Your Public Mobile experience just got an upgrade.

[J_PM]

Hey Community, 

We have a big announcement to share with you! 

Starting July 13, Public Mobile is going 100% digital, with all new activations and devices taking place exclusively online. New customers can join Public Mobile on the go, from anywhere, without setting foot into a store.

To officially mark the start of a new & improved Public Mobile experience, we’re announcing two exciting new features launching today:

Browse up to 30x faster with new 4G-speed plans. 

Now, you can get up to 30x faster speeds with Public Mobile’s new 4G-speed plans, when compared to existing 3G-speed plans. These new plans provide new and existing customers with a wider range of included data and speeds to choose from, depending on their needs. 

Introducing the new My Account: A modernized, mobile-first self-serve experience.

Redesigned from the ground up, our refreshed self-serve portal provides you with easy account-management at your fingertips without the need for in-person support. Plus, it features an all new intuitive mobile-friendly design to make all account management a breeze. 

Along with these new features, as many of you know, we recently launched our new rewards program Public Points earlier this year, where you can earn and redeem rewards with ultimate flexibility. We also redesigned our Community Forum to give our customers the ability to find solutions faster, with 24/7 access to online support. 

Expect to see many more exciting enhancements as we continue on our journey of putting the power of mobility in the hands of Canadians. To celebrate these exciting launches, we will be giving new subscribers 3x the points-back for their first 12 months, for a limited time on eligible purchase, through our Public Points™ Rewards program.

Important Details:

• You will still be able to purchase SIM cards from TELUS & Koodo corporate stores. Find a store near you using our store locator.  
• Vouchers will still be available for purchase in the same locations as before. Visit our vouchers page to access our list of voucher purchase locations.  

For more information on these exciting new changes, please visit publicmobile.ca or our FAQs on these changes. 

        - Public Mobile Team

[boywithnoname]

While I know for myself, being able to get all the answers I need online and not having to step foot in a store is convenient. I know for some people like my partner, this approach was a little more difficult for my partner.  He is currently with Koodo Mobile and is pretty happy there.

It definitely is an approach that will be for some and not for others. I do want to say great work on the new interfaces to the website. They look much cleaner and it is definitely much easier to find a lot of things.

Thanks to Public Mobile and all those behind the scenes making these changes for its user base.

[hTideGnow]

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@Kdh wrote:

I still think some people would benefit reaching for help with accounts via phone

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HI @Kdh   I agree.    That's why PM is not really a service for everyone.   It has a unique model and it suit specific group of users, I think

[Kdh]

I still think some people would benefit reaching for help with accounts via phone

[hTideGnow]

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@jimbobs wrote:

If it was truly "100% digital" they would offer eSIM's as well.  Until they do that, they can't legitimately claim 100% digital.

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Hi @jimbobs 

what make eSIM a requirement to "100% digital"/  

I guess we can also say "until they also make VoLTE (or Wifi Calling, or Call Control .. or anything you want to add), they can't legitimately claim 100% digital"  🤣😂

[Korth]

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@jimbobs wrote:

If it was truly "100% digital" they would offer eSIM's as well.  Until they do that, they can't legitimately claim 100% digital.

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"100% digital" is meaningless. All wireless networks are 100% digital - there's no analog processing anywhere anymore, everybody transmits packets instead of waveforms.

Even worse - we don't live in the 19th and 20th centuries anymore. Everybody went digital decades ago, a generation or two grew up on pure digital and hardly even know anything else exists.

So I don't know what PM (Telus) is trying to push with "100% digital" claims. Or who they're trying to impress, trying to attract and sell their product to.

Unless PM can offer some useful information about what they mean with the term I'll just assume it's the usual uninspired, meaningless, vapid catchphrase marketing. With a catchphrase which itself went obsolete decades ago.

But for the sake of completion: physical SIM cards are "100% digital". eSIMs are not at all required or relevant to the claim.

[jimbobs]

If it was truly "100% digital" they would offer eSIM's as well.  Until they do that, they can't legitimately claim 100% digital.

[timchoy711]

I just got the upgrade of 4G working. It is fantastic and much faster than the previous speed!

The most significant difference is in browsing webs. For 3G, it works well for receiving email, messages, and even YouTube or Netflix. However, for browsing webs sometimes it can be painfully slow depending on which site you go to. For the 4G it is much much much better. So if you don't mind the extra cost it is definitely worth the upgrade. 4GB is already enough for me but if you want 6GB for a few dollars more it is worth it.

[JL9]

Once you wait the 2-3 days and it kicks on, give us a heads up on how it works and just how big an improvement it is...thanks!

[dabr]

@timchoy711    The upgrade to 4G speed will take about 48 hours after changing plans.

[Mac853]

For a phone company how is going 100% digital a good thing?  I’ll give you an example how it’s NOT a good thing and the reason I am in this community blog now.

I went to my local Walmart thinking I could purchase another PM SIM for as i had purchased my SIM now, only to find out that previous retailers no longer carry it.  Yes, I know it’s still available at Koodo but the nearest location is 5km away and I needed the SIM immediately.  Ended up purchasing a PetroCanada mobility SIM instead.

[timchoy711]

Hi, Public Mobile Team,

I have upgraded my plan to a 4G plan as per your introduction, but the speed is still at 3G speed right now. What is the issue here?

Tim

[greentree]

@dust2dust I started in chrome because it seems to cause the least amount of issues. then tried firefox. this is very strange! 

thx for the info on how to tell i'm logged in! lol

[dust2dust]

@greentree- lol And so now you come up against yet another overnight bug fix session. Um hey guys how about testing and fixing things BEFORE rolling it out? hmm??...mmkay.

What Korth says is very insightful. I use Firefox with a few add-ons and settings. But if a site doesn't want to work properly and it's not simple enough to work around with what I have then I just use Chrome without those kinds of settings or add-ons.

[greentree]

thx. i checked the link and it was bouncing to a telus link rather than public mobile and it was using an old saved password. didn't solve the problem, but one more thing to watch for! 

[greentree]

yeah, i downloaded another browser and tried. now it doesn't give the error but says the page is unavailable. I've submitted a ticket. thanks for the ideas!

[Korth]

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@greentree wrote:

... I logged in via incognito, but any page I click on goes to 'Error Code 404'

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That's why I don't recommend Incognito/Private/Secret Mode. It works for many people so it's advice given by many people to many people. But different browsers do things different ways, there is no standard for this feature, it's not strictly necessary, and it breaks Self-Serve on many machines. I feel it's smart to avoid problems while solving problems and Incognito can cause problems which is easily avoided.

You only need to clear cookies, clear cache, disable any scriptblockers/adblockers/etc before your Self-Serve sessions. Disable VPN if necessary. If you need to disable anything else (firewall, proxies, hostsfiles, etc) then it's usually simpler and faster to just use another browser, another computer, another network.

[darlicious]

@dust2dust 

Private messaging is active on @greentree 's community profile.

[dust2dust]

@greentree- You're not the first person to say that. Although it's looked a bit like that for a short while...just us regulars don't notice it exactly. I think it would be an excellent idea to have the Community login in that drop down. It's there when logged in to the account.

The way to tell you're logged in here is that you'll have your plane avatar and the bell icon. It's possible that you might have turned off private messages so the envelope is optional.

[softech]

@greentree you tried to use another browser?

maybe try on a different device, better on desktop. 

If issue persists, open ticket with PM  suppirt 

[greentree]

thank you @softech. turns out I AM logged into the community, it just didn't show my name anywhere so I didn't realize...due to the 'sign in' menu at the top. not misleading at all! 🙂

Anyway, thanks, I logged in via incognito, but any page I click on goes to 'Error Code 404'

[DennyCrane]

As soon as it changed my account was grabbing onto my old Telus login credentials which were stored in my phone. I had to override the password with my actual PM password. 

[softech]

@greentree 

Try using Incognito mode, or use a different browser (Edge/Firefox/chrome), Try  clearing cache and then restart the browser

Best to try on a desktop or laptop as well

For opening ticket with PM support, just message them directly here :

      https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/notes/composepage/note-to-user-id/22437

**Monitor your Community inbox (envelope icon on the top right) after the ticket is opened.  CS Agent will reply you there

[greentree]

I can't login to My Account since the upgrade. I also can't login to Community so can't submit a ticket. I've already tried resetting my password which works fine, but they I still can't login with the new or old pswd. suggestions????

[Korth]

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@Pawprints1986 wrote:

I don't understand the value of esim ...

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The "value" of eSIM is commodity. Marketing hypes it as the latest awesome new tech, the must-have for every great device, people want it mostly because it's perceived as better, not because it actually is better in practice. There's no reason to stop selling it if people keep buying it.

eSIMs do have advantages. But at this time they are not really leveraged - every phone on the market which is compatible with eSIM is also compatible with physical SIM cards. There are some eSIM-only devices (like various smartwatches) but they are invariably ancillary devices which are paired to phones and Public Mobile is not in the business of selling these things anyways.

eSIMs were primarily intended to service IoT devices ... but some device OEMs (like Apple) quickly saw the "value" of treating them as a premium offering. The providers quickly saw the "value" of using eSIMs as another way to lock-in customers ... but again, this isn't really leveraged when phones still have physical SIM slots, and again, Public Mobile is not in the business of selling brand new devices.

[Kristowhy]

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@hTideGnow wrote:

HI@Kristowhy   Good info.

I believe Koodo prepaid and PM will have VoLTE together.  There was also anticipation that it will come end of this year.  So, let see if it will come 

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What do you mean by "together"?  Koodo postpaid has had VoLTE for quite some time.  You can even find it discussed in their online FAQs.

Prepaid is on a different platform, which seems to be similar to what PM is using for quite some time.  It could be a combo of technical and business strategy reasons for the VoLTE delay on prepaid.  The US prepaid carriers have it sorted and working.  It's just a matter of time here, but Canadian carriers can drag things longer as the 3G UMTS/HSPA networks won't be decommissioned until 2025.

There has been talk here from some that VoLTE may be coming to PM in Sept.  If this should be true, then Koodo won't be far behind!

[Kristowhy]

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@Korth wrote:

Koodo also has kiosks all over the place. Where you can shove your phone (your problems) at some counter person's face and walk out with working phone (no problems) minutes later.

You get what you pay for - especially when buying from different tiers of the same company. Public Mobile doesn't pay people to stand at a counter and solve your problems for you - no frills - but they "reward" you with a little cut of the money they don't have to spend on this operational expense.

I prefer saving money and doing things myself. Many of us do. But "DIY" is just not the best choice for everybody.

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Exactly!  PM, chatr, Lucky etc are targeted to a particular user type/profile and not necessarily everyone will/should go with them.  If one needs a phone number to call and speak to a human for help or walk in retail environments, then the tier 3 providers are not suitable.

[hTideGnow]

HI@Kristowhy   Good info.

I believe Koodo prepaid and PM will have VoLTE together.  There was also anticipation that it will come end of this year.  So, let see if it will come 

[Kristowhy]

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@JRSRfin wrote:

"I see no reason whatsoever to switch to Koodo."

They provide VoLTE, which can apparently resolve coverage issues for some people.

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VoLTE is only available on Koodo postpaid and not prepaid.  A Koodo rep recently indicated in their community that earliest estimate for VoLTE (for now 😉) prepaid is by end of the year. 

[hTideGnow]

@sa7375 

the reason is we are Tier 3 little brothers, all the good stuffs go to Tier 1 and 2 first

For Tier 3, Only Lucky Mobile started offer eSIM  couple months ago. Chatr and PM do not have it still.  

But it will come, eventually

@DennyCrane  Don't worry, it wont be exclusively to eSIM when it comes.  I don't think any carriers will ask for just eSIM only.  eSIM would just be an option for any carriers that offers that.   We have too many old phones, we are not ready for eSIM only

[DennyCrane]

@Pawprints1986 I agree. The only reason I use it today is for the dual sim feature. I use PM's physical sim and then I have a US data esim all on the same phone, which makes it really nice for my frequent trips to the US. If PM went exclusively to esim my setup would no longer work. And to your point, if you like to switch back and forth between devices, esim is a pain.