Free minutes/ goverment

[Vancouver2020]

Hello, 

I have to call the goverment and am pretty sure that this will need longer than I have free minutes leave. 

Does the government call also count in minutes?

Thanks

[gblackma]

@Pawprints1986 A bell landline. We have a Rogers landline, and if there's a blackout, my service goes after 5 hours , when the battery runs out on the backup. With Bell the display goes, but the phone still works.

[Nezgar]

TextNow also doesn't work on all free Wi-Fi hotspots. I've found I can't make calls using McDonald's Wi-Fi... guess it blocks some types of traffic. Not that I'll be able to visit inside in the near future... 😼

[Pawprints1986]

Everyone sings praises about text now, but if your internet crashes for even a second you're out your place on hold, just like running out of minutes or waiting over 2 hours on unlimited minutes... There's really no fool proof options

[Nezgar]

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@totalUser wrote:

...here we go another nice bug

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I believe I read somewhere that this is also the case for TELUS Pay as you go, so it is likely this way across the whole Telus prepaid infrastructure, so I bet this also includes Koodo prepaid...

[totalUser]

@srlawren you are absolutely correct and this shouldn't be the case, but here we go another nice bug

[Anonymous]

This goes for the $10 plan as well. But it's unofficial and subject to change without notice :).

[srlawren]

Thank you @Nezgar , @JoyLuck , and @geopublic for correcting me!  And so quickly 🙂

[geopublic]

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@srlawren wrote:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain "toll free" just means "no long distance charges", but you're still using airtime, which would count against a limited-minutes plan.

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@srlawren  It should, but for some reason it doesn't count as airtime for outgoing calls on the $15 limited call plan.

[JoyLuck]

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@srlawren wrote:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain "toll free" just means "no long distance charges", but you're still using airtime, which would count against a limited-minutes plan.

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I called this number for a few seconds yesterday 1-800-263-2263 and my $15 plan still shows:

[Nezgar]

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@srlawren wrote:

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain "toll free" just means "no long distance charges", but you're still using airtime, which would count against a limited-minutes plan.

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Traditionally, yes, you would be correct. That's the way it's been with post-paid service since the early days, with airtime still being consumed for toll free calls.

BUT... With Public Mobile limited plans today, I have personally confirmed that outgoing calls to toll free numbers do not reduce my limited minutes bucket. 👍

[srlawren]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm almost certain "toll free" just means "no long distance charges", but you're still using airtime, which would count against a limited-minutes plan.

EDIT: and correct me, they did!

[iliketotalk]

@Vancouver2020 hi you should be ok but just to be safe get the 5 dollar 500 minute add on it rolls over until all used up be safe

[dabr · Accepted solution]

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@Vancouver2020 wrote:

Hello, 

I have to call the goverment and am pretty sure that this will need longer than I have free minutes leave. 

Does the government call also count in minutes?

Thanks

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Just make sure you are dialling the toll free numbers, these won't deduct from your limited plan minutes.

[gblackma]

@Vancouver2020 is it a toll free number? Then probably no. To check this, log into your self service account, and see the amount of minutes there, log out. Call the number hang up when it connects before 1 minute. Log back in and see if your minutes went down by one. ( Please note that your phone will automatically disconnect at 2 hours and 30 minutes)

Or

To save more, add the TextNow voip app and use it via Wifi to make / receive / send calls and texts in Canada and to the United States for free. You can also use it as I do to check my voicemail from my own phone without using the minutes from the PM plan. Simply dial your PM phone number - reject the call when it rings (this sends the call to voicemail) - press the * key to allow you to enter your password. - enter - and you are in your voicemail account - Hang up when you are finished. No minutes used.

Or 

Use Google hangouts and Google dialer combined via WiFi to make the call if its an Android phone. 

[JoyLuck]

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@Vancouver2020 wrote:

Hello, 

I have to call the goverment and am pretty sure that this will need longer than I have free minutes leave. 

Does the government call also count in minutes?

Thanks

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Outgoing calls on the $15 plan will count towards the minutes unless it is a toll free number.