Plan updates + new $10 limited talk and text plan!

[Brooke_C]

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.

-Public Mobile Community Team

Spoiler

FAQs

Question	Answer
How long will this plan be in market?	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 found here.    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 our Terms of Service for more information about our plans.

[pm-smayer97]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@pm-smayer97 wrote:

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FIRST, other callers leaving a message is NOT call forwarding. Call forwarding is specific feature... so you only get charged for call forwarding if you ACTUALLY activate call forwarding.

So it does not matter whether you receive messages or not. There is no charge. The only charge is when you access VM via your cell phone. PERIOD!

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@pm-smayer97 no, this is not correct on the $10 plan.  Calls that get redirected to your voicemail box (no matter what type of greeting you have active) count against your metered minutes, unfortunately.

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WRONG! I have 6 of these plans and have tested it extensively. 

The confusion comes in trying to label calls being sent to your VM as Call Forwarding. The industry convention and standard is that Call Forwarding strictly applies to using the specific Call Forwarding feature. But calls sent to VM is NOT considered Call Forwarding (of course if you activate Call Forwarding and point it to VM by entering the VM # THEN you would be charged for using Call Fowarding). AND PM appears to be using the same industry convention.

Bottom line is that calls that leave messages to your VM DO NOT deduct from your used minutes. 

If you do not believe me and you have this plan... prove it to yourself. Check your account for USED MINUTES before then call your number and leave a VM and see if your USED MINUTES has changed... It does not.

[Anonymous]

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@pm-smayer97 wrote:

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@mimmo wrote:

@pm-smayer97 just to confirm you are saying if voicemail does answer and no message is left than no useage is counted?  

Doesn't this contradict the plan announcement since voicemail is considered call forwarding.

Update as of June 11, 2018: This post has been updated to rectify that call forwarding counts toward your plan’s minutes.

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FIRST, other callers leaving a message is NOT call forwarding. Call forwarding is specific feature... so you only get charged for call forwarding if you ACTUALLY activate call forwarding.

So it does not matter whether you receive messages or not. There is no charge. The only charge is when you access VM via your cell phone. PERIOD!

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I can play too.

The system IS call forwarding TO the voicemail box FROM your phone AND internally EVEN if the phone is OFF.

Assuming all the usual defaults. It seems also kinda difficult to turn off this feature from the handset.

Like I said, I might be able to go along with you for the extended absence greeting version. But not according to the documentation.

And yes you can also do your own call forwarding somewhere else which would of course cost your minutes.

[srlawren]

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@pm-smayer97 wrote:

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FIRST, other callers leaving a message is NOT call forwarding. Call forwarding is specific feature... so you only get charged for call forwarding if you ACTUALLY activate call forwarding.

So it does not matter whether you receive messages or not. There is no charge. The only charge is when you access VM via your cell phone. PERIOD!

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@pm-smayer97 no, this is not correct on the $10 plan.  Calls that get redirected to your voicemail box (no matter what type of greeting you have active) count against your metered minutes, unfortunately.

[pm-smayer97]

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@mimmo wrote:

@pm-smayer97 just to confirm you are saying if voicemail does answer and no message is left than no useage is counted?  

Doesn't this contradict the plan announcement since voicemail is considered call forwarding.

Update as of June 11, 2018: This post has been updated to rectify that call forwarding counts toward your plan’s minutes.

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FIRST, other callers leaving a message is NOT call forwarding. Call forwarding is specific feature... so you only get charged for call forwarding if you ACTUALLY activate call forwarding.

So it does not matter whether you receive messages or not. There is no charge. The only charge is when you access VM via your cell phone. PERIOD!

[Anonymous]

@pm-smayer97: Yeah I'm going to get in on that. The $10 plan is 50 minutes for all calls in or out. I'll give you the possible out of the extended absence greeting not actually taking any minutes. I'll go along with and am interested in your observations. I haven't verified it myself.

[mimmo]

@pm-smayer97 just to confirm you are saying if voicemail does answer and no message is left than no useage is counted?  

Doesn't this contradict the plan announcement since voicemail is considered call forwarding.

Update as of June 11, 2018: This post has been updated to rectify that call forwarding counts toward your plan’s minutes.

[pm-smayer97]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@popping wrote:

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Will playing back the extended absence message use 1 minutes of my 30 days quota?

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@popping yes unfortunately it will.  I believe the workaround for this that others have suggested is to go into the phone app on the phone and change the When Busy, When Unanswered, and When Unreachable call forwarding numbers to an invalid number. Someone posted the number they used here but you'd have to search a bit to find it.  😞

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Actually that is absolutely incorrect! The only time you are charged airtime from the 50 minutes is if you call any number, including your voicemail, from YOUR cell phone. BUT if anyone else calls your number, you are NOT charged air time.

The only exception to this is if you DO use your built-in phone feature to forward your calls to your voicemail. There is no need to do this. 

All you have to do is set up your VM to not receive messages using the Extended Absence greeting feature and be sure to select the feature to NOT allow messages.

Once that is done, any calls you do not answer will go to yoru VM and the Extended Absence greeting will play and they will then be told they cannot leave a message. There is NO charge to you.

That said, and what may be confusing, is that if you view your Usage History, you WILL see an entry for the call to your VM. BUT I have checked multiple times and any time that shows up in the log does NOT deduct YOUR air time usage.

So again, the only time you are deducted air time is when YOU use YOUR cell phone to call ANYWHERE and if you forward any calls to anywhere, including VM (but again , there is no need to do this).

[Anonymous]

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@popping yes unfortunately it will.  I believe the workaround for this that others have suggested is to go into the phone app on the phone and change the When Busy, When Unanswered, and When Unreachable call forwarding numbers to an invalid number. Someone posted the number they used here but you'd have to search a bit to find it.  😞

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I played around with that a little but when calling in to it it will give a nasty recording to the caller. So I prefer the extended absence greeting.

Do the full 30 second ring time and people might give up and hang up anyway.

*#61# to get the voicemail number. It should be the same for all situations.

*61*[the voicemail number above]*11*[30]# to set to 30 seconds. Don't do the [ ]'s

Yes I know will13am... codes. Whadyagonna do?! 🙂

[srlawren]

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@popping wrote:

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Will playing back the extended absence message use 1 minutes of my 30 days quota?

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@popping yes unfortunately it will.  I believe the workaround for this that others have suggested is to go into the phone app on the phone and change the When Busy, When Unanswered, and When Unreachable call forwarding numbers to an invalid number. Someone posted the number they used here but you'd have to search a bit to find it.  😞

[popping]

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@Anonymous wrote:

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@cory_c wrote:

Hi,

I just got the $10 a month plan about a week ago and wonder if I can set-up voice mail message on it?

My second question is: Because I'm limited to 9 voice messages, is there a way of making it that callers can not leave messages but are able to hear my messge to them i.e., I may say something like, "this phone does not accepte messages,but feel free to email me at....?"

Ciao!

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Welcome.

It comes with 10 voicemail messages capacity.

They call it Extended Absence. Then you tell the system to not take messages and it just plays your recording and hangs up.

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Will playing back the extended absence message use 1 minutes of my 30 days quota?

I will be switching my mother's Speakout number to PM $10 plan.  She will not learn how to voicemail.  I am wondering whether moderator can disable the voicemail.  I called Speakout to disable voicemail right after activation.

[cory_c]

This is very helpful. I'm not in a rush so, I would appreciate (as I know others may also) knowing when this bug is fixed along with a link to instructions.

Cheers!

CC

[pm-smayer97]

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@cory_c wrote:

Hi,

I just got the $10 a month plan about a week ago and wonder if I can set-up voice mail message on it?

My second question is: Because I'm limited to 9 voice messages, is there a way of making it that callers can not leave messages but are able to hear my messge to them i.e., I may say something like, "this phone does not accepte messages,but feel free to email me at....?"

Ciao!

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First, the instructions to block or turn-off your VM (At the VM system level) can be found here:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/Re-Disable-Voicemail/m-p/213805/highl...

And for some complementary info (to turn off VM at your phone level), read this:

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/Re-Disable-Voicemail/m-p/280765/highl...

Second, you can set up voicemail via your cell phone OR via a landline BUT to be aware that if you use your cell phone, it will use up your limited minutes to set up your VM.

So, if you want to minimize the number of minutes used from your plan, either go into your VM via the cellphone first and do the absolute minimum set-up, then go back via a landline and continue the set-up, OR start via the landline, set everything up, then access your VM via the cellphone briefly. 

HOWEVER, note that there is a bug in the system... once you set up your PW via the landline, you will NOT be able to access your VM from the landline UNTIL you access the VM at least once from your cell phone, again, using up some of your minutes.

(this problem ONLY exists UNTIL you access your VM via your cell phone for the first time.)

(and before anyone jumps on this, I am engaged with PM tech to resolve this bug that has been acknowledged by a manager).

NOTE: the work-around is to simply reset the VM password via the online profile. This resets the PW back to the default (your tel #). Then you can access the VM via landline again.

Note also that I am working with PM to have minutes not used up when first setting up your VM

(most people won't care about this because they have unlimited talk but for those on the $10/mo 50/50 plan, a lot of minutes can get wasted, because it takes time to learn AND set-up a new system you are unfamiliar with.).

(The above information has been copied into a more visible location to find it more easily and provide one place where it can be maintained/updated, here.)

[Anonymous]

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@cory_c wrote:

Hi,

I just got the $10 a month plan about a week ago and wonder if I can set-up voice mail message on it?

My second question is: Because I'm limited to 9 voice messages, is there a way of making it that callers can not leave messages but are able to hear my messge to them i.e., I may say something like, "this phone does not accepte messages,but feel free to email me at....?"

Ciao!

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Welcome.

It comes with 10 voicemail messages capacity.

They call it Extended Absence. Then you tell the system to not take messages and it just plays your recording and hangs up.

[cory_c]

Hi,

I just got the $10 a month plan about a week ago and wonder if I can set-up voice mail message on it?

My second question is: Because I'm limited to 9 voice messages, is there a way of making it that callers can not leave messages but are able to hear my messge to them i.e., I may say something like, "this phone does not accepte messages,but feel free to email me at....?"

Ciao!

[srlawren]

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@syantixmanjah wrote:

When will be available for 90 days or 365 days limited talk & text plan?

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@syantixmanjah I'm guessing "probably never" for 90 days and "almost definitely never" for 365 days.  Public Mobile have been pushing their 30 day plans lately and not really making their 90 day plans any better of a deal (in many cases lately the equivalent 90 day plans are more expensive than 3 x their 30 day equivalents).  

[syantixmanjah]

When will be available for 90 days or 365 days limited talk & text plan?

[pm-smayer97]

Speaking of Telus One Number Unlimited STAND-ALONE plan add-on...

It is a sad day!!!. I just dicsovered an announcement (made Jul 26, 2018) that Telus is now forcing ALL pre-paid customers to have at least a base plan, as of Aug 26, 2018....SO, no more STAND-ALONE One Number Unlimited.

As an alternative, Telus is offering an exclusive $10/mo base plan with 500 local minutes + 100 texts, for those customers. At least for me, this turns out to be a decent plan, based on our calling patterns (we typically use around 150-200 mins/mon, though I hate having to worry about watching minutes).

P.S. I will have need for the PM plans in my family.

[ShawnC13]

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@smp99 wrote:

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

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@Jonavin wrote:

Does US Roaming talk and/or text addons give you unlimited talk/text while you are in the US for 10 days? Or is it limited to the 50 limit of this $10 plan?

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The add-on will give you unlimited talk and text while away even if your base plan is the $10 plan

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Yes - but does using the add-on count towards your 50 txt limit (even if you can go over) possibly leaving you with nothing when the add-on expires.

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The addon is above your base plan and should not count against yor base plan 50 texts

[smp99]

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@ShawnC13 wrote:

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@Jonavin wrote:

Does US Roaming talk and/or text addons give you unlimited talk/text while you are in the US for 10 days? Or is it limited to the 50 limit of this $10 plan?

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The add-on will give you unlimited talk and text while away even if your base plan is the $10 plan

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Yes - but does using the add-on count towards your 50 txt limit (even if you can go over) possibly leaving you with nothing when the add-on expires.

[ShawnC13]

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@Jonavin wrote:

Does US Roaming talk and/or text addons give you unlimited talk/text while you are in the US for 10 days? Or is it limited to the 50 limit of this $10 plan?

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The add-on will give you unlimited talk and text while away even if your base plan is the $10 plan

[Jonavin]

Does US Roaming talk and/or text addons give you unlimited talk/text while you are in the US for 10 days? Or is it limited to the 50 limit of this $10 plan?

[CS_Agent]

@poojapattnaik, Sorry to read about your service issue. Please reply to the private message I just sent you so that I can assist you with this matter.

Thank you for your patience!

Aïssata

[Anonymous]

Hi @poojapattnaik, was your service previously working, or did you just sign up with Public Mobile. 

If you just signed up, did you check your shelf service portal to be sure that your account activated correctly. Is your phone unlocked?  Are you able to connect to the Public Mobile / Telus network?

Also, I recommend that you edit your post and remove your personal information,  since this is a public forum. 

[poojapattnaik]

I am unable to make any outgoing call. My number xxx-xxx-xxxx

[poojapattnaik]

I am unable to make any outgoing call - my number is xxx-xxx-xxxx

[pm-smayer97]

Correct, the $7 One Number Unlimited is NOT stackable...Telus used to have a 5 number plan too but that has been discontinued and not brought back (I never got that plan).

Instead, I use the One Number Unlimited with a long distance company for calls anywhere to Canada... it costs me the equivalent of 0.8¢/min, so I would need to make over 2875 mins of calling within a month before I would benefit from the $30 unlimited calling plan...granted I do not get texting, but I do not have a need for that anyway.

But the $10/mo plan with PM with the $15/400 mins add-on gets me close to the equivalent.

[Jorno]

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@srlawren wrote:

... honestly, for $10, I don't think it's realistic to expect unlimited anything, even to a limited list of numbers.

@srlawren wrote:

@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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You did not think it realistic to expect anything unlimited for $10.  @pm-smayer97 and I showed you an example to the contrary.

My first-hand experience with the add-on is it can be purchased as a standalone option - no base plan required.  The add-on is good for one number.  It cannot be purchased multiple times to add multiple numbers.

For $7, I get unlimited local calling to and from one number.  For my needs, there is plenty of value.

[srlawren]

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@wetcoaster wrote:

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@srlawren

Did I miss something? I think the $25 still gives you only province wide talk and international text. However, for $30 it's Canada wide talk, international text and 500MB of data... Your point still stands, though.

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@wetcoaster apparently I need more sleep!  Thanks for pointing this out, and you are quite correct.  

[wetcoaster]

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@srlawren wrote:

@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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@srlawren

Did I miss something? I think the $25 still gives you only province wide talk and international text. However, for $30 it's Canada wide talk, international text and 500MB of data... Your point still stands, though.

[bridonca]

I have an Obihai 200 ATA with call attendant set up, and my VOIP provider is freephonline.  All that is paid for, no more costs.  I could probably get the same results from Fongo works.  In any case, I could use Telus one number to call either of those attendants, and once connected, make as many calls as I would want.  Worth it for $7, but at $17, you might as well go for Public Mobile's $20 Province wide calling plan.