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

[Catherine_T]

[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: 

1. Log in on Self Serve
2. Go to “Plan and Add-ons”
3. Select “Change Plan”
4. 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

[LurganIeUk]

@Nezgar I agree. And if I recall I had to leave a balance in my account for texting and the 10 cents a minute. There was a roll over of something though. I forget though....it would not have been minutes and we had like a balance of $200 and $300.

[Nezgar]

@LurganIeUk Yeah with the insane nickel and diming of telus prepaid, its a major relief to just know all that *bleep* is just included and no surprises at PM. Even stuff that needs addon minutes is rare, a little moreso with the province-wide plans... province wide is still better than the traditional local calling area.

[computergeek541]

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@maheshboloor wrote:

https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/03/09/koodo-reverts-canada-wide-calling-provincial-calling-change/?fbcl...

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"Thoughtful review"? That's another way of saying that customer feedback was very much overwhelmingly negative that it was likely to harm the brand image enough to result in losts revenue, or at least that's my opinion.

[LurganIeUk]

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@Nezgar wrote:

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@darlicious wrote:

Geez...$0.20 a minute for Canada wide calling?!! What a rip off!

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I think that's the same rate my wife had on Telus prepaid before joining PM. Was tolerable since we were paying in $10/mo, and had a $5 unlimited texting, allowing up to $5 to accumulate in balance each month.... at 20c/min it would have taken a lot but it eventually got depleted by accidental data usage at ridiculous rates like $2/MB... then to PM.

Rogers was 55c/min outside of your local calling area if you didn't pay the $5 extra on your plan.... only takes 9 minutes to blow away your savings attempt.....

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Interesting...my wife and I were on Telus prepaid for $10 a month or $100 a year but we had to pay 50 cents a minute and another 50 cents on top for LD and 30 cents for in and out texts. I then spoke to loyalty as for some reason I had a huge build up of a balance and they put us on $100 a year and we could call each other free "if in same calling area" and 10 cents a minutes plus 50 cents on top for LD and 30 cents for in and out texts. They also dropped the mandatory $100 annual top up until the balance was used up. We felt it was a fair solution but still very expensive to use. So we rarely used it for other than an emergency, getting lost at the mall or to keep each of informed of where we were. 

The PM plan is much nicer to have. I am older than most here and can see why some would not take up with PM because of all online but I am 100% ok with it. And I learned twice with Telus on how the auto-pay can fail so when I read here the same "might" happen, I use the hybrid auto-pay.   

[LurganIeUk]

There was a mention that Koodo wanted to minimize the amount of plans they had. 

I have been wondering how well controlled PM is with:

Old Plans Grandfathered

Old Old Plans Grandfathered

New plans with Provincial only

Old/New plan with Canada Wide

Multiple plan prices

Old Add-Ons that are grandfathered. 

Do I know or have, for future reference, what my old international plan could call vs what the new one does....yes I do...but most of us are not tracking. 

Just imagine if some programmer screws it all up by misteak!!!

The thing that amazes me, is that so far all is still intact but so many other things here need improvement. (<= excluding some of our suggested wants) 

So bottom line is, the plans would be simpler (less to maintain) if they all included Canada-Wide. 

[Nezgar]

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@darlicious wrote:

Geez...$0.20 a minute for Canada wide calling?!! What a rip off!

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I think that's the same rate my wife had on Telus prepaid before joining PM. Was tolerable since we were paying in $10/mo, and had a $5 unlimited texting, allowing up to $5 to accumulate in balance each month.... at 20c/min it would have taken a lot but it eventually got depleted by accidental data usage at ridiculous rates like $2/MB... then to PM.

Rogers was 55c/min outside of your local calling area if you didn't pay the $5 extra on your plan.... only takes 9 minutes to blow away your savings attempt.....

[darlicious]

@dabr 

 Geez...$0.20 a minute for Canada wide calling?!! What a rip off!

[dabr]

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@maheshboloor wrote:

It was a Mobile Syrup article 

https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/03/09/koodo-reverts-canada-wide-calling-provincial-calling-change/?fbcl...

So maybe its not implemented yet. Might take sometime?

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I think Koodo will keep the provincial calling for their prepaid plans  Their post paid plans seem to be going back to Canada wide calling  and for anyone looking for extra data, they have some really good bonus offers on right now.  

[ShawnC13]

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@maheshboloor wrote:

That is correct. The whole 'provincial callling' was brought in for more revenue as they know people want Canada wide calling. There was not a single customer who was happy with that. Its literally 'downgrading' an existing plan.

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It isn't downgrading an existing plan, it is charging $5 more for that same plan and introducing a new plan at the same cost but with Provincial calling

[maheshboloor]

That is correct. The whole 'provincial callling' was brought in for more revenue as they know people want Canada wide calling. There was not a single customer who was happy with that. Its literally 'downgrading' an existing plan.

[Anonymous]

I didn't look at Koodo at the province-wide time but the way I interpret this is that Koodo has _both_, like here.

[maheshboloor]

It was a Mobile Syrup article 

https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/03/09/koodo-reverts-canada-wide-calling-provincial-calling-change/?fbcl...

So maybe its not implemented yet. Might take sometime?

[LurganIeUk]

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@maheshboloor wrote:

Koodo are reverting this ridiculous province wide calling plan. Hope PM also reverts it sooner than later.

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So are you saying you have been advised that this will change to Canada Wide??

Pic as of March 9 2021 1:20pm

[maheshboloor]

https://mobilesyrup.com/2021/03/09/koodo-reverts-canada-wide-calling-provincial-calling-change/?fbcl...

[Nezgar]

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@maheshboloor wrote:

Koodo are reverting this ridiculous province wide calling plan. Hope PM also reverts it sooner than later.

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Source?

[maheshboloor]

Koodo are reverting this ridiculous province wide calling plan. Hope PM also reverts it sooner than later.

[JK8]

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@doloresh wrote:

Question:

If I signup for a Canada Wide plan (eg the $25 plan) will my price be grandfathered just like for the people who signed up before February 16, 2021?

Thanks!

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Yes, it will be grandfathered. Sign up soon before the deal is gone.

[doloresh]

Question:

If I signup for a Canada Wide plan (eg the $25 plan) will my price be grandfathered just like for the people who signed up before February 16, 2021?

Thanks!

[darlicious]

@Haiggy 

This was the heads up unless you wanted the Canada wide $15 plan that one was eliminated overnight. So if you still want one of the other Canada wide plans at the old price schedule your plan change on next renewal "now" and you will be grandfathered in after the scheduled change occurs.

[AE_Collector]

@Haiggy 

Other than this notification in the community there hasn’t been an official notification. But other than the fact that the $15 Canada plan option disappeared, all the rest of the plans are available either way. FOr PM this has been a BiG Notification compared to normal. Though I feel they should have been texting all customers about these changes.

AE_Collector

[Haiggy]

I'd appreciate a heads-up next time, so that we can choose a current plan before the changes take effect.

[LurganIeUk]

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@darlicious wrote:

@softech 

Yeah there's a reason for that. If you explore different global sims or portable wifi hotspot data rates if they include Canada they are almost universally set aside from a "region" and have much higher data rates than other regions/countries. This is because they are either unable to negotiate an acceptable data rate to be marketed to their customers or the rate negotiated is so much higher than comparable regional countries they have to set aside Canada in a separate category for rates. The big three don't want a black market of global sims penetrating the Canadian marketplace.

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There may be some CRTC controls is place as well. 

[darlicious]

@softech 

Yeah there's a reason for that. If you explore different global sims or portable wifi hotspot data rates if they include Canada they are almost universally set aside from a "region" and have much higher data rates than other regions/countries. This is because they are either unable to negotiate an acceptable data rate to be marketed to their customers or the rate negotiated is so much higher than comparable regional countries they have to set aside Canada in a separate category for rates. The big three don't want a black market of global sims penetrating the Canadian marketplace.

[softech]

@darlicious  can't agree more and thanks for the link..  Although price has dropped a bit lately but still no where comparable with the "cheap" countries elsewhere.. still a long way to go

Also, I really upset the fact that all the new providers/licenses introduced by CRTC eventually gone back to the Big3 after awhile

anther interesting example. .i bought a data sim in Europe, they have worldwide roaming.. long list of countries including US .. but Canada is not there on the list..🤔

[Korth]

@AE_Collector 

I think that regardless of the details - the huge area, the hard terrain, the nasty cold wet weather, the fat bribes to CRTC - if networks and operators had true competition (not protected pretend competition) in Canada then end-users would have more options and better prices.

[darlicious]

@AE_Collector @Korth 

Oh boy did you two drink the purple koolaid or what? I don't know how you two came to those conclusions after reading that very informative study. Canada ranked 209th (!!) out of 220 countries for the least expensive data only being topped by tiny nations with geographical and/or economic disadvantages like the Falkland Islands and St. Helena. Nor can you say our calling and texting rates are that much cheaper either. Our sheer geographical size holds no water in that argument as well when you compare rates in Australia, Mexico, the US, Russia and Brazil.

https://mcgillpolicyassociation.com/journal/2019/5/29/why-cell-phone-plans-in-canada-are-ridiculousl...

[AE_Collector]

@Korth 

I cautiously agree with you @Korth. Canada has “competition”... lots of competition. If that doesn't lower the prices to where customers want it to be the customers may be wanting more than the business can provide while making a profit to use for future upgrades and expansion.

Comparing with the USA, Canada has a larger country to attempt to cover with only 10% as many potential customers. We all likely realize that the huge expense is covering the bulk of the area with service, if you then can increase the number of paying customers 10 fold on each of those sites adds a lower additional expense but potential for much more profit thus the ability to compete down further in price.

Add to this the enormous costs that our federal government charges providers to purchase bandwidth and then more annual expense to use that bandwidth. I don't know how these fees compare to other countries but I suspect that Canada is closer to the high end than the bottom end in this regard. 

And back to competition, it is possible to have too much competition in an industry with lots of overhead network expense. Four national carriers trying to provision their own networks who are splitting the available customers into smaller and smaller groups doesn't help lower prices. The USA is a perfect example. Canada has 4 National Carriers (or at least 3 1/2) providing their own network while the USA has just gone from 4 down to 3.

AE_Collector

[Korth]

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@softech wrote:

Canada still one of the most $$$ country for mobile service..

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"Mobile service" ...

Canada is one of the cheaper countries for voice and text options. Canadians have many options for unlimited calling and unlimited messaging.

Canada is only of the costlier countries for mobile data. Canadians pay a lot per GB.

Either way, there's plenty of countries with better prices, there's plenty more with worse prices.

https://www.cable.co.uk/mobiles/worldwide-data-pricing/#map

Some maps are compiled with slightly different (or dated) data. 

Some maps use different presentations for the same data - they categorize things so Canada & USA are close together (and Canada appears more globally competitive), or they emphasize Canada vs USA differences across many categories (so that Canada appears more like a backwards ripoff).

[softech]

@Pawprints1986 , yes, its very upset to see Canadian  Mobile industry.  All these years, CRTC gave new license to other providers to encourage competition.  Clearnet,  Fido, PM, etc.. thet were supposed to compete with Big 3.. In the end, they either folded or bought by the Big3..so where is the competition??

Canada still one of the most $$$ country for mobile service..

[Pawprints1986]

I've noticed some places calling it local and others calling it provincial, but wow they really are doing this... Welcome to 2005

The big 3 took cews while raising their dividends to stock holders, Without better employee pay. They really don't need to be doing this... Sure some reduced plans while stuck home but no one cut mobile service all together. So many don't even have a land line anymore

I'm angry at Canadian cellular as a whole for this. Just so wrong 😕