Plans Improvement Suggestions

[wleung]

Firstly, bravos to the great plans offered by Public Mobile.  They stand out from the ones from other carriers in the market; for example, unlimited talk & text costs at least $40 a month with all other carriers, while Public Mobile offers this at $25.

May I suggest you offer more minutes and texts with the $10 per 30 days plan?  I'm a light user fan of $10 plan, and I think this is the only Public Mobile plan that doesn't stand out much from competitor plans.  Fido offers also 50 minutes airtime and 50 texts for $10.75 per month which is an only slightly higher price than our $10 plan.  When I tried to recommend Public Mobile to others, the light users on a similar plan with other carrier saw that it is not too much different from what they currently have, and don't bother switching, as there are actually a lot of people that won't ever bother with the work of making referrals or participating in forums to be able to benefit from the relevant special Public Mobile perks.  If Public Mobile is able to offer, say, the unlimited talk & text plan at $15 less than competitors per month, I suggest that the airtime and texts both be increased to say 100 for 30 days to make the $10 plan stand out among competitors just as much to attract more switchers.

May I also suggest that Public Mobile modify the plan lengths from 30/60/90 days to 1/2/3months correspondingly?  With the current system, the plan renewal transaction dates keep rolling forward as opposed to falling on the same date of the month every month.  This is difficult to keep track.

[torontokris]

@wleung re: $10 plan it's great Fido offers a similar plan. However without PM / competition Fido probably would never offer that plan in the first place. 

[wleung]

@stonechucker, @GreatCanadian, @ShawnC13, Whoa, calm down.  I thought I was only politely and civilly presenting a personal preference and suggestion, even starting respectfully and humbly with "May I suggest...".  I do find Public Mobile attractive for the most parts so far and I do know there are workarounds to work with the current system, and that's why I have switched to it and intend to stick around despite the suggestions I'm making.  I was only expressing a thought.  I would have appreciated an attitude like "I've heard your input, but I and all these people actually think differently, and here're rationales, reasons, and workaround/solutions" rather than "If you don't agree just leave!", which is rather discouraging.  If I adopt the same attitude I could be responding to you "If you don't agree with my suggestion anyway don't comment on my post", right (And to clarify, I would never intend to actually say something like this.  I'm just saying hypothetically to make the analogy.)?

Thanks for everyone's inputs.  Thanks for @RobertQc's bravo.  @ShawnC13's idea is a good workaround.

[will13am]

This area of the service has undergone some evolution based on feedback and lessons learned.  For the most part, 30 day cycles is being favored although the 90 day option is still being retained at the moment.  There has never been discussion about changing 30 days to monthly. 

[ShawnC13]

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@GreatCanadian wrote:

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@stonechucker wrote:

If it isn’t broke, why fix it? If you can’t budget for a 30 or 90 day plan length, switch to a provider who has a monthly setup.

I don’t know if other carriers have non monthly plans available, with the selection of options Public Mobile has, but I think it is those carriers that need to improve their choices.

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^This. If people prefer monthly payments, then there are plenty of providers that provide services using that model. There is no need to use Public Mobile if you do not like its payment cycle.

GC

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I agree with all that is said I actually like the payment setup.  If you don't have autopay setup and pay by vouchers or would like  a "monthly" billing cycle to correspond with a payday use vouchers.  On your payday purchase a voucher come home and "make a payment" this money will sit in your available funds until your renewal date and is taken for actual plan payment

[GreatCanadian]

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@stonechucker wrote:

If it isn’t broke, why fix it? If you can’t budget for a 30 or 90 day plan length, switch to a provider who has a monthly setup.

I don’t know if other carriers have non monthly plans available, with the selection of options Public Mobile has, but I think it is those carriers that need to improve their choices.

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^This. If people prefer monthly payments, then there are plenty of providers that provide services using that model. There is no need to use Public Mobile if you do not like its payment cycle.

GC

[GreatCanadian]

Use a data tracker that can track usage for 30 or 90 days. Data Witness is perfect for Android, and My Data Manager works great on iPhone and Android. No confusion at all.

GC

[stonechucker]

If it isn’t broke, why fix it? If you can’t budget for a 30 or 90 day plan length, switch to a provider who has a monthly setup.

I don’t know if other carriers have non monthly plans available, with the selection of options Public Mobile has, but I think it is those carriers that need to improve their choices.

[wetcoaster]

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@wleung wrote:

May I suggest that Public Mobile modify the plan lengths from 30/60/90 days to 1/2/3months correspondingly?  With the current system, the plan renewal transaction dates keep rolling forward as opposed to falling on the same date of the month every month.  This is difficult to keep track.

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Well, sorry for the inconvenience, but this is how Public Mobile works, it's just a matter of getting used to it. Plans are for 30 or 90 days. Unless my math is wrong this late at night, the date is actually moving backwards over the course of the year.

You get an automated reminder by text that your payment is due in a couple of days (I've been on a 90 cycle for more than a year, so I would second guess whether it's the second or the third  - or was it the fourth? of the month. For voucher payments I'd just set the according reminder on my calendar.)  - and if you are on auto payment the system bills your credit card at time of renewal...

[RobertQc]

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@wleung wrote:

May I suggest that Public Mobile modify the plan lengths from 30/60/90 days to 1/2/3months correspondingly?  With the current system, the plan renewal transaction dates keep rolling forward as opposed to falling on the same date of the month every month.  This is difficult to keep track.

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@wleungI like this idea, as it will make my yearly cost just a little bit lower 😉 . I think companies do this to get an extra 1% of billing from people without most people noticing since there are 12 months in a year but 12.13 "30" day terms in a year. A way for the cheapest to appear even cheaper I am still very happy with public mobile.

Although it could have something to do with a "pay as you go" service to keep things fair, it would seem weird if I paid for only 1 month of service for $30 that had 28 days when the next person paid for a month of service for $30 that had 31 days.