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

[dust2dust]

JM1818: There's a limited number of countries available to call with add-ons. If you still have the $15 as mentioned then stop and make sure the country you want is listed.

[hTideGnow]

HI @JM1818   Buying add-on requires 2 separate processes, first load fund and then buy.  Many people only did load fund and didn't buy.  Did you check if the Long Distance add-on showing up in My Data & Add-on section in My Account?  Or if you see Available Fund = $15, then likely you have just loaded fund and didn't buy 

[JM1818]

I just paid $15 for 300 international minutes, but when I phoned abroad I was told I had used up all my minutes. What gives?

[darlicious]

@beardeddragon 

The first update to the list of international calling destinations occurred about 16 months ago after about 5 years with the former list of calling destinations. I wouldn't expect an update for another few years and even then any new countries added would depend on demand and the ability to negotiate calling rates with a countries telecom providers. 

Pm went from 18 to 30 countries on their international calling destinations list. So from around 10% to to about 16% of the world's nations so there is a lot of countries that are just not going to be possible to call directly thru public mobile service.

To contact customer support click below:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

To pre-verify your account include your full name, address, email, phone # and 4 digit acct pin #.

[beardeddragon]

When will you include Ukraine in International calling? 

[darlicious]

@martin8 

You don't have to worry about cost....if it works it will deduct minutes from the add on. Simple.

[martin8]

if the call goes through, keep an eye on how much it is actually costing you, mostlikely it won't connect, but you never know

[darlicious]

@Lubnaali31 

The UAE is not a country covered by any of pm's add ons. Pakistan is a separate add on but why not give it go and see if it does allow you to call. Stranger things have happened. Report back your results.

[Lubnaali31]

What countries can I call to please? Just wondering if Pakistan and UAE is one of the option for international calling countries?

[Anonymous]

 @Warsame766 : Not one African country is directly accessible using PM. You could use one of those international calling cards from many convenience stores. You could use voip apps like TextNow...but it's 23 cents a minute. Yow.

[softech]

@Warsame766  Sorry, the world with PM is smaller, its international call package only covers:

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.

If you need to call outside of this list, you will have to get a calling card. 😞

[Warsame766]

Where is africa??? How can i make a long distance to somalia

[martin8]

Love it, happy to see i'm able to call the netherlands on my cell

[kav2001c]

Torn

Positive they finally starting to bring back more countries

Negative the system is very confusing, some of the bundles and cost per minute don't make sense (esp when real world rates are within pennies of each other)

More choice is a good thing overall and inclusion of some countries should help

[darlicious]

@mohabmz 

Maybe in there next round of negotiations. Best sign up some friends and family to increase demand. You can add it to the wishlist and maybe yours will come true!

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Community/The-Community-s-Public-Mobile-Wishlist/m-p/...

[mohabmz]

Great job PM

But I hope Egypt to be added among your new list.

Anyone who want Egypt can give me a bravo

[darlicious]

@Jonavin 

The old add ons will be used first but they will allocate depending on your add ons on the account. So as long as you have a new or old US calling add on then the 400 min old international add on will not be used for US calling. But it has been reported that the old add on works for the new long distance countries on the list.

[Jonavin]

If I have existing (old LD minutes) and buy these new ones -- let's say I buy the US LD -- which gets used up first if I call a US number? Will the US only bucket get used up first so I can still keep my old International minutes for when I make international calls?

[Smnewt]

Having checked the other cell plans available in Canada, Public Mobile has out done itself with these new long distance add-ons.

[LurganIeUk]

Prefix the number with 011

[JoyLuck]

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@mvddtolentino wrote:

Hi,

I would like to check on how can I use the paid $15 for International calls. After I paid it and tried to call, it says that I don't have access for International call.

Appreciate your help on this.

Thank you.

---

Buying an add on is a 2 step process. You added the funds. You now have to go back in and make the purchase.

Tutorial on add on purchase: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Plans-Add-Ons/HOWTO-Purchasing-Add-ons/m-p/198974

[mvddtolentino]

Hi,

I would like to check on how can I use the paid $15 for International calls. After I paid it and tried to call, it says that I don't have access for International call.

Appreciate your help on this.

Thank you.

[Korth]

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@computergeek541 wrote:
I would present the argument that it's not worth it to pay anything for U.S. long distance, at least not when there are a bunch of ways to call regular U.S. phone numbers for free using the internet. I know that there is a bit of convenience factor using your regular phone service, and that there may be reliability differences, but with it being so easy to call the U.S. for free, I'm surprised that Public Mobile doesn't include it with all plans.

---

The free VoIP methods all consume WiFi or cellular data. Different apps use different amounts of data - Skype uses roughly 875kb per minute (roughly 0.05GB per hour) - other apps use less, although their call audio quality suffers accordingly. Even the best calling quality of these apps (Skype) cannot match Telus "HD Voice" aka "Wideband Audio" calling quality, although the difference is often almost unnoticeable. Unless the VoIP call has bad IP routing which causes echoes or latencies or other weird artifacts, easily corrected by hanging up and dialing again.

Incidentally, these apps all need access to faster (symmetrical upload/download) data than the throttled "unlimited" data rates offered by Lucky, Chatr, or Freedom.

875kb per minute equates to roughly 1.25 cents per minute if you buy data at a flat $15 per GB. Less if you get that data included in your plan. More if that data is precious to you. And more if you're using roaming data, calling from USA to USA (or to Canada) for example.

Also, if it's not your home WiFi - it's connecting through a WAP at work or school or a public hotspot - then the WiFi owner sometimes (often?) configures things which limit VoIP calling, providing conditions which make the calls unreliable or unpleasant. Worth considering if you plan to use free WiFi to make your calls.

[AE_Collector]

@swiss32 

I get it that you would now need to put out $20 to buy the US ($15) & the Canada plans ($5) where as you only had to put out $8 before. BUT, instead of 200 minutes fir $8 you now get 1500 minutes for $20.  If you occasionally used this you logically already have the remaining portion which will remain unchanged until you use it up. Spring for the $5 500 minute Canada plan and then the remaining portion of your $8/200 minute plan will only be used for your calls to the US preserving it for a much longer time. I really don’t think this will break the bank and you will be set for a very long time. Make some lemonade out of this!

AE_Collector

[computergeek541]

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@swiss32 wrote:

Not happy

used the  200 min US and Canada Long Distance add on.making very limited calls to the US,

so it's not worth it for my to get a US only add-on..

---

I would present the argument that it's not worth it to pay anything for U.S. long distance, at least not when there are a bunch of ways to call regular U.S. phone numbers for free using the internet. I know that there is a bit of convenience factor using your regular phone service, and that there may be reliability differences, but with it being so easy to call the U.S. for free, I'm surprised that Public Mobile doesn't include it with all plans.

[swiss32]

that is a 33 percent increase....

[swiss32]

Not happy

used the  200 min US and Canada Long Distance add on.making very limited calls to the US,

so it's not worth it for my to get a US only add-on..

[Kupster]

Nice!

Im loving Public Mobile more and more.👍

[Dustmaker]

So you made it  more expensive! That's a shame. Why didn't you create another group of countries with 300 min and left 400 min alone?

Back to Skype for me. Now you ask 5c per minutes, Skype is 2.3c

[pm-smayer97]

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@computergeek541 wrote:

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@Spunx wrote:

I was given 1000 LD minutes reward.  How come I received a text message saying I only have 10 minutes left on my account?  

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That's probably based on the number of minutes remaining in your base plan. Please go to selfserve.publicmobile.ca and check how many minutes are listed as left for your add-on.

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Yes, that is exactly what it is. I get that notification all the time when using up base minutes. Nothing to worry about. And yes, you can confirm this by checking how many minutes are left in your base plan.