Is Public Mobile still a budget carrier?

[KamWest]

So I have a question for everyone to ponder....

I have 6 plans with public and I am reviewing the cost of them.

On my personal phone I have the $40 5GB plan and I am considering upgrading to the $50 10GB plan when suddenly something occurred to me.

At $50 for 10GB there are constant sales that will beat that price, sometimes with almost double the amount of data.

Now considering Public is supposed to be the budget version for Telus the $50 plan would be a so so deal with any other carrier but I know when I shop I can easily beat it. 

That said, I can easily beat it with modern speeds in 4 & 5g

Considering 3g speeds I think Public is overpriced for the $50 plan. I think both the $40 & $50 plan needs to be updated by a few GB or the price lowered by $5.

I know, I know... now come all the comments that price goes up at the other carriers after the term, which we all know can easily be remedied by shopping them upon renewal. So for me I have been offered almost twice the data for the same price as public. 

If I had a wish list I would say...

$50 = 15GB (at least moderately competitive)

$40 = 10GB (that would for sure be competitive)

Ignoring the Koodo offers for a second the Fido offers I have been getting are looking extremely attractive. I like the simplicity of Public and they were a bargain when I signed up years ago but in today's market I think the plans have lost their edge. I tried using my referral code for my brother in law and he laughed at me, a single phone call and fido blew the public deal out of the water.

So technically a second tier competitor blew public away and that was repeated for an employee of mine with virgin.

Got me to thinking if Public was still a budget carrier...

What do you think?? 

[carlaspapa]

It fits my budget just fine!

[jor123]

For light users, I think yes. For anyone that needs much data there are better deals with Koodo / Virgin and even the core Telus/bell plans. 

[darlicious]

@KamWest 

I have the opposite position on fido than @barndoor and his in law. I broke my own rule about signing contracts and was convinced by both the salesperson and the bf who needed a new phone but didn't have the credit rating to qualify for a postpaid contract.

It was all great for the first 30 days until the back out clause closed then it was a nighmare of billing errors, illegally charged overages that exceeded the WCC legislated data caps, hidden fees, terrible call centre customer service and a minimum of 6 hours of wasted time on the phone trying to get each months bill corrected and refunded. When they stopped issueing paper billing it became a license to steal because I technically lost all access to the account and billing but was expected to pay the bill. Two uninformed service interruptions for non payment and a triple data overage billing error that they decided to arbritarily settle in the most financially adventageous to them was the last straw.

I had been credited back enough to cover what was owing and zero out the current bill and I ported out the bf's number to pm. But t didn't end there.....I had discovered they had never sent me the original contract and then when I requested it before recieving my final bill they refused! It took 6 weeks for them to calculate the final bill and ECF that they emailed to the bf since they had refused to give any other access.

So while I was aware it was outstanding I didn't contact them and waited til they contacted me 4 and half months after porting out and with a month and a half left in the contract. I told them I considered the contract broken when they stopped billing me directly and when they refused to continue my paper billing ( despite being disabled), refused to add my email for billing access, not sending me my contract in paper form at the beginning of the contract and then once I discovered it was never sent and requested it they refused saying I was no longer a customer. So I refused to pay...I told them to seek payment from the bf as he owes them anything after they cut off my access to billing and the account and the original contract.

They are thieves and criminals.....if you go with them and anything goes wrong you can't say you haven't been warned of their shady business practices and fraudulent billing!

[barndoor]

@KamWest 

Fido is on  Rogers   ...got an inlaw with them and he loves it . He has been with them for a while and nobody can touch the plan he is on .  Thats one thing about places like this ..it is what it is , take it or leave it . But with the contract plans after the first contract shows your loyalty ...things become more negotiable  and plan prices become better than those posted for the public to see . 

Makes choosing all the more difficult but I would  agree with the comment that in the long run for an under $25 plan  PM is good  anything over I'd be seriously looking elsewhere because if paying more I'd be expecting a service level a little higher than what I have seen here so far . 

edited to add .. another important consideration  is service ... I'm in southern Ontario ... I recently switched from a Rogers based provider to  PM and I have already found a couple of no service areas with  PM  that have service with Rogers so that is something to keep in mind  as well . 

[KamWest]

Maybe, but it is the Fido plans I am considering. Not sure that is in the Telus plan.

[AE_Collector]

With the downward pressure on plans from the top tier providers the range from least to most expensive is shrinking. Certainly the lower data lower price PM plans are the better deals at PM.

There are many other factors worth considering though. Being prepaid you can start and stop here and jump up and down in plan data/cost whenever you want which you can’t do on a contract plan. Also we don’t have to go through a credit check here which rules out other postpaid plans for many users. And finally, the rewards here at PM are very generous in my opinion which has to be factored in when doing a plan comparison.

The $50 plan was just finally bumped up from 8/8.5 GB to 10/10.5 GB so they are keeping an eye on the competitiveness of their plans but keep in mind that PM being owned by Telus they would far rather that you do come to the conclusion that you are hinting at.... maybe you should grab a Telus plan for just a but more per month. Then they have you locked in for a couple of years.

AE_Collector

[KamWest]

Yup that is exactly what I thought, the bottom two plans are the only ones Public does well, the next tires leave a lot to be desired. So much so I think I am going to move all my plans down to the $25 plan. The $40 plus plans just don't make sense at the price per gb ratio in 3g.

[softech]

yes, PM has been strong for lower price plans.  I would say both $25 and $15 are very good plan if you are light user and very light data user

as to $35?  I think so-so.  

Anything over $40 and $50?  I would only choose it because you want pre-paid  (even pre-paid, Koodo might be a better choice)

With plan like $40 and above, PM's plans were ok pre-covid.  Since  Covid, there have been so many show terms sales from different providers, around the same price, more data and 4G.   

Also, autopay failure is a key problem with Prepaid plan.  It fails, then you don't have a phone until it is resolved and bill is paid.  If you are medium to heavy users, you don't want this interruption (yes, autopay will fails with Postpaid services, but at least you still get to use your phone, just pay a "fine" after )

.. And if you have a phone paid by your company, use postpaid services from Koodo or Telus or other Tier2 and Tier3.  The company pays for your phone and they want you to "get connected".  Reliability is the key.

[darlicious]

@KamWest 

Yes public mobile is still a budget carrier. It's focus is on the budget customer who do not need large data buckets. Public mobile also recently increased the data in the $35 and $50 plan to be more competitive with other in market plans knowing that rewards lower these plan prices below what the competition offers.

Most pm customers know what their data needs are each month so they are not enticed by larger data buckets that they simply won't use. If you only use 1GB of data priced at $10 what's the point of having 20GB priced at $2/1GB? You are spending $30 for something you don't need. Pm gives the ability to change plans to suit your needs up or down. There is no cavaet saying once you change you cannot reduce your data plan. And if you exceed your large data bucket unlike pm where your data just stops you can be hit with overage rates like koodo's $130/1GB.

Now of course we know there are no hidden fees, overages or extra charges at public mobile. They don't have a call centre so they can't charge you $10 to speak to a CSA as some providers do. With exception of the odd country they have the lowest long distance rates among Canadian carriers. They don't charge a flat monthly rate of $5-$7 to access those rates and otherwise charge an average of $0.50/min for domestic long distance and $1.50/min for international long distance. Pm's add ons are a one time purchase that roll over each cycle til completely consumed. They don't roll over if you don't cancel them and charge you each month as some providers add ons.

Then there is the freebie gifts given to pm customers and the opportunity to "earn" more thru customer feedback (although these as well as with contests seem to have fallen along the wayside since COVID-19 came along.) Rewards speak for themselves.....if you can take advantage of them then you can get yourself down to a $0 bill if you really want to or two $0 bills like me! That's an offer no competing provider can beat.

[yiruiruan]

If it's a basic plan that you need PM is still a budget carrier that have you covered. If you are a heavy data users, its not so budget anymore. You can often score better deals with the major providers. For example Rogers has $45 for 20GB of data at 4G speed and that's a lot better than what PM offers.

[gpixel]

@KamWest 

you need to figure out whats best for your usage.

if you experience similar issues as I do slowdowns, disconnects, etc. and you don't have much rewards. changing providers may be better.

in your scenario you probably have $3 loyalty +$2 auto-pay + referrals. not including referrals you are paying $45/10.5gb. after 2 more years it will be $43/10.5gb. 

if you switch you will also miss out on free gifts(data/mins) 

receiving double data amounts looks appealing, but are you going to use that much in a month? you said you would just offset the yearly price increase by shopping for a new sale. but, managing your bills in that manner will end up costing you more in the long-run.

virgin has been trying to get me back with $50/15gb, $60/25gb plans. imo the only people that should have these high data plans are users without home internet

I would use all these factors and compare what you will be missing vs what you are gaining then make a decision

[cellphoneuser1]

@KamWest It's still budget compared to Telus. Then plans here were once better.

[LurganIeUk]

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@Meow wrote:

PM being no frills carrier, you cannot beat its $15 plan for having emergency phone.

As for other plans (including data) I still believe data is overpriced comparing to unlimited home internet. But, some clients need mobile data so sometimes you have no choice. If your employer pays the bill, go for the most reliable provider.

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Once again I totally disagree using an employer paid business phone for personal use. For privacy issues, breaking employers rules of use and employer may expect renumeration for personal use. 

[Camera4617]

For me, if I needed 5+ GB every month, I would not be with PM. But since now I'm really low data user due to working from home and not traveling much, this is perfect setup for me. I love ability to scale up/down data as I need since maybe in the summer I'd need a bit more but most of the year I really don't need that much. So I can make changes and manage plans as needed and save some money. Just to point out, I love paying for what I need, not for what I might  need and that's what PM does. I had 6GB on Fido with 5 hours of unlimited data and my usage was less than 1GB, so what's the point of having that plan. 

It's all up to you and your needs, but if you are using 5GB or more every month, then I'd look somewhere else. 

[Anonymous]

I would cut all cords if a company offered unlimited 4G data and Canada-wide and texting for oh $75 (or less). I would get rid of any other home phones and stationary ISP's and just have the cell phone and hotspot off of it. I would make a full transition to streaming.

Not gonna happen in my life time for that price.

So for my needs of a cell phone...I'm good with free (for a crap load o' time spent here hangin' with y'all) 🙂 

(other than the huge reduction in traffic around here...might have to find another hobby)

[BearFBI]

@KamWest For higher data plans, I'd have to say no, public is not competitive. Public is more competitive with their lower data plans. 

Rewards are a bonus with PM. If you are heavily invested into them you end up paying a price that no one can beat, If your not heavily invested into them, Your wasting your money and you can probably get a better deal elsewhere. 

Only problem is you have to wait for sales or promotions, the regular prices the big 3 advertise on their site aren't that competitive with Public Mobile. It would be nice if PM would give us existing users promo plans, but for some reason they just don't care. 

Technically with the way its structured we are still the "Budget" carrier but I feel like PM does not care anymore about offering crazy deals. 

When I joined, It was an absolute bargain, now not so much.... I feel like PM changed ever since Covid happened.

[Meow]

PM being no frills carrier, you cannot beat its $15 plan for having emergency phone.

As for other plans (including data) I still believe data is overpriced comparing to unlimited home internet. But, some clients need mobile data so sometimes you have no choice. If your employer pays the bill, go for the most reliable provider.

[Dunkman]

@KamWest 

In my opinion, Public mobile is better suited for light users of phone/data.  The $15 and $25 plan is competitive especially if you add in the rewards for further discount.  

I agree that the $35 + plans are not competitive compared to others in the market.  Customers can get better deals with LTE speed and higher data amount and also can get a subsidized phone sometimes. 

[mimmo · Accepted solution]

Yes pm is still a burger tier 3 provider, 3g speed now retail presence , Prepaid only , limited features.  Truthfully there are often better plans out there if you search and depending on your plan needs.  Autopay loyalty referrals, are what I believe keep people using pm .

Find what is best for you and your wallet.