Koodo - Great plan, what is PM response

[smp99]

So now Koodo has a plan better than PM - Now - only for BC, Alta, Ont.

$60/month 

Unlimited Cda Wide

Unlimited Global text

10 GB data (Yes LTE) 

Any response PM??

[denkom]

Oh wow, interesting. I wonder why they offered it to me. Maybe they can give that plan out at their discretion. 

[Michael77]

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@denkom wrote:

@Michael77 Give them a call and mention that you are with PM and that Rogers offered you a good plan. I told my rep that I would prefer to stay in the Telus family so he put me on hold a few times trying to find a comparable plan. It always depends on who you get on the phone, but I do see a 2gb bonus listed on their website as well.

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@denkom,

I called and the csr rep from Koodo said that plan is for Quebec residents only. 

[kav2001c]

@jeffster1970

Scam

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/scam

The plan was offered as a promo Bring Your Own Device offer

Because they had a website glitch many people (incl yourself) were able to exploit it and go on a Tab (contrary to terms of service)

At best it is an interest free loan from Koodo instead of paying for device upfront so not like it made you rich, but if enough people did it then Koodo loses quite a bit of cash

That whole if every person picks up a spoonful of dirt they as a group can move a mountain analogy

[denkom]

@Michael77 Give them a call and mention that you are with PM and that Rogers offered you a good plan. I told my rep that I would prefer to stay in the Telus family so he put me on hold a few times trying to find a comparable plan. It always depends on who you get on the phone, but I do see a 2gb bonus listed on their website as well.

[Michael77]

@denkom,

Is this plan ($49 for 6gb + 2gb bonus) for Ontario residents?

I am still undecided but would take the $49 for 6gb + 2gb bonus if offered to me.

[denkom]

@Michael77 Did you make a decision yet? Will you stay or will you go? 

[Michael77]

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@srlawren wrote:

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@kav2001c wrote:

@srlawren that is odd to say the least (I am suspecting customer service incompetance) but did they give you a reason why can not change to Fido tablet plan?

Actually since you had a second line, most of the RFD crew were able to negotiate 50% off (so paying $7.50 per month for 3GB instead of cancellation)

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@kav2001c I'm terrible at negotiating.  Actually that's one of the main reasons I love Public Mobile, zero negotiating required.  They basically said the tablet plan is ONLY available as a new activation.  Rose (my friendly online rep, lol) more or less offered to open up a new activation for me and then cancel the 10gig line, but by the time I got answered in the support queue (after waiting I think around 2 hours) I was in the middle of other things and just needed to cancel and get on with my life.  🙂  At some point I'll probably pop into a Fido store and activate a tablet plan, I guess.  I should probably do so soon, before they decide to go back to 2GB instead of 3 again.  

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I'm good at negotiating.  I miss that part. With PM you say goodbye and it seems like they don't care.  They show you the door. PM not having a loyalty/retention department or call centre is not good for me.  😞

[jeffster1970]

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@kav2001c wrote:

@ShawnC13 actually there was a Koodo bug that let people get hardware on the $60 10GB plan

They mailed phones out since TAB small medium & large were compatible

Koodo (Telus) put an end to that already but many scammers profited from this

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Not sure how "they" are "scammers".  The option to get a tab (and none were large) added AFTER signing up for the 10GB promo was there. I know this because I got the LG G6.  It should be noted that none of the phone had any subsidy value.  A medium tab gets you $360 off of a phone, and you pay up front on the phone. For example, the iPhone 7 is $370 upfront plus medium tab. At $730 total cost, discount is only $9. Really no profits to be made.

[srlawren]

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@kav2001c wrote:

@srlawren that is odd to say the least (I am suspecting customer service incompetance) but did they give you a reason why can not change to Fido tablet plan?

Actually since you had a second line, most of the RFD crew were able to negotiate 50% off (so paying $7.50 per month for 3GB instead of cancellation)

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@kav2001c I'm terrible at negotiating.  Actually that's one of the main reasons I love Public Mobile, zero negotiating required.  They basically said the tablet plan is ONLY available as a new activation.  Rose (my friendly online rep, lol) more or less offered to open up a new activation for me and then cancel the 10gig line, but by the time I got answered in the support queue (after waiting I think around 2 hours) I was in the middle of other things and just needed to cancel and get on with my life.  🙂  At some point I'll probably pop into a Fido store and activate a tablet plan, I guess.  I should probably do so soon, before they decide to go back to 2GB instead of 3 again.  

[kav2001c]

@Luddite well, *now*

Thank wireless code for that

In old days some of the charges on your final bill from Telus were obscene

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@Luddite wrote:

Cancelling is never an issue if you port-out your number.

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[ChopstickHero]

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@Luddite wrote:

Everyone could easily use 10 GB/month if they cancelled home wifi. I JUST managed with 6 GB/mo for 2 years but it was a pain, especially trying to squeeze in any Nertlfix. Plus I was always bumming data when I visited my kids to update software. 

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Intense! I stream a lot (I don't have cable tv) and usually use about 300-400GB per month. Mainly use KODI, Netflix and Youtube. 

[ShawnC13]

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@Luddite wrote:

Everyone could easily use 10 GB/month if they cancelled home wifi. I JUST managed with 6 GB/mo for 2 years but it was a pain, especially trying to squeeze in any Nertlfix. Plus I was always bumming data when I visited my kids to update software. 

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YIKES I couldn't do that my kids would kill me.  We as a family are anywahere from 500-750 GB a month

[Luddite]

Everyone could easily use 10 GB/month if they cancelled home wifi. I JUST managed with 6 GB/mo for 2 years but it was a pain, especially trying to squeeze in any Nertlfix. Plus I was always bumming data when I visited my kids to update software. 

[Luddite]

Cancelling is never an issue if you port-out your number.

[kav2001c]

Telus is the worst carrier when you try to cancel

Freedom is the worst carrier to actually use services

Bell & Rogers are by far worst customer service wise

[smp99]

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@srlawren wrote:

Overall, I just feel more at home on the Telus network.

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That's it! Telus feels more comfortable. Bell feels like the school yard bully, and Rogers is that person that makes you feel a little squeamish just by looking at them or being in the same room.

I know - crazy ................ it must be the Pandas

[kav2001c]

@srlawren that is odd to say the least (I am suspecting customer service incompetance) but did they give you a reason why can not change to Fido tablet plan?

Actually since you had a second line, most of the RFD crew were able to negotiate 50% off (so paying $7.50 per month for 3GB instead of cancellation)

[kav2001c]

I was quite surprised noone jumped ship also

Had 1 guy call me asking advice as he was in the Costco thinking of pulling trigger but he decided keeping lower price plan in the end

I thought about data for a while and I think it is quite hard to *consistantly* use that much

@Which is why carriers are happy @ $60 price point

No hard stats to back me up, but I suspect most use less than 5GB (even when I had unlimited data on Bell back in 2012-2013 I was usually in the 5 to 7 range)

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@smp99 wrote:

Today will likely still be chaotic for the other players as they try to catch up on the weekend craziness. I suspect PM was a net loser, but I did not lose any referals.

The big question is, for those who upgraded to 10GB, will they use it. I suspect they will use a little more because they have it, but they won't change their habits dramatically. In the end, I am glad this past weekend happened, it showed what levels the carriers are willing to go to and at what price. 

It also says that if 10GB can be sold for $60, surely 4GB can be sold for $40.

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[stonechucker]

Thanks for sharing your experience.   It sounds much like what I experienced with Rogers 3 more than 3 years ago, before going to WIND, prior to getting here.

All your points are things I thought about when I was considering it.  I'm at about $35/month with PM currently, and the extra $25 for more wasted data I wouldn't use, and the Canadawide calling I would never use, it wasn't goog value for me either.

Besides, my workplace and my home can't receive Roger's signal anyways.... 

[srlawren]

@stonechucker I should elaborate on point #1.

I found that my phone was more often showing just 4G rather than 4G+ or H+ rather than 4G in places where I know I would get the higher one with PM (Telus) due to personal experience, including near where I live.  It even dropped down to EDGE speed for a little while in the major mall near my home, which did not impress me.  We're not talking rural outlying area here.  

The one nice thing was having service in the underground part of the SkyTrain system out here in the GVA, but I'm only down there for a few mins at a time twice a day a few times a week.  Soooooo, it really isn't that essential, just nice to have.  Overall, I just feel more at home on the Telus network.

[srlawren]

@stonechucker it's a variety of reasons but here's the full story, since you asked. 

#1 granted, only limited testing, but I wasn't overly impressed with the Rogers network

#2 because of an issue with voicemail (it wouldn't take my new phone number as valid, so I couldn't set up my outbound message or check any waiting inbound), I couldn't forward all my PM calls there to test out the voice network properly, and of course due to the promo craziness, I literally couldn't reach anyone at support until today

#3 to be honest, I don't NEED 10 gigs.  I've never exceeded my plan amount, and have ready access to WiFi at home, at my mom's, at my friends' places, at my own office, and at some client sites when I'm working there.  10 gigs for me today would be overkill.  Might be nice for future proofing but not needed today.

#4 after loyalty rewards (2 years and counting), autopay reward, referral reward (about 5 lines currently I think), and community reward, my 2016 fall promo plan works out to be in the neighbourhood of $30 or less per month out of my pocket, compared to $60 for the 10 gig plan.  

#5 the more I added all of the above up, it didn't quite make sense to me to pay an extra $360+ per year for extra services that I don't anticipate really taking advantage at this point in time.  

#6 I got cold feet

#7 I regretted not choosing Koodo at least instead of Fido

Added all of the above up, and even ignoring #7, I couldn't quite justify it to myself to make the move full-time.  YES it's an amazing deal for the price, BUT it didn't offer the same value to me as my current PM plan.  My needs may change in the future and if they do, I'll re-evaluate what's out there then.  But, for the time-being at least, I'm happy with my status quo.

There you go, the long version!  I think I included everything.  OH, I did have a second activation issue with Fido as well, where my new line didn't show in the My Account (their self-serve system) at all so I couldn't even see how much data I'd used or anything.  That issue somehow resovled itself overnight last night, a few days after having activated.  So that one was more of an annoyance than an actual issue that contributed to the decision, but I mention it in the interest of completeness.

[stonechucker]

What happened?

[srlawren]

@Michael77 @kav2001c update:  my Fido experiment is officially concluded.  Tried to have them convert the plan to the tablet plan, but they weren't able to so I just cancelled it. 

I may yet pick up a new SIM and activate the tablet plan at some point.  It was never critical, just a nice to have anyway.

[ChopstickHero]

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@smp99 wrote:

The big question is, for those who upgraded to 10GB, will they use it. I suspect they will use a little more because they have it, but they won't change their habits dramatically. In the end, I am glad this past weekend happened, it showed what levels the carriers are willing to go to and at what price. 

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People are afraid of being limited to too little data. I asked a bunch of friends to join PM and while some did rather easily after seeing the cost savings, some said the 4GB promo was too limiting even though they are paying less. It's not for everyone though.

[srlawren]

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@kav2001c wrote:

@srlawren phone lines are packed with people reporting 60 to 180 minute hold times it is madness

Yeah unfortunately you will need to call in (I suspect self serve will not let you do tablet plan change)

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@kav2001c weirdly enough, I had a bug where the new line wasn't showing up in My Account at all since activation on Sunday, but it seems to have resolved itself this morning.  (I have an existing Fido line I pay for, that my mother uses, which I added the new line to).  Oddly the other activation issue I had, where Fido voicemail refuses to accept my new number as valid so I can't even set it up, did not resolve itself.  But yeah this morning I did have a look in My Acocunt and it didn't let me pick the tablet plan.  I'll try calling them later today or tomorrow.

[smp99]

Today will likely still be chaotic for the other players as they try to catch up on the weekend craziness. I suspect PM was a net loser, but I did not lose any referals.

In the end, I am going to guess that more people than not, would have increased their monthly bill to get the extra data and features that in the end they will not use. I suspect many people off contract would have been paying $45-$55/month are now paying $60. People paying $80 or more are typically still inside a contract paying off a 'free' phone and wouldn't want to pay the cancelation cost. 

The big question is, for those who upgraded to 10GB, will they use it. I suspect they will use a little more because they have it, but they won't change their habits dramatically. In the end, I am glad this past weekend happened, it showed what levels the carriers are willing to go to and at what price. 

It also says that if 10GB can be sold for $60, surely 4GB can be sold for $40.

[ChopstickHero]

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@kav2001c wrote:

@Ichong88 this was only for 1st day, after promo became perm

I would be more afraid of plan increases though

Last year Virgin & Fido offered $40 for 4GB plans (price match Public)

Yet both carriers increased prices 6 months later (with no contract they can do this anytime they like)

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That happened to me on Rogers. I was out of contract and they kept raising prices, essentially to force you to act and sign up on a new contract with them.

One of the best reasons to be on PM is the ability to control your own bill with rewards. I'm on the Fall 2016 promo plan and I'm working towards a sub-$20/mo plan (almost there). 

[kav2001c]

@ShawnC13 actually there was a Koodo bug that let people get hardware on the $60 10GB plan

They mailed phones out since TAB small medium & large were compatible

Koodo (Telus) put an end to that already but many scammers profited from this

[kav2001c]

@Ichong88 this was only for 1st day, after promo became perm

I would be more afraid of plan increases though

Last year Virgin & Fido offered $40 for 4GB plans (price match Public)

Yet both carriers increased prices 6 months later (with no contract they can do this anytime they like)

[kav2001c]

@srlawren phone lines are packed with people reporting 60 to 180 minute hold times it is madness

Yeah unfortunately you will need to call in (I suspect self serve will not let you do tablet plan change)