what's the point or advantage of 90 day plans?

[pjstock]

I am coming to PM from Fido where I have been a monthly-paid client for 20 years.

Fido used to be the fiesty upstart but it seems to have slipped into cell phone medocrity, like all the others.

when my monthly bill (for UL calling and 6GB data - I listen to a LOT of internet radio while walking our dog and driving)-  crept up from about $65 to $75 to $92 I started looking around for alernatives. and came across PM.

while I guess strictly speaking it's a prepaid service, I understand that I can make it mimic a straight monthly plan simply by paying on time every end-of-cycle.

what intrigued me most however were the 90 day (call it 3 month) plans, which seem unique to PM.

Why is that? Why is no one else offering a 90 day plan?

Or rather, why does PM offer them?

These 3 monthers make sense to me because I think I could make more efficient use of my data.

With my current month play, I typical waste 1,2,3Gbs of unused data at the end of each cycle.

If I go 18GB at 3G (I don't seem to need more speed than that) for 90 days, any data unused at the end of months 1 and 2 at least rolls over to month 3, correct? So I could have a big chunk of data avaialble in Month 3 and so waste less.

And I should be able to cut my monthly costs to something closer to $50 a month, which I can live with.

or am I missing something?

Peter

[Korth]

Yes, you save ~$2 per 30 days, ~$6 per 90 days.

Yes, your entire Data allocation can be spread inequally across 90 days instead of being segmented into 3 equal portions.

But nobody's mentioned what is (to me) the most obvious advantage of 90 day plans:

No need to worry about month-to-month billing, 90 days is plenty of time to fill up your account balance (again, "all at once" or in equal monthly installments, whatever).

And nobody's mentioned the less obvious advantages of 90 day plans:

First, it's a buffer against any "surprises" PM might introduce, they can always change their prices/plans or terms of service with only 30 days required notice ... but they are still required to honour (or fully refund) their prepaid service arrangements, which can provide anything from 31-89 days more breathing room.

Second, there are times when paying monthly phone service isn't practical.  Maybe an extended out-of-country vacation, maybe a time of financial hardship, whatever.  Up to 90 days of prepaid service on the plan, then up to another 90 days of suspended service - that's up to 180 days you needn't worry about losing your phone number, wrecking your credit score with "late" or "unpaid" monthly bills, etc.

[wetcoaster]

---

@kav2001cwrote:

@Wonder_why I thought Speak Out offers LTE now?

Koodo certainly does 

---

From SpeakOut's FAQ's:

[kav2001c]

@GreatCanadian depends on format

But I find both Google Play & Sirius XM stream smooth on the 3G plans

Youtube & Spotify are much worse 

[kav2001c]

@Wonder_why I thought Speak Out offers LTE now?    Apparently Not

Koodo certainly does 

[srlawren]

Omg you're right! To funny. 

[GreatCanadian]

@srlawren, there goes your autocorrect again!! Lol !!

[srlawren]

Much obloged, @GreatCanadian

[GreatCanadian]

@srlawren I bravoed you for the 50/50 comment!!

[GreatCanadian]

@srlawren @pjstock, Yep, 3mbps on 3g. Hey stock, it seems that you do a lot of music streaming. 3g is quite sufficient for that. As a matter of fact, I have not encountered a situation yet where I regret choosing 3g. I have streamed live sporting events that were quite satisfactory. Maybe streaming 4K video would be an issue, I dunno. 

GC

[srlawren]

---

@GreatCanadianwrote:

@pjstock, ".....As long as you don't need faster mobile data than 2.5mbps..."

PM is not limited to 2.5 mbps on LTE.

GC

---

@GreatCanadian that's true for the full speed LTE plans. However, the "3G" plans are throttled to 3Mbps, even though they are also delivered over LTE.

@pjstock you should be able to get 3Mbps in most areas, not just 2.5Mbps. 

Edit: ugh, auto-"correcting" keyboards. 50/50 brilliant/completely wrong. LOL

[Wonder_why]

---

@kav2001cwrote:

Lots of prepay services offer mult-month discounts

Just on most carriers the plans are not as good

---

@kav2001c agreed with plus not 4G LTE only with PM 😃

[kav2001c]

Lots of prepay services offer mult-month discounts

Just on most carriers the plans are not as good

[GreatCanadian]

@pjstock, ".....As long as you don't need faster mobile data than 2.5mbps..."

PM is not limited to 2.5 mbps on LTE.

GC

[GreatCanadian]

Good to see someone that gathers his information before jumping in. Sounds like Public Mobile is the perfect choice for you. Just a little info on my particular plan. My plan is $135 for 90 days. Less $6 for Autopay reward, less $4 community reward, less $15 refer-a-friend reward. So my next payment will be $110 for 90 days, global texting, province-wide calling, and 12 GB 3G data. That's approximately $37 month. I'm quite content with that!! Public Mobile is the perfect choice for some. You seem to be one of those.

GC

[pjstock]

No, I'm pretty convinced and will port over my old number today.

Frankly I don't understand why PM is not more popular. (as opposed say to everyone doing back flips to finagle a cheap Manitoba plan back to Ontario or other high cost province.)

As long as you don't need faster mobile data than 2.5mbps (which realistically few people do I expect) It mimics a monthly plan with lots of data, on an apparently reliable network (telus) for a very reasonable cost.

Lot's a data, fast enough, premium network quality, you are never on hold,  and... half the cost..

There PM. There's your next sales pitch.

[will13am]

---

@pjstockwrote:

Understood.

But this (me) is a man whom has been with the same carrier (Fido) for 20 years. That's 240 months. 80 x 90 day cycles.  Now that's a long engagement.

Ciao Fido/Rogers

---

Don't dwell too much on the past, it will only cause grief.  None of us have a time machine to fix what has happened already.  Look forward, keep an eye on things and switch provider/plans as needed to protect the wallet.

[stonechucker]

@pjstock, when I orginally joined here at Public Mobile, I cut my Roger's bill by more than 50%.  Sure, I only took province-wide calling, but I didn't use canada-wide on Rogers.

For essentially the same unlimited calling, 'global' texting/mms, and 2 GB /30 days on a 90 day plan, it was then priced at $120.  On Rogers, my cost was $91/ 1 month, only difference was added canada-wide calling, and limited to canada-wide text/mms.

I still don't text outside my province, and I rarely call out side the province (Hangouts work for long distance outside my province).   I was lucky to be around when the 2016 Promo came out, and doubled my data to 4GB per 30 on the 90 day plan.  Still paying $120 (or less) each 90 day cycle.

[mimmo]

---

@pjstockwrote:

Understood.

But this (me) is a man whom has been with the same carrier (Fido) for 20 years. That's 240 months. 80 x 90 day cycles.  Now that's a long engagement.

Ciao Fido/Rogers

---

we all become wiser with age. I was with bell for the longest time...  glad to see you asking questions before jumping in.  

welcome to teh community.

[pjstock]

Understood.

But this (me) is a man whom has been with the same carrier (Fido) for 20 years. That's 240 months. 80 x 90 day cycles.  Now that's a long engagement.

Ciao Fido/Rogers

[mimmo]

If you run out of data on day 20 then top up the needed funds via manual payment.  them message the mods saying you wnat to renew your plan early.  your 30 day countdown is now reset back to 30.

[pjstock]

---

@will13amwrote:

 use the early renewal option to restore days usage.

---

What is this Early Renewal? If inrunmour of data I just reload early and the clock start earlier in the cycle?

So if I run out of data on Day 20, I just Renew and the 30day (or XDay) cycle starts then?

[sheytoon]

Agreed with @will13am. The main disadvantage to me is analogous to being in a continuous 90-day contract!

[will13am]

Everything about the pros and cons of the 90 day plan has already been discussed.  Given the current pricing for the 90 day/18 gig plan vs 30 day/6 gig plan with only a $2 price advantage for the 90 day option personally I would opt for going with 30 days for the flexibility to make changes without risk of losing nonrefundable payments.  In case data is used up before month end, use the early renewal option to restore days usage.

[computergeek541]

For the most part, I would say that 90 day plans mostly benefit the carrier.   Customers do get slightly better pricing in retrun for paying a greater amount ahead of time.

[srlawren]

@pjstock a couple more thoughts that I don't think have been mentioned:

Pro:  you save about $2 per 30 days buy buying the 90 day plan instead of 30.  It's a small savings, but every penny counts, right?

Pro:  you make fewer payments, less hassle (virtually no hassle with AutoPay)

Potential con:  you need to come up with a bigger $ amount when you do make that payment every 90 days).  If you're charging to a credit card and carry a balance, the interest may end up eating up the $2 savings and potentially more.  

Other key note, not really a pro or a con, but it literally is THIRTY DAYS or NINETY DAYS, not 1 month or 3 months.  So, your billing date will move around from month to month (some months have 28 days, some 30, some 31--okay technically they all have 28 but you get the idea).  

[pjstock]

---

@mimmowrote:

@pjstock You could accedently use all your data on day 1, and then you have 89 days without unless you renew early for full price. 

---

Been there done that. WIth Fido. one weekend we had a young person desperate to watch a hockey game out where we had no television. So I stream video for an hour. and then we all went to bed.
when I got up in the AM, I found that my data had shot up to my 6gb limit and that was that (I suspect that even though I had paused the streaming, there was some weird activity in the background that just went on all night.) and that was onabout Day 2 of my 30 day cycle.

now THAT taught me a lesson. I started using strict data cutoffs throughout the month (in about 250mb chunks) and never had a problem again.

but then I have an Android phone. It astounds me that iPhones (my partner) do not seem to have the same kind of emergency data OFF limiter.

[mimmo]

@pjstock bang on. But it is a double edged sword. You could accedently use all your data on day 1, and then you have 89 days without unless you renew early for full price. Happens occasionally say with a software update on data, or if kids start watching YouTube.. 

[ShawnC13]

@pjstock, you have pretty much got the benefits listed.  One thing I would do is get a data tracking app.  If you are on Android there is Data Witness (created by a PM customer @IWIK  thank you!!) which is a great app that you can set to work with the 90 day cycles.

[Luddite]

One other advantage is that you may renew a plan early; though no rewards will be applied.

The one downside to 90 days is less flexibility to move to another carrier quickly. If a better deal comes along you are stuck losing whatever has been prepaid.

[R47]

Youre pretty much on point. 90 day plans are great. You've got your whole data bucket for 3 months. If you don't use alot early on in the 3 months, you've can have a ton saved over for later in month 3. It's a very good set up. You can ration it however you like, and it works alot better than typical month to month plans IMO.