*Some insight* - New 4gb/$45 plan VS what the world is offering.

[DmcDohko]

This is by no means a rant. I've been with PM for almost a year now and have loved their great service so far with my 4gb/38$ plan. However, now that this plan seems to be a rare gem and given the fact that their new promo is that same plan but with a higher price tag, I can't but feel dissapointed at how canadian cellphone service providers have been monopolizing the market for too many years now.

I'm sure many of you are well aware of this, and some perhaps not so much...but I'm hoping more will be done to improve the quality and costs of service in the near future.

Just an example, in Italy, cell phone companies like "3 italia", provide much better packages for much better prices:

Some current deals open to the public

unlimited minutes across the country + 500 text (let's be real, no one even needs that many nowadays) + 5/15/30 gb a month for $13-$28 max.... amazing!

And those are just the very basic ones. It is very common in italy to have the providers (even the ones you don't currently use) contact you to offer even better deals with more data and lower price tags.

To top it off, these deals are not stagnant over the years, but in fact have gotten better year after year.

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That being said, I understand all canadian companies need to make some profit and there are certain regulations in effect that need to be met, however they've become too slow progressing and aren't keeping up much with the times, perhaps due to a lack of competitiveness.

Nonetheless, I want to thank PM for providing a great cellphone service so far to the canadian market and hope they keep striving to bring a bigger and better future for us consumers.

What are everyone else's thoughts on this? Anyone experience even better services/prices in other parts of the world?

[DmcDohko]

@pakmodeRead posts properly and be productive and non offensive in discussions or troll somehwere else 🙂 - thanks.

[pakmode]

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@DmcDohko wrote:

@pakmodeI don't see your point there - we aren't talking about coverage, and PM's coverage in my area is great and all I require atm.

Also, as we stated, the plans Italy is offering are valid across Europe, if you want to talk apples to apples.

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Lol - insecure lil fellow arent you. 

No point in discussing this further. 

Good day. 

[DmcDohko]

@pakmodeI don't see your point there - we aren't talking about coverage, and PM's coverage in my area is great and all I require atm.

Also, as we stated, the plans Italy is offering are valid across Europe, if you want to talk apples to apples.

[stonechucker]

I consider myself an 80's kid, who has grown up learning that to conserve is to save, and by that thinking, I'm doing pretty well with my selection of the Fall 2016 promo.

As I continue to say, I DO NOT need Canada Wide calling, I've got way too much texing (25 per month??, only need in province) and my data jumped from 6GB/90 to 12GB/90 only because it was the same price at the time.  I don't want to sit in front of a 5" screen day after day streaming video, or chatting on WhatsApp (sp??) or SnapChat, or Twitter, or Facebook.  I want to call who I want to speak to, using a telephone that is at the ready, when I'm ready.  Funny enough, in my peer group, we're all the same way!  Facebook Messenger and limited SMS/MMS via Textra are all I need, and I don't need another dang app which some people use, and others don't to clog up my device.

The data I do use is typically while I'm the car (GPS, streaming low or normal quality audio), and when at home, I have my cable company wifi which is unlimited downloading at a decent speed.  My TV is semi-smart, so I added a ChromeCast (oh yeah!!), and I'll stream what I want to my entertainment system via WiFi in the apartment.

[Luddite]

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@wetcoaster wrote:

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@DmcDohko wrote:

@Ludditeyes I heard about the roam like home across europe this summer... it's excellent!

@ShawnC13well I didn't say people don't use messages, what I meant is most people use wifi messengers like whatsapp waaaay more than regular text message and if they don't it's because of how pricey data plans are here in Canada. I think most would rather have more gigs of data than more or unlimited text messages.

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I consider myself as a moderate texter - and reach 400-500 texts/month on a regular basis.

I think SMS services cost the provider next to nothing in this day and age, so I'm still scratching my head how ChatR (as an example) gets away with 100 included texts on their basic $25 plan, dinging the user with $0.40 for each message above that.

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Because plans are designed to attract enough customers profitably.

[wetcoaster]

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@DmcDohko wrote:

@Ludditeyes I heard about the roam like home across europe this summer... it's excellent!

@ShawnC13well I didn't say people don't use messages, what I meant is most people use wifi messengers like whatsapp waaaay more than regular text message and if they don't it's because of how pricey data plans are here in Canada. I think most would rather have more gigs of data than more or unlimited text messages.

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I consider myself as a moderate texter - and reach 400-500 texts/month on a regular basis.

I think SMS services cost the provider next to nothing in this day and age, so I'm still scratching my head how ChatR (as an example) gets away with 100 included texts on their basic $25 plan, dinging the user with $0.40 for each message above that.

[pakmode]

OP - you do realize that Canada is 33X bigger then Italy right?

The cost to build up the network here is substantial.

We need to talk apples to apples. Compare Canada to Russia/China/US/Brazil maybe. 

But not Italy. 

[DmcDohko]

@Ludditeyes I heard about the roam like home across europe this summer... it's excellent!

@ShawnC13well I didn't say people don't use messages, what I meant is most people use wifi messengers like whatsapp waaaay more than regular text message and if they don't it's because of how pricey data plans are here in Canada. I think most would rather have more gigs of data than more or unlimited text messages.

[ShawnC13]

@DmcDohko, I will disagree with you about the text messaging.  I have teenagers and young adults I have amounts of in the 1000's of messages per  month and I am talking close to 10K

[NDesai]

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@Luddite wrote:

I'm still on 1 GB for 90 days, but may upgrade to 1.5 at 3G speeds for same price! I'm a 3G fan. 😎

Oh, forgot I'll have global texting instead of Canada wide too!

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Me too thinking about it. But what am i going to do with the extra 500mb 

[Luddite]

I'm still on 1 GB for 90 days, but may upgrade to 1.5 at 3G speeds for same price! I'm a 3G fan. 😎

Oh, forgot I'll have global texting instead of Canada wide too!

[will13am]

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@NDesai wrote:

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@will13am wrote:

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@NDesai wrote:

Us being on the fastest network to date, we can't really complaint about PM.

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Come one @NDesai, you drinking that Bellus cool aid?  We are talking about 4 gigs of usage over a 3 month period.  Even with the crippled LTE plans, the speed is fast enough to consume 4 gigs per month.  Bottom line is this country lacks competition and so carriers can raise prices as they see fit.  This 2017 fall promo (if we can call it that) is a 17.5% increase.  Only GVA and GTA housing prices have gone up more y/y.  Telling customers that they invest billions into the network is a marketing ploy.  This is simply the cost of doing business.  If the carriers think that it is a bad investment to spend that kind of money, they can pull back the purse strings at any time. 

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No, I am too cool for that cool aid. 

Agree or not, Bellus is the Canada's largest network, but we take advantage of it through PM. About the increasing rate, they are just playing with all of us. If all of us care about the high price, we would not sign up no matter what. But most of us can't live without our phones with data now a days. 

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I do agree that this is an inelastic demand product like cancer sticks.  Perhaps the best way to get even is to pick up some Telus shares and gain back some of the 17.5%.

[NDesai]

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@will13am wrote:

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@NDesai wrote:

Us being on the fastest network to date, we can't really complaint about PM.

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Come one @NDesai, you drinking that Bellus cool aid?  We are talking about 4 gigs of usage over a 3 month period.  Even with the crippled LTE plans, the speed is fast enough to consume 4 gigs per month.  Bottom line is this country lacks competition and so carriers can raise prices as they see fit.  This 2017 fall promo (if we can call it that) is a 17.5% increase.  Only GVA and GTA housing prices have gone up more y/y.  Telling customers that they invest billions into the network is a marketing ploy.  This is simply the cost of doing business.  If the carriers think that it is a bad investment to spend that kind of money, they can pull back the purse strings at any time. 

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No, I am too cool for that cool aid. 

Agree or not, Bellus is the Canada's largest network, but we take advantage of it through PM. About the increasing rate, they are just playing with all of us. If all of us care about the high price, we would not sign up no matter what. But most of us can't live without our phones with data now a days. 

[will13am]

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@NDesai wrote:

Us being on the fastest network to date, we can't really complaint about PM.

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Come one @NDesai, you drinking that Bellus cool aid?  We are talking about 4 gigs of usage over a 3 month period.  Even with the crippled LTE plans, the speed is fast enough to consume 4 gigs per month.  Bottom line is this country lacks competition and so carriers can raise prices as they see fit.  This 2017 fall promo (if we can call it that) is a 17.5% increase.  Only GVA and GTA housing prices have gone up more y/y.  Telling customers that they invest billions into the network is a marketing ploy.  This is simply the cost of doing business.  If the carriers think that it is a bad investment to spend that kind of money, they can pull back the purse strings at any time. 

[NDesai]

Us being on the fastest network to date, we can't really complaint about PM.

[Luddite]

"What are everyone else's thoughts on this? Anyone experience even better services/prices in other parts of the world?"

Yes; Europe in particular seems to be lower priced EVEN with exchange rates. In addition, the EU has mandated free "roam like home" throughout the EU.

I agree, that $40 fall 2016 promo has gone forever from Public Mobile.