Best price plan for a 96 years senior

[mrsfshe]

The 96 years old senior is currently paying Public Mobile a monthly $20 3G plan with only provincial calling. Her mobile phone usage is extremely low. The phone is used mainly for emergency calls. What is the best plan Public Mobile can offer to the senior? I saw Public Mobile is offering a $15 plan with Unlimited Canada-wide minutes and messaging plus unlimited international text and picture messaging. But the plan does not appear when I try to change subscription. Please help!

[funpig1]

Thank you, @maurelle . I have edited post.  

@mrsfsheunder the circumstances, if the 96-year-old does not mind a new number and losing any referrals, the simplest would be to subscribe to a new activation and allow the current plan to lapse. Porting out and porting back in to preserve the old number may not be worth the effort. However, the choice is up to the both of you.

[maurelle]

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@funpig1 wrote:

1. You can get a free free Sim or esim on the new activation but the phone number will change. If both phone numbers are still active at the same time, you may be able to get a CS agent to help you transfer the number from the old account to the new account. However, I wouldn't hold my breath because of the huge backlog. You may be stuck with the new telephone number. 

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Unless policy has changed recently and you have a precedent you can share, porting from one PM account to another PM account, while technically possible, will not happen. There were exeptions made before 2018 or so, but the policy to ban it has been very firm for a very long time. 

Sad to say that the chance to get a compassionate CSA that would help with a switch to the $15 plan despite the "new customers only" label, is only slightly higher than the above. All the polite requests to upgrade from $13 or $15 to $21 plans, made on behalf of the people I help manage accounts for, were outright refused (some of them very rudely) - now think what they'd say about a downgrade...

[funpig1]

@mrsfshe   Does the senior have any referrals? If not, she would probably be better of terminating her old account and activating a new $15 plan and start saving $5 per month right away.

Things to consider:

1.  [Edited]  You can get a free free Sim or esim on the new activation but the phone number will change. You will be stuck with the new telephone number. 

2. The current $15 account has no data at all. I'm going to make the age-stereotype assumption that a 96-year-old probably doesn't use much mobile data anyways. 

3. You would have earned a 5% discount on either the old or new plan. 

4. There is a 10-point reward on the anniversary of the account. If the anniversary was upcoming on the old account, you will not get the 10 points. You will only get 10 points 12 months from when you start the new new account. On the other hand, if the anniversary of the old account was just a few months back, you really haven't lost much. 

Good luck.

[maurelle]

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@mrsfshe wrote:

The 96 years old senior is currently paying Public Mobile a monthly $20 3G plan with only provincial calling. Her mobile phone usage is extremely low. The phone is used mainly for emergency calls. What is the best plan Public Mobile can offer to the senior? I saw Public Mobile is offering a $15 plan with Unlimited Canada-wide minutes and messaging plus unlimited international text and picture messaging. But the plan does not appear when I try to change subscription. Please help!

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Define "extremely low" in a rough number? 

While Public Mobile has chosen to not let existing customers switch to low cost price plans anymore, there are more cost effective plans out there. One of them ($100/year for unlimited talk & text) is offered by Telus, Public's parent company, so same network. You might need to help your parent/friend with opening the account, apply the discount code and porting.

Edit: @Rastin  beat me to it - I went to double check that the plan is still available...

[Dunkman]

@mrsfshe 

Unfortunately, the $15 plan is available for new activations.  

There is a $19 plan available for existing customers.   Canada wide calling, international text and 1GB of 4G data.  

There may be other mobile company plans that may be more appropriate for such a lower usage phone user.  Might look at Freedom mobile one year plans.