Review - 30 days with Public Mobile

[anya]

I have to admit that when I first came across Public Mobile in my search for a new provider I was skeptical. I was frustrated that I couldn’t just pick up the phone and ask some specific questions about porting my number. But the opportunity to get the 4GB/$40 promo for service on the Telus network and without long term commitment was too tempting to ignore. 

And so despite my reservations, I jumped on board. That was 30 days ago and now this is how I see it.

Pricing;

Even when there isn’t a promo, this is still one of the cheapest providers that is running off a major network. As an existing customer you can also often take advantage of a promo (best if you set the plan to change on your next renewal date rather than mid-cycle). The rewards for autopay, loyalty, referrals and involvement in the community sweeten the pot. But be warned though, being prepaid, there is no buyer’s remorse refund should you change your mind.

Customer Service and getting help;
Yes, it does take longer to receive responses. But I was able to sort everything out in a few short messages with the moderators and without being bounced between automated systems, to hold music, to a different department, to back into another queue etc. I am personally willing to jump through a few hoops for support and forgo the call centre roundabout for a cheaper service. Pretty much every general question I’ve had so far seems to have been asked and answered here in the community already anyway.

Network Service;
No dropped calls (so far) and sound quality is good. Connectivity in downtown Toronto has been no problem bar one spotty area. In some places, I would even say that connectivity is better than Rogers. This is most noticeable when exiting the subway and elevators - re-connection takes a fraction of the time that it did on Rogers (possibly due to the much higher volume of Rogers network customers connecting to the tower than Telus?) I am on 3G, so browsing and watching video clips can be a little slow sometimes, but it is adequate and WhatsApp calls work fine.

Conclusion;
This service is not for everyone. If you have zero patience for; online-only support, the occasional glitch, self-serve systems, DIY troubleshooting, looking things up and waiting for customer support, then this service is not for you. That said, compared to the offerings from the other major providers, it is cheaper, more flexible and it still provides the same quality of network service. For me personally, this is great value for money and I have just renewed onto the recent 4.5GB/$40 promo.

[ben2018]

From my experience, public mobile SIM card is not working very well with IPhone. But with other Android phones seems OK

[aak]

Response from moderator was fairly quick (15 min), but issue resolved itself, looks like due to the high winds telus network was down for hour or two

[aak]

Not even 30 days with them and my phone all the sudden lost connection and now not registered on network. Live chat with dummy is pointless, waiting on response form moderator, however long will it take I am not  able to use my phone during this time which I prepaid for. So far big thumb down.

[mimmo]

@Barncat2014 10 days? Can you share your problem? When was the last message to mods that you sent?

[Barncat2014]

luckier than me. It's 10 days now and still no moderator response

[Barncat2014]

You've had much better luck (or maybe just more patience) than me. I was moving so iiwanted to.port over my old # for a couple of months. Dismal failure; ended up with my old # no service and new # not attached to a working sim .

Then I added a line and went stateside with Roaming add on Surprise! No coverage on the great plains until.Washington!

And my other line (613....) was supposed to be Canada wide talk and 4.5gb data. That was a month ago. Still no data and no moderator response either!

[anya]

Edge has popped up a few times for me here in Toronto. I left LTE enabled up until a few days ago. After reading some of the comments here on the community I decided to test disabling LTE and I think it’s actually now faster (or at least more stable?) Will have to run some speed tests on both to confirm. 

[jjhack84]

Depending on where you are you can access anything from LTE+ all the way down to hspa. I haven't seen the old edge network yet but I haven't been in too many remote areas lately.

I am curious to see what plans will be available with the eventual 5g roll out I  the next few years.

All I was really trying to get at was the 3g speed vs LTE argument isn't as big of an issue as people want to believe (especially considering most people don't know what either means)😀

[torontokris]

@anya @jjhack84 If your on actual 3G network you can access the LTE network even with a 3G speed plan. It’s just the LTE is throttled to 3mbps... you do not have to use the actual 3G network (unless you prefer it).

[CherylKirby]

As a newbie, I agree with most of your comments with the exception of getting assistance, I messed up my screen name when I joined and trying to get it changed was confusing at first but as I got the idea of the moderators, it cleared up. Like you said, waiting online for a call center and being bounced around from department to department put years on me! Posting a call to a moderator was answered within a few hours with step-by-step direction to fix the problem and then they followed up to ensure I was pleased! I have never seen that at the Big ones before!

[JL9]

Amen brother.

[lsunley]

I've been happy with my service, too. And I love the opportunity to earn rewards for doing things I'd do anyway. Welcome to the Public Mobile family! 

[jjhack84]

Forgot to mention this as well. When comparing to lucky or chatr, one very clear advantage with public is the lack of zones(or one big one if you consider Canada a zone).

Another is 3g vs LTE. People here 3g and say "oh so slow, old technology". I can say downloading videos it can be a touch slow. However, most of the time (even with lte) I wait for wifi to download or even stream videos. Most websites are optimized for mobile meaning they are streamlined for quicker use and less data usage.

Whenever I hear people quote speeds they hear on commercials like "up to 1 gigabyte per second" fast LTE. You will only reach those speeds if no one else is one the network. How often does that happen? 3g was slow years ago, more due to phones being much slower with less processing power.

End rant 😀

[will13am]

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@anya wrote:

Thank you  @dna2016 . Same here. I know a few people who would love to reduce their phone costs (and I wouldn’t mind the referral rewards either 😉). But they would be completely lost if they needed support.

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It is the perfect storm in my opinion.  This service offers good rewards for being helpful, presumably on the understanding that if they want the high maintenance customers to join with the help of those who are more agile there will be a cost.  Many of us make good use of rewards.   

[jjhack84]

With my friends and family, I'm their tech support guy. I am slowly converting people over when contracts are up or close enough. Started with the wife, then mother in law and soon my mom as well.

If I believed the service would be a headache, I wouldn't bother.

Besides, the number one complaint about any company is quality of customer service. You might call and get through within an hour with a standard provider but how often do you need to call back a few times over a few days anyway?

I rather wait and get a quality answer!

Maybe not for everyone but if a provider was ideal for everyone there would only he one.

[anya]

Thank you  @dna2016 . Same here. I know a few people who would love to reduce their phone costs (and I wouldn’t mind the referral rewards either 😉). But they would be completely lost if they needed support.

[dna2016]

@anya, great feedback based on your 30 day experience.  In essence this provider really isn't for everyone.  Sometimes I re-think before referring certain people because I know they'd hate not being able to just pick up the phone and call for billing or tech support.  With PM if you don't know how to do some of your own troubleshoting then you might not last.  

Just so you know, if you like the first 30 days, then it only gets better once you start responding to forums and contributing to the Community Forum.  Once you start seeing those credits add up with all the rewards available you'll almost never want to leave.  You start out paying $40,and an auto pay credit here, a bunch of community contribution credits there, a loyalty credit here, a couple referral credits there, and now your $40 payment drops to $30, or $25, or even less.

Welcome to Public Mobile 

[NDesai · Accepted solution]

Thank you for sharing your experience with us!