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Doing wireless different has its ups and downs

Dave_M
Retraité / Retired
Retraité / Retired

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.

169 REPLIES 169

imm1304
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@jsharpe, the PM mods are known to reset your 90-day cycle so it starts from the day they resolve your port request troubles.  Customers didn't have to pay for the days they were without usable service with their new PM sim card.  

 

As for the waiting ... all I can say is, hang in there. 

@smilingeyes70 sounds like a good speculation to me! Welcome to PM, finally! Robot Very Happy

jsharpe
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

In my case it's because I used the same email address to sign up for my PM account as for my Koodo account, which apparently requires a manual workaround.

 

Now at 7 days waiting for a response. $10 paid for service I can't use so far. 

smilingeyes70
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@Rockdaddy22

 

I think it worked because my husband, the account holder, called Telus and authorized the release of my number in advance of me attempting to port the number to PM. The authorization was on Telus's system so when the request came in inintially, as myself being the authorized accountholder, Telus rejected the port. Once I unticked the checkbox, indicating I was not the authouirized account holder, this lined up with Telus's information and the port was successful. I'm speculating...

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
That's strange, you shouldn't be able to port if your not the authorized user.

smilingeyes70
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@jsharpe

 

In my case, my mistake was not unticking the I'm authorized box. It was my husband's account and thus he was the one that actually authorized the release of my number. Once I unticked the I'm authorized box, the port went through with no issue.

 

Hope this helps.

oilblue99
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen
@jsharpe I assume this is in relation to porting a number in Self-Serve, as I had a similar issue last night. I was trying to port; had looked-up the number and answered the questions and then clicked the I'm authorized checkbox...clicked submit, but that generated an error about the checkbox. Odd. Cleared it, checked again & submit...same error.

Work-around for me was to start again:
- enter the phone number; and
- click the "I'm authorized" checkbox
Then click the button to lookup the number.

This time the questions appeared again (account # or IMEI, etc), and "I'm authorized" was checked. Submitting the form worked without error (as did the port).

TLDR;
Seems timing is crucial for clicking the "I'm authorized" checkbox on the Self Serve porting screen. Be sure to select it as soon as it's visible (i.e. might be shown at same time as entering the phone # you're porting).

Hope that helps.

jsharpe
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Yes, I've clicked the "I am authorized" box, @imm1304. Tried again today and still get error message.


@Rockdaddy22 wrote:
What about speakout and PC mobile. Why on the main Wikipedia page for public mobile does it list it as an MVNO? I didn't think PM was an MVNO but I didn't want to argue about it. Someone should edit that Wikipedia page.

@Rockdaddy22 it's funny but there are even contradictory Wiki pages about MVNOs

 

In general to actually be an MVNO it means the carrier (or parent carrier) does not own the network

So anything that gets touched by Rogers/Bell/Telus are automatically out

 

A few groups are protesting that the big3 make it unfair to enter Canadian market

 

 

I mentioned Ice Wireless and Sugar Mobile before

Can't beleive I forgot about Roam Mobility

 

smilingeyes70
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

@Dave_M

 

Dave,

 

I'm one of the new PM customers who signed up with this promotion a couple of weeks ago. I had zero issues activating my account, porting my number from Telus (except for a mistake that I made not unticking a checkbox) and receivied my SIM 2 days after I ordered it. I echo your statements - I'm betting that many of the issues customers are having are due to small mistakes when signing up (similiar to the one I made). I did post a service request to PM (but solved my own problem prior to hearing back). I did appreciate that PM followed up with me to ensure everything was working ok. 

 

Thus far my expereience with PM has been excellent. I look forward to helping others in the Community and being a longtime PM customer. Like many others here, I appreciate transperency and open communication with the community.

 

All the Best,
Alon

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
What about speakout and PC mobile. Why on the main Wikipedia page for public mobile does it list it as an MVNO? I didn't think PM was an MVNO but I didn't want to argue about it. Someone should edit that Wikipedia page.

Pandafavorite
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Thanks for addressing all of these issues. That being said, PM is still the best value phone service in Canada by far, and is getting steadily getting better. With this amazing plan that was offered for the week, I am sure lots of customers will notice how amazing the service is as well. Glad to be a customer of Public Mobile!

texwood
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@texwood wrote:

@makkahn28 wrote:

@kav2001c, PC Mobile is kinda on a different Awkward ownership

 

PC Mobile, Postpaid is Telus

 

PC Mobile, Prepaid is Bell


In addition, "PC" could also means Petro Canada, which is similar to 7-11 which runs off Rogers.


I just joined the forum less than 5 min ago, so I didn't get to read the entire thread.  I'm referring the term "PC Mobile" could have different context depending on the audience. 

texwood
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@kav2001c wrote:

@makkahn28 you have that backwards

Prepay is definately Telus 

 

I was not mentioning postpaid because previous poster was discussing MVNOs (prepay)

 


No - PC Mobile prepaid is Bell, PC Mobile postpad is Telus.

 

Proof:  on CRTC Wireless Code page, compliance reports were posted for all vendors that have submitted one.

 

Click on the link "Compliance Reports" and you will download a .zip file of all reports. Inside you will find a document that says Telus Compliance Report Abridged.  On p.3 of the report it reads as follows:

 

In this Compliance Report, TELUS provides its answers to the questions as set out by the Commission for its TELUS, Koodo and PC Mobile[3] brands.[4]

 

[3] TELUS is the underlying wireless service provider for PC Mobile postpaid services only. PC Mobile prepaid services are provided by a different wireless service provider.

@texwood I thought they displayed Petro? Never seen them in a long time so I could be wrong.

 

texwood
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@makkahn28 wrote:

@kav2001c, PC Mobile is kinda on a different Awkward ownership

 

PC Mobile, Postpaid is Telus

 

PC Mobile, Prepaid is Bell


In addition, "PC" could also means Petro Canada, which is similar to 7-11 which runs off Rogers.

GI2016
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

please update the community!

 

when will PM resume the sale of SIM cards online?

 

is it possible PM to open a discussion and make daily updates what is the average response time of its CS?

and maybe updates of other challenges and problems and how PM is addressing them.

it will be better that PM tells us rather than members tell their stories how long it took Customer Service to respond.

 

thanks!

@makkahn28 you have that backwards

Prepay is definately Telus 

 

I was not mentioning postpaid because previous poster was discussing MVNOs (prepay)

 

@kav2001c, PC Mobile is kinda on a different Awkward ownership

 

PC Mobile, Postpaid is Telus

 

PC Mobile, Prepaid is Bell


@Rockdaddy22 wrote:
7-Eleven speakout and PCmobile I believe are MVNO's not owned by a big 3

7-11 = Rogers

PC = Telus

 

@Rockdaddy22 the only real MVNOs we have in Canada are Ice Wireless & Sugar Mobile

 

The rest are either flankers, fake competition, or small regional players who sign roaming agreements with big3 (Tbaytel, Videotron, etc)

 

 

imm1304
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

Hi @anneh14,

 

Please edit your post to remove your email address.  All personal info must be provided to the community moderators via a private message.  

 

Send @Shazia_K a private message with your info.  Include the sim card number you used as well.. so its easier to find your account and fix the issues.  

anneh14
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Dave,

I appreciate this summary but I can't log into self serve and my phone number is not receiving or allowing me to call or text.  I get a message on the phone saying the plan doesn't include texting.  

I only activated, and did not port yet. I have sent the mods a pm

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
Never mind I found it. Maybe I don't understand what an MVNO is lol

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
7-Eleven speakout and PCmobile I believe are MVNO's not owned by a big 3

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
Koodo, Virgin and Fido. Sub brands of the parent network. Can you please provide that Wikipedia link?

@Rockdaddy22 sorry if I mislabelled Public Mobile as an MVNO.  My main source of information (outside this community) is Google and Wikipedia, and they both categorize Public Mobile as an "MVNO".  One purpose of this thread is to explain and emphasize Public Mobile's strategy of "Doing wireless different" from any other MVO or MVNO - and PM certainly does things differently.  The precise distinction in terminology seems (to me) somewhat pedantic, and more importantly, changing the formal designation doesn't seem to substantially redefine anything about what PM really is or how it really works.

 

Why compare PM vs MVNOs?  What else is there to compare against?

Rockdaddy22
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité
But Public Mobile is NOT an MVNO so why compare them with one. PC mobile is an MVNO I believe.

computer
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

If that is the case should there be some sort of disclamer in the fine print? Or is there already?

echf
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

 

Agree, let's be realistic...Technically speaking PM is a MVNO under Telus.


Although PM don't throttle speed but that doesn't mean PM has a high tower priority.
For example, Google Fi has a low tower priority since it is a MVNO under Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular.

 

But don't get me wrong, Public Mobile still has a great network. You can totally expect LTE quality, which is much better than 3G network. I just won't expect PM is as fast as Telus/Bell when it is peak hours.

 

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