02-16-2021 09:33 AM - edited 02-16-2021 03:47 PM
[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) |
|
Unlimited |
1GB* |
|
Unlimited |
2.5GB* |
|
Unlimited |
5GB* |
|
Unlimited |
6.5GB* |
|
Unlimited + U.S. Talk |
8.5GB |
How to change your plan:
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
02-19-2021 02:16 PM
I certainly hope so too that's what I expect of them. That was also part of my argument when I got a heads-up about the plans changing I just double-checked to be safe so I was really surprised to not see my plan change there but when I went to the main site the $15 Canada wide calling plan was still there but it wasn't in my self serve and now it's the opposite so what is supposed to take precedence?
02-19-2021 02:12 PM - edited 02-19-2021 02:13 PM
@treefrog wrote:I don't think this has been settled yet. Because if it was an activation the $15 plan on plans page does not mention an extra 250mb data. Only in your self serve does the wording imply that it has 500mb of data. And since it's looking more and more that they're not going to honour my plan change that disappeared I just might have to reactivate with $15 provincial calling plan and if I do so I will be taking Public Mobile to task for that as well.
@treefrog Hmm...I hadn't thought about the discrepancy on details for this between what's available in self serve and the new offering on the plans' page. I think you mentioned earlier that you had scheduled your change before this announcement on Tuesday and if you have the screenshots too (good job on that) then PM should definitely honour the original $15 plan change for you. Really it should be done as a gesture of goodwill since there was no prior warning about the Canada wide plan disappearing and being replaced with the newer version. I do hope they fix this for you...please keep us posted as to what happens. Good luck!
02-19-2021 02:05 PM - edited 02-19-2021 02:05 PM
I don't think this has been settled yet. Because if it was an activation the $15 plan on plans page does not mention an extra 250mb data. Only in your self serve does the wording imply that it has 500mb of data. And since it's looking more and more that they're not going to honour my plan change that disappeared I just might have to reactivate with $15 provincial calling plan and if I do so I will be taking Public Mobile to task for that as well.
02-19-2021 01:35 PM
@Chanah wrote:I made an account for a family member last night (would that I'd have had two days more notice!), and the 15$ provincial plan gives 250 megs data with autopay enabled, not 500.
@Chanah Thanks for posting and confirming what we all suspected about the new $15 plan....no more speculating now! 😊
02-19-2021 01:33 PM
Have to say I'm not impressed. Public Mobile takes a set of straight-forward plans that cater for most needs and just makes them much more complicated. Then they try to disguise the effective price increase by telling us they're giving us more choice.
02-19-2021 01:29 PM
02-19-2021 01:28 PM
Let me try that first one again.
02-19-2021 01:26 PM
02-19-2021 01:11 PM
@Chanah wrote:I made an account for a family member last night (would that I'd have had two days more notice!), and the 15$ provincial plan gives 250 megs data with autopay enabled, not 500.
@Chanah : Great update! Thanks. Would you be willing to post screenshots of the overview page and the Plan Details page. Blank out personal info of course.
02-19-2021 01:07 PM
I made an account for a family member last night (would that I'd have had two days more notice!), and the 15$ provincial plan gives 250 megs data with autopay enabled, not 500.
02-19-2021 12:52 PM
@wetcoaster wrote:I've run out of "free" SIM cards and will not jeopardize the Canada-wide calling on my existing $15 plans, so I will not put this to the test.
But in theory, signing up with a new account for the new $15 plan would answer the question, no?
Hmm, I guess I could dip into my stash of standby SIM cards and activate a line in the interest of getting the answer...
However, I am inclined to concur with @AE_Collector that this is most likely a poor/incorrect implementation of verbiage in the self-serve side of things, especially since it doesn't correspond with the plan overviews. It was more wishful thinking, hoping for 500MB. I'm not the gambling type, though, especially when odds are not really stacked in the consumer's favour here!
02-19-2021 12:26 PM - edited 02-19-2021 12:28 PM
@AE_Collector wrote:I am in the same place you are... 2 $15 plans, rarely if ever call out of province and frequently cut a little into my free data add-one that PM gave us. If as the $15 shows, the new provincial calling version actually has 500 Mb of data with Autopay I would have been there ... Yesterday! (I just renewed overnight). But I really REALLY don't think it will wind up with 500 Mb of data. Creating more incentive to stay on or switch to the $15 plan just doesn’t fit with their recent changes. As much as I think it would definitely be worth the gamble to switch if you are the fighting type, I think the end result would be them FIXING the wording, you being tossed a couple Gb add-on to shut you up and you maybe not being put back to the old Canada calling $15 plan you switched away from for more data. It is a tempting battle for me too as I can very easily live with provincial calling but I think one needs to pick their battles. Now if I hear otherwise... that indeed it becomes 500 Mb with Autopay on the provincial version, I’m making the move ASAP.
AE_Collector
I've run out of "free" SIM cards and will not jeopardize the Canada-wide calling on my existing $15 plans, so I will not put this to the test.
But in theory, signing up with a new account for the new $15 plan would answer the question, no? (I guess there could be a future dated plan change to a higher data plan at current pricing if someone were to make it into a "secondary data supplement plan" if one preferred not to "loose" the SIM card price ...)
Edited: wrong tag, sorry
02-19-2021 12:17 PM - edited 02-19-2021 12:20 PM
I am in the same place you are... two $15 plans, we rarely if ever call out of province and frequently cut a little into our free data add-ons that PM gave us. If as the $15 shows, the new provincial calling version actually has 500 Mb of data with Autopay I would have been there ... Yesterday! (I just renewed overnight). But I really REALLY don't think it will wind up with 500 Mb of data. Just more poor wording from PM. Creating more incentive to stay on or switch to the $15 plan just doesn’t fit with their recent changes.
As much as I think it would definitely be worth the gamble to switch if you are the fighting type, I think the end result of taking them to task would be them actually FIXING the wording, you being tossed a 1 or 2 Gb data add-on to shut you up and you potentially NOT being able to get back to the old Canada calling $15 plan that you switched away from for the additional data. It is a tempting battle for me too as I can very easily live with provincial calling and would love the extra data, but I think one needs to pick their battles. Now if I hear otherwise... that indeed it becomes 500 Mb with Autopay on the provincial version, I’m making the move ASAP.
AE_Collector
02-19-2021 11:54 AM
Did we ever get a definitive answer to @kb_mv's question? Is the new provincial $15 plan going to include 250 MB + a bonus 250 MB for auto-pay? It kind of looks like it:
If that's the case, this would be an incentive to switch to the provincial plan (since switching to working from home, I downgraded from the $25 1GB plan onto the $15 w/ 250MB, and usually just going over 250MB each month... slowly nibbling away at the 1GB+2GB+5GB holiday giveaway add-ons). Plus for the rare times I need Canada-wide, I can use the Intl. LD minute give-aways. In fact I have 3-4 lines on the $15 Canada-wide, but would happily put them on province-wide for 500MB, if that's the trade-off.
02-19-2021 11:37 AM - edited 02-19-2021 12:08 PM
Yes it is much better than the change just being implemented overnight. But people dont see it for what it is.... their opportunity to give it some thought and schedule their change if they want to. They suddenly realize that they lost the opportunity when the option disappears and they did nothing.
For anyone who is on the plan they want already and isn’t immenently wanting to change to a different plan, you are good to go. Just ignore all of this, you will be left where you are with Canada Wide calling. In the future once the limited time sale is over, if you decide you need a plan with more data you will have two options (except on the $15 plan). The plan with Canada Wide calling at $5 more/30 days than it has been or same price plan but with Provincial Calling.
AE_Collector
02-19-2021 11:31 AM
The sale is a form of a 30 warning of a plan change with an option for new comers to jump in. It is a good method.
02-19-2021 11:29 AM - edited 02-19-2021 11:33 AM
Everyone who is concerned about losing the Canada wide calling needs to realize WHY the Canada wide calling plans are temporarily “On Sale” (IE: still available at the old price before they become $5/30 days more expensive. This is giving everyone the chance to change plans right now to the plan where they really want to be and at the old rates. If you normally are on the $40 plan but switched down to the $15 or $25 plan to use up free data that PM gave you or you were briefly working from home so switched down for a couple of months .... NOW is the opportunity to schedule the switch back to your normal plan with Canada Wide calling before they put them up in price by $5.
Guaranteed there will be people complaining in the days and weeks after the old Canada Wide plans go up in price saying they were going to change back to their normal plan next week and now it is $5 more if they need Canada Wide. You can reserve the plan change by scheduling it for your next renewal RIGHT NOW. On your last day before renewal, if the old rates are still available “for a limited time” and you are the gambling type, you can remove the scheduled change, let your plan renew where you are then right away reschedule the change for “next renewal” and you’ve bought yourself another month sitting where you are without losing the ability to lock in your “regular plan” at the old rates. It just tales a little bit of work.
AE_Collector
02-19-2021 10:40 AM - edited 02-19-2021 10:41 AM
@PeterRabbit wrote:I currently have the $15 plan with 100 Canada-wide minutes. Would my plan be grandfathered as well so that I can keep the Canada-wide minutes each month?
Yes, it will.
If you LIKE the $15 plan with Canada-wide minutes, do not make any plan changes. You will not be able to get your existing plan back as it's no longer able to be selected.
You can switch to a $25 or higher plan with Canada-wide minutes for a LIMITED TIME ONLY at prices from last week. (i'm not going to use the word "discounted" prices like Public Mobile likes to use -- it's not discounted, it's recent pricing)
02-19-2021 10:32 AM
@PeterRabbit wrote:I currently have the $15 plan with 100 Canada-wide minutes. Would my plan be grandfathered as well so that I can keep the Canada-wide minutes each month?
Yes, as long as you don't change your plan. If you do, you can't get it again and would have to pick from the then available plans.
02-19-2021 10:32 AM
@PeterRabbit wrote:I currently have the $15 plan with 100 Canada-wide minutes. Would my plan be grandfathered as well so that I can keep the Canada-wide minutes each month?
@PeterRabbit Yes. Your plan will be grandfathered. You will still have Canada Wide minutes. Remember if you switch plans your grandfathered plan will be lost.
02-19-2021 10:29 AM
I currently have the $15 plan with 100 Canada-wide minutes. Would my plan be grandfathered as well so that I can keep the Canada-wide minutes each month?
02-19-2021 10:17 AM - edited 02-19-2021 10:18 AM
@darlicious wrote:I'm looking forward to seeing how dot mobile rolls out.
Actually.. This is interesting. I wonder how this 5$ increase effects them. Im assuming wholesale rates are the same ? Im just wondering how its going to effect their whole case to bring the rates DOWN.
their plans were to make Unlimited Canada Wide AND US calling with international text picture, and video messaging. That plan is 10$ and data is added extra.
10$ for all that really makes PM look like a highway robbery. Also founding members get it for free.
Dot will also have, ESIM, all the special carrier features that you would find on Bell, Telus and Rogers, and more. if dot launches PM will really see a decrease in user base.
We'll see what happens. Who knows. They could drop their service at any minuite.
02-19-2021 10:13 AM - edited 02-19-2021 10:20 AM
@homer wrote:We all know PM will become less competitive after the acquisition. It is just a matter of time.
What acquisition? 2013? Was there an acquisition recently? What is a suitable amount of time to be a matter of?
Edit: Nobody has mentioned this little line:
----------------
When changing to a Data Plan of a different speed, you may experience a delay of up to 48 hours for the speed change to take effect. For example, if you have a 3G data plan and switch to a 4G LTE data plan, you will continue to receive 3G speeds for up to 48 hours before your new 4G LTE plan takes effect.
--------------
So how would one change to a 4G plan?
02-19-2021 10:09 AM
We all know PM will become less competitive after the acquisition. It is just a matter of time.
02-19-2021 09:27 AM
They would be hard pressed to jusify that one! I left telus because of the local call vs province wide call plus roaming free or not. Everytime I went to the island I would havevto remember to tell people to text me or call and hang up so I could call them back for free. If I forgot and picked up in was $0.50 p/min. The freedom phone just plain didn't have service there at all.
I'm looking forward to seeing how dot mobile rolls out.
02-19-2021 09:06 AM
@smp99 wrote:
I think if they remove the $5 add-on, that could be a bigger blow to the customer base than moving plans to ProvWide.
If they remove that say goodbye to me. I will stay far from telus. Rewards and THAT addon is keeping me here.
PM understands this so i highly doubt it will ever be price raised.
Who knows maybe the 1GB data addon will go back to the ripoff price of 30$
02-19-2021 09:04 AM
@dabr wrote:I highly doubt it.. but honest.. i do see lots improvement needed. For example, self-server site is terribly slow to logon or to change page. So, many complains about activation site (broken half way and no one no if the activation successful) . The list goes on.
@hTideGnow maybe PM will surprise us and get some of these things fixed soon, just like the surprise with new plans/prices!
Pff. Doubt it. People have been wishing for PM to fix their issues ever since Telus bought them.
02-19-2021 08:40 AM - edited 02-19-2021 08:41 AM
@tanvir108115 wrote:So if I upgrade to a package now with canada wide calling, will the 5 cad discount promo be always there, or is it going to be removed later?
The $5.00 discount, which is a Limited Time Offer so act fast, just means you can get the plans for the prices they were as of last week. After the Limited Time Offer, these prices will not be accessible (unless they offer some future price promos...)
There's NOTHING saying that down the road, Public Mobile won't provide notice of overall plan prices increases. These can affect current/existing plan prices - grandfathered or not.
If you're going to switch plans, do so on Next Renewal, so as not to lose out on what's been paid on the current cycle.
02-19-2021 08:30 AM
What plan are you currently on? Unless its an older plan up until yesterday all plans on offer had canada wide calling included. The discounted price should remain indefinetly as pm makes a habit of grandfathering plans in but you do lose your flexibility to change plans on a whim.
02-19-2021 08:24 AM - edited 02-19-2021 08:25 AM
@tanvir108115 wrote:So if I upgrade to a package now with canada wide calling, will the 5 cad discount promo be always there, or is it going to be removed later?
It's not a discount. The price just hasn't went up yet on the Canada-wide plans. The Canada-wide plans that are still available in self serve are the old plans from before. When the price of those plans increase by $5, they will be replaced by new plans in the system at the higher prices. If change to one fo the plans shows there now, the price is as advertised now.