Is a $30/month 3G plan with 3 GB of data coming to PM soon?

[Patchio]

I was browsing the internet this evening and noticed that both Chatr and Koodo (prepaid) now offer a $30/month 3G plan that comes with unlimited Canada wide calling, unlimited international text and picture messaging, and 3 GB of data (1 GB standard, plus 2 GB for enrolling in auto-pay).

 

I realize this plan isn’t the best “value” out there compared to the recent $40/month for 15 GB plan, or the $55/month for 20 GB plan minus $20 in credits for 15 months, but it’s getting closer to what some users have asked for in the past, which is a plan around the $25 to $30 price point with more than one GB of data.  

Would anyone happen to know whether this $30/month plan will ever be offered by PM?

[Patchio]

@gpixel 

That’s never going to happen.

The only reason these new $30/3GB and $35/4.5GB plans exist is because the Canadian telecom industry is hellbent on squeezing more money out of each customer, and they don’t believe $15 to $25 plans are profitable to their bottom line.

These companies are actively encouraging people to spend more on their cell phone bills, even though spending more doesn’t improve the quality or reliability of your service, it just gets you a larger bucket of data at faster speeds.

PM was simply following the competition when it comes to offering these new plans. None of the major telecom companies would double the amount of data in their $15 and $25 plan because it’s not mandated by the CRTC. They’re basically doing the bare minimum at this point.

Besides, doubling the data on those two low cost plans would encourage people to downgrade from the more expensive plans, which is what a lot of people did when working from home indefinitely first became a widespread thing back in 2020.

Phonebox, a reseller of Rogers service, offers a $25/3GB prepaid plan, but how they’re able to offer that plan is not exactly on the up and up.

Freedom Mobile is currently offering a $99/50GB yearly prepaid plan, which is roughly $10/4GB a month. Sounds great except the Freedom network is smaller and not as reliable as the Big Three’s network in some cases, you would need a newer phone that supports the main frequencies used by Freedom, and you’re paying upfront for the whole year, so if the service turns out to be exceptionally poor, you’re out $120.

With Phonebox and Freedom, you’re at least getting better value and features with the lower cost plans compared to what even PM can offer.

I wouldn’t say these plans are an anomaly, because prices were always expected to go back up after Back to School, Black Friday, and Boxing Day promotions. The Big Three intentionally lowers the price on certain plans during these promotional periods to increase sales and drive up demand, while also conditioning people to eagerly await their arrival and speculate on the deals that they can expect to receive. It’s masterful advertising in action.

[gpixel]

I wish PM would've just increased the data for the regular plans instead of offering a new one. it would be nice if the $15 and $25 had double the data. I think this was an anomaly and plans are going to go back to what they were before the black Friday deals

[Patchio]

@CountyDownIeUk 

The expiry date on the Chatr plan refers to the “Get 1 month’s fee in credit” promotion for new account activations. It was previously set to expire on December 5th, but was extended to December 12th, so it might be extended yet again. 

 

[softech]

@CountyDownIeUk   if you look at Chatr price plan page, all the plans say expiring tomorrow.  Maybe it is like our $40 - 15 GB "one day only" deal that will keep extending daily?  LoL

[CountyDownIeUk]

Doesn't the CHATR deal expire tomorrow?

[softech]

@Patchio you were correct, PM has this $30 plan now!!

[Patchio]

@HALIMACS 

You’re probably right.

When I compare Fido prepaid with Chatr, or Virgin Plus prepaid with Lucky Mobile, you can differentiate between them because the low cost budget brand usually offers more value at various price points. Fido and Virgin Plus are essentially encouraging consumers to use the low cost budget brand by limiting what their own prepaid plans offer. 

Koodo prepaid is completely different. Like you said, they are virtually identical to PM in terms of plans, pricing, and add-on features. The main differences between them are in the customer support model, and the availability of a rewards/points program, which has been greatly watered down since January 25th.

Koodo prepaid is intentionally competing with PM for the very same consumers. It doesn’t even seem like Koodo is concerned about cannibalizing PM’s user base for its own benefit, which is strange considering the other companies are mindful not to do that to their own budget brand. 

Perhaps the goal is to make Koodo prepaid seemingly indistinguishable from PM, so that when the PM experiment is eventually over, they can simply move all the PM customers over to Koodo and claim that it’s the exact same service at the same price with the same features. If that happens, Koodo wouldn’t have to honour the rewards/points program and the loyalty rewards that were a part of PM, since it no longer exists. 

[HALIMACS]

Indeed @Patchio , Koodo pre-paid is virtually identical to Public Mobile service except PM was 'supposed' to have been developed as a low-cost, no frills service when first established.

Now, it has matured into what Koodo pre-paid seems to be.

I suspect it's only a matter of time before one of the entities drops out --- we'll see.

[gpixel]

@Patchio 

it's possible. they might add that $30/3gb plan. it may also look like this

• $25/3gb
• $35/5gb