Hello Everyone!
I just thought I’d provide some insight into my experience with Public Mobile now that I’m coming up to one year of subscribing to the service. I hesitated during my switch over to Public Mobile and I think I can probably help others make the leap with a bit more comfort by explaining my experience.
I was previously a Telus customer with a very good plan that I had for about 8 years. It was $60 for 5GB of data. I used to work for a cell phone retail store that sold Rogers, Telus, Koodo, Fido, and Chatr. Telus was hands down the company that I had to be with since I have been with them since 2005. 14 years later I’m still within the Telus company but now with their discount brand Public Mobile. I have no complaints with my experience with Telus. I’ve never had a billing issue, and any service issues I had were always rectified within minutes of calling a customer service representative. I first started thinking about switching my plan when I started to travel around Canada. My plan with Telus was local, so any time I travelled outside of Toronto I would be charged for making phone calls.
After shopping around I noticed that Public Mobile had the best deal around. $45 for 6.5GB and unlimited talk and text Canada wide. It seemed like a really good deal, I’d be saving $15 a month and getting 1.5GB more with Canada wife talk and text. The only hesitation I had was that the data was at 3G speeds. This fact made me hold off switching for almost a month, until one day my girlfriend and I decided to just suck it up and make the switch together.
Another benefit when I switched was that I instantly saved $2 every month just for setting up auto pay. So now my bill is $43/month. That’s a total saving of $204/year just by switching to Public Mobile. Since being with Public Mobile I have not had any issues in terms of service and connectivity. Like I said I was initially with Telus and I can guarantee that I feel like I receive the exact same service for $17 less per month. As for the 3G service, of course it is a bit slower, but it’s not as bad as many people say it is. Sure you’re waiting a few seconds more here and there, but there isn’t any buffering issues or videos stopping suddenly to load. I watch Netflix, YouTube, and BellTv on my phone and even Favetime without any interruptions. I even switch off my Bell Fibe 50 wifi sometimes because my Data is faster than it sometimes. So all in all the switch has been great and the savings even greater.
I referred friends and am saving even more money per month, and since I’ve been with Public Mobile for almost I will soon receive savings for that too. All of this is brining my monthly bill down and saving me a lot more than when I was with my old plan.
As for the device I use. I have an iPhone XR. I bought this phone outright from Apple for just under $1,200. Yes this obviously seems like a lot of money to pay out of pocket but if you account for all the savings this is actually more cost-saving then getting it on a plan.
I usually keep my phone for about 2 years before I upgrade to a new one, based on that here is what being on Public Mobile works out to for 2 years including buying a phone outright:
iPhone XR = $1,162.77
Public Mobile Service (6.5GB unlimited talk/text Canada wide) = $43 x 24 months = $1,032
Total cost after 2 years = $2,194.77
Now for comparison with Fido. If I got the iPhone XR for $0 down on an XL plan with 2GB + 4 GB Promo and unlimited talk/text Canada wide for $115 it would cost $2,760 after 2 years.
That is $565.23 more being with Fido than buying the phone outright and getting a service with Public Mobile. Also, if I decide to keep the phone longer I’d be saving even more money per month. So for me, it’s an easy choice. Buy the phone outright and save huge on my monthly bill.
To sum it all up. This last year with Public Mobile has been great and I’ve saved a lot of money on my cell phone bill. I even switched my parents to Public Mobile and I now save a total of $89.32/month by having three lines with Public Mobile. Hopefully this post was helpful and can bring comfort to those thinking of making the switch to Public Mobile.
Enjoy!
