New Long Distance Add-Ons

[Catherine_T]

Hi Community, 

We heard you about wanting more countries and we have some exciting news to announce today! Effective October 8, 2020, Public Mobile is launching a new add-on suite of Long Distance Minutes to better serve customers making calls internationally from Canada. 

What’s changing? 

We made some key changes based on your feedback, including:

• A simplified structure 
• Increased value for high demand countries  
• Increased the number of countries included in our suite of add-ons from 19 to 41 

What does this look like? 

Previous Long Distance Add-ons (pre October 8, 2020):

• 200 Minutes to the U.S. and Canada for $8
• 400 International Minutes for $15 

New Long Distance Add-ons (as of October 8, 2020):

• 1000 Minutes to the U.S. for $15;
• 1000 Minutes to the U.K. for $15; 
• 750 Minutes to India and Pakistan for $15;
• 500 Minutes to China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan for $15;
• 100 Minutes to the Philippines for $15 
• 300 International Minutes for $15 which now includes more calling locations 
• New countries added include: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Romania, Sweden 
• 500 Canada-wide Minutes for $5  

How to get this offer:

1. Log-in to Self Serve
2. Ensure you have sufficient funds in your account. If not, make sure to top up. 
3. Go to “Plan and Add-Ons”
4. Select “My Add-Ons”
5. Select your preferred Long Distance Add-On under ‘Talk’
6. Click ‘Make a Payment’ and follow the instructions

What you need to know:

1. Unused long distance add-on minutes do not expire and will roll over to the next plan period 
2. Customers with existing long distance add-ons can continue to use their minutes until the minutes are depleted  
3. Customers purchasing the 300 International Long Distance Minutes Add-On can now call the following countries: Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Thailand, Venezuela 
4. Our 500 Canada-wide minutes for $5 add-on is still available for purchase  

Thank you again for choosing Public Mobile! Let us know what you think 🙂

- The Public Mobile Team

[Korth]

@computergeek541 

Compare this long distance add-on structure to Lucky's International Calling Add-ons. PM's price-per-minute rates are far better to every country listed in PM's add-ons. But Lucky can also reach many countries PM cannot. I think Lucky's breakdown into packages of tens or hundreds of minutes is a little ridiculous, I would personally be very conscious of talk time if I'd have to buy minutes in such small increments.

Chatr has a per-country "International Talk Saver" system instead of add-ons. At terribly costly rates to every country I checked. So you just pay for exactly what you use, per minute per country, no need to buy any packaged add-ons, but if you talk a lot then you'll pay a lot.

Freedom offers very few Talk Add-Ons.

$15/1000min for China, Hong Kong, and India.

$5/month to get "World Saver" long distance rates. Which seem comparable to Lucky, higher cost than PM, more countries than PM. You buy the World Saver Add-On, then you pay per-minute at lower rates ($0.05 per minute to UK, vs usual $0.75 per minute, for example).

But they do offer one killer standout - $5/month for Unlimited US Long Distance. This option would be a welcome supplement for any PM plan.

I didn't go through every country on every option on every carrier. But paying 1.5 cents per minute to call UK on PM is definitely better than paying 5 cents or 9 cents or 75 cents per minute elsewhere. Still ... if you gotta call the Ukraine then PM can't help you out.

[computergeek541]

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@Korth wrote:

But I could easily get a bunch of referrals if places like Ukraine, Belarus, and Latvia are on the list. Friends on Lucky who'd prefer Public but simply need to call places which aren't part of Public's "International" list.

I suspect that the separate add-ons was for simplicity, but I'd rather see one long distance add-on period, with minutes really being "credits", with something like a Canadian or U.S., or UK minute using up one credit/minute, but a call to Australia, Austria, and the rest of the countries listed alphbetically in the country list for the current 300 minute add-on using 3 minutes/credits. @Bryan_N : Other carriers have implemented that type of system. Would it not have been possible at Public Mobile?    I know it would make it sound more complicated, but it would be more fair for the customer.

Much of my critism is based on how the U.S. and U.K. long distance add-ons both are $15 and include 1000 minutes yet are seperate. Why should a customer have to pay for both if they make calls to both these locations?  I feel that strictly from a customer and Public Mobile P.R. standpoint, that doesn't make the brand look good.

If a third party long dsitance company/calling card company were to require customers to deposit funds into seperate accounts, use seperate funds, or buy seperate calling cards to call each country, how much business would they get?

[Korth]

I hate to be that guy ...

But I could easily get a bunch of referrals if places like Ukraine, Belarus, and Latvia are on the list. Friends on Lucky who'd prefer Public but simply need to call places which aren't part of Public's "International" list.

Although my friends who call AUS, NZ, and Ireland will be most pleased, lol.

[Bryan_N]

Hi @Jb456,

Thanks for the catch! We've added this to our To Do list and will be updating soon. 

Bryan 

[computergeek541]

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@Bryan_N wrote:

These new add-ons do not include Canada calling. We considered this and felt not including Canada-wide would prevent customers who purchase long distance add-ons but who have unlimited Canada-wide from using up their add-on minutes. Customers calling within Canada will receive more value from the $5 Canada-wide add-on as the international minutes will not be depleted. 

In the case of someone with unlimited Canada-wide minutes, add-on minutes to call Canadian phone numbers wouldn't be used regardless. 

As for the $5 add-on, I do agree that if someone has a province-wide calling plan or a limited minute plan, I do agree that's better value that the minutes being taking out of the $15, 300 minute add-on, but especially in the case of someone with a $10 plan, I suspect that someone would rather have a call come in than not if they they only have the 300 minute package (the same goes for outgoing calls on the $10 and $15 price plans).

[Bryan_N]

Hi @Anonymous 

Thanks for mentioning! We are looking into how we can address this to ensure customers have more options to purchase. 

Bryan 

[Bryan_N]

@computergeek541, thanks for your thoughts on the add-ons. 

We did wrestle with the trade-offs of minutes and locations but we're very excited by the prospect of providing customers with more minutes and value to the most popular calling locations. We have removed Canada, US, UK, China and Hong Kong from the International add-on but add-ons for those locations now provide outstanding value! 

The great news for customers who do typically call people in more than one country is that as before their minutes will not expire. Essentially, customers will get more value from what they pay for and use.  

Bryan 

[Bryan_N]

Thanks for the feedback! We're excited for customers to offer better value through the country/region add-ons and more calling locations! 

[Bryan_N]

Thanks for the feedback! 

[Bryan_N]

Hi @Anonymous,

These new add-ons do not include Canada calling. We considered this and felt not including Canada-wide would prevent customers who purchase long distance add-ons but who have unlimited Canada-wide from using up their add-on minutes. Customers calling within Canada will receive more value from the $5 Canada-wide add-on as the international minutes will not be depleted. 

In terms of prioritization of usage, there is now no overlapping countries in long-distance add-ons so no prioritization required. For those who still have minutes on the retired 200 min US-CAD and 400 min Int'l those will be used up first if a customer purchases a new add-on that covers one of the countries included. Long distance minutes on retired plans will not expire. 

Thanks for the questions! 

Bryan 

[darlicious]

@Catherine_T 

This great news! Many customers have been requesting an expanded list of international calling destinations. Despite the detractors bemoaning a price increase we have long speculated that the original shorter list of international countries was due to the cost of negotiating contracts for lesser called countries or simply their higher cost demands of those countries telecoms.

I personally think removing Canada and the US from these higher cost add ons is preferable so as to not waste long distance minutes when a lower cost add on is available. Infrequent callers to the US or other countries will simply have an add on that will last a lifetime. ( I know mine will!) Those who feel the cost is still too high have a myriad of international calling cards or free apps to choose from that will fulfill their needs. I prefer to have my plan costs remain the same ( or lower?) And have those customers who require these services pay their fair share rather than have the entire customer base subsidize the new options. Public mobile has to make a profit from somewhere and if it keeps our plan costs from going up I'm all for it. Thanks public mobile for listening to and fulfilling its customers wants and needs from their provider without increasing each individuals basic costs. Keep up the good work!

[Jb456]

@wetcoaster  the 400 minute international always included USA.

 

[computergeek541]

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@wetcoaster wrote:

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@computergeek541 wrote:

And, if calls to the U.S. are no longer included in the multi-country add-on, the apparent exclusion (if it's excluded) of that would make it necessary for someone to buy two different add-ons ot wanting to call different countries.

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I just dialed one of my suppliers' number in the States (400 minute add-on). It seems to have gone through just fine / without a "we're sorry your call can not be completed". However, after three rings I had to take an incoming call, so ended the outgoing one before it was picked up or went to voice mail, so it does not show in the usage history.

If I get around I'll report back on the next attempt.

---

but what's going to happen with the 300 minute add-on? 

[wetcoaster]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

And, if calls to the U.S. are no longer included in the multi-country add-on, the apparent exclusion (if it's excluded) of that would make it necessary for someone to buy two different add-ons ot wanting to call different countries.

---

I just dialed one of my suppliers' number in the States (400 minute add-on). It seems to have gone through just fine / without a "we're sorry your call can not be completed". However, after three rings I had to take an incoming call, so ended the outgoing one before it was picked up or went to voice mail, so it does not show in the usage history.

If I get around I'll report back on the next attempt.

[Korth]

@computergeek541 

I don't recall any "US Roaming" holiday giveaways, lol.

I notice that the associated text blocks for the rest of that Self-Serve page haven't been updated. Quite a mess, actually. Even the little data picture in the upper right hasn't been updated, unless PM is doing 4G LTE again?

I notice the buttons are greyed out. I can't actually click them to change quantity away from 0.

[computergeek541]

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@Korth wrote:

I'm curious ... "Free US Roaming" ... is this a Covid-duration thing?

(Edit: updated image)

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Lol. My account doesn't have that. I suspect that that could be things be changed around and that some of that text could be leftover from holiday giveaways.

[Korth]

I'm curious ... "Free US Roaming" ... is this a Covid-duration thing?

(Edit: updated image)

[computergeek541]

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@Lemony_Snicket wrote:

Wow, 25% price increase!  Only 300 minutes instead of 400 minutes for the same price.

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As I was saying, there are good things about these add-ons and this annoucement, but the bad should be pointed out too. 

[computergeek541]

@sa7375 If you take U.S. long distance as an example,  the customer no longer has an $8 option. For direct dial calls to U.S., customers would now need to speed $15.  The fact that add-ons don't expire or that the price per minute is now better with the new add-on doesn't change that fact.

And, if calls to the U.S. are no longer included in the multi-country add-on, the apparent exclusion (if it's excluded) of that would make it necessary for someone to buy two different add-ons ot wanting to call different countries.

[Lemony_Snicket]

Wow, 25% price increase!  Only 300 minutes instead of 400 minutes for the same price.

[Helpershelper]

Hopefully Wi-Fi calling would be supported in the future as well.

[Anonymous]

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@Jb456 wrote:

@geopublic  It works!!! 😀

@kselmak 

I just called some grocery store in Sweden and they answered lol.

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Shh 🙂 I might recommend mentioning this in pm. But all the other bugs and quirks are in the open anyway so maybe it doesn't matter. 🙂

[sa7375]

@computergeek541 

When you say that "Some customers who only need a small amount of minutes end up with higher priced add-ons", how do they stand to lose? These plans allow the roll-on for the unused minutes till depleted implying that one can buy a plan and keep using it for years or depletion, whichever occurs earlier. 

[kselmak]

@Jb456 

That's great to know thanks

[Jb456]

@geopublic  It works!!! 😀

@kselmak 

I just called some grocery store in Sweden and they answered lol.

 

[kselmak]

@geopublic 

I was wandering the same

I'm guessing the title 400 ILD keeps it very distinct and probably only works with the old lost.

I suspect if you would be to purchase the new add-on the minutes probably wouldn't merge and it would be on separate line.

I may be won't, every l wonder if anybody is up for an experiment

[geopublic]

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I wonder If one would be able to make calls to the new countries with their existing 400 minute add-on plan?

[computergeek541]

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@geopublic wrote:

👍For the additional countries and 👎 for the 100 minute decrease.

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There are good things in this announcement too, but as to the bad things, we gotta call it as we see it.

[Triguy]

This is great news !  Good to have more countries added for international LD.

[geopublic]

👍For the additional countries and 👎 for the 100 minute decrease.