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Want to switch providers to PM

murt
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

I am looking to switch cell phone providers to start using one of Public Mobile's plans.

 

I currently have a phone that I purchased on a tab with Koodo, and I plan on keeping the same phone (as well as the same number). I still have a balance owing for the tab, but I just now cleared the tab, and Koodo prompted me that I will be charged for the remaining balance on my next bill cycle.

 

I have a couple of questions about switching phone providers:

  1. When is the best time to switch over within a bill cycle? Or does it not matter?
  2. Based on the above, since my tab balance will be charged on my next bill cycle, should I be waiting until the end of my next bill cycle to switch over? Can I switch over now if I cleared the tab but have not yet been charged for it?
  3. What are the steps I have to take to switch my phone from the Koodo plan to a Public Mobile plan correctly?
  4. Do I need to worry about my phone being locked to Koodo or something of the sort? I'm not very familiar with the phone provider locks.

 

 

10 REPLIES 10


@darlicious wrote:

To check if a phone is unlocked from koodo you would have to use a non-pm/koodo/telus sim card. A locked phone from any of the telus providers will work or their "sister"companies as phones were /are locked to the network not the individual providers.


You're right, I should have been more specific and chosen better wording.

It's not really about if the Koodo phone only works on Koodo, it's about whether the Koodo phone will work on Public.

It's unlikely to be locked anyhow. My advice was intended to help avoid a nasty surprise.

mimmo
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

@murt   I will suggest not porting to PM untill you contact Koodo and confirm as you might get a surprise bill once you port out.  Koodo recently changed (and i believe it is still like this)  how they finance their phones.

 

lets take a $600 retail phone.  and $10 tab  ($240 total) and you got it on sale/subsidy for 360 off.  so the total you paid upfront was $0. 

 

Say you are on month 12 of your tab  ($120 owing) you can pay off your tab  once you close your account though you will get charged $180 as the subsidy is prorated  just like the tab

@Korth 

To check if a phone is unlocked from koodo you would have to use a non-pm/koodo/telus sim card. A locked phone from any of the telus providers will work or their "sister"companies as phones were /are locked to the network not the individual providers.

 

When porting between telus family of providers the service account needs to not have active service to be transferred. It can be in a suspended state however these ports/transfers need moderator or customer service assistance because of their suspended state.

 

A prepaid account should leave a few days grace when porting in case of any issues but a post paid account because of proration does not have the same concerns of requiring active service from a provider outside of the telus family of providers.

@murt 

 

Make sure your phone is unlocked before you leave Koodo. Borrow the SIM card from a friend's phone, see if it'll connect to service or if it rejects the "invalid SIM". A Public Mobile SIM card would be ideal but any non-Koodo (and preferably non-Telus) SIM card will do.

It shouldn't be locked. But leaving your old carrier is a one-way trip for your phone contract/Tab. I think it's worth a couple minutes and a couple restarts just to confirm you won't be confronted by unexpected problems.

 

Initiate the number port request through the new operator (Public Mobile). Don't even bother to communicate with the old operator (Koodo), the new operator will do that for you. This is the preferred methology since it allows the new operator to manage the transfer and correct any errors.

 

Your phone number has to be active to be ported (because of CRTC rules). So it's unavoidable that you'll need to buy a little overlap between old service and new service. Most number ports are (partially) complete within minutes - these transfers are usually routine - though it's probably best to allow for at least a few days or even at least a week if it's important to ensure your phone number isn't somehow lost. If there are any problems then you'll need time for back-and-forth interactions with the PM Mods to get things fixed, and that's after you're sure there's a problem because a few days have passed without change in status.

 

I advise clearing browser cache/cookies and disabling scriptblocker/adblocker before submitting activation or number port requests to the Self-Serve portal. Just a little overkill to help guarantee you won't be obstructed by some kind of trivial bug or technical issue.

HALIMACS
Mayor / Maire

@murt wrote:

 

I have a couple of questions about switching phone providers:

  1. When is the best time to switch over within a bill cycle? Or does it not matter?  It does not matter if porting from a post-paid service as you're only billed to port date.
  2. Based on the above, since my tab balance will be charged on my next bill cycle, should I be waiting until the end of my next bill cycle to switch over? Can I switch over now if I cleared the tab but have not yet been charged for it?   You can switch anytime.
  3. What are the steps I have to take to switch my phone from the Koodo plan to a Public Mobile plan correctly?  Buy a PM SIM card, jot down KOODO Account Number to enter during activation, try to get a referral code from a friend/family member, click Activate on top of page, have payment card ready - that's pretty well it.
  4. Do I need to worry about my phone being locked to Koodo or something of the sort? I'm not very familiar with the phone provider locks.   If your phone was purchased AFTER December 2017, it was not locked to any carrier.

 

 


 

@BKNS27 

Your advice applies well for a prepaid account however in the scenario proposed in my post it is less advantageous in a postpaid account when prorating applies.

BKNS27
Mayor / Maire

@murt 

Find out what day of the month your next cycle bill will expire. Port over to PM 2 days before this expiry date. If you port over too soon, you will be double paying to Koodo and PM for the same month.
It is illegal for carriers to lock phones since 2017 so it should be unlocked.

If your tab includes a 2 year contract to pay for the phone. If you cancel too early, you will be paying for the balance of this contract.

 

kselmak
Mayor / Maire

Hi @murt 
Koodo is the sister to Publicmobile. Even if your Koodo account gets suspended and it's less than 90 days since suspension you can still port number over with help of moderators.

This means any time is good reality. You can get temporary number to try out the service - Publicmobile doesn't support VoLTE that may be the only real difference between the two if you are the rare one who doesn't have access to 3g tower you may notice the difference, everything else (data and texting) is pretty much the same. You also have option porting your number to free VoIP if you think you may be switching providers looking for phones.

If you take temporary number after you are sure you will switch you can do it right out of your selfserve. If it happens that you let your Koodo get suspended just send private message to moderators for assistance. The form will give you all the necessary info once when you try to port, like account number name imei or anything else you will need

Another benefit is that even if the phone is locked it will still work with Publicmobile 

darlicious
Mayor / Maire

@murt 

To answer your questions....

 

  1. If you are at the end of your contract with a device subsidy the best day to port out would be the first day or two of your monthly billing cycle. A postpaid plan will prorate your monthly charges per days used. However your device subsidy is used to calculate your ECF (early cancellation fee) this is your device subsidy × months remaining on your contract. For example if your monthly bill is $60...$30/plan and $30/device subsidy and this billing period is your last month of your contract your ECF=$30. But the WCC mandates any portion of a billing periods device subsidy is paid/billed then it considers the whole months device subsidy as paid. By porting out on day 2 of your billing period koodo will prorate your monthly charges as follows: $60÷30days=$2 per day ($1/plan+$1/device subsidy) 2 days×$2=$4 of which $2 goes towards your $30 device subsidy which would be your ECF. $2 is now  considered the entire month's device subsidy paid (=$30) You save $28! Plus the cheaper amount for the pm plan you will choose vs what you were paying with koodo. Your prorated bill from koodo in this example would be $4+tax.
  2. There is no need to clear out your tab. Just port out after your last billing cycle begins and koodo will send you the prorated bill.
  3. Assuming your koodo bill is postpaid then when activating and you get to the transfer number page enter the full name on the account, the koodo account# and your phone#. The alternate number is not necessary but if you have a landline#, work#, mom's# etc....your phone # will port over in two hours or less  after you respond YES to the porting authorization text from koodo.
  4. All phones after December 2017 are supposed to be sold unlocked. This should not be an issue for you.

**Edit: Always refer to your contracts terms and conditions to understand your obligations to your koodo contract but the above advice should apply.

hTideGnow
Mayor / Maire


@murt , Phones that work on Koodo should work here without issue as they in fact use the same system and owned by Telus.

 

Are you planning to port your number over?  If so, porting number requires that it's still on an active account and once port, the account in the old provider will be cancelled.  For that reason, I suggest you try to port over a week before end of a Koodo cycle to give you some room just in case there is issue, although it is generally smooth. (assuming Koodo won't refund you with the unused days of the month)

 

In terms or if you switch now and your bill not pay yet with Koodo, since you have a post-paid account, I assume, Koodo will either bill you or charge you the amount on your Pre-authorized credit card.  I guess the important part is you need to confirm if you are leaving like now, would there be any extra charge. 

 

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