30/90 day vs Monthly

[Psygineer]

Perhaps this is the wrong section for this, but figured it fits in here. A friend of mine was planning on flipping from post-paid to prepay because my plan offered the same as hers but was half the cost. She went to buy the PM SIM but the sales person at Walmart talked her into going on Lucky instead because it is cheaper annually (if you ignore the discounts ) and because apparently they have unlimited throttled data after they run out of 3G data (that is what the sales person said anyway). 

$30 (monthly) x 12= $360

$30 x (365/30) = $30 x 12.16 = $365

That's the math the sales person showed her. Of course we know auto pay would reduce that by 12.16 x $2 = $24.33 per year. $365-24.33 = $340.67 so cheaper than Lucky. When I asked why she went with Lucky she said "Having to pay more than once a month is kind of silly and I like the fact that the data is unlimited on Lucky even if it is throttled" (The paying more than once a month was in reference to an example the sales person gave her of paying on Jan 1st and Jan 31st, and ignored the fact there is the potential to not even pay for February in that case!).

tl;dr

Sales person actively talking potential customers away from PM in favour of Lucky. (Sales Rep bonus or something?) While I have no idea if the unlimited data thing is true (I couldn't find it on the Lucky site but I didn't look very hard) I am curious if it might be in the interest of PM to go proper monthly similar to how it's same market competitors are. The PM site does make quite a few references to monthly plans despite them actually being 30 day (which out of fairness is a month sometimes!). .

[powerg21]

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@Alex888 wrote:
Walmart seems to be the worst place to buy a SIM card or plan, regardless of the provider. If they told her that a $30 Lucky plan had unlimited data they were not being truthful, I don't think any company/plan in Canada has unlimited data, and a quick look as the Lucky site shows that they do not offer over 8.5 GB without buying an addon.

I agree that paying monthly would be easier, especially since many phones only track data usage monthly, and it would be easier to remember if it was on the same date every month.

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Freedom Mobile, previously called Wind Mobile had plans with unlimited data for $30 (tax included). A couple of friend's still have that plan and they don't want to get rid of it.

[computergeek541]

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@Alex888 wrote:
Walmart seems to be the worst place to buy a SIM card or plan, regardless of the provider. If they told her that a $30 Lucky plan had unlimited data they were not being truthful, I don't think any company/plan in Canada has unlimited data, and a quick look as the Lucky site shows that they do not offer over 8.5 GB without buying an addon.

Lucky Mobile has the same plan as Public Mobile for $50.  It's right on the plan page, and has the same autopay condition and includes the same amount at 8.5GB.

Chatr Wireless and Freedom Mobile both offer unlimited data, but it will be at a very slow speed if you go past the adverised about data included in the plan.

[stonechucker]

@Psygineer , you didn’t tell your friend you can pay only 5 times a year on a 90-day plan! Why pay more often than you have to?

All kidding aside, I love the 90-day plan I have, other than nothing having 12 equal payments.  It’s only 5 days, except in a leap year when it is 6.  I haven’t done the math, but I’m convinced PM is certainly better value, and wit the right mindset, you don’t need unlimited throttled data, using WiFi and downloading stuff before you go online with cellular.

They do offer 3G at lucky, but after the bucket is used, they throttle it back further if I read the fine print correctly.

[Alex888]

Walmart seems to be the worst place to buy a SIM card or plan, regardless of the provider. If they told her that a $30 Lucky plan had unlimited data they were not being truthful, I don't think any company/plan in Canada has unlimited data, and a quick look as the Lucky site shows that they do not offer over 8.5 GB without buying an addon.

I agree that paying monthly would be easier, especially since many phones only track data usage monthly, and it would be easier to remember if it was on the same date every month.

[missorange]

yes, 30 days vs monthly. people will like monthly it is easy to remember due date. 

[cavemantoronto]

The pricing diffence is small enough that most people won't care.

A lot of us would want monthly instead of 30 days.  That isn't becauase of getting extra days service spread out over the year.  It is because it is less confusing and easier to know when payment due.

[Dankaroo]

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@Psygineer wrote:

Perhaps this is the wrong section for this, but figured it fits in here. A friend of mine was planning on flipping from post-paid to prepay because my plan offered the same as hers but was half the cost. She went to buy the PM SIM but the sales person at Walmart talked her into going on Lucky instead because it is cheaper annually (if you ignore the discounts ) and because apparently they have unlimited throttled data after they run out of 3G data (that is what the sales person said anyway). 

$30 (monthly) x 12= $360

$30 x (365/30) = $30 x 12.16 = $365

That's the math the sales person showed her. Of course we know auto pay would reduce that by 12.16 x $2 = $24.33 per year. $365-24.33 = $340.67 so cheaper than Lucky. When I asked why she went with Lucky she said "Having to pay more than once a month is kind of silly and I like the fact that the data is unlimited on Lucky even if it is throttled" (The paying more than once a month was in reference to an example the sales person gave her of paying on Jan 1st and Jan 31st, and ignored the fact there is the potential to not even pay for February in that case!).

tl;dr

Sales person actively talking potential customers away from PM in favour of Lucky. (Sales Rep bonus or something?) While I have no idea if the unlimited data thing is true (I couldn't find it on the Lucky site but I didn't look very hard) I am curious if it might be in the interest of PM to go proper monthly similar to how it's same market competitors are. The PM site does make quite a few references to monthly plans despite them actually being 30 day (which out of fairness is a month sometimes!). .

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Nothing silky about 30 day payments. Sales rep just gave their honest input from the sounds of it.