Is Public Mobile worth giving a go in 2025?
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2 weeks ago - last edited 2 weeks ago by computergeek541
I'll be straight with you all, readers. I'm not at all impressed with any of the phone carriers in Canada, and I haven't been since I got my first phone plan (around 10 years ago). Right now, PM seems to have some of the best plans available and I'm curious about that. Right now I have Virgin Plus on a boxing day deal phone plan. And as funny as it may sound, I don't wanna give Bell/Virgin my money, I'd rather it go elsewhere. I know Canada ultimately has 3 phone companies and they hold the keys to communication around here, so that leaves me with 2 other companies to choose from. If you're a PM customer, are you satisfied with your service? What do you not like?
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a week ago
Yeah though I don't care about LTE or 5G at all so even if it was the same as Telus
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a week ago
and just to clarify, getting 5G+ on the phone does not mean it has better speed, and definitely not the 5G+ network that Telus promotes for. Getting 5G+ just meant you are on some particular 5G bands
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a week ago
It depends on your area, so I can only speak for myself. But I almost always get 5G+. Speed depends on the area, but I've never seen it below 250. Again, it depends on your area.
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a week ago
@Steelydawn with a 4GB plan, you could also use your data when away from a WiFi point for making long distance calls through Messenger or WhatsApp, I'm quite sure the data usage would be very low for voice calls but you could track that info on the app through your usage history.
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a week ago
I am retired and don't use my phone alot. Hubby needed a phone and plan so I set us up with PM. We use the cheapest plan at 4GB . I find that we never even get close to 2MB data used. Very reasonable prices. For long distance we just use messenger but the disadvantage of that is that you need to be connected to a wifi network.
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a week ago
hi @JB130
i won't say we are paying a lot for not a lot in return. cell plan price has dropped signific ally in the last 2 years. It was $15-250 Mb, $25-1GB and $35-3GB for the longest time. Now, $35 gets you Canada/US/Mex plan for 50GB and $23 gets you 6GB
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a week ago
I get what you're saying. And my point is we're paying a lot for not a lot in return. I get that many people don't really question it, they just want service, and some other people will also take that service if they get $5 off that service.
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a week ago
for most people, there is in fact not much difference between 250Mbps and 1Gbps. In fact, for most usage on the phone, 100Mbps is already more than enough
like, when you stream a 2 hours movie, you are watching and streaming, it does not really matter if the whole 2GB movie files downloaded within 2 mins 40 sec (on 100Mbps) or within 16 sec (on 1Gbps)
Some suggest the difference in speed will help if you are using it for hotspot. If you are only hotspot for 2 or 3 others devices, even with a Windows or Mac laptop, it won't see a significant difference. Of course, you might see the slowness if you are running some heavy download like OS update, but how often you will do that?
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a week ago
My main gripe so far is mixed reviews and also, get this 😂 PM is offering 5G at UP TO 250mbps. Okay, cool beans I guess. Bell/Rogers/Telus all offer 5G Plus (Dr Evil quote fingers) and that is UP TO 1Gbps. I Googled the theoretically speed of 5G because I may have known before but can't remember everything. Ready for this? 10 to 20Gbps. WOW. And Yes, I get that this is theoretical meaning it'll likely never happen unless under very controlled circumstances, but still. WOW.
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2 weeks ago
My rule of thumb is that I typically like to try to use up most of my data before the end of my plan cycle and once I used up most of it I will switch to WIFI. "Most" as in, say you have 50GB, so I'd use 40GB and then switch to WIFI.
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2 weeks ago - last edited 2 weeks ago
Pros:
Usually plans are cheap
No contracts, prepaid
Add-ons are available
Self-Serve, if you have your plan set-up correctly, is usually easy to use
Coverage speed etc is usually good, relies on Telus network. But do check coverage map.
Points/Loyalty Program - I don’t know if ither carriers have it, but once in a while you could get 15$ off.
Some Add-ons do not expire (check the add-on description)
Cons:
No physical store. It’s entirely online except picking up SIM cards.
Customer support exists, but it isn’t live. Urgent issues requiring support likely will not be solved immediately.
Must bring your own device. SIM cards can cost 5 or 10$ through Public Mobile.
Overall, read the pros and cons and decide if it’s something which suits you. In my opinion, it’s good for users who are tech savvy to at least a basic extent, users who don’t need the latest technology latest plans etc. Please read others opinions not only from this forum.
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2 weeks ago
@JB130 I agree that $30 is not expensive but as an example, I helped my father sign up for a $29 20GB 5G Canada-US-Mexico plan that was offered during boxing week but it was not available to me in my self-serve account. I would have liked to switch to it because I'm only using on average around 5GB per month so the 50GB plan I originally signed up with was just money being wasted. So now I'm paying $1 a month more (I know, it's nothing) but I'm on 4G not 5G and I don't have US and Mexico included. That irks me, customers should have access to the same plans
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2 weeks ago
hi @JB130 it is untrue customers cannot change plan. PM system will offer the plans on your account and you can change to any of those plans
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2 weeks ago
@JB130 This sounds very strange that customers cannot change their plans. Can anyone else weigh in on this?
You can change your plan but only to what is offered via your account, not via the public Shop page. A fairly recent change is that for the most part you can only change to plans more expensive than the one you have although that is not necessarily always true. For example I'm on a 90 day plan that works out to $34 per 30 days and I do have a $30 per 30 days offered to me in my account. I'm not tempted to change because the plan I have is better. There are several options more expensive than my current plan, one is only $2 more per 30 days and covers Canada and the US but again I prefer to stay with my current plan. So yes you can change but not to plans that are deemed to be "new activations only".
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2 weeks ago - last edited 2 weeks ago
I see. $30 is not too costly. I mean I know the CEOs would love us to all pay like $100/mo as implied by the plans by Bell/Rogers/Telus. By the way, B/R/T are the only physical carriers, all others are virtual. Crazy.
Edit - What irks me about the plans we have available to us is not so much the dollar amount, it's what we get for that dollar amount.
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2 weeks ago
@JB130 I can confirm, you can change your plans easily if it's for a more expensive plan but if you want to downgrade to a cheaper plan it's nearly impossible. I was on the $34 50GB Canada-US plan and the only option that was cheaper was a $30 20GB Canada only plan which I just switched to. Now, I don't have any options for a cheaper plan but I see 5 plans that are all more expensive.
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2 weeks ago
This sounds very strange that customers cannot change their plans. Can anyone else weigh in on this?
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2 weeks ago - last edited 2 weeks ago
If you decide to join PM, I recommend that you subscribe for the cheapest plan with the minimum data that you require.
The reason is that if you wish to switch later, you can always switch to a more expensive plan with more data/features. However, PM makes it almost impossible for current subscribers to change to a cheaper plan.
One of the biggest complaints of existing customers is not being able to switch to cheaper and better plans. You can scroll through the forum and read so many complaints by people who realize they did not need so much data and wish that they could downgrade to a cheaper plan to save money.
Ask yourself, do you really need to pay for 50GB of data per month if your normal usage is less than 10GB? How many times do you need to use a phone in Mexico? Do you want to be paying an extra $6/month or $72/year for that privilege when you can easily buy an Airalo esim for $5 for the odd Mexican vacation. And you should realize that there is usually no practical difference between the more expensive 5G and the cheaper 4G (which has better range/connectivity and uses less battery than 5G).
Quite frankly, you have just missed out on Black Friday and Boxing Week specials. Another reason to sign up for the cheapest plan and wait for better deals in the future.
Buy the cheaper plan, and you can always upgrade if necessary. You cannot downgrade.
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2 weeks ago
@JB130 Service has been good the 2.5 years I've been here. I did test it first on a "retired" phone as @hTideGnow suggested before switching. I've seldom had to contact customer service and support has been effective and fast enough the one or two times I did, but if you need a call centre to call for immediate help Public Mobile is not for you.
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2 weeks ago - last edited 2 weeks ago
@JB130 my personal experience, I've been with Public Mobile since May last year and I'm very happy with them. Once you have your service up and running you really shouldn't have any issues but it definitely is not for everyone. If you are okay with going on a computer and messaging with the community or to open a support ticket (which should be very rarely) then you can get great value with PM, especially when you factor in the Canada-US-Mexico plans that they offer and Public points, you get 5% back each month if you have your subscription turned on (auto pay), and you get a point each month for each friend referral you have so it really adds up. BTW, 1 point = $1 to be used towards buying a $15 bill credit or other add-ons. My 5G service has been working well for calls, data, text etc. Last year, I think around June, there was an issue with voice calls dropping and this happened for over a week but they got it sorted out and I haven't had it happen since.
*added: I'm so happy with it that I have converted over 7 family members and one friend and they all seem to be happy. They're saving money, getting lots of data and really don't notice a difference from their old providers, meaning they have no issues
Almost forgot to mention one con, a lot of customers (myself included) are not happy that we are not able to change to cheaper plans that seem to be offered to new customers. Through self-serve we are easily able to upgrade to more expensive plans but not much for going down to cheaper plans. Wish they would change this practice.
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2 weeks ago
hi @JB130 try it, it is prepaid so no commitment
the network it uses is great, support is different and sometimes trouble, but the price is good