@Anonymous
Public Mobile had free ($0) SIM cards in the beginning. For years. Free for years. They'd even pay the postage.
But all sorts of scams and cons developed around this, people reselling (free) Public Mobile SIM cards at a profit. And all sorts of questions appeared from other people who were confused by this. And all sorts of SIM-jacking frauds appeared. And Public Mobile claimed that the majority (roughly two-thirds or three-quarters) of all their SIM cards were never activated, a wasteful business expense which had to be stopped or passed along to customers. Too many SIM cards floating around meant too many problems.
So PM made SIM cards cost $5. Then $10. (Then $15. Then $20. Back down to $10 now, except when on sale for $5.)
Like anything and everything else online - a price of $0 free will attract all sorts of people and all sorts of problems from every corner of the internet. While a price of even just $1 will force people to submit valid personal and payment information, it will automatically deflect the 90% or more who just grab free things because they are free things.
I suspect it's the same deal with Public Mobile eSIMs. Unlike "Bell, Telus, Roger's and every other provider", Public Mobile lacks any physical stores or kiosks where a phone can be seen, an ID can be seen, a payment can be made in cash. They only have an online presence. So they put a price onto their eSIMs to deflect an endless barrage of internet problems.
