Public Mobile response to Shaw Mobile free service?

[FrostyButters]

Since Shaw has announced the free plan with unlimited minutes and texting across Canada for Shaw customers(FYI 1GB of data is $10 for full LTE data and any unused data is automatically transfered to the next month). What is Telus/PM response? Why should I stay with PM?

[Arachnophiliac]

    I though I would follow up from my original postings and mention that since I wrote that earlier reply, I have acquired a SIM from Shaw as they are the only real option for Internet here.  I am near the Langley/Surrey border and though in a rural setting, very close to Willowbrook and the urban centre of Langley city.  Though my reception is a little weak with Public, it is rarely weak enough to drop a call or lose signal, but I can't say the same for the Shaw service.  It is patchy here and definitely weaker.  Too bad the SIM itself costs 20$, a waste of money, but I guess I now have a free second line that I never use!

[JLakerson]

When Shaw came out with their Shaw mobile plan, it was definitely quite enticing. My partner was originally paying $20 for a talk and text plan with Telus and I was paying a $40 unlimited talk and text plan with 2 GB of data with Koodo. This was also during the time when I found out about PM. Although I was somewhat interested in Shaw mobile, I wanted data and I knew that their data coverage is not as good as the data coverage that PM has considering the networks they run under. So my partner is with Shaw mobile for the talk and text and paying $0 as he does not need data and I am with PM for the 2GB deal. So far, he's had no issues with Shaw mobile, but then again, he does not use data...

[spockrant]

I switched from Rogers to Shaw at the end of September. Less than 24 hours later, I switched to Public.  Unless you live in a big city, the coverage with Shaw is terrible.  In order for ,y phone to actually work, I had to manually switch cellular carrier networks every time I left my home town.  If I didn’t, I wouldn’t get any service.  

If I was PM, my only response would be “You get what you pay for”.  

[Arachnophiliac]

Just thought I'd add my two cents to those reading this thread.  Shaw's tactics are pretty sleazy, considering that it actually costs 15$/month for this plan if you are not already a Shaw customer.  While that was not made very obvious or clear on their highly dysfunctional website, I found out when I decided to inquire as to the catch at one of the mobile kiosks.  I was told that "there is no catch", but it was then explained to me that I need to be a Shaw customer to be eligible and it would be 15$/month otherwise.  There is also a 20$ setup fee that the agent didn't mention, but I did manage to find that info on their website.  Personally, I love PM and have been with them since well before they got purchased by Telus.  Service is fantastic, rates are amazing and coverage is second to none!

[mpcdesign]

@chne1967 and @raisen , I saw the news about Shaw Mobile, and being a Shaw customer, I have been grateful that Shaw decided to have unlimited data way back in March. A friend of mine who is with Telus said that they stopped that in June. 

But with Shaw coming with Shaw Mobile, something so new and fresh, it really does pique your interest. Is it wise to jump on it as quickly as it comes out? With technology, there are always bugs to it. Even now, at the time of this message, I click on the Shaw Mobile, and I get an error message! Speaking for my needs only, even on the basic plan of $15 (with discounts it's only $9 a month), having the extra 250mb of data in case of emergencies (especially, when I get lost while driving on Surrey or Langley!) comes handy. And every year, it gets cheaper, so by year 5, am looking at a plan of roughly $6-7 a month. 

I think it's awesome that it works for @FrostyButters and his parents. I haven't thought much about it until FrostyButters says it would be great for his parents, and maybe I should do that too. I realized, my parents have a pre-existing pre-paid with Telus for $100 a year for talk and text, which they hardly ever use. But, my concern would be the coverage, and I wouldn't want them stuck somewhere and call us or an emergency line because there was no coverage or dropped calls. 

Personally, I may need to wait and see too. 

[raisen]

Shaw Mobile has poor coverage, check I'm 200kl from there nearest service. Plan on travelling Canada expect spotty sevice...  

[chne1967]

Agree. I seriously considered Shaw mobile and will check again in a year.

Till then my wife and daughter are on Public Mobile. I simply think that one can’t beat Telus mobile infrastructure in Western Canada...

[darlicious]

@Psygineer 

It would more likely be the other way around.....being that shaw is using freedroms network you would need the much more reliable and expansive telus network to back up the shaw phone.

[Psygineer]

I would absolutely love if that was in my area. While PM's service in my area has been more stable this year than previous, I still get random outages. The backup Shaw would mean that work wouldn't have to stop just because my cell is without signal.

[FrostyButters]

I'm getting a feeling that a lot of the poor performance with Freedom is either from years ago, or an exaggeration of poor performance from the big 3.

I picked up 2 Shaw Mobile Sim cards with the free calling and txt. Both came with 1GB of data as a signup bonus. I've had a very good experience with coverage from Vancouver Island, through Vancouver and out to the Fraser Valley. I didn't run a speed test in every location, but the average speed I've had is about 25-30Mbps. Texts and calls from my PM phone to my Shaw Mobile phone worked instantly with no dropped calls. This is on an older iPhone 6 and fairly new Samsung A20.

I just wanted others to know how my limited experience with Shaw Mobile has been

[chne1967]

Very happy with Public Mobile. Much rather have stable connections across Canada (Telus infrastructure).

Shaw is 25GB but only 2GB when you travel...

Also no need for 25GB, we are on 5GB PM plan.

[computergeek541]

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@jor123 wrote:

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Doesn't Shaw roam on other networks outside of its coverage area anyway?

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Shaw/Freedom roam on Rogers, Bell, and Telus. However, you cannot deliberately choose to roam in some places because roaming is disabled in many areas that they advertised as already covering. This can result in receiving better service otuside of covered areas.

[jor123]

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@popping wrote:

@FrostyButters 

PM plans are Canada wide with 2 mobile companies maintaining cell towers.

Shaw Mobile network is like Swiss cheese with lots of holes without service.  It is no use for me if I don't get any data when I am lost on highway and want to get Google Map working to find a way home.  I will not consider a network no matter how cheap the plan is.  

PM may do something similar to the Quebec $30/2GB plan instead of charging $35 for the rest of Canada for the same 2GB plan.  It took PM recently to create the $30/2GB Quebec plan to compete with Fizz. and other providers in Quebec.  

I don't think PM will do anything with the cheap or free Shaw Mobile plan yet.  I think the BC and AB mobile market will heat up slowing with the new competition.

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Doesn't Shaw roam on other networks outside of its coverage area anyway?

[birchy]

@popping - Not sure where you're located, but for myself, I've seen no difference between Freedom's coverage (which will be what Shaw Mobile is), and Public's.  I got myself a PM SIM card a month ago so i could compare it side by side with our Freedom devices, in the hopes that PM would fill in those "swiss cheese holes" you mention when we're on road trips and such.  Sadly, I lost service on both devices in the same spots on my regular road trip route to/from my MIL's place.  It's just a small sample size, but it was disappointing for sure.  
Once I saw that, my focus switched to the fact that PM's data is "everywhere" data, vs Freedom's Home vs Nationwide distinction.  I was getting close to porting all our numbers over to PM (I still might), but then saw the Shaw Mobile news.  Since I'm an existing Shaw Internet customer, those $0 + $10/GB/90 days add-on data plans are looking pretty awesome.  I'll probably give it a try.  I can't see how coverage/performance would be any different than what I get with Freedom (since Shaw owns Freedom the same way Telus owns Public) - which is completely sufficient for the needs of my family.

[Lorca]

Testing it out and seeing if it works well for you is the way to go.

[darlicious]

@FrostyButters 

      If you have dual sim phone this would work for a secondary line to supplement the $15 plan . You could use the shaw line when theres service available and when you need reliable service you could still use your pm service. I had a telus line to back up my freedom phone that despite living in the middle of vancouver proper my freedom service at home was spotty at best.

And you are right its hard to beat a $0 phone bill. One year since i switched my two lines to public mobile and at $0 each you cant beat that price and i have service everywhere on both lines. Do you think on your one year anniversary with shaw you will still have a $0 bill?

[FrostyButters]

PM has the same disclaimer about "subject to change..."

[Anonymous]

Add-ons are for 3 months. They say roll-over but only for 3 months. Or it rolls over for 2 additional months.

[BearFBI]

@FrostyButters These are introductory offers. You'll move over and enjoy free service. Then they up the rates. And PM offers the better deal. Then you probably consider coming back. Just stay put where you are right now. It not worth the hassle to switch and loose everything then realize shaw is garbage then switch back and start over.

[ShawnC13]

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@FrostyButters wrote:

I would suspect that the big 3 carriers in Canada are more than a little concerned about this latest move from Shaw. I've already

picked up 2 Shaw Mobile sim cards. The 1 GB of data is free for the time being. I'll find out if the service works well for me and if it does I'll be porting out my number as well as picking up 2 additional sim cards for the kids. 

It may be hard to compete with unlimited talk and txt across Canada for $0. I'll most likely move my parents over as well.

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[ShawnC13]

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@FrostyButters wrote:

Since Shaw has announced the free plan with unlimited minutes and texting across Canada for Shaw customers(FYI 1GB of data is $10 for full LTE data and any unused data is automatically transfered to the next month). What is Telus/PM response? Why should I stay with PM?

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This is from my friend who is also a PM customer and their experience so far

Not sure if a response is needed.  I think the Shaw network will still need a lot of improvements to be competing

[dude65]

Everybody can choose to change carriers or stay put. Only you know what is best for you. There is no such thing as "free", somewhere somebody has to pay for it. PM has good value. The grass is always green on the other side of the fence, until you jump over and find out you were wrong.

[FrostyButters]

I would suspect that the big 3 carriers in Canada are more than a little concerned about this latest move from Shaw. I've already

picked up 2 Shaw Mobile sim cards. The 1 GB of data is free for the time being. I'll find out if the service works well for me and if it does I'll be porting out my number as well as picking up 2 additional sim cards for the kids. 

It may be hard to compete with unlimited talk and txt across Canada for $0. I'll most likely move my parents over as well.

[computergeek541]

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@FrostyButters wrote:

Since Shaw has announced the free plan with unlimited minutes and texting across Canada for Shaw customers(FYI 1GB of data is $10 for full LTE data and any unused data is automatically transfered to the next month). What is Telus/PM response? Why should I stay with PM?

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I would expect for now, there won't be any response. Public Mobile has not been competing with Wind/Freedom for the longest time. I actually think that Public has almost stopped completing completely. When it comes to Shaw Mobile, this is almost certainly going to be a "premium"/more expensive brand compared to Freedom Mobile. I don't think the Shaw Mobile annoucement changes anything for Public.

[popping]

@FrostyButters 

PM plans are Canada wide with 2 mobile companies maintaining cell towers.

Shaw Mobile network is like Swiss cheese with lots of holes without service.  It is no use for me if I don't get any data when I am lost on highway and want to get Google Map working to find a way home.  I will not consider a network no matter how cheap the plan is.  

PM may do something similar to the Quebec $30/2GB plan instead of charging $35 for the rest of Canada for the same 2GB plan.  It took PM recently to create the $30/2GB Quebec plan to compete with Fizz. and other providers in Quebec.  

I don't think PM will do anything with the cheap or free Shaw Mobile plan yet.  I think the BC and AB mobile market will heat up slowing with the new competition.

[will13am]

I have only seen Public Mobile compete directly with Wind back in 2017 with a migration offer.  Otherwise, I see no response here.  @FrostyButters , show loyalty to your wallet first.  If there is anything out there that is better for you, jump all over it.  It is the best way to reward competition.  For myself, I will stay.  I have been a Wind customer twice, I don't want a third strike.  

[hairbag1 · Accepted solution]

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@FrostyButters wrote:

Since Shaw has announced the free plan with unlimited minutes and texting across Canada for Shaw customers(FYI 1GB of data is $10 for full LTE data and any unused data is automatically transfered to the next month). What is Telus/PM response? Why should I stay with PM?

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There is no PM response. You should go wherever you feel you're getting the best bang for your $$, after doing your due diligence.

We'll still be here when you come back.