Update as of June 19, 2018: This post has been updated to provide additional clarity that leaving a voicemail message uses minutes.
Update as of June 11, 2018: This post has been updated to rectify that call forwarding counts toward your plan’s minutes.
Update as of May 4, 2018: This is no longer a limited time offer.
Hey Community,
We recently completed a pricing review and wanted to let you know that you will be seeing some changes to our 3G pricing, effective today.
Our goal is to provide our customers with simple plans that provide great value. You can check out all the new pricing on our website, but at a high level, the big thing to note is that our Canada-wide talk, text, and 3G-speed data plans are now more competitive. Great news for anyone traveling within Canada this summer!
Additionally, we are introducing a new limited time $10 30-day limited talk and text plan.This plan is available for new and existing customers and includes:
50 minutes of Canada-wide Talk
50 International Outgoing Texts and Unlimited Incoming Texts and Picture Messages
Voicemail and Call Display
Note, checking your voicemail will use your minutes. Since this is the first time we have offered a ‘limited’ plan since we re-launched the brand, we’ve included FAQs on how this will work in the spoiler below.
This is a limited time offer and is subject to change without notice. Please refer to Public Mobile’s Service Terms. Please note that the promotion will not be honoured after it has ended. This includes SIM cards that have been purchased online, are in-transit and not yet activated.
What does and does not use my minutes?
Uses Minutes
Doesn’t Use Minutes
Making a call
Answering a call
Retrieving or leaving voicemail messages
Using call forwarding
Calling *611 (the IVR)
Making or receiving calls from 911
Using calling apps when connected to Wifi
What is the maximum length of one text message?
A text message contains 160 characters; longer texts are broken down into 160 character segments. Each segment is counted as one text message.
Will you notify me when I’m almost out of text messages or minutes?
Yes, you will get an SMS message from Public Mobile when you have 10 outgoing texts left or 10 minutes left in your plan.
If I don’t have any minutes left, but I have a voicemail message, how do I check my voicemail?
There are two ways you can check your voicemail.
From a landline or another mobile phone, dial your 10-digit phone number and press the * key to interrupt the system greeting. From here, you may need enter your voicemail password.
You can purchase a long distance Add-On such as the 200 minutes Add-On that allows you to call to Canada and the US for $8. Note, the minutes in the Add-On will rollover to your next billing cycle.
Do I have to purchase a Long Distance Add-On to get more than 50 minutes?
Yes, you need a Long Distance Add-On to get more minutes added to your plan. If you often use more than 50 minutes per 30 days, we recommend one of our plans with unlimited talk.
I’ve run out of outgoing text messages included in my plan. What are my options to keep sending text messages?
We do not offer an Add-On for text messaging. We suggest you try one of our plans with unlimited text messages included. You can select any of our other Ready-Made Plans or build your own plan using our calculator.
If you like your limited talk and text plan, you can wait until your next billing cycle or you can renew your plan early.
Why is a text Add-On not being offered?
This is the first time we have introduced a plan with limited Talk and Text, so, to-date, there hasn’t been a need for a Text Add-On. Depending on demand and market changes, we may introduce a Text Add-On in the future; however this is not available at this time.
If I purchase a Long Distance Add-On, will my calls use up my Add-On minutes or my in-plan minutes?
Making a Call to someone in Canada
Making a Call to someone outside of Canada
Answering a Call from Anywhere in the World
In Canada
Will use plan minutes, before Long Distance Add-On minutes.
Requires Long Distance Add-On. The Long Distance countries we support can be foundhere.
Will use plan minutes, before Long Distance Add-On minutes
In U.S.
Requires a U.S. Roaming Add-On with talk included.
Requires a U.S. Roaming Add-On with talk included. Aside from calls to Canada, you will only be able to make calls to people in the U.S. and its territories.
Requires a U.S. Roaming Add-On with talk included. You will only be able to receive calls from people in Canada or the US and its territories.
If you purchase a Long Distance Add-On and you’re calling in Canada, your call will use your in-plan minutes first.
If you purchase a Long Distance Add-On and you’re calling outside of Canada, your call will use your Long Distance Add-On minutes (as long as the location you’re calling is accessible through your Long Distance Add-On).
Will I keep the same plan forever? Will my plan change?
Please refer to ourTerms of Servicefor more information about our plans.
This is actually a good plan offered by PM for younger school kids or elderly people who need to get in touch with their immediate family members in case of emergency situation. With autopay this plan is under 10 dollars a month. Great and I will sign up for my parents
@MoreYummythere is a $90 plan with data (unlim mins/txt + 1.5GB) which was VERY popular in old days
@kav2001c@MoreYummy you can still get that plan today: 90 days, unlimited Canada-wide calling (since province-wide and Canada-wide now cost the same on almost all "3G" plans), and 1.5GB (approx 500MB per month) of "3G" speed data (3Mbps cap in both directions, delivered over LTE with fallback to HSPA/HSPA+).
So, for the same price, you're getting the same amount of data as that classic plan, albeit at the capped "3G" speed as a downgrade, but also getting Canada-wide instead of Province-wide calling as an upgrade.
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What happen to the leftover minutes or SMS that we did not use it up? Will it be carryover to the following month? Is this plan going to stay for long or just promotion period?
@raulg, I am on the 90-day plan, but it was a deal when I got on it. I still think I'd prefer the frequency over the 30 day, as for some people, transaction fees may be a factor. It's not for me, but there are some who may be affected.
Quarterly-ish payments, rather than monthly-ish payments @raulg
Yes, I see your point. But that's meaningless for me when I have the autopay option.
I always saw the 90 days plans as an engaging system. If there's no difference I'll always choose the 30 days plan, just because you never know. Maybe in a week there's a great promotion in another provider and you'd like to switch...
As @Luddite said, the only advantage I see is bveing able to manage your data allowance during the 90 days. But still, that isn't enough for me.
I would love to see another price update on the 90 days plans 🙂
So what's the advantage of having a 90 day plan now? The 90 day plans have now the same price for every 30 days as the 30 days plans. Isn't this weird? Are you planning further updates in the 90 day plans pricing?
- Assume no discounts are coming for 90 vs 30 days on these plans.
- Another advantage to some is managing their data allowance over 90 days, rather than 30.
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So what's the advantage of having a 90 day plan now? The 90 day plans have now the same price for every 30 days as the 30 days plans. Isn't this weird? Are you planning further updates in the 90 day plans pricing?
So SMS seems to be the big talking point here. People are happy with the 50mins talk.
Koodo already has $15/month unl text. No talk, no data, you need to buy addons. But PM is supposed to be discount even to Koodo.
Keep this plan as is, do not touch it. But if you bump to 90 days and charge an extra $5/month for unlimited SMS I think people will jump on it. Then this would be 150min CdaWide (or even 100mins), unl text for $45/90 days. Data can be completely optional. Same price as Koodo plan, but you have to commit for 90 days, and for that you get some talking. Throw in autopay, even nicer.
I signed up for this plan for my mom. Absolutely great deal for $8 every 30 days with auto pay!
My mom previously had a one year Telus prepaid plan for $100 per year. The plan included 400 minutes and 400 text messages. She didn't even reach 400 minutes and 100 text messages in almost a year of usage lol.
If you're an occasional data user wouldn't you be better off ON this plan and just add the $30 1GB data when you need it? If you don't even use 1gb that month you can roll it over to the next month.
Thanks for bringing this to our attention, and for having such a keen eye! We have updated the plans and Self-Serve pages so that the order of the data options are the same.
At $0.20 (assuming you use up the full allotment), the minute price is less than at classic emergency pay-as-you-go prepaid providers like SpeakOut ($0.30/min).
If this one doesn't fit your / your relative's needs on a regular basis (supplementing with a LD add-on as mentioned by @srlawren) you can always go for a plan with unlimited province wide minutes. The $20 for provincial talk only or $25 for provincial talk & global text only are still very competitive. (Prices before auto-pay rewards.)
For texts you could always add a data add-on an use a messaging app where it makes sense (between family members, for example?).
@wetcoaster you know what, by the time a person starts buying long distance add-ons and data add-ons (which tend to be very expensive compared to plan data), I'm wondering if for many it wouldn't be smarter to go with the 30 day, unlimited Canada-wide (so no worries about number of minutes), unlimited global texting (so no worries about how many texts you send) and 500MB of 3G-speed data all for $30 per 30 days. I'm thinking it offers a lot more value and removes having to worry about how many minutes and texts you've used. A buck a day for what in 2018 really is a vital communication tool is pretty good, I'd say.
Depends on your usage. $15 buys 400 minutes and that could last my mom a year.
This penny-pincher agrees with your statement, @Jonavin. I make full use of those add-on options.
However, I also see @srlawren's point: With the new $30 plan, an occasional data user could have the convenience of having all their communication needs covered for $1 a day, which, depending on the coffee shop, could be the difference between a medium and a large cup of their daily coffeine kick.
My original reply was to that "50 minutes.????? Seriously" statement.
I would have run out of the 50 SMS before the end of every 30day period, but for several years before I came to Public Mobile because of changing needs, I'd have been perfectly fine with 50minutes a month and an add-on that kicks in when there is some month left at the end of the minutes.
Playing with the plan builder, it's fascinating that provincial talk, global text and 500MB is $30, Canada-wide talk, global text and 500MB is also $30 - and if you choose Canada-wide talk and global text only it's actually $35... (30day plans)
At $0.20 (assuming you use up the full allotment), the minute price is less than at classic emergency pay-as-you-go prepaid providers like SpeakOut ($0.30/min).
If this one doesn't fit your / your relative's needs on a regular basis (supplementing with a LD add-on as mentioned by @srlawren) you can always go for a plan with unlimited province wide minutes. The $20 for provincial talk only or $25 for provincial talk & global text only are still very competitive. (Prices before auto-pay rewards.)
For texts you could always add a data add-on an use a messaging app where it makes sense (between family members, for example?).
@wetcoaster you know what, by the time a person starts buying long distance add-ons and data add-ons (which tend to be very expensive compared to plan data), I'm wondering if for many it wouldn't be smarter to go with the 30 day, unlimited Canada-wide (so no worries about number of minutes), unlimited global texting (so no worries about how many texts you send) and 500MB of 3G-speed data all for $30 per 30 days. I'm thinking it offers a lot more value and removes having to worry about how many minutes and texts you've used. A buck a day for what in 2018 really is a vital communication tool is pretty good, I'd say.
Depends on your usage. $15 buys 400 minutes and that could last my mom a year.
At $0.20 (assuming you use up the full allotment), the minute price is less than at classic emergency pay-as-you-go prepaid providers like SpeakOut ($0.30/min).
If this one doesn't fit your / your relative's needs on a regular basis (supplementing with a LD add-on as mentioned by @srlawren) you can always go for a plan with unlimited province wide minutes. The $20 for provincial talk only or $25 for provincial talk & global text only are still very competitive. (Prices before auto-pay rewards.)
For texts you could always add a data add-on an use a messaging app where it makes sense (between family members, for example?).
@wetcoaster you know what, by the time a person starts buying long distance add-ons and data add-ons (which tend to be very expensive compared to plan data), I'm wondering if for many it wouldn't be smarter to go with the 30 day, unlimited Canada-wide (so no worries about number of minutes), unlimited global texting (so no worries about how many texts you send) and 500MB of 3G-speed data all for $30 per 30 days. I'm thinking it offers a lot more value and removes having to worry about how many minutes and texts you've used. A buck a day for what in 2018 really is a vital communication tool is pretty good, I'd say.
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At $0.20 (assuming you use up the full allotment), the minute price is less than at classic emergency pay-as-you-go prepaid providers like SpeakOut ($0.30/min).
If this one doesn't fit your / your relative's needs on a regular basis (supplementing with a LD add-on as mentioned by @srlawren) you can always go for a plan with unlimited province wide minutes. The $20 for provincial talk only or $25 for provincial talk & global text only are still very competitive. (Prices before auto-pay rewards.)
For texts you could always add a data add-on an use a messaging app where it makes sense (between family members, for example?).
@Bubba I'm not sure if you saw or not, but you can actually purchase the long distance add-on(s) for supplemental airtime on this plan. [Note: this is contrary to any other plan at Public Mobile, where the long distance add-ons can only be used for long distance calls, and cannot substitute for having at least province-wide unlimited talk in your plan. But this $10 plan is special in this regard.]
You can purchase either 200 mins for $8 or 400 mins for $15. So, depending on needs, this might be an affordable way to extend minutes in the plans. The add-on minutes stay on your account until used up. So say for example the senior ran out of their 50 mins about 3 weeks into their 30 days, and purchased a 200 min add-on. Let's say they use up 40 mins of that during the last week of their cycle, and then they start their next 30 days. On day 1 of the next 30 days, they start using their 50 plan minutes again. If those get used up during that cycle, they would start drawing from their (200 - 40 = ) 160 remaining add-on mins, and so on. Hopefully this makes sense.
Unfortuantely there is no similar way to extend past the 50 outbound SMS limit at this time.
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I would get this for my mother, for when she is out of the house as an emergency phone, but seriously 50 minutes?
She would probably end up using that in one day at a subway station, waiting and getting updates from my sister to show up when they are meeting to go somwhere...who is always late.
This would be good for older seniors, but the talk time is way too little.
