Province-wide, Canada-wide and Long Distance Add-ons

[neilselden]

Hi,

I'm hoping one of our moderators can sticky this thread.... @Shazia_K, how about it?  🙂

@ute1978 posted a great chart explaining how Provice-wide calling works.  I'm re-posting it here, and below, will describe how it works...

There is a lot of confusion about Province wide calling, but I can summarize it here:

1. When in your province:
   1. All calls made within your province are free
   2. All calls received from anywhere are free
   3. Any calls made to anywhere outside your province require a long distance add on
2. When outside your province
   1. Calls made to whichever province you are in are free
   2. You wil not receive calls unless you have a long distance add on
      1. You will be charged for each minute of incoming call

WIth Canada-wide calling:

1. any call that you make within Canada is free
2. any call that you receive from anywhere while you are in Canada is free
3. if you want to call International, you will need to buy the International long distance add-on
   1. If you want to call the US only, you need one of:
      1. US/Canada Long distance add on
      2. International add on
      3. Some VoIP solution like Fongo, Hangouts Dialer, etc... This would use your PM data connection to route calls

Hope this helps our new members understand how it all works.

Cheers,

Neil

[Tiffenyg]

Thank you very much

[computergeek541]

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@Tiffenyg wrote:
Ok help me understand. I live in Hamilton Ontario. I have a 289 number. Both provincial and Canada wide is the same for me as I never leave my Ontario? Most I go is other cities near by. Toronto Brampton London ect. .. All inside Canada. The wording makes it hard. To understand im guessing.

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As long as you won't be making any calls to people with phone numbers in different provinces, province-wide vs. canada-wide calling won't make any difference to you then.  You can be anywhere in Ontario with your Hamilton phone number and make any calls to Ontario numbers that you want, and also receive any incoming phones calls (from anyone who is anywhere) for no extra charge.

[Tiffenyg]

Ok help me understand. I live in Hamilton Ontario. I have a 289 number. Both provincial and Canada wide is the same for me as I never leave my Ontario? Most I go is other cities near by. Toronto Brampton London ect. .. All inside Canada. The wording makes it hard. To understand im guessing.

[daredogg]

@JayMan The international add-on includes Canada and US.

[JayMan]

Re: Limited Time 4GB / $40 Plan Promo



Can International Minutes Add On also be used for US/Canada wide calls?  Or do I need to purchase US/Canada wide separately?

Thank You

[srlawren]

@daredogg perfect suggestion for light-to-medium long distance users who need a fair amount of data (average of 4GB/month) and don't want to pay a lot.  

You could make it even cheaper by using Hangouts Dialer, Fongo, voip.ms, or some other free data-based VoIP app for the long distance calls rather than the addons.  🙂

[daredogg]

@Netrunner @WearySky

Guys, the information you're wanting is in the Knowledge Base... All about our Plans and Add-ons

$201, sure for normal pricing... but INSTEAD you could do the promo price for $120 and add the 400 min LD add-on for $15. That would make it equivalent to $45 per month. You'll get 6 hours 40 minutes of talk time. Being it's an add-on, you can stretch it out to 6 months if you'd like.

[WearySky]

@Netrunner - on the Plans Page, you can see the following information regarding add-ons for data and long distance:

"Add 200 MB of data for $10, 1GB of data for $30, 200 mins U.S. long distance for $8 or 400 mins of international long distance for $15."

No need to login, it's right there for everyone to see.  There's no "out of province" add-on, per se.  The fine print on that page also tries to explain how the province-wide talk works as well (but I can see somebody being confused by it, it's a bit of a long-winded explanation squeezed into a small paragraph):

"Includes outgoing calls you make anywhere in Canada to a number with an area code in the same province, and incoming calls you receive while you are in your home province. A long distance talk add-on is required to receive incoming calls while you are outside your home province."

[Netrunner]

############################################################### 

Maybe in your circumstance, Canada-wide calling is necessary, but it's not the case for everyone. This promo plan is a good fit for most, and if you happen to go out-of-province, you'll have to add a long distance add-on... no big deal really. Good luck to you in finding another provider to better suit your needs.

######################################################################

Canada wide calling comes up to $201/3= $67/month which may be a good plan for some, but not better than my grandfathered $60/month for 5GB plan with Telus. 

So, you add the out-of-province add-on...hard to make an informed decision when Public Mobile does not publish the cost on their website unless you already have an account and log in.  

[daredogg]

I know that @WearySky, that's why I said... 

Maybe in your circumstance, Canada-wide calling is necessary.

PM isn't going to be for everyone, and for Ottawa-area residents that have to call into Quebec, this promo may not fit.

[WearySky]

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@kav2001c wrote:

@WearySky but that IS what Telus / Bell do

If you had an account with 100 US LD minutes you can NOT use them to call your friend in BC

Strange but true 

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I guess Telus/Bell must offer Canada-only LD minutes then?  That seems like crazypantsedness to me, but then I suppose I shouldn't really be THAT surprised.

[CaNuCk07]

@Netrunner hopefully the loss of customers stays at just your two, because I'm new to PM as well, but have had nothing but a great experience so far.

Easy account creation, easy sim ordering, easy number porting and so far fantastic coverage!

For $40/ 4gb can't beat PM anywhere!

[WearySky]

@daredogg I think Netrunner was referring specifically to Ottawa-area residents.

[daredogg]

@Netrunner Maybe in your circumstance, Canada-wide calling is necessary, but it's not the case for everyone. This promo plan is a good fit for most, and if you happen to go out-of-province, you'll have to add a long distance add-on... no big deal really. Good luck to you in finding another provider to better suit your needs.

[daredogg]

@Netrunner Yes, it's considered long distance, because you're calling out of province. Maybe there's a special circumstance with Ottawa / Gatineau that it's considered the same region, but someone who lives in the area would have to confirm.

[Netrunner]

Thanks. Public just lost 2 potential new clients...and many more once they see this post. 

[kav2001c]

@Netrunner yes Public does not count Gatineu in ON plan apparently (despite it being a local call)

Someone else had suggested an idea they have an exception for this area but so far no update

[Netrunner]

I need some clarification on this one. I live in Ottawa and frequently make calls across the river to Gatineau, QC. With any other wireless carrier, or landline, this would not be a long distance call...

Would Public Mobile charge this as long-distance?  

[kav2001c]

The only real difference between what Public is doing versus what carriers do is the prepay option

The Big3 on a postpaid account do EXACTLY same thing

If I have a Calgary phone number and drive to Edmonton, all my outgoing calls to Edmonton numbers are free

Where the main difference happens is that in that scenario I would SEE the incoming call, and then get the surprise bill in the mail for long distance minutes by answering my phone

Public is same concept, except you have larger areas (province wide instead of just local calls)

So now if I have a Calgary phone number and drive to Vancouver, I can call Vancouver numbers but I do not see any incoming calls (unless I prepurchase long distance minutes; and even in that scenario it could be cheaper to ignore the call and call the person back if it was a BC number calling me)

[kav2001c]

@WearySky but that IS what Telus / Bell do

If you had an account with 100 US LD minutes you can NOT use them to call your friend in BC

Strange but true 

[kav2001c]

@neilselden kind of assumed just was surprised 

Wouldn't sound correct otherwise

[WearySky]

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@Eug wrote:

The part that I find that is confusing is the description of long distance minutes on the main Public Mobile page. The main description for the $8 200 minute add-on is that it is US minutes. No mention of Canada. The main description for the $15 400 minute add-on is that it is international minutes. No mention of which countries are "international", and no mention of US or Canada.

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I guess it depends on how you look at it.  If you think about it for a minute, it wouldn't make any sense to *not* be able to use US or International minutes for Canadian long distance.  Why would PM not allow that?  It's saving them a good bit of money if you do that, since Canadian long distance minutes are vastly cheaper than international (or even US) long distance minutes.  It's the equivalent of using a $20 bill to pay a municipal bus fare when they don't give change.  They'll let you do it if you want, because why not?  Free money for them.

[Eug]

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@bryanbreguet wrote:

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@Rockdaddy22 wrote:
It's actually very simple, I don't get all the confusion.

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It is definitely not. Good for you if you understood it right away (or like to pretend you did), but it's incredibly confusing. Especially the part where if you are outside of your home province, you can call this province but you can't receive any phone call, including calls from the province ou are currently in.

Not sure why some people like you liek to pretend it's not confusing. Maybe you just want to appear smart but the fact remains that many, many people are confused. And PM is a business, it's usually not a good thing when your product is confusing. They should definitely improve on that.

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The part that I find that is confusing is the description of long distance minutes on the main Public Mobile page. The main description for the $8 200 minute add-on is that it is US minutes. No mention of Canada. The main description for the $15 400 minute add-on is that it is international minutes. No mention of which countries are "international", and no mention of US or Canada.

I realize the proper description is present in the Self Serve menu, but most people can't see this. This makes a huge difference for those looking to try Public Mobile, because they mistakenly think if they want to call out of province, they need to get the Canada-wide option, or if they want to call the US, they think they need to get the US add-on and not the international one. There also needs to be a link from that page indicating which countries are included in the international add-on, but there isn't.

[WearySky]

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@kav2001c wrote:

@neilselden one question on chart that is unclear to me

Person has a provincial plan with a long distance add on

Your post seems to indicate that minutes will not be deducted when calling long distance if you are in your home province?

That's not true right?

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It depends on what type of long distance calling you're doing.  If you're calling long distance within your province (like, say, from London, Ontario to Ottawa), you will not have minutes deducted.  If you're calling long distance outside of your province (or outside of the country), you will.

[smp99]

Can I check voicemail when out of province without a long distance add-on?

Also can you call 1-800 numbers when out of province without a LD add-on?

Thanks

[Rockdaddy22]

If you are outside your province, you'll need an addon

[neilselden]

Hi @kav2001c,

Minutes will be deducted for LD when you are in your home province.

Sorry for any confusion 🙂

Cheers,

Neil

[bryanbreguet]

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@Rockdaddy22 wrote:
It's actually very simple, I don't get all the confusion.

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It is definitely not. Good for you if you understood it right away (or like to pretend you did), but it's incredibly confusing. Especially the part where if you are outside of your home province, you can call this province but you can't receive any phone call, including calls from the province ou are currently in.

Not sure why some people like you liek to pretend it's not confusing. Maybe you just want to appear smart but the fact remains that many, many people are confused. And PM is a business, it's usually not a good thing when your product is confusing. They should definitely improve on that.

[Rockdaddy22]

It's actually very simple, I don't get all the confusion.

[bryanbreguet]

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@Jeremy_M wrote:

We appreciate the feedback @Cyber 🙂

Personally, I don't think it's that confusing to understand, and I think @neilselden did a great job at illustrating how province-wide calling works, in comparison to Canada-wide calling.

I also agree, maybe this plan is not suited for everyone. Everyone must do their due diligence before purchasing or changing their rate plan, just like in any other similar situation.

Cheers,

Jeremy

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The fact that we have pages and pages of questions about this in various forums should, alone, shows that this is indeed not easy to understand. Come on now, is it really that hard to admit?