A letter from Dave on the recent changes

[Dave_M]

Hello Community,

The past week has been full of announcements and changes: we launched 3G speed plans, we made our SIM cards available at Walmart, we changed the pricing for 4G LTE plans, and we changed how our support model works. That’s a lot. I want to take the time to thank you for coming on this journey with us, for reading all about the changes, and for voicing your opinions (good and bad). I also want to take some time to share with all of you, the path of learning we have been on at Public Mobile, in hopes that it provides context to some of the changes you have seen.

Nearly two years ago, we defined what ‘doing wireless differently’ would look like, and we launched Public Mobile in beta. At the time, we had a grand vision of being a small niche brand that appealed to a very specific person - a ‘life hacker.’ Many of you joined us during that time and have been with us through the ups and downs (and we love you for it). Since then, we have learned a lot. We have learned about our competition, our industry, and most importantly, we have learned a lot about Canadians and how they use their wireless services.

Those learnings are what have brought us to today and to the changes you’re seeing now. We’re coming up with new ways to deliver more options for Canadians and new ways to remain competitive. Many of these decisions were challenging to make - change always is - but we believe they are the right things to do to continue to offer Canadians more choice and flexibility at great rates on Canada’s largest mobile network. And we believe we’re celebrating those changes by being transparent about it through our “Less for Less” campaign: managing expectations and making sure that customers know that they are trading some frills in favour of lower prices.

Today, I ask you to continue supporting us on this journey. If you have a plan you love, keep enjoying it. If you have a friend who wants a great network for less, tell them about us - why we’re great and why we are different. We aren’t for everyone, but we believe we are the right choice for a lot of Canadians. We are not who we were a few weeks ago, but we are proud of how we’ve evolved to keep up with the wireless needs of Canadians and hope you will join us on this path.

Sincerely,

Dave

[NDesai]

@rtseking To make a post, simply scroll down on the home page of this community and click on the appropriate board. Or click the orange "Browse" button right under the Public Mobile logo. If your issue is Activation related, you want to click on "Getting Started" section. Once you're in there, you will see the orange "Start a Topic" button on the top right. 

Let us know if you need more help on anything. 

[rtseking]

hi thanks for the response. i have a very busy family life and had not had a chance since my origional post to check on this again. I just tried a diff browser and noth trying to get a new number and porting my old one and both ways still dont work.

I would love to get in touch with a moderator but do not even know how to create a new post let alone try tro find a moderator. this site is very poorly designed to easily find a way to contact support.....and any new message i tried creating with adding someone to send it to said "they no longer receive private messages or something like that".....im a bit of a techy guy and should have no problem figuring these things out....i have had other friends sign up with same difficulties trying to contact someone for support......ne ways a moderator would be great to get me singed up, please! thanks!

[More_Chaos]

@rtseking@mimmo

Also, have you tried PM the moderator team directly? As it is now Friday, I hope your problem has been solved...

[More_Chaos]

@Rockdaddy22

I'm going to 1+ you by saying I know someone without a cell phone 😜 (around age of 30), and people with smart phones +/- data who are often unreachable by their phones (either calling/texting/IMing; age range varies).

[More_Chaos]

@Eric-S

---

Consider special pricing rates for existing customers to bring in family members into Public Mobile. Send offers directly to existing accounts that are tied to draw in family members. Ensure the pricing that makes a move to Public Mobile irresistible.   

If you're serious about this suggestion, perhaps try posting it in the ideas/lab section of the forum?

[NDesai]

Ok. That's enough now. This has gone way over the line. 

@phoneemail If you want to go court, just go already. 

Everyone else, just stop commenting if you want to keep this topic open for discussion. 

[mimmo]

@rtseking  it is always best to start your own thread and not tag onto an older thread.

What exatly is happening i what part of teh process is giving an error?  have you tried incognto mode or  a different browswer?  sometimes a tablet works as well.

[rtseking]

can someone please help me sign up and port my numbers...i have 2 accounts i want to bring over but for the last few days i have been trying to navigate this horrible website with no prevail and endless errors trying to activate/port a number and wont even let me "get a new assigned number" and then port later....this is not a good way to get customers, and im ready to give up.....been trying to get the deal that ends tomorrow but the way things are going and how difficult it is to actully contact someone for help in this company is rediculous!

[kav2001c]

@phoneemail lol what? How could any judge order this?

---

@phoneemail wrote:

Ok and it did not work out because? What because of bandwidth telus has to pay for?  I can guarantee that a judge would say atop charging data usage or provide phone support. 

---

[kav2001c]

---

@phoneemail wrote:

1.) They have no legal standing when it comes to their TOS/TOU/TOA ECT (A judge said this sone years ago when someone took rogers to court)

3.) Public/telus charges DATA when using the Community to get help and or support. Why charge data when its only way to get support?

5.) The hassle/waste of time just to get account 100% working (I wasted 2 days of my time)

I'm sure any judge would rule in my favor for the listed above reasons.

---

@phoneemail you do realize law is far more complicated than that (I hope)

Trust me contract law does apply to the TOS and they are enforcable in a court

I am suggesting you do not understand the judges ruling on a random Rogers issue because there is no way a judge could override hundreds of years of precedents

If you notice in your TOS there also is a severability clause for that very reason

If one section is found to be invalid they can sever it and remaining clauses of TOS are still valid without need for replacement contract

Out of curiosity though what was the Rogers issue?

[phoneemail]

My god people can be so god **bleep** stupid.. they do it for selfserve. So by your saying is that selfserve should also have data charges.. also net neutrality does not apply if a site like this site is used for technical support and or help with the providers services. 

net neutrality is for offering services such as TV ip or VOIP that gives preferential treatment. And does not apply for support. How else can we get support? I guess then Public will have no choice but to provide phone support. As I WILL BE TAKING TELUS/PUBLIC to court. It could also be false/misleading anddeceptive advertising saying service  is cheaper because no phone support and not tell you that if you use your phone to get support you will be charged by using your data usage. Wow telus where do you get your legal team from? 

[jeffster1970]

---

@sheytoon wrote:

@phoneemail

I actually agree with you that there should not be any data usage for using the online community, but do you really need to keep repeating that you are able to successfully predict the outcome of court rulings? It's distracting from your main argument.

If you want to go to court, good luck. No need to keep emphasizing it here. I think everyone's tired of hearing it.

---

The court won't agree with the OP.  I think everyone needs to understand what 'net neutrality" is, and how it affects wireless companies and their clients. You cannot have domains and subdomains that are 'data usage free'.  The technology is there. It's easy to get done. That's not the issue. The issue is how the CRTC views 'free data'.  Free data has to be either all inclusive or it can't exist.  Sub-domains and domains was actually one of the findings that the CRTC talks about when it comes to net neutrality. 

Legally, what the OP is asking for is simply not legal and any judge would be quickly educated by the legal team of Telus. 

FIDO has found a loophole in the law, which they are allowing 1-hour sessions, 5 times a month, where data usage isn't counted. However, that data is all-inclusive. You can use it for anything. 

PM could give a one time credit of perhaps 50MB for technical issues to all users, or whatever they feel is the right amount.  

Really, does anyone know how much data this site uses? Can't be that much. 

[jeffster1970]

I'm going to be honest here and say I'm not entirely understanding everything that you're saying. 

You're askng that PM have a free data if you need technical help.  While perosanally this isn't a bad idea, there is something called "net neutrality" that this country has, which prevents ANY cell company from offering free data for anything. There doesn't seem any way to skirt these issues. I believe it was Bell that got into problem when they were offering 5 free hours of TV on all cell plans that *wouldn't* affect data usage. The CRTC ruled against Bell. 

You are also mentioning how Rogers is charging $1/MB and how much this is costing you and somehow related to this. 1) Even if PM could skirt the rules and disregard "net neutrality" legally, it would only affect users of PM, not other cell companies (including Rogers). 2) If you're mentioning $1/MB in regards to PM, it's not that expensive. A 1 GB data add-on is $30, which works out to 3¢/MB.  Otherwise it's even cheaper if you have some sort of data on your plan. This site is not data heavy, due to lack of pictures and multi-media. Even worst case scenerio, at 25MB as you mentioned, that is 75¢ that you'd be out, at a max. 

You could try taking PM to court an all, small claims maybe, but in all honesty, a judge would throw the case out. 

If I am correct in sorting out what your complaint is, you might be out 20¢ in PM data charges from using this site. That would be your financial losses. 

Your headaches from dealing with PM are understandable. However, courts, again, won't be of much help. Every person has had technical issues with all companies, be it their cable, cell, internet, or whatever.  

If you really want to take it to court, go ahead. Let us know how it turns out. Don't be upset, though, if the court rules against you and asks you to pay court costs for Telus.

[sheytoon]

@phoneemail

I actually agree with you that there should not be any data usage for using the online community, but do you really need to keep repeating that you are able to successfully predict the outcome of court rulings? It's distracting from your main argument.

If you want to go to court, good luck. No need to keep emphasizing it here. I think everyone's tired of hearing it.

[Wonder_why]

Have anyone seen Super Dave yet ? Just reads a letter from Dave 

[xCameron94x]

there is no such thing as a free lunch. Economics 101. Nothing in this world is actually free, no service is free. There is always a cost somewhere. If you expect something to be "free", you'll be disappointed. 

[Rockdaddy22]

I know it's kind of ridiculous, BUT I do know people who only have talk or text and no data and no home internet. Hard to beleive I know.

[pratchak]

Thank you, Dave, for the explanation. 

[mimmo]

I would check out zoomer 40.5$/month 2 gb data offer ends today though.

[Rockdaddy22]

Don't forget battery usage, they must owe me a lot.

I'm hoping you fill me in on all the free ways you can contact other cell companies support.

[phoneemail]

Going to tim, mcd's ect is not the point. The point is they are charging data charges when using the site on your mobile phone of you want help or support. This should be provided Free of cost and free of data charges. Why dont they add in big buld letters on their site that they charge you data usage when seeking help and support? I was not told or nor did i see that I'd ve charged data usage when using the community to get help and support. So I expected it to be FREE of DATA charges. Lets see how many new customers they get considering DATA is expensive  hell 25MB now wasted on this site. so going with rogers pay as you go per day usage as an example I've just wasted $25.00 bringing my plan to over 100.00 from 67.00. 

So i dont see how they say no phone support is cheaper for us. Maybe cheaper for them but not us. And that would also stand up in the courts. 

[Rockdaddy22]

Whose going to pay for my battery usage?

[mimmo]

If the phone data is so precious why not use as mentioned before timmies wifi or simply home or work internet.

How does one even sign up for PM if they dont have internet?

I cant see the community pages being all that data intensive.

As for the renewal date PM has always d
shown good faith when customers have had issues by resetting plan dates.

[xCameron94x]

please dont waste our tax dollars for something so..... It only uses x amount of MB to go on the community and post something or send a message. You signed up knowing PM has an online only model, its buyer beware. Rogers still uses your airtime minutes if you call your voicemall. Minutes are still deducted when you call a toll free number (you dont get charged, but your minutes get used). You pay for the minutes in your plan

Just limit your data usage for other apps if you are upset

Plus many fast food chains (McDonalds, Wendys, Starbucks, Tim Hortons, ect) and even resturants have free wifi. You have options

[Rockdaddy22]

How do you contact other cell providers for free, just curious

[ShawnC13]

@phoneemail, my replies to you were to not speak badly of individual people rather then PM as a whole and if you weren't happy you could leave.  My other reply was trying to help you gain back your two days of service you have lost.  You did not fully explain that you had been dealing with them on a new renewal date.  I don't think my responses were out of line at all.  If you do plan on taking this to court I am not sure you should continue to post on a matter that maybe before the courts.  If you no longer wish to see my repliese I think there is a setting where you can ignore specific users, and if you wish you can ignore me that won't bother me or deter me from trying to help out other members.

[Rockdaddy22]

Just file your case now, I don't think they care

[phoneemail]

Well TELUS HAS UNTIL TUESDAY TO DO THIS AND OFFER EVERYONE A $60 CREDIT (the credit is for charging data usage for help and support that should be free from data charges). Or this will go to the media and to the courts. It takes less then 5 min to do subdomain changes. So they have plenty of time to do this before Tuesday.

[Rockdaddy22]

You'd have to find out the exact technical reasons they stopped offering this service.

[phoneemail]

They can just do it like they do selfserve. Hell the community is on a subdomain of publicmobile.ca supdomain(productioncommunity).publicmobile.ca if they can add the subdomain to be excluded from data charges like they do for selfserve sub domain. They know this they just dont want to do it as they want more money remember data costs so they want people to use up their data ao they can pay for more data. I'm not that stupid TELUS. Mabe you think your users are stupid and your right but im not one of them.