Understanding PM better (moving from TELUS)

[ReillyWood]

Hello,

  I'm very interested in understanding PM better and if it will work for me and my family.

  I'm currently on a TELUS Business plan, 4 phones, two in Vancouver, one in Victoria, one in London, Ont. (last two are students).  I'm looking at switching all four to PM.  Two of the phones have a device balance and are currently locked to Telus, the other two have no balance and are unlocked.

  Our biggest issues the last few months are data and long-distance charges.  We share 4GB amongst us with a typical combined monthly usage between 3-5GB.  I think 2GB each on the PM $45 ($135 for 90 days) plan would be a better deal.  Also, the Canada-wide calling would eliminate our current LD charges. 

  Am I correct in understanding the following:

• I can port all four numbers via the Self-service site
• To move all four phones to PM from TELUS, we would have to pay-out the device balance and unlock the two phones (and I assume this would be charged by TELUS during the porting process)
• We would need new SIM cards for each phone
• To make LD calls outside of Canada we would need a LD plan.  Without a LD plan, we would not be able to make nor receive calls to/from outside Canada
• We would all get the same network coverage under PM that we get today under TELUS
• If we travel to other countries, we can add a short-term travel plan to cover things like data, calling, texting

  I appreciate any help and  thank you in advance.

Rob Wood

[fktw]

@Ionut, your friend who was with wind probably didn't buy the US roaming package. I still have 2 lines with Wind, and to be honest, you really can't beat their pricing. They have a $15 US roaming package that allows you to have unlimited voice and data (data is throttled after 1gb) for a month. I've used that a few times in the states and it was great. Their standard roaming rates are also pretty cheap.

Wind's one major flaw is its coverage. It just sucks (little coverage outside major city centers, slow data, dropped calls), which is why I moved one of my lines to PM. I intend to move my wife's life to PM as well... Still contemplating for my line since I average 5gb of data usage a month and I'm paying roughly $30/month + tax at Wind.

[daredogg]

@kav2001c iPhones don't use the SIM card to store contacts, it's all done through iCloud as @srlawren has already suggested.

[kav2001c]

@ReillyWood you can save contacts & txt messages on your SIM card. Most modern phones will however opt to sync this data with your email account instead. Unless she overrode the default settings this shouldn't be an issue with an iPhone.

[aip0401]

@ReillyWood, if all she's doing is swapping SIMs, then there's no real need to do a backup beforehand.  All she needs to do is power down the phone, swap the SIM and power it back up again.

iPhones generally back up overnight to iCloud as long as they're plugged in and connected to Wi-Fi, but it doesn't hurt if you want to be cautious.  

If your daughter has enabled iCloud backup, on her iPhone, have her go to Settings > iCloud > Backup and tap on the "Back Up Now" button.

Otherwise, if iCloud backup isn't enabled and she doesn't have enough storage space, she can do a manual backup to iTunes.

[srlawren]

It's unlikely she has any data stored in her sim card--most likely that data is in her iCloud account. I'm not an iPhone experts, but it might not hurt to have her do a backup of her phone in iTunes prior to changing SIM cards, just as a precaution. Hopefully @Luddite or @Rockdaddy22 or some other iPhone user will correct me if I'm off base here as I'm am Android user with little iOS experience.

[ReillyWood]

OK, so now my daughter in Victoria has her PM SIM card.  This is my first test.  

Before moving her to the new PM SIM, is there any data I need to move off her current SIM card, like contacts?  She has an iPhone 5S and I beleive that iPhones don't store data on the SIM card.

Once we're ready to go, do I simply go to Activate Your SIM Card and proceed from there, to move her from TELUS to PM?

Rob Wood

[Luddite]

Yes thanks @kav2001c I looked more closely at the Telus coverage map and the extended coverage seems to be primarily Manitoba.

[kav2001c]

---

@Luddite wrote:

• We would all get the same network coverage under PM that we get today under TELUS
  • Yes; except for the far north where Telus has a sharing arrangement with others. Believe it is called "Extended Coverage"..

---

@Luddite where did Public Coverage drop out? Not like I ever plan on visiting the territories but most maps show similar coverage?

https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/coverage

From what I saw, Telus only roams in province of Manitoba?

[Ionut]

@ReillyWood i think they can go even further. You can do a smart move. The one of the plan which you choose and considering the most expensive "refer" all other 3 plan to that and you will get another (9$ every 3 months or 3 $ montly) and so one.

To be honest since i'm with public (2010) i always get same services or even better services than top Carrier and a big time reduces cost.

I still don't understand how other carrier get so many customers with that outrageous prices.

All the people i know and they came in Canada ,in the first week the get  any plan which cost them 70-100 $ 

I never get in trouble with PM, i always went alone by not bother me with messages about some personality, never call me for any reason and so on.

I don't know how you look at . but for me i have 90 days ( unlimit Us&Canada, Unlimit global texting, 6 gb of data) and i pay around 120 $). Technically i pay 40 $ per month ? Top carrier services for 40 $ they are not give you even unlimit local.

Also i've catch some comments about Wind. A friend of mine been in USA for 2 days and use Roaming for Google Map. They charged him over 100 $ 

Also another friend of mine moved from Toronto to PeterBorough. They was charged monthly 150 $ because they are not lived in GTA and they had to move the address to some friends in Toronto.

After the Plan expire those 2 friends of mine they move to Pm which mean more Saving for me.:)

[ReillyWood]

  I'm also impressed by all the help and honesty that has been given.  This is all the kind of information I like to know.  Too much "rah rah" and I begin to suspect what's not being said.

  This move won't cut our bill in half but it will save us about 20% off the current TELUS base price (which doesn't take the past few months overage charges in to consideration).  If it works as well as I want and expect it to, I'll be very happy.  Even if it only gets close, I think I'll be quite happy.  The issues with TELUS have mainly been with the gotchas - data overages, LD charges ('cause two kids travelling get out of their home zone), etc.  The PM cap on data and the all-in LD plan will put an end to those.

  FYI, if we were still on Rogers (we switched to TELUS about 18 months ago), then it would be near 50% savings from the base price, with more data and Canada-wide calling.  

Rob Wood

[daredogg]

I've read though this discussion thread and must say I'm quite impressed with the level of knowledge, honesty and A+ service given to @ReillyWood by community members!  I was in a similar position of doing my own research, but eventually just had to take the plunge. I'm glad Rob has decided to try one or two of his lines with PM. I've essentially cut my cellphone bills in half and am thrilled because of it! haha

[daredogg]

Thanks @srlawren for answering @neo911's questions about Ooma. Yes, I'm on the basic plan but it still includes Canada/US wide calling, just not all the bells and whistles that the "premier" plan has. I bought the bluetooth handset and yes you need to buy the base unit, but you can still plug a regular phone into it. All in all I'm happy with it as a secondary line.

[ReillyWood]

@stonechucker @srlawren

  Thank you to both.

  We have a general email address that we use with TELUS.  I'll use the individual email addresses for PM.  That should do it.

  Rob Wood

[srlawren]

@ReillyWood I think the email issue is more important with Koodo, as apparently they share some back-end system(s) with Public Mobile.  So what would happen was, if you tried to port from Koodo to Public Mobile using the same email address on both, the system thought it was an intra-carrier port, which do not work (only inter-carrier).  That said, I'm not sure if it was just the pre-paid Koodo customers that were affected, or all.  And I'm not sure if Telus has the same issue, and if it's only pre-paid, or all.  But, the suggested best practice is to not use the same one to avoid the issue.  Sorry I know this isn't a great explanation.

If you happen to have a gmail account, you can work around this by using extra "." in your username.  So, for example, if your address is abcdef@gmail.com, you could use a.bcdef@gmail.com for one account, ab.cdef@gmail.com for another, a.b.c.def@gmail.com for a third, abc.def@gmail.com for a fourth, etc.  Gmail seems to ignore the "." and you receive emails sent to any of those variations, while PM will apparenly recognize these as distince addresses.  I have no idea if this works for other email providers, but you could always test by sending yourself a test email with some extra "."s in your username and see if you receive them.  If so, you can use this same workaround, if desired.

[stonechucker]

@ReillyWood

there have been hicccups with activating new accounts and porting numbers from Telus/Koodo services.  Having separate emails seem to make it go smoother.

[ReillyWood]

  We're going to move forward with one or two of our phones for now.  If it works well, we'll do the remaining ones.

  There was a comment that I should use email addresses that are not associated with TELUS.  Can someone explain why?

  It's not a problem to do this, but I wonder why it matters.

  Rob Wood

[neo911]

@srlawren ooh k.. got it !. thanks for clarifying

[srlawren]

@neo911 it looks like the "basic" service is "free" ($1.99 for 911 fee, $1.99 for regulatory compliance fee, + applicable tax if any, would come out about $4.50 a month).  http://ca.ooma.com/savings/  

[neo911]

@srlawren

yes...always good to know the pitfalls too. especially for people who have serious stuff going on through the cellphones like business

I don't think anyone would object you to pointing out these facts. It's always better to be aware what you are getting into rather than getting into it and then blame it on the community/PM 

[neo911]

@daredogg

your post got me curious about ooma.

great concept but I could not find any plan for $4.50 per month. Can you confirm which plan are you subscribed to ? I could only see a $24 per month plan.

I might need such a service in future.

thanks

[srlawren]

Thanks @neo911, that's kind of you.  I know that if I were in a new customer's shoes, I wouldn't want to get into something without understanding the good and the not so good, so I try to temper the generally positive feedback prospective customers get here in the community with some potential pitfalls and where possible, ways to work around them.  I think it's only fair, and I hope nobody takes it as me being negative or badmouthing.

[neo911]

@srlawren

Great input.

I liked how you listed some potential shortcomings of PM. This was the most honest feedback about PM.

Kudos !

[stonechucker]

@ReillyWood,

there red is always a chance that Telus could provide the newer technologies to PublicMobile users, but nothing is set in stone at this point.

With PM being a 2nd tier or 3rd flier network for Telus, and lowest price for service, it will probably be a while before we see it.

just my thoughts 😀

[ReillyWood]

  My apologies for continuing this thread, now I'm just down to some nuts and bolts.

  One thing I was reading about is VOLTE and wifi calling.  I know TELUS is rolling out VOLTE, once both of these are in full swing does PM get them too?  

  Related, as TELUS rolls out new technical features, is the idea that PM would get them too (sooner than later)?

  Not sure I care too much but am wondering.  

  Rob Wood

[imm1304]

PM/Telus/Koodo discontinued the super slow 2G service a while back.

So, thats why you seeing an x on 2G compatibility.. the entire network is 3g/H+ and/or LTE.

You are right, the Telus compatibility is confirmation enough that the phone will work on PM

[ReillyWood]

  Perfect.  Thank you.

  Rob Wood

[srlawren]

@ReillyWood on PM, nothing.  Only Rogers operates a 2G GSM network in Canada, so 2G support is only useful to Rogers/Fido/Chatr subscribers.  Telus and Bell only operated 3G UMTS + 4G LTE/LTE-Advanced networks, so 2G is of no matter. 

EDIT: correct, if the phone worked on Telus, it will work on PM.  Same network.  🙂

[ReillyWood]

  I tried that link.  Interesting site.  Thank you for the suggestion.

  What does it mean that a phone doesn't support 2G?

  I tried my phone on PM and TELUS and got the same result - that 2G isn't supported.  And yet, I can configure my phone to only use 2G and it seems to work OK (no data but calling & texting works).

  Also, am I correct that I don't need to worry if the phones are compatible because they already work on the TELUS network?  Don't know why that didn't occur to me before.

  Rob Wood

[imm1304]

@ReillyWood

You will have control over unintentional roaming charges even after the US roaming is introduced.  It will be sold as an add-on, to be purchased when needed.  

For checking compatibility of the phones, I find www.willmyphonework.net to be more reliable.  You only really need to verify that the compatible radio band frequencies are on all the non-Telus phones you wish to use with PM.  

You're welcome, and you are right that so many of us PM customers are quite happy with the service.  

[ReillyWood]

  My son's in London which has Wind coverage, but I'm still suspicious about how well.  And he travels a few times a year back and forth and I'm suspicious about coverage during those travels too.

  I really don't think Wind is a good option at this time, though I like their pricing.  

  FYI, some of the things I currently like about PM:

• on a big 3 network (though to be honest, I have some minor problems with Telus signal strength in North Vancouver, where I live, but I think it's no worse than when I was on Rogers), good and fast coverage across the nation
• lower cost, more data, canada-wide calling (of course I can get these on Telus but for more money)
• LTE (presumably a feature of being on the TELUS network)
• hard caps when you reach the end of your data
• inability to incur US roaming charges unintentionally (though perhaps this will change once US roaming is available, and of course this comes with it's own issue of needing to go to a 2nd SIM when in the US, but I somewhat like that idea)
• ability to switch from TELUS without having to pay for unlocking
• forum support has been great 
• ability to earn credits to reduce the monthly cost further

  About the only thing left for me to do is to confirm that we can move across each of the phones (I've only checked the IMEI for one of the four so far, haven't yet checked the 3 iPhone 5 phones), and review with the decision-maker.

  Again, thank you all for your help.  I'm very happy to see such helpful support as I consider my options.  It makes me feel more positive about the move.

  Rob Wood