Options for 120 Plus Day Plans.

[talkalot]

I think in order for Public Mobile to be more competitive with what is on the market. Clients that are willing  to pay for 120 Days. 180 Days or even 365 Days plans should be reward with more data. I think customer retention is important for any kind of service provider. Clients that are willing to pay for say 6months or 12months in advanced should be rewarded with more Data. Why because you as a consumer are committed to staying with a provider that has no contract and they means that PM should reward clients that are willing to place money into their Corporate accounts. It should be thought of the same way as a mutal fund. Thanks for the opportunity to voice my opinion.

[talkalot]

Maybe therrly should offer these plans to clients that have been around for say a year or better yet as an incentive. The first time I signed up it was for three months, so if so someone does that again. There could be like an insider email or PM.

Hey we see you like paying in Advance we can offer 6months get 50% more Data if you go with 1 year you get 100% more Data. Your right it may not work with new customers right off the hope. However after 3 to 6 months most consumers should feel a bit at ease.

[srlawren]

@Rockdaddy22 if you want to commit to a couple of years, you could sign up on a post-paid 24 month contract somewhere else and get a nice hardware subsidy in the process....  😉  

(Yes, I'm jesting, since I've already proven that it's cheaper in many scenarios to buy the phone outright and use PM isntead, but the point remains that long commitments suck.)

[Rockdaddy22]

I agree I want long plans too. Sign me up for a couple years and I'm good to go.

The problem happens when a promo comes along and we have to wait a couple years to get it 😞 Imagine the complaining about being ripped off and scammed.

[talkalot]

Hey if the did I am on it Big Time!!! I get added valu, they get their money I don't have to post here. No one has to hear from me that's a Win/Win. Ha ha 

[Rockdaddy22]

To bad they didn't get you on a 1year plan, you'd be stuck with us lol

[talkalot]

I think Cellular phone companies feel the more they interactive with you the better. Well PM had the opportunity and I offered my suggestion months ago. No one stepped up. Since I have a fair bit of knowledge in this industry. I can speak to the matter.

Sometimes Teleco's offer what is called "Special Pricing" , this was never offered by PM. Or in the United States and believe you mean I don't want to have a conversation about what the Pros and The Cons of the US and or European vs Canadian markets been there done that , companies would offer 'Price Matching".

It has always amazed me that cellular phone companies would rather spend hundreds and thousands of dollars to market their service to new consumers and brand rather than providing better cost to existing customer. Ultimately the service provider loses in many markets but since the market is dominated by the big three. They have no worry to change the status quo, The competition or new entrees in this space are left to compete with each othe


Canadians say they want choice and or options, let's look at the banking sector if people wanted change Tangerine and PC would be the largest banks based on simply everyday checking accounts.

Canadians don't want change however I desire change I decide to go with Freedom Mobile, and if you desire and want healthy competition they are the only option for progressive out of the box and aware consumers.

All I am waiting for is someone from PM to be kind enough to activate my account so te number can be ported out. I have been waiting 4 days now lets see if they will reaponded.

[daredogg]

A question to those reading... how many of you pay your auto insurance annually?

I would surely like to pay my auto insurance annually, but unfortunately dropping $1500 all in one go is a bit much. I'd have to budget monthly to work up to an annual payment (which I am now doing), but for now, I'm paying monthly. There's a 3% surcharge on opting for monthly billing, which works out to $45 over the year... monthly it's $3.75 extra. That's not so bad, but I think the logic is, give a discount to those who can pay annually.  And please don't put the payment on your credit card at 20% thinking "I'll save in the long run". Been there, done that! 

My point... I think it's good to reward users who can pay for longer terms with a bit of a discount. Currently the discount between the 30-day and 90-day plans is $5 per month for the 1GB/month data option. If they offerred a 180-day plan (6-months), would they offer a $10 per month discount? Tempting!  Don't know if with PM's current price model they could swing that... but it's an interesting idea (provided you can budget for 6-months of service).

If we went "middle of the road" on a Canada-wide calling, global texting, 2GB/month plan, monthly that would be $55 on 30-day, $45 on 90-day... potentially $35 for a 180-day plan?  I like how the savings are adding up!  And paying about $240 every six months, isn't that bad, providing you're not carrying a balance on your credit card (another reason to implement PayPal -- I'd rather use my bank account!).

The disclaimer: I do, however, share some of concerns that @srlawren brought forward about having to cancel and losing your money. If you cancel your auto insurance, you end up getting a credit sent back to you... no real risk. Unfortunately this is pre-paid... not the same rules, and you won't get your money back (if you had to move, or you died, etc.)

All in all, I think it's a good idea. Thanks to @talkalot for sharing their idea (twice)! lol

I agree with the masses... let's move this discussion to Public Lab!

[srlawren]

@talkalot one last thing... did you have a change of heart and decide not to cancel your PM service afterall?

[srlawren]

@talkalot Further thought....  I think the "problem" with PM doing this is the inability for people to change plans mid-cycle if their needs change.  Imagine you were on a 365 day plan with what you thought was the perfect options, and something came up requring you to need a new plan a month in.  You would end up losing 11 months worth of service to change your plan, or have to wait those 11 months to avoid that.  This is clearly an issue.  (This could be worked around if PM also implemented this idea: http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Public-Lab/Ability-to-just-change-your-plan-right-away.... Just sayin'!)

The other issue is cancellation.  Since PM is pre-paid and does not offer refunds on cancellation, you could potentially lose a lot of $ if you had to cancel.  Again using the 365 day plan idea, what if you a month later you got a new job that provided you a phone that the company pays for on their corporate plan, and you no longer need your phone?  Now you're out 11 months of service $ again, or keep it around even though you dont' need it.  Other possible scenarios are you end up having to leave Canada for a job or for love or to take care of a sick family member, there's a ton of things that could come up.

Essentially what you're asking PM to offer is similar to the contracts that we all know and hate at the big-3 carriers.  So you'd lock in for 6, 9, 12 months, get no hardware subsidy (though you do propose a reduction in the $/day of the plan, which is similar I suppose).  

While I'm not against your idea, these are reasons I'm thinking it's not likely to be done.  Just my two cents....

[srlawren]

Hi @talkalot,

First of all, I do think this is an interesting idea!  However, for any idea to be considered, it needs to be posted in the Public Lab.  However, before you post it, I'd invite you to review one of these 3 similar suggestions that already exist to see if one or more matches what you had in mind:

http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Public-Lab/Longer-Plan-Terms/idi-p/46594

http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Public-Lab/MEGA-Plan-s/idi-p/37019

http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Public-Lab/Offer-some-longer-term-cycles-and-perhaps-o...

If you like one or more, please use the Bravo (up-vote) button to lend your support.