

~~Dialing 1-800 number does use your minutes.~~ For $5, you can get 500 minutes of Canada wide calling add-on for your limited calling plan.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

gblackma — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 03:31:10 GMT

@hush I'm also on the $15 plan to save more, add the TextNow voip app and use it via Wifi to make / receive / send calls and texts in Canada and to the United States for free. You can also use it as I do to check my voicemail from my own phone without using the minutes from the PM plan. Simply dial your PM phone number - reject the call when it rings (this sends the call to voicemail) - press the * key to allow you to enter your password. - enter it followed by # - and you are in your voicemail account - Hang up when you are finished. No minutes used.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

dabr — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 03:47:47 GMT

@hush wrote:
I have the basic $15/month plan and unsure if calling a 1-800 number uses up my plan minutes? For example does the plan treat 1-800 numbers (outbound) no differently than any calling any other phone number?

Thank you,

@hush Calling toll free numbers does not use your limited plan minutes, this has been tested by several users (including myself) but keep in mind this is "unofficial" and can change so best to keep track of any toll free calling and see how it affects your plan minutes after use.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

dabr — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 03:54:39 GMT

@fdrcamb519 Just FYI toll free is always free, but I believe OP was asking about airtime from his/her outgoing minutes 😊

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

hairbag1 — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 03:55:15 GMT

@dabr wrote:
@hush wrote:
I have the basic $15/month plan and unsure if calling a 1-800 number uses up my plan minutes? For example does the plan treat 1-800 numbers (outbound) no differently than any calling any other phone number?

Thank you,
@hush Calling toll free numbers does not use your limited plan minutes, this has been tested by several users (including myself) but keep in mind this is "unofficial" and can change so best to keep track of any toll free calling and see how it affects your plan minutes after use.

A family member had the $10 plan with limited calling and found that dialing 1-800 did use up plan minutes...(so she upgraded to $25). She was calling gov't of Canada 800 numbers.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

dabr — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 04:02:09 GMT

@hairbag1 wrote:
@dabr wrote:
@hush wrote:
I have the basic $15/month plan and unsure if calling a 1-800 number uses up my plan minutes? For example does the plan treat 1-800 numbers (outbound) no differently than any calling any other phone number?

Thank you,
@hush Calling toll free numbers does not use your limited plan minutes, this has been tested by several users (including myself) but keep in mind this is "unofficial" and can change so best to keep track of any toll free calling and see how it affects your plan minutes after use.
A family member had the $10 plan with limited calling and found that dialing 1-800 did use up plan minutes...(so she upgraded to $25). She was calling gov't of Canada 800 numbers.

@hairbag1 When did the family member try the toll free calling? I have tested it on the $15 plan a few weeks ago, but also recently on the $10 plan (maybe a week or two ago) and checked minutes available before and after each time and non were deducted. As I said others have also tested this and there have been a few threads about this over the last year.

However, since this is "unofficial" it's been recommended to keep an on the minutes in your plan when making these calls as PM could decide to change this at anytime, although I think it's unlikely for that to happen.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 04:03:58 GMT

Hey gpixel...wts... 🙂

I'm with dabr.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

dabr — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 04:06:41 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Hey gpixel...wts... 🙂
I'm with dabr.

Huh...gpixel??

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

Anonymous — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 04:11:14 GMT

@dabr wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Hey gpixel...wts... 🙂
I'm with dabr.
Huh...gpixel??

I was goofin' on gpixel's use of wts for I presume what they said. I was saying what you said. I agree with what you're posting in this thread. Just to add another data point of evidence to the works but unofficial.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

popping — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 04:30:34 GMT

@dabr wrote:
@hairbag1 wrote:
@dabr wrote:
@hush wrote:
I have the basic $15/month plan and unsure if calling a 1-800 number uses up my plan minutes? For example does the plan treat 1-800 numbers (outbound) no differently than any calling any other phone number?

Thank you,
@hush Calling toll free numbers does not use your limited plan minutes, this has been tested by several users (including myself) but keep in mind this is "unofficial" and can change so best to keep track of any toll free calling and see how it affects your plan minutes after use.
A family member had the $10 plan with limited calling and found that dialing 1-800 did use up plan minutes...(so she upgraded to $25). She was calling gov't of Canada 800 numbers.
@hairbag1 When did the family member try the toll free calling? I have tested it on the $15 plan a few weeks ago, but also recently on the $10 plan (maybe a week or two ago) and checked minutes available before and after each time and non were deducted. As I said others have also tested this and there have been a few threads about this over the last year.
However, since this is "unofficial" it's been recommended to keep an on the minutes in your plan when making these calls as PM could decide to change this at anytime, although I think it's unlikely for that to happen.

When the software bugs hit PM bottom line, bean counter will raise the issue to plug the loophole. The phantom referrals is an example.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

Theknight — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 05:18:04 GMT

It’s toll free number; calling 1-800, 1-888, 1-877, 1-866, and 1-855 numbers is free

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

computergeek541 — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 05:44:14 GMT

@Theknight wrote:
It’s toll free number; calling 1-800, 1-888, 1-877, 1-866, and 1-855 numbers is free

That's not what toll free means. Toll free is only suppsoed to mean no long distance charges. While some members are reporting that minutes doing get used up, it's not supposed to be like that and at other carriers, toll free calls do use up airtime/minutes.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

rhbcc — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 07:09:25 GMT

most of the time it does like any other number but it is free since its toll free

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

Pawprints1986 — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 10:20:27 GMT

@popping Phantom referrals is a thing? How? Is someone really gonna pay 15 dollars a month to get a 1 dollar discount on another account🤔

Also this has me curious, does PM use per minute or per second billing?

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

dabr — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 18:17:28 GMT

@Pawprints1986 wrote:
@popping Phantom referrals is a thing? How? Is someone really gonna pay 15 dollars a month to get a 1 dollar discount on another account🤔

Also this has me curious, does PM use per minute or per second billing?

@Pawprints1986 The "phantom" referrals was just a glitch in PM's system, recently been fixed, that didn't always remove referral credits for customers who had either left PM or sometimes the PM system improperly counted suspended/dormant accounts that were being reactivated as new referrals. In both cases users were getting a referral credit that was in error which no longer happens. As for calling minutes, all minutes are rounded up so a call lasting 20 seconds would deduct one minute from plans with limited available minutes.

@popping Yes I agree that PM could change the current policy of toll free calls not getting deducted for whatever reason they deem, hence my caveat about it being "unofficial".

However, I don't believe this feature can be compared fairly with the "ghost referrals" credits. That was a glitch that obviously needed to be fixed, whereas deducting minutes from the two plans that have limited minutes might cause unnecessary hardship for probably the small number of users on those plans since toll free numbers are usually connected with governments or big corporations and often involve a person having to wait long periods just to connect to the right person on the other end. Customers have very little control over how long that call may last and I'm not sure if it would be worthwhile for PM to start penalizing customers for this.

Of course that's JMO and that's why I advise that users should check their accounts before and after any such calls.

Re: Does calling 1-800 Number use up Plan Minutes?

telemonster — Thu, 11 Jun 2020 21:56:52 GMT

Depends on PM mood. Sometimes it is free, sometimes it is not. Why? Because!