$15 plan for Ontario (Ottawa)

[dwdrajesh]

Hi Guys, I am thinking of switching from Rogers to Public Mobile. I am based in Ottawa, ON. My questions are as follows: (Sorry about asking too many :))
1. Does Public mobile have good coverage in Ottawa and the suburbs?

2. For the $15 plan, how do you get the bonus 250MB data? It says on the website, it is a bonus with "Autopay", what is it about and how to get it?

3. I assume this $15 plan does not have any contract, so I should be able to upgrade or change the plan whenever I need, is this correct?

Thanks,
Rajesh

[dwdrajesh]

I don't use much of my phone while in the LRT tunnel, so that is not a serious issue for me. I would however prefer that the data would be available in the suburbs, mainly Kanata, and on the south end, West Hunt Club area, even though at a lower speed. Just trying to compare their plan with Freedom Mobile's. The only thing better with Freedom is I am getting 500MB for the same price but as the guy at the counter told me, with Freedom, for the cheaper plans, if I go out of their coverage, they don't allow roaming (with Rogers or other big networks).

[darlicious]

@dwdrajesh  I was with freedom in Vancouver. The signal at home was so bad I had to have a telus plan as back up. I'm talking in the middle of the city. There was no service outside of city. Nor was there service hardly anywhere I traveled...Winnipeg, Montreal, Halifax, all of Vancouver island absolutely nothing unless i was roaming.

     I have two accounts. At regular price $40 and $10. In six the months I've been here my rewards reduce that amount by $32 per month plus my promo another $10. That leaves me paying $8. Plus they've given me two 1gb data add ons and 400 international calling minutes. They all stay on my account until i use them up. How can you go wrong with that?

     When it comes to Wal-Mart wanting to charge $10 as an activation fee but give you a free SIM...thats complete B.S.....there are no activation fees with public mobile and it's retail partners. I'm sure @Alan_K  would be interested in that...so please leave a review in the locate a retailer section here on the public mobile website. Go to another location....if you can wait another week or two there will be another promotion you can take advantage of...Valentine's day is one week away I bet public mobile comes up wth a clever campaign for that.

[danijel]

I had a line with Freedom Mobile in Ottawa City, and i had network issues sometimes. You also will have no service in the LRT tunnel downtown with Freedom Mobile, so if that is a concern then stay away from them. And also with Freedom they will charge you for text messages for crazy things like texting the OCTranspo bus for its next arrival when all other providers don't, it's all include in your texting plan.  

I had a horrible experience with Freedom in extra charges during the month.

[kselmak]

@dwdrajesh 

If they have free sim card they will sell it to you for 1c if you activate in store and activation is free. If you buy sim from them it's $10.

I had freedom plan with unlimited USA/Canada roaming. Roaming worked great in USA, it was never, but I mean NEVER honored in Canada. I had 0 service and when I complained they would say that I'm in the coverage area hence can't roam, there was no signal to catch. While I lived in their good coverage area I was very happy. So it's really your call.

Just a small reminder, with public mobile on autopay you will be paying 13 this year, 12  the next, and it will decrease until it settles at $8. With referrals or community participation it may be even less. Also we did receive two times 1g add-on that doesn't have expiry date since others introduced 'unlimited' and many suspect there will be more of it.

If you have any friends on freedom you should talk to them about the signal and coverage, if they can cover you well it's a pretty good deal. I still believe that awesome Telus coverage with the possibility of your bill going down to $5 or less is better deal, but it's your call

Best luck

[CannonFodder]

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@dwdrajesh wrote:

@all, So, I went to the Walmart in Ottawa and they have both public mobile and Freedom Mobile sim cards. For Public mobile, they say they will give sim card for free but charge $10 for activation which means either I have to order a sim card online and get it activated  there or get the sim card there and pay $10.

No, SOME Walmarts, in the recent past, have given the SIM for free, if you activate in-store, but I've never seen a mention of charging $10 for the activation. As for ordering a SIM online, or picking one up, in person, at one of numerous other places, you don't then HAVE TO get it activated at Walmart, i.e. you can activate it yourself, online, right here, on PM's site, OR you can activate it wherever you buy one. That, and they cost $10 at most places, although they can be had for slightly less on Amazon, or Ebay.

The plan they have is $15 a month that gives you 100 minutes and 250 MB with Autopay. I am not sure where I would use the code that some of you gave me if I get the sim from walmart and activate it there.

You can use whichever referral code you might want to use, by giving it to the customer rep at the store, and they can input it in the correct place, at the time of activation, OR you can do it online, if you activate the SIM yourself.

However, the plan with Freedom Mobile seems better since their $15 plan gives 100 minutes but 500 MB with Autopay. The only catch he mentioned is that with the cheaper plans with Freedom Mobile, they dont allow roaming to other networks like Rogers, roaming is only for more expensive plans which I am not sure is true. Any of you guys had any network experience with Freedom MObile?

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I don't have any experience with Freedom, and given their plans, I have considered them, BUT if you look at their coverage map, it's really not very good.... at least not yet. If they manage to expand their reach, they might be something I'd consider in the future.

[dwdrajesh]

@all, So, I went to the Walmart in Ottawa and they have both public mobile and Freedom Mobile sim cards. For Public mobile, they say they will give sim card for free but charge $10 for activation which means either I have to order a sim card online and get it activated  there or get the sim card there and pay $10. The plan they have is $15 a month that gives you 100 minutes and 250 MB with Autopay. I am not sure where I would use the code that some of you gave me if I get the sim from walmart and activate it there.

However, the plan with Freedom Mobile seems better since their $15 plan gives 100 minutes but 500 MB with Autopay. The only catch he mentioned is that with the cheaper plans with Freedom Mobile, they dont allow roaming to other networks like Rogers, roaming is only for more expensive plans which I am not sure is true. Any of you guys had any network experience with Freedom MObile? Other than that, the Freedom plan is $20 for activation, which I won't mind if I am getting 250 MB more for the same price. Thanks a lot guys. This forum is really helpful.

[danijel]

Public Mobile has excellent coverage in Ottawa and its Suburbs, I personnally switched from Rogers to Public Mobile last month. I do live in a suburb of Ottawa, and i can tell you that i've notice that the Public Mobile signal is higher (stronger) than the Rogers one was. And Bonus, there is full bar coverage in the LRT tunnel downtown, because the service is provided by Telus, and Public Mobile runs on Telus towers, and when there is none of those around then it automatically switches over to Bell Towers. 

To get the 250MB of data, you simply have to add any credit card to your account, even a prepaid one, and you will automatically get the 250MB to your line. 

And yes you can change your plan whenever you need, so lets say you're out of data and want more, you can buy another plan and it will renew to a new 30 days. 

[CannonFodder]

@Jb456  Hmmm, as I said, I looked quickly, and obviously COMPLETELY missed it! 🙄 

Aaaaand, while giving the pricing a quick perusal...... EEEEEW, that's some seriously crappy pricing! 👎 

[Jb456]

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@CannonFodder wrote:

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@darlicious wrote:

@dwdrajeshIf you are on a prepaid rogers account then you must port your number in and have it completed before 11:59pm et on Friday. If you are on a postpaid account you have more time.

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Uhm..... does Rogers even have prepaid plans? I just looked, kinda quickly, and I didn't see any, and I don't recall seeing any before, when the wife was with Rogers. Chatr, on the other hand, sure....

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@CannonFodder 

Yes they have pay as you go.

https://www.rogers.com/web/Rogers.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=WRLS_PREPAID_LANDING&ipn=1

[CannonFodder]

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@darlicious wrote:

@dwdrajeshIf you are on a prepaid rogers account then you must port your number in and have it completed before 11:59pm et on Friday. If you are on a postpaid account you have more time.

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Uhm..... does Rogers even have prepaid plans? I just looked, kinda quickly, and I didn't see any, and I don't recall seeing any before, when the wife was with Rogers. Chatr, on the other hand, sure....

[darlicious]

@dwdrajesh  I do believe you have had all your questions answered. I thought I would add in regards to having an active account to port your number in from rogers. If you are on a prepaid rogers account then you must port your number in and have it completed before 11:59pm et on Friday. If you are on a postpaid account you have more time. Your billing period may end on Friday but your account remains active and in good standing. You can port in after this date. Once completing the port your rogers account will close automatically and rogers will send you a prorated bill. For example if you pay $45 per month and you port in on your 5th day of your billing period you will be billed 5x$1.50=$7.50+tax.

      Public Mobile offers promotions on a regular basis. I would say there is a good chance they will offer some kind of Valentine's day promotion. This may start on Friday or possibly Monday. You must weigh the options of saving right away or waiting another week to see if a promotion pops up and paying a prorated bill with rogers and save with a promotion or switch to pm now and start saving from rogers bill.

* If you choose the $15 plan you can add the $5/500min add on to your account to supplement  your outgoing calling. This add on wiĺl roll over each month until completely  used up.

[kselmak]

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@dwdrajesh wrote:

Hi, thanks for the reply. Could you give me the referral code? Also, do you think Walmart canada might have free sim offers? Thanks

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@dwdrajesh 
Yes they may

You can call or just walk in

If you look at the top right you will see a little envelope that's where the private messages are

You probably got lots of codes now

[Jb456]

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@dwdrajesh wrote:

Hi, thanks for the reply. Could you give me the referral code? Also, do you think Walmart canada might have free sim offers? Thanks

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Check your inbox I sent you a code..

Yes try Walmart they might offer you a free sim to activate with them..let them select a new number for you and when you get home you can port your number over on your own through your account after you know everything is working..

[gblackma]

@dwdrajesh they may have them, if you activate it there.

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@dwdrajesh wrote:

Hi, thanks for the reply. Could you give me the referral code? Also, do you think Walmart canada might have free sim offers? Thanks

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[dwdrajesh]

Hi, thanks for the reply. Could you give me the referral code? Also, do you think Walmart canada might have free sim offers? Thanks

[Ckyaimee]

Yes they do have good coverage as they use Telus towers (you can also use their coverage map here https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/coverage )

if you sign up for auto pay with a visa debit or a credit card you get the data coverage which is so easy, plus you save $2 a month by signing up for auto pay. 

there are no contacts with public mobile at all so you can always switch back and forth from plans! Hurray 

[Luddite]

@dwdrajesh If you do wish to use private messaging here's how: https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/Private-Messages-viewing-and-creating...

[kselmak]

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@dwdrajesh wrote:

Hi thanks for the reply. what was the promotion 2 days ago? I am thinking of starting my plan this Saturday since my current Rogers plan expires Friday.

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@dwdrajesh 

If you want to keep your old number your account must be in good standing and active, so you have to port out before it expires. 

If you walk into a Walmart you may be able to get free sim if you activate there, in that case they would help you open the account and port of you wish, ort you can try it out for couple of days and port if you are ready. Just make sure you do it while your Rogers account is still active

[kselmak]

@dwdrajesh 

Unlimited incoming are gold, especially with a little data. Family member had an old phone used only for calling though it's Android, will not support TextNow or fongo. I installed hangouts dialer and set their number as outbound caller ID. Truelly feels like unlimited USA and Canada

[Jb456]

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@dwdrajesh wrote:

Hi thanks for the reply. what was the promotion 2 days ago? I am thinking of starting my plan this Saturday since my current Rogers plan expires Friday.

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the lunar promo ran from Jan 20 to Feb 3rd... It was a discount $5 off for pay periods 2 to 9 for $15 and $25 plans and $10 off the higher plans.. 

The link to that promotion is below 

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/Limited-time-offer-Get-up-to-10-off-for...

It has expired now and you would not be eligible...

IMPORTANT DO NOT LET ROGERS ACCOUNT EXPIRE..You will loose your phone number if you wanted to transfer your Rogers number to Public Mobile...the Rogers account must be active and in good standing to be able to keep your number and have it transferred to public mobile...

Unless you don't care about the number and are ok with getting a new number

[Daps]

You can see the annoucements including promos here

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/bd-p/Announcements

the last promo that ended is now 5th on the list.

You can sign up for deal alerts to your email.

Go here https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/bc/plans

and scroll down, then type in your email address to sign up.

[CannonFodder]

@dwdrajesh  And just to clarify what others have said, you can enable Autopay by inputting a credit card(Visa, Mastercard, or American Express), or Visa Debit, when you sign up. If you choose to pay via vouchers, obtained from any number of sources, you won't have Autopay, which means you won't get a $2 credit to your account every 30 days, nor will you get the 250MB of data.

Another thing to keep in mind, is that the $15 plan is unlimted incoming calls, but only 100 minutes of outgoing calls, and any calls to your voicemail are considered outgoing calls, UNLESS you call voicemail from another phone(either cell, or landline).

[kselmak]

Welcome to public mobile

The coverage is good as telus or bell, the only difference use that you need 3g towers present to talk as volte is not supported. But you should be fine in any bigger City.

The price is low enough and there are no ties to hold you so you can just try it with temporary phone number and port your Rogers number when you are ready.

Make sure that your phone will work on the network. Need umts 850 and 1900 MHz for talk and LTE l2,4,7... The more the better.

Also you phone though unlicked could have kicked itself to Rogers, no worries Rogers will have to give you the unlock code for free, if they can't the manufacturer can.

Make sure your Rogers account is in good standing and you are free from tab.

Go for autopay, you can turn your 13 plan into unlimited North America with TextNow or hangouts. Don't really on autopay pay manually you still get the benefits.

Call Walmart to see if they give free sim

Don't forget about referral.

Welcome to the community

[gblackma]

The promotion was called the Lunar promotion . Are you porting your number over from Rogers? To do that you need a Valid Rogers account @dwdrajesh . So, you would need your account activated and port  before Friday. Also remove your credit card from your Rogers account. Actually the port would cancel the Rogers account. Lol.

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@dwdrajesh wrote:

Hi thanks for the reply. what was the promotion 2 days ago? I am thinking of starting my plan this Saturday since my current Rogers plan expires Friday.

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[dwdrajesh]

Hi thanks for the reply. what was the promotion 2 days ago? I am thinking of starting my plan this Saturday since my current Rogers plan expires Friday.

[Daps]

PM works well in Ottawa and surrounding area. PM uses the towers shared by telus and bell.

Autopay means adding your credit card to your account to register for preauthorized payment. PM will give you $2 off every renewal and some bonus data.

PM is prepaid. There are no contracts but also no refunds. You prepay for 30 days of service. If you choose to change your plan, you can do it immediately (pay again!) or have it changed at your next renewal date.

If you decide to switch, make sure your phone is compatible and it is unlocked. Any recent phone sold in canada should work.

There are no activation or extra charges besides $10 for the sim card.

There was a promotion that just finished 2 days ago. It's up to you if you want to wait for another promo or if you want to sign up now and start saving right away.

Using the referral code when you activate, you will earn $10 to be applied towards your first renewal.

[Jb456]

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@dwdrajesh wrote:

Hi, Thanks for the reply. What is the referral code that you mentioned will get me $10 bonus? Also, when I change plans, I understand I should pay for that month's charge for my current plan and for the new plan as well. Other than that, do they charge some extra fee for changing the plan also?

A referral code is when a person refers you could be friend/family/someone here or you got a code online. You get $10 sign up bonus for new client and the person that referred you gets $1 off per 30 days as long as your account is in good standing.

no here is an example of changing a plan.

.

If you pay plan today and in 2 weeks you want to change...you can change right away and you loose your plan you just paid which you have 30 days of service and you will be charged new plan

Or you select change at next renewal so you keep using current plan you paid for and at renewal date you will be charged new plan and new plan will start

[gblackma]

@dwdrajesh If you require a referral code, private message someone and ask for theirs. When and if you would like to change your plan, do it from within my account and there is an option to change it in on your renewal date. There are no extra fees.

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@dwdrajesh wrote:

Hi, Thanks for the reply. What is the referral code that you mentioned will get me $10 bonus? Also, when I change plans, I understand I should pay for that month's charge for my current plan and for the new plan as well. Other than that, do they charge some extra fee for changing the plan also?

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[Triguy]

Setting up AutoPay means that you earn $2 every 30 days!To set up AutoPay, sign in to your Self-Serve account, select the ‘Payment’ tab, then ‘Register for AutoPay’. From here, you can sign up for AutoPay or remove the feature, if you no longer want payments to automatically occur. If you would like to change the card that is automatically charged, scroll to the bottom of the ‘Payment’ tab, then select ‘Manage my card’. This will allow you to update or remove your credit or Visa Debit card.

[dwdrajesh]

Hi, Thanks for the reply. What is the referral code that you mentioned will get me $10 bonus? Also, when I change plans, I understand I should pay for that month's charge for my current plan and for the new plan as well. Other than that, do they charge some extra fee for changing the plan also?