Freedom Mobile vs Public Mobile in 2017/2018?

[patrick_]

I'm currently with Freedom Mobile, however, my term ended almost a year ago, and I'm looking for other options.

Unless another "crazy" deal comes along, like the 10 GB for $60 that Koodo, Bell, etc. were offering a few days ago, I'm looking to either stick with Freedom Mobile or to move to Public Mobile.

Here are a few questions I have:

1. What are the pros and cons to using Public Mobile vs Freedom Mobile in 2017/2018?
2. What advantages does Public Mobile have?
3. What is the network and speed like on Public Mobile? I know they use the Telus network, but are the speeds as fast as those who have Telus plans?
4. What are some downsides and issues that I should be aware of with Public Mobile?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

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@haditaqvi wrote:

- for the second point, of course I do not mean forests and mountains but I mean liveable areas.

- #3 I know they do have prepaid plans but their away system causes shocking bills as it goes on away unnoticeabllly. 

-#4 previously PM did have provincial plans but now as I see, all PM plans are Canada wide. 

Thanks 

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computergeek541 has already said it but you're saying this again. If the brief plan description does not say Canada-wide then it's province-wide only. There are the $20, $25 and $47 plans that are just province-wide. And you can select province only in the BYO. (not mentioning the data-only plans)

[stonechucker]

@haditaqvi, PM does still offer provincial calling plans.  They're part of the build your own interface mainly.

Sadly, the price of Provincial wide calling is the same as Canada wide in a lot of cases, and also the same as Canada Wide plus US calling in a few of them.

Gone (at least for now) is the option to save a bit of money by selecting a plan that meets your requirements, rather than giving you more than you require for the same price.

[haditaqvi]

- for the second point, of course I do not mean forests and mountains but I mean liveable areas.

- #3 I know they do have prepaid plans but their away system causes shocking bills as it goes on away unnoticeabllly. 

-#4 previously PM did have provincial plans but now as I see, all PM plans are Canada wide. 

Thanks 

[CalgaryBen]

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@computergeek541 wrote: 

I agree with when it comes to Public Mobile rewards and about network reliability.

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Hallelujah!

I was lured to Freedom for a brief period (barely lasted 3 months) with a "Friends and Family" lifetime 35% off any plan offer (I worked for Shaw and have many colleagues/friends still there), but even with the significant discount and gobs and gobs of data (more than I could ever use), reliability killed any sort of deal.  There was no excuse for "No Service" appearing constantly inside the city of Calgary while on major roadways and corridors, or being "Away" many times while clearly in the home area.  And the handoff between "Away" and "Home" was... well... non-existent.  I honestly don't know how/why colleagues on Freedom tolerate such a flaky network (granted, many of them tell me they don't notice the same observations I've seen).

Plus, I can't stand the current Freedom TV commercials... that guy that walks around and intrudes on people, telling them they should go to Freedom, is just a p***k!

(Okay, done rant...)

[computergeek541]

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@haditaqvi wrote:

Re. Difference between Freedom and Public mobile

I have used freedom mobile for around 2 years and 1.5 years the Public mobile so I know both service providers and their pros and cons very well. 

Pros with PM:

1. Strong signal

2. Covers almost whole Canada

3. Prepayed- no shoking bill 

4. All the plans are canada wide

5. Very easy and transparent 

6. Rewards (auto pay, referral, loyalty)

7. Very good and stable internet. Even its 3G is better than LTE of public mobile)

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For the second point on  your list, no carrier covers almost all of Canada.  The cellular carriers here actually cover very little of the country, although the populated areas are well covered.

For #3, Freedom Mobile also overs prepaid plans, so this is not a pro for Public compared to Freedom Mobile.

As for #4, this is incorrect.  Not all Public Mobile plans over Canada-wide calling.

I agree with when it comes to Public Mobile rewards and about network reliability.

[haditaqvi]

Re. Difference between Freedom and Public mobile

I have used freedom mobile for around 2 years and 1.5 years the Public mobile so I know both service providers and their pros and cons very well. 

Pros with PM:

1. Strong signal

2. Covers almost whole Canada

3. Prepayed- no shoking bill 

4. All the plans are canada wide

5. Very easy and transparent 

6. Rewards (auto pay, referral, loyalty)

7. Very good and stable internet. Even its 3G is better than LTE of public mobile)

Cons with: 

1. No phone customer service 

2. No stores

3. No phones

Pros with Freedom mobile 

1. Very affordable price on good phones

2. Economic plans 

3. Decent customer care 

4. wide range of stores

Cons with Freedom mbile:

1. Poor network, in basement and highways not available in general 

2. Network is very limited- only available in certain cities

3. Too fussy network- A lot of even unlocked  smart phones are not compatible with their network

4. Shocking bill on Freedom away networks if you travel out of their home zone. Even sometimes in the same town yor phone goes to away network and without noticig you keep calling which will result in a nightmare

5. No rewards 

Overall best and most economic in the market is PM. 

Go to freedome only when you need a good smart phone. 

[affanzaheer]

Remember my goden words for the topic.

Public Mobile is the Best for Price and Service

While

Freedom Mobile has many limitations. They take $50 every month out of yoru pocket wile Public Mobile is flexible.

So the Conclusion::: Public Mobile Rocks..... Public Mobile is Recommended. 

Period. 

Thanks

[computergeek541]

With the current 4/5/6GB $40/50/60 plans at Public, Lucky, and Chatr, I can't see much of a reason to go with Freedom.

Freedom Mobile would be able to brag about maximum possile LTE speeds, but that does not equal quality.  With the BIg 3 super-budget carriers, the speeds will be about 3Mbps for data, but at least your service will work.

I was long a supporter of Wind, but with these current 3g speed plans, I can't imagine why one would want yo continue to put up with the Freedom Mobile network.

[20663191]

If you ever have a problem with Public Mobile, getting it fixed would be the most frusturating thing you could ever experience. In my case, I had AutoPay set up but for some odd reason, it did not work (even though I had more than enough money in my account). This led to my number being temporarily suspended. When I tried to log in to my Self Serve account, it said my password was wrong so when I clicked "forget password" and did the required steps, it ended with "we sent you an email". Up to this point, it's standard procedure. But the problem is that when I got the email (not a few seconds/minutes later but a few hours later) and clicked the link, it said "time server expired, please try again". I retried it 3 times. All three times, the email came instantly and I immediately clicked the link but it still said "time server expired". So now I'm stuck without a working phone number and because Public Mobile doesn't have any call centres, I'm stuck with contacting the moderators. I decided to just take this chance and switch to Freedom Mobile because I just cannot stand the hassle that I have to go through to pay for my bill and the incompetency of this company. I wanted to use the same number but needed an account number from Public Mobile and give it to Freedom so that the could port it. Obviously, I don't know what my account number is so I've been waiting on the moderators to send me it for 3 days now. They haven't even said they would send it, they would ask me a question and I would answer right away. You would think they would respond quickly but no, its been a few hours now since my answer and I do not have the patience to take this anymore. If you want to be able to access quick solutions to any future problems, don't do Public Mobile. They're incompetent and need to realize that their system of "help" is not working at all. 

[RobertQc]

Freedom mobile is ok if you are patient and ok with not having service and ok with (not really lower cost just more of crappy service) and losing service everytime you leave your home town.

Public mobile is ok if you want a good network for a better deal (cost  vs service)  and the such a cool community. Feels really fun here. I dislike wind, like they always try to scam me.

@patrick_@computergeek541

Since I use data at work I get connection error on Freedom mobile often. But if I use only firefox and am ok with slow then Freedom is ok.

Public mobile (BELL/TELUS) is win how can you compare to public mobile. Freedom mobile should be out of business. Such a horrible service. IMO

[computergeek541]

For years to come (at least a few more), the network that Public Mobile customers have access to is going to be miles ahead of Freedom's. 

It's not even about the speed.  Freedom Mobile's network is still full of holes, even outdoors, even if the middle of major cities.  And even where there aren't coverage holes, don't even get me started on the number of incoming calls that are going straight to voicemail for Freedom Mobile subscribers.  To be fair, I believe that a large number of the current network reliability issues may have to do with the extreme number of changes to the core network. They have installed many new towers and the coverage area is far more expansive than when Wind started.   But, the networks still do not even compare.

Public has limited ways in which customers can contact customer service. Public Mobile also seems to have more than it's proportion number of problems with services being cut off for no apparent reason and for calls not going through because they are mistakenly labeled as out-of-province.

As Freedom Mobile network improves, I would expect the gap in prices between Freedom and Big 3 to close further. 

[will13am]

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@Acekiller wrote:

With PM, there are a number of technical annoying bugs that you may run into. But the network should be better than Freedom (at least for now).

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At least for now and many years to come...  I was with Wind for over 4 years hoping tomorrow would be a better day.  I ran out of patience in the end. 

[Luddite]

@patrick_ Please read https://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Getting-Started/BE-PREPARED/m-p/112014#M20827

Been here 3 years and great for me and the friends I referred; none of the bugs have infected us.

[koimr1]

Lots of good info given to you already so I'll add my two cents. 🙂

Grab a SIM card and sign-up for a 30-day plan with PM and give it a test yourself. You'll be given a new number for now - DO NOT choose to port your Freedom number at this time - this is because once you transfer your number away from Freedom to any other provider the process will automatically cancel your Freedom account (and that wouldn't be good if you are still on the fence about leaving).

I would just forward your current Freedom number to the new PM number until you make a final decision.

If you are pleased you can then look at a better plan (the 90-day plans work out to be cheaper in the long run) and move your Freedom number over.

For obtaining a SIM card, you can order from Public's site or pick up in person at a participating Walmart or K Mobile.

Best of luck - keep us advised! 🙂

[Acekiller]

With PM, there are a number of technical annoying bugs that you may run into. But the network should be better than Freedom (at least for now).

[closng]

Hi @patrick_,

As you have witnessed above, eventough there is no contact centre with Public Mobile, our community is very active with users that are very willing to give a hand to other Public Mobile users when help is needed.

Aside from glitches that can occur at random during the registration process as mentioned above, once you're set up and running, it is relatively smooth sailing and you enjoy the better network coverage with Public Mobile, and rewards such as refer a friend ($1off/30days per friend referred for as long as they stay with Public Mobile) and anniversary rewards ($1off/30days for anniversary you're with Public Mobile, up to $5off).

[Samianauman]

I have few friends who still with freedom mobile plans prices looks better no doubt specially if someone using 35 or 25 percent friend and family code.  My brother also with freedom have 60 bucks plan but after discount he' s only paying 38 bucks i think. But 

But 

Service is garbage calls doesn't go though biggest problem once your phone on lte then its takes time to switch to 3g when someone called its usully goto voice mail even if he's not on call with others still have lots of dead zone no signals in parking mall hospital airport elevators basement 

Pm more likely premium service or coverage. Haven't had any issues since last 12 or 15 months. 

[will13am]

The following is based on user experience primarily within the GTA.  I switched from Wind to Public Mobile in late 2016.  Here are my answers with regards to switching.

1.  Pros:  Bellus runs a real network, prepaid is nice in that there are never concerns of overages, plan prices were competitive at the time of switching

Cons:  Wind service was cheaper even though the extra cost was worth it, data stops when allotment is used up (no application of FUP with reduced speed), Wind had a much more stable and easy to use self serve system

2.  Pros:  None that I can think of based on current pricing.

Cons:  Current pricing.

3.  I cannot answer this question as I have never been with Telus.  That said, the LTE speeds are plenty fast for my wireless data applications (browsing, maps, social media).

4.  The self serve portal is fragile.  That said, I manage a many accounts for myself and friends without encoutering major issues.  There is an element of user error here.  The system is not forgiving when errors are made.

[mimmo]

So many questions, glad to see you doi g some homework.

I'll start with #4 the portal can be buggy during activation causing g issues. But generally once setup everything goes smoothly.

There are several bugs/ quirks in general that pm has been dealing with for a lo g time like the password reset feature.

Network speeds are the same as telus unless you get a 3g plan.

USA requires an add-on. And if you leave Canada USA you have no service period.

The community and mods are  great but if you need a live person or store then not a good option .

Search pm-guide (remove the "-") for some great reads on pm 

I'm sure others will give more info

[AlexOfAnders]

1. I don't know Freedome that well but these are what I see
   • Pros with Public Mobile (PM) are
     • You can get rewards that give you money off your next bill
     • You can switch your plan when your pay cycle ends (30 or 90 days)
   • Cons
     • This forum and it's moderators are the only help that's availble
     • Once you run out of data on your prepaid cycle, you're out unless you buy more and it's a little pricey but not as bad as others
2. See 1
3. I recently switched to Public Mobile from Telus Mobility a few weeks before the whole 10GB deals hit. So far I have not noticed a difference in speed or stability of the network although I have only used my phone around Metro Vancouver. I've been streaming Netflix, YouTube and Facebook videos just a quick as on Wifi.
4. Main downside is that any issue that requires PM to do something can have a longer lag time than other providers where you'd have to call in to resolve it. So, if your account goes wrong and after 9p you won't be back up until the next day. See Contacting Moderators.

Hope this helps!