topic Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16 in Get Support

Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

jai2 — Thu, 06 Jan 2022 07:19:36 GMT

Hello,

I'm curious if anyone in Winnipeg got affected today with an outage. Last month I received a text from Public Mobile stating that on March 16, 2021 you may have noticed a difference in your calling coverage and to maintain best coverage to call 1-866-975-3058.

I called this number today and the rep asked me about my plan and wanted to switch me over to Koodo plan. I gave most of my personal details including my DOB / CC / and almost my driver's license number for a credit check and I got this gut feeling and told her I wasnt comfortable switching over and hung up.

I'm not sure if this was a legitimate number, so I called my credit card company and cancelled my CC.

What is going on? Can someone confirm? Do Winnipeggers have to switch? What is better option? Is Lucky Mobile a better alternative?

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

Anonymous — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 23:33:49 GMT

@jai2 : If your services are still working then you should be fine. The change is that your coverage might be lessened as one of the two frequencies used here has been re-purposed.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

JK8 — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 23:33:53 GMT

@jai2

Have a look at this thread.

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/Text-From-PM-About-Changes-To-Manitoba-Prepaid-Network/m-p/666111#M132555

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

hTideGnow — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 23:37:17 GMT

Details here: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Using-Your-Service/Text-From-PM-About-Changes-To-Manitoba-Prepaid-Network/m-p/650309/highlight/true#M129645

Don't listen to Koodo rep, you might not need to move if it does not affect you. check your voice and data signals around the area you go most often first

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

will13am — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 23:38:49 GMT

@jai2 , there is no need to switch. It is early days but if you see actual differences in cellular performance, particularly calling and receiving calls while indoors in large buildings and basements, then you can decide next steps. The community would certainly welcome feedback from ground zero. BTW, I have friends in Winnipeg on Public Mobile. I have not heard anything from them yet. So the network switch has had no noticeable effect.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

brad_br — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 21:51:05 GMT

Because I was concerned about the signal change, I did make the switch to Koodo. Given my switching experience, if you do find that you have to make the switch to Koodo because you find the service degradation too much to bear in Winnipeg or Brandon, then I suggest that before switching to Koodo, make sure your current phone is on the list of approved Koodo devices (see https://www.koodomobile.com/en/help/volte). If not, note which phone you wish to use and either buy it for the full retail price from Koodo (Koodo gives a discount on its plan to compensate so the net price is cheaper than at Staples) at the time when you make the switch OR buy an unlocked version with the appropriate model number before contacting Koodo and ask for a SIM card when switching to Koodo. If you do not do the foregoing, Koodo will charge you a connection fee (currently $45).

Koodo did try to charge me a connection fee and after a one and a hour telephone conversation, Koodo did rescind it, only because I had bought the phone at retail price, not at a store, but online.

The plan prices are approximately equivalent, unless you were on the $10 plan or had sufficient discounts due to loyalty and referrals.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

hTideGnow — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 22:08:28 GMT

@brad_br
Koodo did try to charge me a connection fee and after a one and a hour telephone conversation, Koodo did rescind it, only because I had bought the phone at retail price, not at a store, but online.

That's bad, you got "forced" to change to Koodo and they still try to charge you connection fee. They should have given you "freebies" for the inconvenient caused..

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

brad_br — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 22:44:32 GMT

To be clear, there was no connection fee to change from Public Mobile to Koodo, as you are right, that would have been very bad. However, Koodo did try to charge me a connection fee when I bought a new phone as my old phone did not support VoLTE and without that support, I have no access to my data on my plan. For more details on the problems that I encountered with the switch see my post on Koodo Community Pages at https://community.koodomobile.com/other-80596/switching-to-koodo-from-public-mobile-due-to-public-mobile-reducing-service-connection-fee-new-phone-7803774.

I am posting what happened to me on the Public Mobile and Koodo sites in order to help those who may need to switch due to the recent changes in Winnipeg and Brandon service or future changes in other locations in Canada for which this type of switch is required so they can avoid the problems that I ran into (I hope).

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

Nezgar — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:08:36 GMT

@brad_br wrote:
I bought a new phone as my old phone did not support VoLTE and without that support, I have no access to my data on my plan.

LTE without VoLTE would still support data, just not voice calls if no 3G coverage.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

Dtack — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:19:47 GMT

Hi - I am also from Winnipeg and had prepared ahead of time with prices etc. for a switch to another provider if needed. I have not noticed any difference in my voice calling (which should have been the only impact of on our phones) Data and texting was not affected. I'm glad I didn't make any changes as everything has worked fine and so far no dead zones. If something changes down the road at that time I may change. You certainly don't have to change if everything is working. I have loved PM and didn't want to change, so am happy everything has turned out.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

jai2 — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:20:50 GMT

Thank you for your response. Were you able to stay on a PrePaid plan or did they switch you over to Post Paid?

I would rather stay on PrePaid but they insisted to switch me over to PostPaid. This line was for my son who I signed up for emergency purpose. I'm still in the debate if I should go Koodo or Lucky.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

brad_br — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:21:36 GMT

Where I live, and I suspect this is true everywhere, LTE disappears much sooner than 3G given the digital footprint of LTE compared to 3G. For example, I can barely receive LTE (108 db or higher) while 3G is around 89 to 98 db.

With Koodo, my Galaxy Core does voice and text, but no data at all. I activate mobile data and there is no symbol showing a connection.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

jai2 — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:23:32 GMT

My son lost network coverage right around his school area but when he gets home, he gets network. Sucks.

You really wont know until you try to use your phone in multiple places or you start missing your calls.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

Dtack — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:24:18 GMT

I didn't switch at all - I stayed with Public Mobile and all is great! The same prepaid service I was already on.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

brad_br — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:25:40 GMT

Thanks for letting me know that you have not experience any major problems as I am advising several other PM users locally as to whether to switch or not. I did it in part because of the noted network change, not because I am unhappy with PM (I was paying only $3 per 30 days), but I did want access to the WIFI feature so I could use a cell phone reliably where I lived. If my time machine was working, I would not have switched, but I have to make the best of a bad situation.

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

Dtack — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:29:46 GMT

Koodo was going to offer the same price as Public Mobile and my phone would work with the Volte network, but it was postpaid. Another place I checked was through Superstore PC Mobile - it looked good as well and had some bonuses as either Chatr or Lucky. If I need to change down the road I will review all the providers at that time. So sorry your son has to change providers!

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

brad_br — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:30:10 GMT

Koodo is post paid. The plans that I were offered, were approximately the same as PM. For example for $15 per month, unlimited calling in Canada (outgoing and incoming) and 250 MB vs. $13 per 30 days (assuming auto top up) for 100 minutes outgoing and unlimited incoming and 250 MB (this is the plan before the February change).

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

hTideGnow — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:46:09 GMT

@jai2 wrote:
My son lost network coverage right around his school area but when he gets home, he gets network. Sucks.

You really wont know until you try to use your phone in multiple places or you start missing your calls.

I guess you are going to switch your son to another provider? It's for son, you cant take a chance

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

hTideGnow — Wed, 17 Mar 2021 23:47:44 GMT

@brad_br wrote:
Koodo is post paid. The plans that I were offered, were approximately the same as PM. For example for $15 per month, unlimited calling in Canada (outgoing and incoming) and 250 MB vs. $13 per 30 days (assuming auto top up) for 100 minutes outgoing and unlimited incoming and 250 MB (this is the plan before the February change).

@brad_br Is this Koodo plan a regular plan everyone can get or they only offer to PM customers in this situation only?

Re: Winnipeg, Branon Region Service March 16

brad_br — Thu, 18 Mar 2021 00:01:23 GMT

These plans were only for PM customers affected by the Winnipeg / Brandon network change.