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New SIM card & changing plan without waiting 1 month

tgaaharris
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Hello,

yesterday I received a free SIM card at Montreal airport loaded with a promotional $15 CAD deal, with 250 MB data and 100 minutes plus unlimited international texts for free. They guy said I would be able to register the SIM and upgrade my plan to a bigger one (I would like to get 4.5 GB for $40), however when I try to change the plan it says the plan will change at the end of the month (3rd August, I.e. when one month of the promotional plan is finished). Is there a way to change earlier (like now??). Thanks 🙂

15 REPLIES 15

jclaydon2018
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

@sunflowershine 

 

"Lucky you who received a free SIM and preloaded 15 plan. It will be better if you can use up all 100 minutes calls and 250mb data first, then you change to upgrade to a higher plan. There are lots of shopping malls and restaurants have free wifi. So you may be able to keep a low usage of your data. 

Welcome to PM!"

 

This was pretty much what i was trying to convey, except your explination is even better because any wifi spot that is used for data is likely to be MUCH faster than 3G!

sunflowershine
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@tgaaharris Lucky you who received a free SIM and preloaded 15 plan. It will be better if you can use up all 100 minutes calls and 250mb data first, then you change to upgrade to a higher plan. There are lots of shopping malls and restaurants have free wifi. So you may be able to keep a low usage of your data. 

Welcome to PM!


@tgaaharris wrote:

Thanks for the reply!

 

I see. I got it to work by pre-loading the account with a voucher from ding.com. My German mastercard was not working with the account. Thanks again.

 

It was the only plan you could get in the airport. They applied a promotion so that the SIM and plan was for free, and the guy said I would have to upgrade the plan myself to get something bigger. 

 

 


If you don't care about losing the remainder of time for the free plan, you can change your plan now.  However, you will not receive any discount for giving up your old plan.

tgaaharris
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin

Thanks for the reply!

 

I see. I got it to work by pre-loading the account with a voucher from ding.com. My German mastercard was not working with the account. Thanks again.

 

It was the only plan you could get in the airport. They applied a promotion so that the SIM and plan was for free, and the guy said I would have to upgrade the plan myself to get something bigger. 

 

 

dna2016
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@tgaaharris ummmmmm I don't think your plan is an actual "promo" plan, this is the normal $15 plan that PM has had for a few months now.  Every plan that PM has right now has bonus data included, and that's been going on for awhile now.  So PM does't really have any promo plan offers based on the website.  Unless you're getting the service free for a month or something, you're just on a regular plan right now.

 

When changing plans you should have the option to change immediately or change on your next payment cycle.  If you want to change immediately then you'll need to load $40 onto your account so that the system can deduct the $40 in order to change your plan.  Keep in mind if you change your plan now then the $15 you would have paid to set up your current plan will be lost.  This is a prepaid system and there's no "proration" like there is with post paid companies.  So your option is either wait until the next cycle (and not lose any money), or pay for the newer plan now and lose the $15 you paid for the current plan.

 

Oh and a question, the $15 plan and the $40 plan are vastly different plans.  If you knew the limited amount of data and minutes was not something that would suffice, then why did you even start with that plan to begin with?  Just wondering, because now you're having to deal with something that you could have easily avoided if you just set yourself up on a plan that suited your needs from the beginning.  Just wondering.

If your're wanting a 4.5 GB plan, I'd assume your planning to use the 250 mb fairly quickly. I'd plan my upgrade around that. If you're satisfied that you can't change the plan on your own re: upgrade now or at end of cycle advice as per @RobertQc, I'd send an email to a moderator 48 hours before you run out of that portion of your plan.

 

To me this is hedging your bets on using the most of the old plan and upgrading at the latest possible, yet convenient moment.

Psygineer
Deputy Mayor / Adjoint au Maire

@jclaydon2018 wrote:

Well then i guess the only option would to activate the sim card closer to the middle or end of a month, and if need be buy the cheapest amount of minutes and data that are available if needed.  

 

 

-James


Hey James,

I'm not quite sure what you meant by activating it closer to the middle or end of the month in terms of what would be gained by doing that. I'm not overly familiar with the promotion this SIM was issued with, but isn't it the standard 30 days after activation thing that the rest of the plans are? Basically by activating later, it just means their 30 days starts later? It sounds like they want to switch right now, and if for some reason the SIM is locked to the initial plan then activating sooner would at least help the current plan burn off sooner so they could switch to the plan they want. I find it a bit weird that it would be locked, but I guess it is to prevent someone from messing up their free trial with a plan switch then reaching out angry to the mods as to why they were billed for their free trial (or not prorated if they are used to post-pay) leaving a bad first impression despite it being their own mistake.

jclaydon2018
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

doh! forgot to add comment before i hit post

 

@GinYVR  I don't think this should be considered pro-rated tho..  They would be asking to activate a $40 plan RIGHT now, and pay for a $40 plan Next month..  but give them a $15 credit for the month AFTER that.  

 

-James

jclaydon2018
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

available as add ons i meant..  

jclaydon2018
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Well then i guess the only option would to activate the sim card closer to the middle or end of a month, and if need be buy the cheapest amount of minutes and data that are available if needed.  

 

 

-James

@jclaydon2018There is no prorating of plans per the terms of service. Once you switch you forfeit what you had paid and the special plan will be gone.

jclaydon2018
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

I could be wrong, but i think you best bet is to contact a moderator,tell them the plan you wamt, the sim card info and a method of payment, ask them if they would be able to activate the plan you want and give you a $15 credit 


@tgaaharris wrote:

Hello,

yesterday I received a free SIM card at Montreal airport loaded with a promotional $15 CAD deal, with 250 MB data and 100 minutes plus unlimited international texts for free. They guy said I would be able to register the SIM and upgrade my plan to a bigger one (I would like to get 4.5 GB for $40), however when I try to change the plan it says the plan will change at the end of the month (3rd August, I.e. when one month of the promotional plan is finished). Is there a way to change earlier (like now??). Thanks 🙂


If you change the plan now, you have to pay the full $40 now and your original $15 plan and payment will be lost.  Setting the change to take effect at the next renewal would avoid this.

bravo_md
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

If I were you I would wait till the free month is up and then upgrade the plan.  Because if you try to upgrade the plan right away you will be giving up the free promo month.

Sounds like the free promo month is locked in for the first month, from what you descibed.

RobertQc
Mayor / Maire

@tgaaharris wrote:

Hello,

yesterday I received a free SIM card at Montreal airport loaded with a promotional $15 CAD deal, with 250 MB data and 100 minutes plus unlimited international texts for free. They guy said I would be able to register the SIM and upgrade my plan to a bigger one (I would like to get 4.5 GB for $40), however when I try to change the plan it says the plan will change at the end of the month (3rd August, I.e. when one month of the promotional plan is finished). Is there a way to change earlier (like now??). Thanks 🙂


@tgaaharris  Something may have changed with promotional plans that I am not aware of, but do you not see two choices? "Change plan now" and "Change at renewal"? You should be able to click "Change plan now"- if not I would I suggest sending a message to the moderator team and asking for help for manually switching (once you have enough funds loaded into the account). Click this to send them a message.

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