US Roaming data plans are broken.

[Jgk]

I was in the US April 19th and bought the $20 talk, text, 250 data add on bundle and added a 500 MB addon. I left the US on the 26th. 

I returned to the US on the 28th for the weekend. By then, I had used up the 250 MB and was almost done with the 500MB. I wanted to top up the talk, text, and 250 MB data for the weekend, but I couldn't add the $20 plan. It doesn't show up in the add on page.

This is really annoying because I wanted to top up before flying to the US, but had to buy the $15 talk and text plan plus a $10 250MB data add on.

Public mobile should allow all add ons to stack, even if they're the same plan. It's confusing to have the add on menu change during different situations and I just want to buy another plan.

Maybe if you're worried about people being confused by the plans, it should show a calendar when buying an add on and show which days the add on applies or let the customer select a date range.

[Bobmonty]

I am presently in the US, at a Starbucks trying to figure this out and I am soooooo annoyed.

it should absolutely be consumption based. I have been in areas with very little WiFi access and I burned through 150mb of data trying to get this info. I am also annoyed that I need a whole separate account to access the help community? Why? How absurd!

I have had good luck with public mobile but this is outrageous. I also tried adding another 500mb instead even though for 5$ I could get an additional gb but as we know that isn’t an option.

the 500mb add on won’t add either?! 

bad system, needs revision immediately and also would make them more money so I don’t get it.

[RogerI]

We only need this for US roaming, since the various Canadian add-ons do not have a sunset date, they last until used up. Therefore if you do add, say, the $8 and the $15 long distance add-on (like I did), they work together. The US add-ons, as far as I know, don't play nicely together. I would also very much like to see PM have two US add-ons periods, one for 7 days and one for 30 days. 10 days is a funny number. Still, PM is better than the $5 a day deal some other company charge. A relation recently come over from England; they charged her 5 pounds for every day she used her phone. Needless to say, on the one or two days she used the phone, she was on the thing a lot.

[Samianauman]

Agreed with @Rogerl
It's will help lots of users who have future plan for vacation or business trip thry can pre set future date for us roaming or any add on would be a great feature if they enable it

[RogerI]

The reason you can't  (or don't want to) add a new US one if you already have an existing US add-on, is because the add-on starts there and when. So you would be wasting the current add-on. I agree it's not good. The only way to solve this problem is to add a start time and date to the option. That way you could setup multiple add-ons with non-overlapping start and end times. I really don't see the problem doing this. Technically, the web site has all the needed machinery. Several people have already suggested this with zero response from PM.

[Jgk]

@RogerI wrote:

It's not broken, it's working as designed, and documented.

---

Documented for whom? The developers?

As a customer assume a situation where I have a 250 MB US roaming addon. It's still active and I'm still in the US. I know by the end of the day, I'll finish the 250 MB and I intend to add another 250 MB since I'm prepped and don't want to be caught without data.

I check the website. Under plans I see the the 250 MB US roaming addon and the price is good. Customer happy.

I log in to my account.

I go to the add on page and the option for adding 250 MB is missing. It was there on the front page, but it's not on the menu to purchase. Instead, I have to purchase the 500 MB US roaming. It is more than I know I need and I'd rather just stack another 250 MB. Customer frustrated.

Please consider this constructive criticism with the intent to make the service better. The customer doesn't care if you designed it this way. It is a problem for customers.

People have asked me about my experience with Public mobile. I've told them the cell service is great, signup was awesome. But if anything goes wrong with your Roaming add on while you're travelling, you're screwed because there's nobody to talk to and if you're in the US, your phone is now a brick. <-- This is very bad. Not everywhere has free wifi to do a top up. Cell service should be reliable and boring. 

[makkahn28]

Yes, I do agree, YET the service is still in the beginning stages, and hoping that PM will eventually overhaul and make it better

[paulie]

Sounds similar to a suggestion I already made in Public Lab.  There should be a way to by a daily plan or actually make it consumption based rather than a span ie:10 days.  People cross the border many times a year, and likely for only day trips or 3-4 days.  Doesn't make sense to have to buy 10 days worth. Or it should be 10 days consumption based. 

And yes, as I also mentioned in Public Lab, would make sense to be able to buy more data as needed or as consumption based. Never thought of it for USA Addon.

[RogerI]

It's not broken, it's working as designed, and documented.

[Samianauman]

The problem is that since 10 days plan trigger right after you purchase and if you run out on data and want to add on again then system won't allow that because its already an active add-on under your plan I think pm should have a separate add-on for data or extra data usage add-on other then talk and text since they offer talk and text for 10 days if someone just want data only would be a great deal if ops can buy extra data usage and doesn't have to wait for 10 days over rule

[NDesai · Accepted solution]

Currently, public mobile doesn't allow the same add-on purchase before the one you bought passes 10 days period. Yes, its broken in a way how it was designed as there is no solution to buy the same add-on when you run out in less than 10 days. They are working on it and soon i hope to see a solution for this.