Public Mobile in Vancouver

[darlicious]

I was curious today after reading a post about calling public mobile so I decided to Google public mobile to see what came up. I was surprised by what came up. I also checked the pm store locator to see that the address matched a retail location listed. Interesting....comments?

[rhbcc]

Kenneth from Public Mobile kiosk in Metrotown near Kawawa restaurant is the best!

[Coolbeanz]

As long as the prices don't go up lol

[AE_Collector]

How about they make themselves legitimate by offering free PM SIM cards whenever we need one?

AE_Collector

[NDesai]

@darlicious wrote:

Thanks everyone for participating in my little new years eve mystery....and I believe I did get a very satisfactory solution from it. I may have jumped the gun on the solution...but @Anonymous  did correctly identify the actual business and the questionable use of public mobiles branding and image. Some of you were misled Into  believing pm was opening retail locations or selling phones. @AE_Collector  had a plausible explanation by comparing  them to telus branded stores. @computergeek541  provided useful comparisons but overall @NDesai did the best job of identifying and isolating the bigger issue of copyright infringement  and followed up to report it so that public mobile could make their own mind.

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@computergeek541 actually reported before i get to it. But all THANKS goes to you for bringing this to our attention. If you ever go near by that area, you should hop in and ask about it

Anyways, now that PM team is aware, lets hope they deal with this quickly and the business owner deletes the name. Or may be even make them unauthorised for doing this. 

[darlicious]

Thanks everyone for participating in my little new years eve mystery....and I believe I did get a very satisfactory solution from it. I may have jumped the gun on the solution...but @Anonymous  did correctly identify the actual business and the questionable use of public mobiles branding and image. Some of you were misled Into  believing pm was opening retail locations or selling phones. @AE_Collector  had a plausible explanation by comparing  them to telus branded stores. @computergeek541  provided useful comparisons but overall @NDesai did the best job of identifying and isolating the bigger issue of copyright infringement  and followed up to report it so that public mobile could make their own mind.

[CannonFodder]

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@darlicious wrote:

@CannonFodder  Hmmmm.....if that was the case how come they are the only ones across Canada?

Cuz their web SEO skillz are better than the rest of Canada! 😜  😆 

I did the same search for at least  20 cities and could not reproduce the results.

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That was simply my theory of a potential reason for it, since the inner workings of Google algorithms are a mystery to most..... probably including a lot of people that work for Google.

[darlicious]

@CannonFodder  Hmmmm.....if that was the case how come they are the only ones across Canada? I did the same search for at least  20 cities and could not reproduce the results.

[CannonFodder]

While I won't claim to know a LOT about it, isn't it entirely possible this is little more than something that shows up on Google that way, because of the way Google works, and what those stores MAY have put in their web site setup to get their sites pop up at, or near, the top of any Google search for Public Mobile? 🤔 

[computergeek541]

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@Anonymous wrote:

So I've been mulling this over and it occurs to me that many stores do this in malls and city street buildings emblazoned with the likes of Telus seemingly saying they're a Telus store only to find on your receipt that it says some other dealer name.

I don't think this store is any different then.

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These would be franchised Telus stores and they would have permissiom to be known as "Telus".  If a store goes bt "Public Mobile", they would need permission and they'd need to be selling Public Mobile products. How can a Public Mobile-branded store sell used cell phone when Public Mobile doesn't offer phone hardware?

[darlicious]

@Anonymous  I'm back and forth on this one...of the many retailers offering various public mobile products blatantly or discreetly or scammy like koodo only this and two other small businesses have a Google business listing them as public mobile and not their registered business name. I could not find another example of this kind of business listing across Canada in larger cities.

  It was @CannonFodder that brought the other two to my attention...hes stickin to his molehill and I'm still halfway up the ascent of my mountain...i think its a deceptive business practice that with some modifications to be clear that they are authorized  dealers and not owned and operated  by public mobile like those cute bicycle kiosks can be mitigated. Now how this compares to the deceptive and unethical business practices that koodo allows with their sales assoçiates and their unwillingness  to compensate the unwitting public mobile customer/victim reveals that as a whole koodo values revenue over everything else....potential or current customers, it's public image, corporate partners or even its employees.

[NDesai]

PM team is now aware of this and they are currently investigating. I wouldn't be surprised if these stores delete their website/name fairly quickly. I did try to look elasewhere for such stores, but most with the "Public Mobile" name were an actual stores. To confirm this, the website link attached to these stores will direct you to the official PM website. If they don't, we need to report these stores. 

[AE_Collector]

TELUS owns zero of the dealers with the big TELUS signs on them and no employees are TELUS employees. Unless anything changed since I retired 6 years ago but if anything even more if those that were TELUS employees in other job functions are no longer TELUS employees.

AE_Collector

[Anonymous]

So I've been mulling this over and it occurs to me that many stores do this in malls and city street buildings emblazoned with the likes of Telus seemingly saying they're a Telus store only to find on your receipt that it says some other dealer name.

I don't think this store is any different then.

[darlicious]

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@CannonFodder wrote:

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@AE_Collector wrote:

It is a good thing this topic is about "phones (Public Mobile) in Vancouver.....

But I should probably start a topic in the lounge for most of these "off topic" pictures.

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Yeah, I was thinkin' this was kind of hijacked long ago. I am diggin' those old, coloured rotary phones..... ISTR our family only ever had black or white.

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 @CannonFodder   I believe  that by now my mountain has shrunk back down to a molehill in comparisn to the mountain of telephones @AE_Collector  is sitting on. Whether he can turn it into a mountain of cash is yet to be seen....only his bank account knows for sure.

[CannonFodder]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

It is a good thing this topic is about "phones (Public Mobile) in Vancouver.....

But I should probably start a topic in the lounge for most of these "off topic" pictures.

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Yeah, I was thinkin' this was kind of hijacked long ago. I am diggin' those old, coloured rotary phones..... ISTR our family only ever had black or white.

[AE_Collector]

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@CannonFodder wrote:

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@AE_Collector wrote:

 In twenty years I might be down to just a couple hundred left.

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JUST a couple hundred!? 😲  Ok, so how many do you figure you had at the peak of your madne..... er.... uhm.... collection?

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Well, uh... 4 digits. A little over 1000...maybe 200 over?

AE_Collector

[AE_Collector]

Well there were sometimes lights to the lower left or right of the dial (most often) typically in hotels to indicate messages waiting etc.

It is a good thing this topic is about "phones (Public Mobile) in Vancouver" ....

But I should probably start a topic in the lounge for most of these "off topic" pictures.

AE_Collector

[CannonFodder]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

 In twenty years I might be down to just a couple hundred left.

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JUST a couple hundred!? 😲  Ok, so how many do you figure you had at the peak of your madne..... er.... uhm.... collection?

[darlicious]

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@AE_Collector wrote:

More traditional AE model 80 in Garnet Red. (I think I posted this very recently).

AE_Collector

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@AE_Collector  Now that's the red phone I remember except it had a little white light on the corner that would light flash if it was in use.

[CannonFodder]

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@darlicious wrote:

@CannonFodder  If (and that's a really big IF) you were into digging you could find the whole collection....and it's a fine one at that.

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Yup, you're right, "a really big IF", because although it's somewhat interesting, no, I'm not into digging for that..... and, as it turns out, from the quick glance I had, digging wasn't necessary. 😜 

[AE_Collector]

Yes most phones that need to be hardwired to the network here are posted by me, Garfield included! I have way too many phones in my collection so have been cleaning, buffing, polishing and testing them and listing on Facebook marketplace with decent results! In twenty years I might be down to just a couple hundred left.

AE_Collector

[darlicious]

@CannonFodder  If (and that's a really big IF) you were into digging you could find the whole collection....and it's a fine one at that.

[CannonFodder]

@AE_Collector  Likin' that garnet red one! 👍 

Sorry, but I don't recall exactly who posted what, given the abundance of activity around here, but would I be correct in assuming(without going digging thru past threads), that given you're now "coming out of the closet" as the Automatic Electric Company collector, that was you that posted those Garfield phones recently?

[AE_Collector]

More traditional AE model 80 in Garnet Red. (I think I posted this very recently).

AE_Collector

[will13am]

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@darlicious wrote:

@AE_Collector  That reminds me of my days as a lifeguard and participating in emergency drills where you would have to run to the red phone...a direct line to the fire department/emergency services. Pre-911 days. Geez I must be getting old!

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Hopefully only one day everyday.  My mom still has a red phone.  It is her favorite color.  

[darlicious]

@AE_Collector  That reminds me of my days as a lifeguard and participating in emergency drills where you would have to run to the red phone...a direct line to the fire department/emergency services. Pre-911 days. Geez I must be getting old!

[AE_Collector]

Yes it does, the emergency phone charging stations they brought out and then promptly changed the company colours!

AE_Collector (Hint: AE Phone - Automatic Electric Company)

[darlicious]

@will13am @AE_Collector  Does this ring a bell?

[will13am]

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@darlicious wrote:

@will13am  A couple of weeks ago I found the old ones from Montreal still listed on a store locator website so there were three public mobile stores in Montreal also where there is currently at least two bicycle style kiosks. Maybe if I didn't have to keep clearing my browser history I would be able to find them easier.

  In regards to these cellular repair stores it appears that only their Google business sites are wrapped in "free" public mobile branding the actual locations look anything but....a rundown slightly dubious looking used cell store. I suppose the Google site might get you there thinking it's a public mobile retail store but once you arrive at the location there is no question it's just an authorized independent dealer.

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It is coming back to me now.  Those 5 kiosks were the bicycle stands.  

[darlicious]

@will13am  A couple of weeks ago I found the old ones from Montreal still listed on a store locator website so there were three public mobile stores in Montreal also where there is currently at least two bicycle style kiosks. Maybe if I didn't have to keep clearing my browser history I would be able to find them easier.

  In regards to these cellular repair stores it appears that only their Google business sites are wrapped in "free" public mobile branding the actual locations look anything but....a rundown slightly dubious looking used cell store. I suppose the Google site might get you there thinking it's a public mobile retail store but once you arrive at the location there is no question it's just an authorized independent dealer.