Annoying long distance warning for in-province calls

[Strabonis]

"Please stay on the line while your call is completed. Long distance charges may apply."

I have been getting this warning before my calls connect when calling within province. It is not happening for local calls, only those going to different regions, but it is very annoying.

Is this normal?

Is there a way to get rid of it?


Also, as a side note, when I searched the forums prior to posting my question, I ended up reading about the international calling add-on in more detail and.... it is only for a few countries? And there is no way at all to call countries not on that list using Public Mobile's service? Is that correct?

I did some calling to Russia when I was with a previous provider and had a much better experience than through VOIP services that I tried. I may want to make such calls again, and I'm really having doubts now about my switch to PM. Give me some encouragement. 😞

[computergeek541]

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@choding wrote:

do not worry about it.

It is right you listen to this message.

In my case, I use another long distance company as Keep Calling.

I paid 10 dollars 3years ago for minutes, I still use it.

it is a little bit complicate but good price for a user.

when you heard this message, do not worry about the bill.

you try to find a cheap long distance company,

for it is a way too cheper than public mobile plan.

good luck.

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Such options are great if you need to make outgoing calls to places that are long distance but that are not included in the plan.

But, in this case, the OP is saying that he/she is receiving this message when calls to those places are included in the Public Mobile price plan.  The calls actually do go through fine after listening to the message.  So, subscribing to another long distance service from another company will not save any money for such calls. 

[choding]

do not worry about it.

It is right you listen to this message.

In my case, I use another long distance company as Keep Calling.

I paid 10 dollars 3years ago for minutes, I still use it.

it is a little bit complicate but good price for a user.

when you heard this message, do not worry about the bill.

you try to find a cheap long distance company,

for it is a way too cheper than public mobile plan.

good luck.

[computergeek541]

The message is to tell you that the call is long distance.  The fact that your plan includes long distance to calling to those locations doesn't change that fact.  This is the way the Telus network back-end system is set up and I suspect Public Mobile has no control over this. 

This system was set up long ago and it is deliberately done this way so that the customer is aware that the call is long distance.  I remember within the past few years or so, one of the other major carriers was also using this type of  "long distance charges may apply" message if you dial only a 10 digit number and it happened to be long distance.  When that other carrier changed it so that the warning was eliminated, there was a bit of an uproar because many so it as a way for the company to make more profit for unsuspecting/unaware customers.

Dial a 1 or +1 before your numbers and you'll no longer hear this message.

I know it's minor but I have a beef with the way the Telus network shows incoming call display numbers.  Even if you don't have a 1 or +1 for a phone number saved in your phone book, the Telus system appears to insert a 1 before each and every phone number in the call display information for an incoming call.  For the most part, that's just cosmetic, but I believe that I saw a case where one of my friends called me from an overseas number and the network erroneously inserted a 1 before the number even those that wasn't the correct country code.

[zhadj030]

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@Strabonis wrote:

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So for Russia I would suggest using the prepayed long distance call cards that you can find in any shopping mall, I find those to be better rates then any provider in the market as they are way cheaper. 

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I don't know... Chatr has excellent long distance rates... 0.02 a minute to UK, 0.03 to Russia. If I did a lot of international calling, I'd probably look at them.

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Yes, the reason I suggested them is because I do a lot of international calls, so find what fits you best.

[Strabonis]

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So for Russia I would suggest using the prepayed long distance call cards that you can find in any shopping mall, I find those to be better rates then any provider in the market as they are way cheaper. 

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I don't know... Chatr has excellent long distance rates... 0.02 a minute to UK, 0.03 to Russia. If I did a lot of international calling, I'd probably look at them.

[zhadj030]

@Strabonis Your frustration is very well understood and correct, if it is not there alreay you can add a new idea in the lab to make website more clear especially regarding the mention of the 18 countries included in the LD add on

[Strabonis]

Thank-you for your help re the long distance message though.... the "1" cleared it up

[Strabonis]

I am really kind of angry about that. The fact that "international calling" is only to a small set of countries should have been CLEARLY stated on the plans page, or on the page where you can buy the add-on... but there was nothing, not even in the fine print. That is downright dishonest.

The non-expiring long distance minutes were the deciding factor in porting my number over from Freedom mobile, and I read the fine print carefully before switching. Now I can't get my old plan back and I have privince-wide calls rather than canada wide (which was the trade-off I was making) and I'm not a happy customer.

[zhadj030 · Accepted solution]

Regarding the first Issue of the annoying long distance calls, adding (1)before the phone number sould fix that for you. 

And for the international part of your question, as you might have read, only 18 countries are covered with those minutes  (Only the 15 $ add on) and they are mentionned here 

https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Knowledge-Base/International-add-on-amp-Calling-an-in...

So for Russia I would suggest using the prepayed long distance call cards that you can find in any shopping mall, I find those to be better rates then any provider in the market as they are way cheaper.