Data limits during confinement

[cairns13]

Is PublicMobile considering giving additional data GBs for their members free of charge during the pandemic?   Sure would be appreciated!

[mpcdesign]

@cairns13, well, welcome back to Canada I think? At least the health care is better in Canada than say, Mexico. Although, the weather is probably a lot better there than say Canada. 

Am not 100% sure what I can say that nobody else has mentioned and make it different. They are telling people to stay safe and stay home. So, am guessing if you must be using your boyfriend's data or your own. 

Did you mention the house in your post? Are you living in a complex? I ask is, I live in a complex, and they offer free wi-fi in the building. It's slow as molasses, but it will still do, for minor things. Streaming is bad, so I guess, one could download their stuff after hours. I am fortunate enough to have Shaw, so am good to go, but that doesn't help you.

Check to see if your neighbourhood is offering free wi-fi or piggyback on one; my parents next door never had a password, and I piggyback on theirs for a year. I laugh now (I was 20 something) because I remember my next-door neighbours telling my parents they can't figure out how their speeds so low...little did they know, I was grabbing it (granted, I think they knew because I wasn't smart enough to hide my computer identity name!). Sigh. 

The only other options are to visit places that have hot wi-fi spots like Shaw, McDonald's, Starbucks, Tim Hortons and the like. Here is a post that I wrote about free data or data caps. You can also check out 'The Lounge' for more ideas. 

[AE_Collector]

@Jb456 

Yes that is the message I am seeing and hearing. First thought was why report it in a Koodo discussion but I guess that must be a Public Mobile Community discussing something that Koodo is doing. Don't know, haven't stumbled on it yet. But Jb456's post with screenshot was my first notice of the change. Then I immediately went to to Covid-19 Response topic and found nothing there but believe it was updated soon after.

AE_Collector

[kselmak]

@Alan_K 

Thanks for hearing us

[ShawnC13]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

Discovered and reported here first by @Jb456 ... our very own Public Mobile Community Web Crawler!

AE_Collector

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Almost first lol https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Koodo-Promo/m-p/520475#M109996

[CannonFodder]

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@Anonymous wrote:

 @CannonFodder 

Re: AE_Collector pull: Yeah really. I provide feedback and thoughts and get crickets.

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Uhm..... I'm not sure I'm reading that correctly, but it SOUNDS as though you're kind of pissed about my comment? 🤔  If so, this was your 1st post in this thread, and my "AE_Collector pull" post was referring to AE's post, from yesterday, on the top of page 3 of this thread.

[Anonymous]

 @AE_Collector 

Not that it matters but computergeek541 mentioned it at 6:56am (PT??) in the Koodo promo thread.

 @CannonFodder 

Re: AE_Collector pull: Yeah really. I provide feedback and thoughts and get crickets.

[CannonFodder]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

@Alan_K 

EXCELLENT! 

Will there be some advertising of this or at least I assume your will add it to the Covid-19 Response message? Impressive response from Public Mobile!

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WOW @AE_Collector  you REALLY have some pull around here! 😯 Guess we're gonna hafta get you to whisper a few more suggestions into @Alan_K 's ear. 🤣 

[AE_Collector]

Discovered and reported here first by @Jb456 ... our very own Public Mobile Community Web Crawler!

AE_Collector

[Triguy]

@Alan_K That is great news.  You may want to update the thread about Customer support during COVID-19 thread so more people can see it.

[AE_Collector]

@Alan_K 

EXCELLENT! 

Will there be some advertising of this or at least I assume your will add it to the Covid-19 Response message? Impressive response from Public Mobile!

AE_Collector

[Alan_K]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

@Alan_K 

Rather than PM having unlimited extremely throttled data and rather than giving away data due to Covid-19 (I don't expect that from them), maybe PM could revamp their add-on lineup. Lower the price of data add-ons to prices more in line with your plans included data costs. Currently I have to assume that relatively few data add-ons are sold. Some go without if they run out if data, some use moderator time for early plan renewals. Make the data add-ons a price that encourages people to pick them up without a second thought and keeping one in the background "just in case". Ultimately probably as much revenue as is currently generated and happier customers! Maybe the current time is the right time for this change?

AE_Collector

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@AE_Collector Love this feedback! Here's my mic drop:

[AE_Collector]

Yeah... That $35/1.5Gb plan....

But meddling with it causes the competition to wake up and start making changes to their plans. So I assume that PM would like to avoid that. Changing add-on pricing likely doesn't stir anything up with the competition so this could be a more appealing choice for PM/Telus at this time.

AE_Collector

[kselmak]

You see if 1g was 10 and you would be getting 1.25g for $25 on 15 plan and could transfer it to the next cycle. 

I was managing probably over 10 accounts in past two years. What I've notice that most of people who are not watching stuff on the phones and who are not overly careful with their usage spend about 1.2 gigs in 30 days. Some months 900m some 1.5 but for some reason most of the time I see just above 1.2. this is where that 35 is brilliant with 30/gig. It is probably three most profitable. And if you every hit 1.5 you will be switching to $40. I'm sure there are people who notice (probably after months and months, maybe year) I'm using about 1g I can save 10/month if I buckle down too. 

[dabr]

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@kselmak wrote:

@dabr

Exactly, if they were a bit more affordable people would be buying them much more.

$15 per gig seems to be a sweet spot at these plan prices as it wouldn't kill any plan but would really push sales.

I've seen $10 per gig, that would turn data into chewing gum for most of us sales would go through the roof, but 35 plan wouldn't exist, and there will be quiet some movement from 25 to 15+5addon

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@kselmak  Yes I can see perhaps a movement from $25 to $15 with cheaper data add-ons perhaps, that is if someone on the $25 was using only 50-60% of their plan data.  That, along with other things, are probably some of the pros and cons I guess PM have considered in whether to have cheaper add-ons. 

Or it's more likely that changes to PM are very slow :cathappy:

[kselmak]

@dabr

Exactly, if they were a bit more affordable people would be buying them much more.

$15 per gig seems to be a sweet spot at these plan prices as it wouldn't kill any plan but would really push sales.

I've seen $10 per gig, that would turn data into chewing gum for most of us sales would go through the roof, but 35 plan wouldn't exist, and there will be quiet some movement from 25 to 15+5addon

[dabr]

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@kselmak wrote:

@dabr I was thinking about it, but I think they don't want people to buy buckets of them and switch to 15 or 25 plan. They could make only one available, bit then there are people who have no other way to access Internet and that simply won't be enough. Buying it when you reach 90% and having system in place that verifies if you qualify may be nightmare to implement in such short time, may be easier to just have one person at 7pm check all the requests and apply it may be simpler, since this is a temporary situation

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@kselmak   I can see your point that providing cheaper add-on data might make some customers maybe drop down to the $15/25 plan, but even if the data is reduced to $15/1GB, I don't think it's that cheap and if you need more than 1 GB data per cycle then it would still be less expensive to go with the $40 plan with 4.5 + 500 data. 

I would think that for anyone on either of the two cheapest plans are not really people who are constantly requiring  lots of data anyways.  So a price reduction would. in fact, be more of a benefit to PM because customers may feel they can purchase a GB of data more frequently throughout the year, as they wouldn't need to make their small amount of plan data last until renewal.

[AE_Collector]

Agreed. That's the beauty of prepaid, need more data this month? Bump your plan up to one with more data.

AE_Collector

[LurganIeUk]

@kselmak 

That is a good point. 

But it sure would be nice add some “low price” add-on data😀😀

BUT on the other hand one must do a better job at managing what they have. 

[CannonFodder]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

@CannonFodder 

Other providers in this tier do have unlimited data now thou I get it that throttling already throttled data very likely makes it almost unusable.

Yeah, from what's been mentioned before, about Lucky's unlimited data, IIRC, it was 128kbps, which is basically dialup speed, so basically painful to use, and only for the extremely desperate.

Other providers at this level I believe have lower cost data add-ons though that his likely smart to have since they give away the throttled unlimited. BUT, the other providers don't have the perks that PM has to lower monthly bills so I am here with PM for the long haul. But, maybe better priced data add-ons would solve some issues right now at least.

I suppose there could always be a disclaimer attached, for example, in large lettering, "These lowered prices for data add-ons are TEMPORARY, and in place ONLY until such time as the COVID-19 issues have been resolved"

Switching plans up or early is a viable method to get more data at a reasonable price but too bad we couldn't renew our existing plan in self serve without having to tie up moderator time.

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Hmmm, another thing that HOPEFULLY will be added to the system tweaks, and/or upgrades. Seems like something that should've been included in the recent suggestion contest.....

[kselmak]

@dabr I was thinking about it, but I think they don't want people to buy buckets of them and switch to 15 or 25 plan. They could make only one available, bit then there are people who have no other way to access Internet and that simply won't be enough. Buying it when you reach 90% and having system in place that verifies if you qualify may be nightmare to implement in such short time, may be easier to just have one person at 7pm check all the requests and apply it may be simpler, since this is a temporary situation

[AE_Collector]

@CannonFodder 

Other providers in this tier do have unlimited data now thou I get it that throttling already throttled data very likely makes it almost unusable. Other providers at this level I believe have lower cost data add-ons though that his likely smart to have since they give away the throttled unlimited. BUT, the other providers don't have the perks that PM has to lower monthly bills so I am here with PM for the long haul. But, maybe better priced data add-ons would solve some issues right now at least.

Switching plans up or early is a viable method to get more data at a reasonable price but too bad we couldn't renew our existing plan in self serve without having to tie up moderator time.

AE_Collector

[CannonFodder]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

@Alan_K 

Rather than PM having unlimited extremely throttled data and rather than giving away data due to Covid-19 (I don't expect that from them), maybe PM could revamp their add-on lineup. Lower the price of data add-ons to prices more in line with your plans included data costs.

Not that this affects me at all, but THAT idea makes A LOT of sense, especially at this point in time, with a number of people that rely on cell data, clamoring for more.

Currently I have to assume that relatively few data add-ons are sold.

At the current price, I suspect that must be true, but then it could be there just as an incentive to get heavier data users to move to the next higher cost monthly plan.

Some go without if they run out if data, some use moderator time for early plan renewals. Make the data add-ons a price that encourages people to pick them up without a second thought and keeping one in the background "just in case". Ultimately probably as much revenue as is currently generated and happier customers! Maybe the current time is the right time for this change?

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While they no doubt have to look at the bottom line, AND if they were to do it, it could be extremely unpalatable to customers if they went back at a later date, but that is a VERY good thought! 👍 

[dabr]

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@kselmak wrote:

@dabr 

Yes, I suggested discount on data add-on too, and it can follow the similar style as roaming, you can get it if you used up 90% of your data, put the money on account and contract mods to add it 

@Luddite 

You are correct, I've read it at least at 2 different places where it was explicitly mentioned as 'home internet'

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@kselmak   Yes I would definitely agree that discounted data add-ons would be very useful and very easy for PM to implement currently.   However,  I'm not sure it should require moderators to facilitate it seeing how they are already short staffed and taking longer than normal to respond to customers.

Cutting the price of the add-ons by half would allow customers to add it themselves without the need to tie up more of moderators time unnecessarily.

[AE_Collector]

@Alan_K 

Rather than PM having unlimited extremely throttled data and rather than giving away data due to Covid-19 (I don't expect that from them), maybe PM could revamp their add-on lineup. Lower the price of data add-ons to prices more in line with your plans included data costs. Currently I have to assume that relatively few data add-ons are sold. Some go without if they run out if data, some use moderator time for early plan renewals. Make the data add-ons a price that encourages people to pick them up without a second thought and keeping one in the background "just in case". Ultimately probably as much revenue as is currently generated and happier customers! Maybe the current time is the right time for this change?

AE_Collector

[JoyLuck]

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@bing13 wrote:

Yeah but it's extremely slow... I tried it, it could hardly even load my email.

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My coworker was on the Lucky $25 plan. He didn’t like them either.  Just switched to PM two weeks ago.

[bing13]

Yeah but it's extremely slow... I tried it, it could hardly even load my email.

[smp99]

You could try to open a Lucky Mobile plan from Bell. The $15 data only plan or $25+ talk/text/data plans all have unlimited throttled data once main data allotment is used up. 

[AE_Collector]

@cairns13 

So you have used half of your $40 plans 5Gb of data in 8 days so it may last you for 16 days. When you hit empty do an immediate switch to the $50 8.5Gb plan which should almost last 30 days at your present rate of data consumption. If you run out of that a few days too soon you either have to switch back to the $40 5Gb plan immediately OR better to contact the moderators to renew you on the $50 plan a bit early. You can change plans yourself but there is no provision to renew early on the SAME plan that you are currently on so moderators have to do it for you. This will get you the data you need at very little extra cost compared to data add-ons. 

An an improvement here at PM would be to allow people to "change plans" to their existing plan themselves (IE: an Early Renewal). It can't be that difficult to allow since the program to change plans either now or at renewal is all in place. I'm certain it was designed with "Why would anyone want to change plans to their existing plan?" In mind but there IS a reason now, to renew ones data. Sorting ones rewards on an early renewal is likely the most complicated part. 

AE_Collector

[cairns13]

Lol no kidding.  I’ve ordered it and waiting on service to get installed!!   Thanks for the suggestion. Pretty sure I’ll be doing that option!

[kselmak]

@dabr 

Yes, I suggested discount on data add-on too, and it can follow the similar style as roaming, you can get it if you used up 90% of your data, put the money on account and contract mods to add it 

@Luddite 

You are correct, I've read it at least at 2 different places where it was explicitly mentioned as 'home internet'