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.
@Jorno@pm-smayer97 okay great. Now let's say you want to apply this to a list of 3 numbers, one for your spouse, one for your favourite parent, and one for your best friend, becuase you talk to all of them a lot. Great, so 1 number is $7, so that'll be $21, plus your base amount of $10 = $31. Oh, wait, for $25 I could have unlimited talk [to all Candian numbers, not just 3] and text [to all global numbers, not just 3]. I don't see the value here.
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@smp99 honestly, for $10, I don't think it's realistic to expect unlimited anything, even to a limited list of numbers.
Actually, I pay $7 for One Number Unlimited with Telus on a different plan.
EDIT: I should also have said this is a stand alone plan (unlike now, as I note below).
Granted, Telus discontinued this for a long time and the plan I have is a grandfathered plan.
But then they brought it back about 6 months to a year ago yet now you need a base plan of at least $10/mo...so you have to pay at least $17/mo to get one number unlimited.
THAT's what this plan needs. Remember various providors used to offer unlimted calling to a select few numbers. I think it was up to 5 different telephone numbers. You would enter these numbers into some kind of online form and calls to those numbers were included in the plan.
Or was there some kind of service to get around this that if you call a number you could then enter another number and your call would go through.
But maybe somehow, apply this logic to outgoing txt. You get 50 outgoing, but these select 5 or 10 numbers are unlimited outgoing.
But please, let's have PM fix this anomaly. If it is necessary for PM to list the call to the VM, it should be tagged differently and definitely not charged.
@pm-smayer97 despite what Brooke indicated, I'm still seeing people like @etang confirming minutes are deducting. So I'm not sure what to say except the following 2 things:
1) I will now say that minutes may or may not get deducted in this case and your mileage may vary, and
2) I still whole-heartedly recommend avoiding a metered-minute plan such as this and will strongly recommend people choose the $25 unmetered talk and text plan instead for simplicity and peace of mind.
Though I fully undertstand the sentiment, and the peace of mind that the unmetered plans give, we should not have to work around problems with PM's system. The reason people choose the $10 plan is because the $25 plan is overkill for some. The $10 plan + $15/400 mins add-on makes more sense for many that need just a little more than the 50 min/mon.
Also, it would be unprecedented for any cell plan provider to charge for VMs left by callers.
I too have had problems with VMs left being charged and deducted from my plan. And I have been after them each time... and it is a frustrating experience to see that PM cannot get this right (already including the fact that they now charge for forwarded calls, which were supposed to be included; thankfully I do not use that feature, but a pain for those that do).
In order for us to investigate, can you please send us a private message including your account details? I'll need to submit a ticket and have this checked out as normally, having calls going to voicemail should not deduct minutes.
I look forward to hearing from you,
Mary
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1) I will now say that minutes may or may not get deducted in this case and your mileage may vary,
This definitely seems to be the case, based on differing experiences/observations from the same test. My speculation/theory only, but the VM number that the system accesses might need to be included on some type of "white list" in order to be excluded from consuming minutes, and I'm guessing the number etang's account goes to hasn't been included yet, whereas mine (5875804001, for Alberta) is...
2) I still whole-heartedly recommend avoiding a metered-minute plan such as this and will strongly recommend people choose the $25 unmetered talk and text plan instead for simplicity and peace of mind.
I think the $10 bucketed/metered plan still has its place. I can justify $7 (after auto-pay and self-referral credit) per 30 days (~$84/yr) for my kids to have an "emergency phone". I'd be thinking twice (or altogether dismissing the idea) of paying >$250/yr for this, which would get little use anyway.
@pm-smayer97 despite what Brooke indicated, I'm still seeing people like @etang confirming minutes are deducting. So I'm not sure what to say except the following 2 things:
1) I will now say that minutes may or may not get deducted in this case and your mileage may vary, and
2) I still whole-heartedly recommend avoiding a metered-minute plan such as this and will strongly recommend people choose the $25 unmetered talk and text plan instead for simplicity and peace of mind.
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Thanks again, but that's where mine differs - it does take time from the "bucket" which is why I'm confused. I think they round up the times from 30 seconds to the minute and I have 2 minutes deducted. This is also my daughter's phone and I've gone through her history and there have only been calls showing as outgoing to this "4001" number. No other calls.
@etang, while the minutes show up in the Usage History page, they don't actually consume minutes from the 50 minute "bucket". If you take note of the remaining minutes you have (X / 50 minutes), then call the PM phone and let it go to VM, you'll see the new call logged under Usage History along with duration, but your available minutes should remain at X.
My son lost his phone and hasn't used it for the last 1-2 months, but people have been calling him and reaching his VM. Despite this, he's used up 0 / 50 minutes of his "Limited Canada-Wide Talk" bucket. Calls that were made show under Usage History (unfortunately calling party's number doesn't show up), including duration of the call (there are some that were over a minute).
Thanks for the answers all. I checked the usage history and it does log minutes used when a message was forwarded to VM. The VM was never picked up although there were 30 some seconds logged 2 times for this “4001” number. Should I be credited this then?
You are giving out misinformation! [...] Unanswered calls going to voicemail DO NOT count as forwarded calls.
I stand corrected, thanks for keeping me honest @pm-smayer97. I just tested/confirmed by calling my son's phone, which is on this plan, and letting the call ring to VM. No minutes were deducted from the 50 min pool, regardless of whether a message was left or not.
Interestingly, in the Self-Serve portal, under Plans and Add-Ons --> Usage History, I can see calls that go to VM with the call duration (HH:MM:SS), and the "Usage Type" categorized as "Minutes"; they look pretty much like any outgoing call (in my case the destination is 5875804001), but aren't treated like one.
As you mentioned in an earlier reply, this is more consistent with the expected/desired behaviour, since consumption of airtime is predictable and under the control of the subscriber. A bit of a relief!
You are giving out misinformation! People leaving messages on your voicemail is NOT the same thing as call forwarding. Call forwarding is specifically when you are having calls redirected to another phone number when someone calls your cell phone. Unanswered calls going to voicemail DO NOT count as forwarded calls.
This has been confirmed by the moderator @Brooke_Chere earlier in this thread!
Call-forwarding is counted as airtime. When you don't answer, the call is basically forwarded to the voicemail system, so it consumes airtime. (edited as this may be in some cases, but shouldn't be; see subsequent posts)
Unfortunately, there is no way to truly disable voicemail altogether, as far as I know (you can enable extended absence greeting to prevent callers leaving a message, however). But if you don't care to use voicemail and want to mitigate airtime consumption due to calls being forwarded to it, you could try increasing the number of rings before going to voicemail to a really high number (unfortunately, the maximum is 30 seconds). However, with this delay, for many callers, they will have hung up before the system transfers them to VM -- thereby saving you from wasting precious talk minutes.
The instructions to do this can be found here. To help out with the procedure, you may also want to look at this post here, which lists the local VM access numbers depending on your location. It's a bit of work, but once you have set it up, you can basically forget about it! Good luck!
Also have logged a couple of minutes as an outgoing call to this "4001" number. Can someone confirm that minutes should only be charged if the msg is picked up? This has showed up 2 times on my phone but I have never tried to retrieve a VM on my cel phone. It has taken up 2 minutes from the 50 minute plan when I don't think it should?
@etang unfortunately, those calls to 4001 are calls you didn't answer and that were forwarded to your voicemail box. On this plan, call forwarded minutes--including when people call you and end up at your voicemail box since that's a special type of call forwarding--deduct from your 50 minute bucket.
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Also have logged a couple of minutes as an outgoing call to this "4001" number. Can someone confirm that minutes should only be charged if the msg is picked up? This has showed up 2 times on my phone but I have never tried to retrieve a VM on my cel phone. It has taken up 2 minutes from the 50 minute plan when I don't think it should?
The threshold for Talk is 10 mins; you get a text message when you reach it. I do not know the threshold for Texting as I have never reached it. And there is no way to change the threshold.
The threshold for Talk is 10 mins; you get a text message when you reach it. I do not know the threshold for Texting as I have never reached it. And there is no way to change the threshold.
With the $10 50/50 plan, I did not consider running out of talk time to be a problem, since there is a 200 minute Canada and US talk add-on for $8. I do not see any add-ons for texting. However, there is a data add-on that one could use with a third party app. The nice thing about that option is that unused data rolls over.
As for monitoring usage, I see nothing in the community that refers to PM providing monitoring of talk and text usage. If the consequence of reaching the end of your plan limit is that you are simply cut off, it seems to me that monitoring with an SMS notification should be provided by the system. Logging in to monitor your usage is a bit of a pain to begin with, and if you are not on Wi-Fi, then how do you log in with a plan that has no data?
You get text notifications when you are close to your text/talk limit.
With the $10 50/50 plan, I did not consider running out of talk time to be a problem, since there is a 200 minute Canada and US talk add-on for $8. I do not see any add-ons for texting. However, there is a data add-on that one could use with a third party app. The nice thing about that option is that unused data rolls over.
As for monitoring usage, I see nothing in the community that refers to PM providing monitoring of talk and text usage. If the consequence of reaching the end of your plan limit is that you are simply cut off, it seems to me that monitoring with an SMS notification should be provided by the system. Logging in to monitor your usage is a bit of a pain to begin with, and if you are not on Wi-Fi, then how do you log in with a plan that has no data?
@Miles No extra charges with Public Mobile. If you run out of minutes, calls will not go through. You could buy a talk add-on, but that is a conscience decision on your part, no suprises.
Yes, you can log into your account, and see how many minutes and texts have been used since your last renewal date.
If the user exceeds the 50 minutes (incoming + outgoing) calls or 50 outgoing texts per month, would the service be cut off or there would be extra charges? If it's the latter, how much would be the charges?
One more thing, could the user also see the log of the calls and texts online? Thanks.
I already have this plan and plan to get another family member onto it. Just wanted to confirm, is this plan eligible for refer a friend reward? So if I currently pay $8/month with auto pay, would it go down to $7/month?
Thanks!
Yes it would. Keep participating in the forum and earn some community rewards and maybe get your plan down to a cuple of bucks
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I already have this plan and plan to get another family member onto it. Just wanted to confirm, is this plan eligible for refer a friend reward? So if I currently pay $8/month with auto pay, would it go down to $7/month?
Just don’t use call forwarding. Also suggest to disable voice mail and just set up an auto response asking the caller to text you.
It is so mind boggling...I am not saying one must use call forwarding or not (or how low the plan price is)...If a function is meant to be working and usable, why should one stop using it because it has a flaw?? So perhaps the next time when one purchase a new gagrage door opener, and if it has flaws, one should stop using the garage but use the front door instead...For me, I would call the company to fix it. Am I the exception to think with such logic??
Voice mail uses minutes and I'm saying that if you don't need it then just disable it in order to save minutes.
