Community

Catherine_T · ‎02-16-2021

[Edited: Feb 16, 3:45PM EST]

Hey Community,

Public Mobile is introducing some changes to our suite of rate plans. Effective February 16, 2021, we will offer two types of plans: plans that include Province-wide minutes, and plans that include unlimited Canada-wide minutes. The Canada-wide calling plans will be priced at an additional $5/month, compared to the Province-wide calling plans. All of our plans will continue to offer Canada-wide data and unlimited international texting.

We never take the decision of changing our plans lightly. That's why, for a limited time, we’re offering our Canada-wide plans at a $5 discount. That means customers who value Canada-wide calling can still access these plans at the original prices before they change.

The introduction of a Province-wide calling plan comes as a result of our commitment to give you more options on features and provide savings to help you create and customize the plan that’s right for you. If you don't value Canada-wide calling, you can still access our plans starting at $15 per month. If you value Canada-wide calling, it will continue to be available for an additional $5 per month.

See below for more details on our new plans:

New province-wide calling plans:

Province-Wide Calling
Monthly Rate	Province-wide Minutes	Data (*with 500MB Autopay)
$15	100 Minutes	250MB
$25	Unlimited	1GB*
$35	Unlimited	2.5GB*
$40	Unlimited	5GB*
$45	Unlimited	6.5GB*
$50	Unlimited	8.5GB

For more information on how province-wide calling works, check out this Help Article.

Concurrent with this launch, we are offering $5 off all Canada-wide rate plans for a limited time.

Canada-wide calling plans:

*Current promotion: $5 off Canada-wide plans for a limited time

Canada-wide Calling
Monthly Rate (*Promotion price)	Canada-wide Minutes	Data (*with 500MB Autopay)
~~$30~~ $25*	Unlimited	1GB*
~~$40~~ $35*	Unlimited	2.5GB*
~~$45~~ $40*	Unlimited	5GB*
~~$50~~ $45*	Unlimited	6.5GB*
~~$55~~ $50*	Unlimited + U.S. Talk	8.5GB

How to change your plan:

Log in on Self Serve
Go to “Plan and Add-ons”
Select “Change Plan”
Select your preferred plan. You will have the option of changing your plan immediately or upon the next renewal date.

FAQ’s:

What happens to existing customers’ plans?

There is no impact to existing customers' plans. All customers’ plans will be grandfathered, including those who had scheduled rate plan changes before this update. Note, if you change your plan you may not be able to go back to your previous plan if it is no longer available on our website.

What is happening to the $15 plan?

All plans in the Canada-wide suite have unlimited Canada-wide minutes. The $15 limited talk plan will remain in the Province-wide suite and will have 100 Province-wide minutes with 250MB of AutoPay data bonus.

Can I buy an add-on with Canada-wide calling?

Yes, we currently have a $5 for 500 Canada-wide minutes add-on available which you can purchase in Self-Serve.

How does Province-wide Calling work?

For more information on province-wideon how province-wide calling works, check out this Help Article.

To learn more about Public Mobile plans, click here.

- The Public Mobile Team

Canlan54a · ‎02-26-2021

Sure seems like the CRTC not surprisingly set the bar pretty low, also makes no mention of it applying to prepaid plans...they would hold no allure at all compared to postpaid plans if the prepaid wasn't priced significantly lower, hence their raison d'etre.

JK8 · ‎02-26-2021

Gone are the True North Affordability logo.

AE_Collector · ‎02-26-2021

I believe the only plans being looked at per CRTC are the ones in the 2-6 GB data range. They were seen to be the least competitive.

AE_Collector

Canlan54a · ‎02-26-2021

Indeed you dare say...I totally agree! Many of us are unable to afford more than 10 or $15 per month or hundreds of dollars on a phone only to replace it every 2 to 3 years, and own one purely for utility only when necessary, and not as primarily a source of entertainment and amusement..

darlicious · ‎02-25-2021

@Canlan54a

I will have to look that up but its based on 2018 numbers for a family of four with two adults and two minors.... w/ 2gb plans for the adults and unlimited calling/texting all for less than $1900 a year?!! Let see how good my memory is.....

Ok kind of close i was messing up the mandate requirements but you'll get the point after reading the article.....

https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/carriers/telus/telus-koodo-true-north/

Canlan54a · ‎02-25-2021

Just out of curiosity, what is this threshold you are referring to and how much is it? Does it apply to postpaid or prepaid or both?

darlicious · ‎02-25-2021

@Canlan54a

Public mobile does not have to fufill the federal government mandate on reducing cell phone plan fees as they have always been well below the threshold required.

@Nezgar

All that capital "M" and small "m" business reminds me of how my mom writes a recipe. For the untrained eye not understanding 1 t. of salt compared to 1 T. of sugar can be the make or breaking point of a recipe.

Canlan54a · ‎02-25-2021

I suspect Telus/PM may be jockeying for a position for when the upcoming mandated rate reductions by the CRTC come into effect in a few months time. ie: raise them now so they can reduce them again when the mandate takes affect. Hopefully, once Dot Mobile comes on line sometime in the coming weeks/months this will change things for the better by offering more less expensive alternatives, or at least some additional serious competition...we live in hope : (

Nezgar · ‎02-25-2021

@mm80 wrote:
@Nezgar wrote:
@mm80 wrote:
@Nezgar Small m or big M matters too. It's 3Mbps.
only the b/B changes meanings... M or m means... the same thing but should be capitalized... (unlike M vs Mi)
The difference is very big. Ignoring the 1000 and 1024 for number of bytes in a kiobyte, M is millions and m is 1/1000.

There is no difference between M or m, what you are mentioning is the difference between M (mega) and Mi (Mebi)

Anyhow... sorry all for derailing this thread !!

mm80 · ‎02-25-2021

@Nezgar wrote:
@mm80 wrote:
@Nezgar Small m or big M matters too. It's 3Mbps.
only the b/B changes meanings... M or m means... the same thing but should be capitalized... (unlike M vs Mi)

The difference is very big. Ignoring the 1000 and 1024 for number of bytes in a kiobyte, M is millions and m is 1/1000.

Nezgar · ‎02-25-2021

@mm80 wrote:
@Nezgar Small m or big M matters too. It's 3Mbps.

only the b/B changes meanings... M or m means... the same thing but should be capitalized... (unlike M vs Mi)

mm80 · ‎02-25-2021

@Nezgar Small m or big M matters too. It's 3Mbps.

AE_Collector · ‎02-25-2021

Been thinking on this for a bit (sorry) now and just came to the same conclusion. While I have very carefully been writing Mb and Gb here I have actually been confusing speed with total data transferred. Great, now I have to think before typing...

Getting 1GB of data being 1024 MB rather than 1000 MB doesn’t sound like something to argue with PM about!

AE_Collector

Nezgar · ‎02-25-2021

@AE_Collector wrote:
Right.. Mega Bit and Giga Bit... I believe that IS what cellular data is doled out in...isn't it? That is why I write Mb and Gb. Am I incorrect?

Data transfer "speed" is usually measured in bits per second, kilo/mega/gigabits per second (and are indeed multiples of 1000).... so Public mobile "3Mbps" means 3000Kbps, or 3,000,000 bps)'

Total data transferred for data "usage" accounting is measured in bytes - which are units of 8 bits each... and a kilobyte traditionally was 1024 8-bit bytes, megabyte=1024 kilobytes etc...

Public Mobile's "3G-like" 3mbps speed cap at Public mobile equals 366KB per second. (3000000/8*1024) (or 366KiB/s & 375KB/s if we use IEEE's 1000's division that everyone except storage companies hate..)

so.. speed measured in Kbps/Mbps/Gbps

data measurement in KB/MB/GB

lowercase b for bits

uppercase B for bytes

LurganIeUk · ‎02-24-2021

I'll let you guys figure it out. If all telecoms are doing same...then it is a comparable measure to use.

AE_Collector · ‎02-24-2021

@Nezgar wrote:
MB/GB=megabyte/gigabyte
Mb/Gb=megabit/gigabit (1/8 the amount)

Sorry to be pedantic

Right.. Mega Bit and Giga Bit... I believe that IS what cellular data is doled out in...isn't it? That is why I write Mb and Gb. Am I incorrect?

AE_Collector

Nezgar · ‎02-24-2021

Though 250Mb is orders of magnitude smaller than 250MB (31.25MB)

Anonymous · ‎02-24-2021

This newer nomenclature is already confused. So I liked this article. When talking memory and storage it's multiples of 1024. When talking quantities of other things it's 1000. I'll keep adhering to the old way. It has become common parlance. I think we can all accept the context of hearing Y2K to mean the year 2000 to mean kilo years. We can all accept the context of hearing gigabyte when referring to the amount of data. So what if PM isn't sticking to it with the 250MB. That's just them being dumb.

computergeek541 · ‎02-24-2021

@Nezgar wrote:
@Korth Touche! Good catch, yes very true PM is inconsistent... base plans are in increments of 1000MB... but 1GB data add-ons are 1024MB... (MiB erg.. Yeah I still hate that)

The $15 plan is actually 250MB, but when Public Mobile advertises 1GB as being part of the base plan, the customers actually gets 1024MB, or in another example. 5120MB when 5GB is avertised. Even the supposed 500MB autopay bonus is actually 512MB.

Nezgar · ‎02-24-2021

@Korth Touche! Good catch, yes very true PM is inconsistent... base plans are in increments of 1000MB... but 1GB data add-ons are 1024MB... (MiB erg.. Yeah I still hate that)

Korth · ‎02-24-2021

@Nezgar wrote:
MB/GB=megabyte/gigabyte
Mb/Gb=megabit/gigabit (1/8 the amount)

Sorry to be pedantic

It's even more pedantic to point out that what Public Mobile calls "KB/MB/GB" are technically called "KiB/MiB/GiB". They are each convenient binary multiples of 1024, not convenient decimal multiples of 1000.

But I make no apologies for being a pedant. Fight me.

yanzhiqiang · ‎02-24-2021

Thanks for the info.

Nezgar · ‎02-24-2021

MB/GB=megabyte/gigabyte

Mb/Gb=megabit/gigabit (1/8 the amount)

Sorry to be pedantic

AE_Collector · ‎02-24-2021

In the end... “It is what it is”. Nothing stays the same for all that long... I think it will be back at the lower prices before too long....

When I started here 2 years ago I started on the 500 Mb data plan for $30. A few months later they cut the price to $25. A month or two later they added the 500 Mb Autopay Data Bonus to this plan. The 500 Mb Autopay bonus already existed but only on plans above the 500 Mb plan so they added it to this plan as well. So in just a few months after I signed up... my $30/500 Mb plan was a $25/1Gb plan.

It is hard to take increases as compared to decreases but like politicians like to do, this gives them the opportunity to give something in the future that we already had in the past!

AE_Collector

HALIMACS · ‎02-24-2021

@LurganIeUk

I think it's prudent to include the $15.00 plan - it's the one seeing the most impact to those looking for a very low cost plan that meets minimal needs of service.

All in all, Public Mobile is impacting those who may only be able afford the lower priced plans much more than those who may be able to afford the more expensive plans.

Dare I say the changes appear to disproportionally affect the potentially less affluent people who will want to switch to Public Mobile after the Limited Time Offer or may need to switch to a cheaper plan which will no longer exist.

LurganIeUk · ‎02-24-2021

@HALIMACS wrote:
@LurganIeUk wrote:
Some good points.....some could have expressed differently.
1. This is not good for existing customers that want to switch up/down on plan or do so seasonally.
2. 17 cents a day is a political response. You should have said "only" 17 cents a day just to rub it in. But to those that are on low, no, or ? income it is a 20% or lower increase. And for those not on fixed income what is the average wage increase? Maybe 3-4%? So if everything went up 20% your would be BENT too!!! So it is a good point to look at the % and scream every time general increases affect you.
In fact, @LurganIeUk , a $5.00 per 30-day increase for the $15.00 plan is a whopping 33% increase for the SAME plan.

For the $50.00 plan, it's only a 10% increase.

Perhaps Public Mobile should have implemented a percentage based increase across the board, instead of a fixed price increase among all rate plans.

Good point....but you can't really compare to the $15 plan as outgoing calls are not unlimited as the other plans and the $5 extra is ONLY for 500 minutes. Apples to oranges. And I did say 20% or LOWER.

HALIMACS · ‎02-24-2021

@LurganIeUk wrote:

Some good points.....some could have expressed differently.
1. This is not good for existing customers that want to switch up/down on plan or do so seasonally.
2. 17 cents a day is a political response. You should have said "only" 17 cents a day just to rub it in. But to those that are on low, no, or ? income it is a 20% or lower increase. And for those not on fixed income what is the average wage increase? Maybe 3-4%? So if everything went up 20% your would be BENT too!!! So it is a good point to look at the % and scream every time general increases affect you.

In fact, @LurganIeUk , a $5.00 per 30-day increase for the $15.00 plan is a whopping 33% increase for the SAME plan.

For the $50.00 plan, it's only a 10% increase.

Perhaps Public Mobile should have implemented a percentage based increase across the board, instead of a fixed price increase among all rate plans.

Korth · ‎02-24-2021

Public Mobile is not competing vs prices from ten, twenty, thirty years ago.

It is competing vs the prices and rates being offered by operators in today's low-tier consumer market. A penny per minute is indeed pretty good. But everybody else offers something comparable - some a little worse, some a little better.

LurganIeUk · ‎02-24-2021

@Lowufo wrote:
I can’t believe so many people are getting this bent out of shape over a $5 per 30 days price increase. That works out to less than 17 cents per day. Not to mention the $5 increase only apples to new customers or anyone who changed their plan after Feb 16th. I have only been with Public Mobile about a year and a half and in that time they have given out so many freebies of air time and data I have a boat load of each sitting in my account. Not to mention autopay discount, loyalty discount or referral discount. I NEVER received anything free all the years I was with TELUS or any type of discount not to mention the TELUS plan was four times the cost. People need to realize that companies need to increase rates to pay for things like employees wage increases and benefits for employees and things like upgrades to their infrastructure. I say if you think it is that big of a rip off then exercise your right to do business elsewhere and leave plain and simple.

Some good points.....some could have expressed differently.

1. This is not good for existing customers that want to switch up/down on plan or do so seasonally.

2. 17 cents a day is a political response. You should have said "only" 17 cents a day just to rub it in. But to those that are on low, no, or ? income it is a 20% or lower increase. And for those not on fixed income what is the average wage increase? Maybe 3-4%? So if everything went up 20% your would be BENT too!!! So it is a good point to look at the % and scream every time general increases affect you.

AE_Collector · ‎02-24-2021

@Lowufo

Yes those “”details” are quickly forgotten! I remember back in the 1980’s it cost $1.10 per minute to call across canada during the day. 1c a minute is a bit better deal for sure. Easy for me to say as I virtually never call out of the province but in the big scheme of things I don't think it is really worth getting bent out of shape about it. If everyone doesn’t follow, Canada Calling will likely be back soon. If everyone else DOES follow, one of them will use Canada Calling to score more customers soon and they will all follow.

AE_Collector

Community

New Province-Wide Calling Plans + Limited-Time Offer on Canada-Wide Calling Plans