cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Effective February 15th, changes are happening to Legacy/ Pioneer rate plans

Brooke_C
Retraité / Retired
Retraité / Retired

Hey Community,

 

We have some important information to share with our Legacy/Pioneer customers. As a reminder, Legacy/Pioneer customers are those who continue to have access to the call centre and are on one of the five plans listed below.

 

  • $22 Province-Wide Talk
  • $28 Canada-Wide Talk + Text
  • $43 Canada-Wide Talk + Text + 1GB Data
  • $48 Canadian & U.S. Talk + Text + 1GB Data
  • $63 Canadian & U.S. Talk + Text + 2GB Data

 

As you know, Public Mobile has been on a journey to become an online-only brand and give Canadians control of their wireless spend. Along this journey, we will need to make some changes to adapt. To that end, effective February 15th, 2018, all Legacy/Pioneer rate plans will increase in price. The reason for the price increase is simple: operating a call centre is expensive and, as the number of Legacy/Pioneer customers decreases, we lose the scale that has allowed us to operate it to date.

 

With that said, what we care about most is our customers and we want you to continue feeling good about your wireless choice, so we’ve worked with our sister brand, Koodo, to offer all Legacy/Pioneer customers a way to keep the same price. For a limited time, from January 10th to February 9th, 2018, Legacy/Pioneer customers can join Koodo with a similar rate plan that they have now with Public Mobile, at the same price they pay today. If you are a Legacy/Pioneer customer, you are eligible for this offer and you will be hearing from us over the next few days with details on how to take advantage of this deal.

 

If you are not a Legacy/Pioneer customer, this price increase and the above offer do not apply to you and you can continue enjoying your current plan.

 

To learn more, visit publicmobile.ca/serviceupdate.   

 

Thank you for your continued support as we evolve and change Smiley Happy

 

The Public Mobile Team

313 REPLIES 313

ottawa
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Sorry, bad wording, should be:

 

"free Canada-wide LD to customers in BC and AB".

 

Back then it wasn't common. Bell came out with a similar offer to customers on ON and QC shortly after, but I also wanted the Telus Galaxy SIIx as it was also the TMo version in US (my carrier of choice way back then).

 

=aw

 

ottawa
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@wetcoaster wrote:


@ottawa

If you "only" need the account active for porting you could change to in-market $20/30day for 250MB data by calling *611.


Thanks very much, I may do that. Or if the timing's right I'll reactivate at $45/1GB and use it for a month (at that point the incremental cost is $25 for 750MB and UL T&T).

 

=aw

ottawa
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@kav2001c wrote:

@ottawa  That's bizarre Koodo has tried to clamp down on loophole so hard that even a legit activation (Ottawa) is being given a tough time


To clarify, the Fido offer was for an 819 (Gatineau) number with my Ottawa address, but no way with Koodo or VM. My first smartphone was 3 years 2011-2014 on Telus with a 403 number (because they offered free LD to BC and AB). I walked into Future Shop, signed up with my ON address, told the salesman I wanted an AB number, and he was able to sell me a plan with free LD. I've been told that's no longer possible (specifically for QC plans) without a QC address, except the one Fido exception (and he said it couldn't be 514 with an Ottawa address, only 819). It's unfortunate but I guess it was getting popular.

 

BTW I notice the big data plans ($49/8GB, $?/10GB) disappeared in the past 12 hours from VM. I guess the little price war is pulling back. Still $35/1GB and $45/2GB in QC, and Videotron's offer is still up. Maybe when I'm ready for that in a couple of months, PM will be having a promo too. 🙂

 

=aw

 

@alanbrenan exactly right (whether you responded for me or MVP)

The carriers are not all evil contrary to popular myth and as I mentioned Public's terms of service are far more generous than what the Wireless Code requires them to be

 

And autopay for a prepaid plan does not change (in any way) your term to a postpaid contract

 

alanbrenan
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@MVP wrote:

@kav2001c wrote:

@srlawren month to month is still a contract (hence the credit check)

On postpaid they are required to give notice (30 days) for price increases and can not make fundemental changes to your plan 

 

On Public no such restrictions (eg they wake up tomorrow and tell us all Public is now a talk & text only carrier! Cat Surprised )

 

Unlikely in the extreme Cat LOL but just for clarity of points

 


@srlawren wrote:

@kav2001c wrote:

 

 

That actually is one of the advantages of going postpaid on Koodo

 


@kav2001c my understanding was that your plan is only price protected on post-paid when you are in a contract.  I can't say for sure but assumed these Koodo deals would be month-to-month?


 


It is actually a curious question. If your plan renewal date is tomorrow, and PM announces a change

(e.g. price increase) to your current plan today, what are your options, and is this all legit and kosher

according to the Wireless Code?

 

Or do they have to announce any change earlier (i.e 30 or x days before)? On one hand, PM is surely prepaid formally, 

on the other hand, autopay option gives it a flair of postpaid. If they automatically charge ur  credit card,

there sure should be some  advance warning for a price change?

 


@MVP wrote:

@kav2001c wrote:

@MVP Public (and most prepay carriers) give 30 days as per internal policies

hey do not want to alienate the install base

 

 

The reason it is not covered by Wireless Code is because you PREPAY for service

Think about it

 

On Postpaid, you use the service THEN they send you a bill. Now imagine if that bill is higher than what you expected. Hence legal requirement of 30 day notice.

 

On Prepay you have no contract. Your renewal date is next week. Public raises rates.

Up to you if you want to pay or not.

 


Everything is simple and unambiguous if there is no AUTOpay involved.

You log in to your account, review what you owe and chose whether to pay or not.

 

With autopay, you are not (but  should be ) also provided with automatic possibility to review what you are gonna pay.

Theoretically, PM can increase the plan price 10-fold any day, and charge you4 credit csrd without notifying you.

Somehow this feels wrong to me... ando contrary to the spirit of wireless code.

 

And to the common sense. When you enrolled your credit card, you agreed to pay the curent price, not a possible increased price.

 

There should be some advance notification mechanism, which should allow you to chose whether to pay or to to go elsewhere?

 


I understand your cautions about the Wireless Code not protecting you, but judging on what I've seen from Public Mobile just because they could do it doesn't mean they ever will. They've given appropriate notice for all changes to people's plans as a courtesy and so they don't overburden the staff team with the amount of complaints.

 

You signing up to Autopay doesn't constitute a change of how the service is provided. It remains prepaid because a day before your auto renewal date you can check the www.publicmobile.ca/plans for any changes for yourself and stop your auto renewal. This option may not be available for postpaid plans and as such is controlled by the Wireless Code. See this excerpt from the Terms of Service:

@MVP autopay is irrelevant (many prepay services have similar mechanisms where you get rewards for autopay, Chatr, Lucky, 7-11 etc)

 

I know it "feels" wrong which is why most carriers have more generous terms (try to make users happy right)

 

 

MVP
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@kav2001c wrote:

@MVP Public (and most prepay carriers) give 30 days as per internal policies

hey do not want to alienate the install base

 

 

The reason it is not covered by Wireless Code is because you PREPAY for service

Think about it

 

On Postpaid, you use the service THEN they send you a bill. Now imagine if that bill is higher than what you expected. Hence legal requirement of 30 day notice.

 

On Prepay you have no contract. Your renewal date is next week. Public raises rates.

Up to you if you want to pay or not.

 


Everything is simple and unambiguous if there is no AUTOpay involved.

You log in to your account, review what you owe and chose whether to pay or not.

 

With autopay, you are not (but  should be ) also provided with automatic possibility to review what you are gonna pay.

Theoretically, PM can increase the plan price 10-fold any day, and charge you4 credit csrd without notifying you.

Somehow this feels wrong to me... ando contrary to the spirit of wireless code.

 

And to the common sense. When you enrolled your credit card, you agreed to pay the curent price, not a possible increased price.

 

There should be some advance notification mechanism, which should allow you to chose whether to pay or to to go elsewhere?

 

 

 

@MVP Public (and most prepay carriers) give 30 days as per internal policies

hey do not want to alienate the install base

 

 

The reason it is not covered by Wireless Code is because you PREPAY for service

Think about it

 

On Postpaid, you use the service THEN they send you a bill. Now imagine if that bill is higher than what you expected. Hence legal requirement of 30 day notice.

 

On Prepay you have no contract. Your renewal date is next week. Public raises rates.

Up to you if you want to pay or not.

 

MVP
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@kav2001c wrote:

@srlawren month to month is still a contract (hence the credit check)

On postpaid they are required to give notice (30 days) for price increases and can not make fundemental changes to your plan 

 

On Public no such restrictions (eg they wake up tomorrow and tell us all Public is now a talk & text only carrier! Cat Surprised )

 

Unlikely in the extreme Cat LOL but just for clarity of points

 


@srlawren wrote:

@kav2001c wrote:

 

 

That actually is one of the advantages of going postpaid on Koodo

 


@kav2001c my understanding was that your plan is only price protected on post-paid when you are in a contract.  I can't say for sure but assumed these Koodo deals would be month-to-month?


 


It is actually a curious question. If your plan renewal date is tomorrow, and PM announces a change

(e.g. price increase) to your current plan today, what are your options, and is this all legit and kosher

according to the Wireless Code?

 

Or do they have to announce any change earlier (i.e 30 or x days before)? On one hand, PM is surely prepaid formally, 

on the other hand, autopay option gives it a flair of postpaid. If they automatically charge ur  credit card,

there sure should be some  advance warning for a price change?

 

Alrady Bravo'd that one 🙂  Thanks @kav2001c

miscolcic
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

The same is happening to me

claude1960
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@kav2001c

Thank you

That's exactly what I'm gonna do early febuary

@ottawa, the fact that Public Mobile doesn't include 'local calls' in the basic phone blan is rediculous, especially for htose who live in communities very close to (or even stradle) provincial borders.

 

This is a standard practice in landlines... it should be continued in cellular service.


@ottawa wrote:

 

"Your plan must be active to port"

It looks like PM uses "active" (or activate) to mean different things in different situations, where alternative unambiguous terminology might be better. I didn't pay on Jan 4, and to use PM website's terminology, my plan is currently expired, my plan is currently deactivated, my account is currently suspended, and my account will be deactivated on about Apr 4 (Jan 94th)? Give or take a couple of days.

 

Is that right? In that case, I will have to cough up $43|$45 (depending on date) before I can port out? Of course I'd use the plan for a month and then do the port. Or just walk away, but I think the timing may work for me. How long does a port take?

 



@ottawa

If you "only" need the account active for porting you could change to in-market $20/30day for 250MB data by calling *611.

 

 

 

@ottawa slight cross over in activation dates between Legacy and Beta plans. Plus the fact that Public online self serve allowed existing clients long after to change to expired / grandfather plans many would activate a Beta plan, log into self serve and simply change back to a Legacy plan Cat Wink

 

Yes you would need to top up before you ported 

 

That's bizarre Koodo has tried to clamp down on loophole so hard that even a legit activation (Ottawa) is being given a tough time

 

ottawa
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

"there are no pure Public reps anymore, simply is not enough call volume. Koodo reps with different tools than the normal Koodo reps handling the accounts."

That's what I was wondering, like one of the airlines a few years ago closed their Elite (or Super Elite) desk and just labelled some of the more senior agents "Super Elite desk". A little extra training for the agents, and priority access to the queue (like at the airport) was not the same as a team dedicated to only the top customers. Which is why I really call BS on claims the "Public Mobile Call Centre" is costing too much to maintain. I agree that lack of economies of scale cause a downward spiral, but it's not like they're renting a dedicated PM office somewhere and half the agents have nothing to do on a slow night.

 

"Public plans were normally 90, 30, or 10 days. The 180 day plans never went to general Public"

Okay thanks, I thought the 90-day (and 10-day) plans were introduced after the Legacy plans were discontinued and grandfathered. I thought they offered 10-day plans but I don't see any, was that a thing for long?

 

"Your plan must be active to port"

It looks like PM uses "active" (or activate) to mean different things in different situations, where alternative unambiguous terminology might be better. I didn't pay on Jan 4, and to use PM website's terminology, my plan is currently expired, my plan is currently deactivated, my account is currently suspended, and my account will be deactivated on about Apr 4 (Jan 94th)? Give or take a couple of days.

 

Is that right? In that case, I will have to cough up $43|$45 (depending on date) before I can port out? Of course I'd use the plan for a month and then do the port. Or just walk away, but I think the timing may work for me. How long does a port take?

 

"Which carrier offers cheaper plans at this point?"

I'm in a somewhat unique situation, but this also applies to all my friends in Montreal and Ottawa, many of whom signed up when PM was a Toronto|Montreal service at $15/mo.

 

The answer for me is any of Koodo, Fido, Virgin Mobile (which I call the Little 3), or Videotron. The first 3 on a QC plan ($35/1GB) which I was told is also available on Fido to Ottawa residents (for Koodo and VM I would need a friend with QC address). For a QC resident I might recommend Koodo for the no-shock data, but I put a friend on VM because the incentives (bribes) for a new handset were greater.

 

I'm on VM now at $49/8GB (BYOD), changing to $35/1GB in a few days. Videotron is good for QC or Ottawa residents and is ($45-$30)/2GB based on 1-4 people sharing the account. PM wants $50/mo for this on a 90-day cycle. All for unlimited talk & text.

 

Province-wide talk is just unusable for me, I can't even call Gatineau never mind Montreal. If "QC" included Ottawa, or "ON" included Gatineau, it might be okay (there was a LD carrier many years ago that did that, London Telecom maybe?). But neither would let me call both Ottawa-Montreal and Montreal-Ottawa as part of "unlimited". So it has to be Canada-wide.

 

As I said, I'm in a somewhat unique situation, but I was talking about myself anyway. 🙂

 

Thanks for asking, and thanks for the information. I like Telus (best of the big 3 anyway, and I was on Telus for 3 years 2011-2014) and I like PM, and I like Koodo. I don't like the claim that "1GB data users are costing us $2/mo more in call centre costs, and no-data users are costing us $5/mo more in call centre costs, so our only option is to raise your price so you move you elsewhere".

 

And as I posted upthread, the answer I gave when they went up $3 a year (?) ago is not the same answer I'm giving now. Even the Montreal friends who don't want a new handset, are feeling that the Little 3's $35/1GB is more appealing than the "special" Koodo offer that I assume is $28/0GB.

 

=aw

 

claude1960
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@ottawa

I've decided to loose my canada wide and renew with province wide for $25 with PM
First because I didn't get the answer from Koodo, not good cust. service and because I've been satisfied with PM for so long.
I refered people even if it didn't get me the rebate, now it will.

claude1960
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@alanbrenan

agreed

@ottawa Public plans were normally 90, 30, or 10 days

The 180 day plans never went to general Public 

 

Your plan must be active to port

You can port to any carrier, Koodo included

 

Which carrier offers cheaper plans at this point?

The only one who is remotely close is Zoomer (with limited minutes and very limited data)

 

 


@ottawa wrote:

I didn't think there were 90-day plans for Legacy. I stuck with my $43/mo because my annual cost is lower by not paying for 30-60 days at a time when I don't need the phone. There are other cheaper options out there now (some much cheaper) and it's sad that PM is not longer the no-frills [not TM ;)] price leader.

 

Is it possible to _port_ from PM to Koodo (not through this offer)? And is it possible to port from PM to anyone (including Koodo or Telus) when your phone is inactive (didn't pay) but the account is still there to be reactivated? I didn't pay on Jan 4 and I'm wondering if I'll have to cough up ($43|$45) to reactivated to port out to Koodo in late March.

 

Thanks!

=aw

 


 

@alanbrenan there are no pure Public reps anymore, simply is not enough call volume

Koodo reps with different tools than the normal Koodo reps handling the accounts

 

@srlawren month to month is still a contract (hence the credit check)

On postpaid they are required to give notice (30 days) for price increases and can not make fundemental changes to your plan 

 

On Public no such restrictions (eg they wake up tomorrow and tell us all Public is now a talk & text only carrier! Cat Surprised )

 

Unlikely in the extreme Cat LOL but just for clarity of points

 


@srlawren wrote:

@kav2001c wrote:

 

 

That actually is one of the advantages of going postpaid on Koodo

 


@kav2001c my understanding was that your plan is only price protected on post-paid when you are in a contract.  I can't say for sure but assumed these Koodo deals would be month-to-month?


 

ottawa
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I didn't think there were 90-day plans for Legacy. I stuck with my $43/mo because my annual cost is lower by not paying for 30-60 days at a time when I don't need the phone. There are other cheaper options out there now (some much cheaper) and it's sad that PM is not longer the no-frills [not TM ;)] price leader.

 

Is it possible to _port_ from PM to Koodo (not through this offer)? And is it possible to port from PM to anyone (including Koodo or Telus) when your phone is inactive (didn't pay) but the account is still there to be reactivated? I didn't pay on Jan 4 and I'm wondering if I'll have to cough up ($43|$45) to reactivated to port out to Koodo in late March.

 

Thanks!

=aw

 

alanbrenan
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@claude1960 wrote:

@alanbrenan

 

Thank you your suggestion was helpfull.
I called the service center to take the basic plan for 90 days, I'll save also on autopay.
My renewal is on feb 9th they will call me back, I settle with the provincial plan.

Had to use the call center though.......


I'm happy to have been of help @claude1960! Feel free to pay it forward and stick around to offer your veteran advice to help others as I have helped you. Just a few helpful posts a day can easily get you into the top 25% ($2/mo off your bill) or even top 5% ($4/mo off your bill.) and save you some coffee money!

 

As a Legacy member, the option to use the call centre is available to you! You would have been able to achieve the same changes by PMing the Moderator team, just maybe not as immediately. I definitely think you would've achieved the same result by the renewal date, though, that's for sure!

claude1960
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@alanbrenan

 

Thank you your suggestion was helpfull.
I called the service center to take the basic plan for 90 days, I'll save also on autopay.
My renewal is on feb 9th they will call me back, I settle with the provincial plan.

Had to use the call center though.......

alanbrenan
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@ottawa wrote:

 

Spoiler

We went through the same thing last time when the plans went up $3 (to $28 and $43, in our cases). The Koodo offer is not the same as the current PM plans, for one thing it's postpaid not prepaid though the no-shock data is a nice feature that avoids the biggest worry with postpaid (running up a $50 data overage without knowing it). But not everyone wants postpaid in any case.

 

PM makes a big deal about the call centre being the feature driving this (though somehow a no-data $28/mo user is cost 2.5x as much as a 1GB $43/mo user, based on increases of $5 and $2 respectively). It would be better (for us) to remove call centre support from the plan and (maybe) then offer it as a $2 or $5 add-on. Is there actually a PM call centre at this point, or is it just some of the Koodo agents trained to take PM calls as well?

 

Moving to postpaid Koodo costs us our add-ons, loses the ability to leave the account unpaid when on vacation. I might be able to match my $43/mo on a new plan, but current PM plans less flexible (90-day cycles instead of 30-day) to do that ($45/mo for 1GB & Canada-wide, less a loyalty discount I guess).

 

The last time round, I advised my other friends on PM to stick with PM. This time around, my advice will be different. It's too bad, some of our group have been with PM since it was $15/mo. 😞

 

=aw

 


As far as my understanding goes with call centers, it's likely that Public Mobile pays for a small campaign on Telus/Koodo's floor. It's likely that either they're dedicated Public Mobile representatives or if not, their systems allow for incoming PM traffic. This speculation is just that, however, and I could be completely off the mark. To simply "remove" that would likely break a contract they have with this campaign.

 

I'm unsure of what plans you're quoting, but I'm personally on a 150/90 promotion (18gb/90d, unlim text + prov talk) and I love it. It saves me $50/mo off of my old bill with Rogers and I think it's amongst one of the cheapest options I've found. Not to mention a potential savings of $51/90d if I were to stay at the top 0.1% for three months in a row, have service for for five years and be on autopay. While five years is a long time from now considering I only started two months ago and it's difficult to stay on the top 0.1%, these rewards are not offered with any other company I know of.

 

It really is upsetting to hear that veteran members of the community are being affected negatively by this change and cannot work with Public Mobile to remain valued customers, but ultimately it's completely understood and hopefully they will come back eventually.

 


@neoceltic wrote:

 

Spoiler

I am on a 90 day plan and I think it is a legacy plan. My next auto payment is Feb. 24. Will this change have anything to do to me?

 

I note that I haven't recieved any text message from PM and 'My Account' show no changes, i.e. my plan will auto renew on Feb. 24.

 


This change will affect your 90 day plan assuming it is a Legacy plan. I think (if an Oracle/previous oracle could help me out here @srlawren that'd be great) you can contact the Moderator Team and request for an early renewal of your current plan prior to Feb 15th. Doing this will will lock you in to your rate for the next three months. Understand that the team may not be able to accomodate for this as it goes against the intention of the change.

 

Alternatively you always have the option to renew your services manually. You will have to do this prior to Feb 15th, but do so understanding that any unused days between the date you manually renew and Feb 24th will be forfeit. This method is also assuming you are capable of manually renewing a Legacy plan early, which you may not be able to do.

 

As @mimmo has stated, most plans are going to be cheaper due to rewards. If you could communicate to us your plan, we may be able to help recommending you to a plan that is close to your current pricing.

claude1960
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@ottawa

 

Thank you for your insight, my feelings too.
God bless you.

mimmo
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@neoceltic  is your plan one of the ones mentioned in the in the orriginal post?  if yes then you will be affected. I believe  in most cases the current inmarket plans are better than the legasy plans especially when you consider the autopaye and loyalty rewards.

 

what is your current plan?  

@neoceltic, I believe the Legacy members are described as being on the same plan since a date PRIOR to January 15th 2015 (someone correct me if I'm wrong).

 

You can tell if you are a Legacy member, if you still have access to voice support via the 611 number.

 

If this is what you have, you will be affected by this change.

neoceltic
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I am on a 90 day plan and I think it is a legacy plan. My next auto payment is Feb. 24. Will this change have anything to do to me?

 

I note that I haven't recieved any text message from PM and 'My Account' show no changes, i.e. my plan will auto renew on Feb. 24.

Need Help? Let's chat.