Data Addon vs Bonus Data

[Niro]

Hi,

I'm considering signing up with PM for the $15/30 days plan with AutoPay. The way I understand it is that I get 250MB every month. Now, let's say I also purchase a 1GB Data Addon for $30, which one will get exhausted first: the 250MB monthly or the 1GB Addon? 

The way I understand it is that the 250MB will get used up first and then the Addon until the next month, where it will go back to using the new 250MB and then whatever remains from the Addon. Is this correct?

[stonechucker]

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@ksean wrote:

the way i see it, if youre going to $15-30 days and pay $30 for addon data, you wpuld be better off purchasing the $40 plan with 4GB of data, unlimited province-wide talk and global text for the same price...

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@ksean, the addon stays until it is used after the plan data runs out.  If the user doesn’t use the 1 GB addon, it stay for the next cycle.  This continues forever until the data expires.  The $30.is not a per cycle charge.

[ksean]

the way i see it, if youre going to $15-30 days and pay $30 for addon data, you wpuld be better off purchasing the $40 plan with 4GB of data, unlimited province-wide talk and global text for the same price...

[nherber]

Don't forget that PM rounds data usage up, so you may not get quite as much as you expect if you do lots of short data sessions. In note 4 on the plans page they say "Data usage is rounded up each session to the nearest 10KB." What they mean by a session is not explained. On my usage history it shows some 0 MB sessions that must be under 1 MB, because the sum of individual numbers (including the zeroes) is lower than the total shown on the summary page.

[stonechucker]

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@davidjdailey wrote:

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@stonechucker wrote:

@Niro, have you considered the $25 plan that comes with 1 GB of data?

It's also unlimited calling across Canada.  Would save you from having to buy $30 of 1 GB data, rather than the included 250 mb.  it's 750 mb and unlimited outgoing calls for $10 more.

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I think it would be 774 more megabytes, because Gigabytes are 1024 megabytes, but 250 mb packages are 250 megabytes. I noticed that when looking at my parents' usages.

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@davidjdailey, yes, you're right, but the plan description says 500, so that's what I used for my calculations.  It's not my fault PM chooses to use 500mb (or 250mb) instead of 512mb or 256mb.

[stonechucker]

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@Niro wrote:

I'm actually thinking of going with that and still get that extra data addon as a backup for when needed.

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I actually went from the $25 to the $15 on my back-up device.  It's never going to use a lot of data, and I don't need unlimited calling.  As I don't expect to use it on a regular basis, I do not going to speed the more money for a device that is just going to sit around (as an emergency phone).

[Anonymous]

My difficulty in justifying the cost of the data is...when do you stop? Aside from calling and texting and just looking at data..the $15/250MB is $60 per gig. The $50/8.5GB is $5-odd per gig. No brainer. Hands-down. I'm just not willing to spend that much on my phone service that I barely use to just get the best value. That's why I like the add-ons.

[davidjdailey]

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@stonechucker wrote:

@Niro, have you considered the $25 plan that comes with 1 GB of data?

It's also unlimited calling across Canada.  Would save you from having to buy $30 of 1 GB data, rather than the included 250 mb.  it's 750 mb and unlimited outgoing calls for $10 more.

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I think it would be 774 more megabytes, because Gigabytes are 1024 megabytes, but 250 mb packages are 250 megabytes. I noticed that when looking at my parents' usages.

[Niro]

I'm actually thinking of going with that and still get that extra data addon as a backup for when needed.

[stonechucker]

@Niro, have you considered the $25 plan that comes with 1 GB of data?

It's also unlimited calling across Canada.  Would save you from having to buy $30 of 1 GB data, rather than the included 250 mb.  it's 750 mb and unlimited outgoing calls for $10 more.

[Niro]

Thanks, guys. That's precisely what I wanted to know.

[geopublic · Accepted solution]

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@Niro wrote:

Hi,

I'm considering signing up with PM for the $15/30 days plan with AutoPay. The way I understand it is that I get 250MB every month. Now, let's say I also purchase a 1GB Data Addon for $30, which one will get exhausted first: the 250MB monthly or the 1GB Addon? 

The way I understand it is that the 250MB will get used up first and then the Addon until the next month, where it will go back to using the new 250MB and then whatever remains from the Addon. Is this correct?

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@Niro  The add-on only gets used when you have no data left on your plan. SO during renewal when you get your new 250MB allotment the add-on will not be used until you need it again. The good thing is that the add-on never expires until used provided you don't cancel your account.

[kelvarnsen]

Sounds about right. Plus you should be able to keep track of monthly and add on data from your account page.