Pre-activated SIMs

[Luddite]

@Tiana_V Why not have retailers sell pre-activated SIMs? Perhaps just the $25 & $40 plans as an initial trial. 

Advantages:

a) Customers could try the SIM in store to confirm service 

b) Customers would know they must (learn to) create a self-serve account for ongoing service

c) Promos could still be tied to account activation

d) No worries about pre-activated SIMs getting lost/stolen in the mail

[computergeek541]

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@farhanshariar72 wrote:

I got my sim for free( $20 value) . The store i went is called wireless station. Its located in toronto and they have 2 location.

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The official price for a Public Mobile sim card is only $10.

[farhanshariar72]

I got my sim for free( $20 value) . The store i went is called wireless station. Its located in toronto and they have 2 location.

[Luddite]

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@mimmo wrote:

@Luddite how is this different than the current system, unless you are suggesting a free 30 day service or say 5 day

Currently go to store, pay for sim/plan, port number or get temp number, then  go home create self serve account....

Not sure how a preactivated sim which retailer would still need to activate would be different.

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Retailer does not need to activate - it's true prepaid. Put the SIM into a phone and have service for 30 days; the retailer does nothing but sell the SIM. Self serve account must be created by the customer: https://selfserve.publicmobile.ca/self-registration/

[will13am]

I wonder if there are legalities involved here that make this not so easy to implement.  Being prepaid, there's no credits checks and so we can put our favorite cartoon hero as account owner with any random address.  Nonetheless, there's ownership.  For these preactivated accounts, who is the owner?  These preactivated accounts offer a SIM jacking opportunity.  Personally I would be very careful with getting such a product.  There's a lot more ways that Public Mobile could offer a more competitive and appealing product without offering preactivated SIM cards.

[mimmo]

@Luddite how is this different than the current system, unless you are suggesting a free 30 day service or say 5 day

Currently go to store, pay for sim/plan, port number or get temp number, then  go home create self serve account....

Not sure how a preactivated sim which retailer would still need to activate would be different.

[computergeek541]

@Luddite 

I'd even suggest the possiblity allowing customers to activate an account during the online sim card ordering process, but to also have the activation/self-serve system allow the customer to conmfirm receipt of the sim card and then only start the plan at that time.

[yanzhiqiang]

This is a very interesting topic.

[Ed404]

The person at the kiosk can activate your sim card and I think the addition of pre-activated sim cards would just be another level of complexity for the existing system which has enough issues already. Also I don't think Public Mobile is in the position to provide pre-activated sim cards because they are a budget provider trying to maintain cheap service. I feel the addition of pre-activated sim cards would cause more issues than it solves.

I can see how this is beneficial for new users, but for now if they want pre-activated sim cards they'll have to rely on 3rd-party sellers or creditable users here.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but even mainstream providers don't offer pre-activated sim cards. Intializing this entire project wouldn't be cheap and I think there are higher priorities on their list. One could be supporting eSims which opens Public Mobile up to more phones meaning more business. The list goes on.

I don't think Public Mobile will be taking the leap of faith on this any time soon, especially given pre-activated sim cards haven't really taken off yet.

Questions

• What do you mean by an "initial trial"?
• How often do sim card get stolen/lost in the mail? Wouldn't the same problem arise if pre-activated sim cards were sold on Amazon or other online retailers?
• There are plenty of sim card scams around already wouldn't this just add to it? Today I found some pre-activated AT&T sim cards on Amazon and customers were complaining they didn't come with any service.

Just my two cents on pre-activated sim cards. It may sound like a great idea, but there's many factors to consider given Public Mobile's business model.