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Where can I buy a phone to use with Public Mobile?

Lachlan_M
Retraité / Retired
Retraité / Retired

Public Mobile is a new kind of no-frills business, built on simple ideals with a co-operative approach to wireless. We don’t sell phones but don’t worry, there are a number of options available for customers to purchase an affordably priced phone.   

 

These include retailers as:

  • Walmart (Prepaid Phone)
  • Best Buy (Prepaid Phone)
  • Staples (Prepaid Phone)
  • You can also purchase a factory refreshed phone from Orchard at an affordable price.  Find out more about Orchard here.

 

Direct manufacturers:

  1. Apple Store 
  2. Google Store 
  3. Microsoft Store 
  4. BlackBerry (BBM)
  5. One Plus One
  6. Alcatel 

You can also have your friend or family member’s old phone if they are upgrading their phone.

 

Ensure the phone is unlocked, compatible with our Canada-wide 4G LTE network and IMEI is available for use before completing a purchase. Click here to check phone compatibility and find out the network frequency here.

 


*To use data, add and select Public Mobile’s APN settings Click here.

235 REPLIES 235

W0507636
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

I live in Windsor, ON tend to buy my phones from the states even with the currency exchange completely worth buying. I tend to buy AT&T Gophones and unlock them, going to try and pick up 4 huawei ascend xt for family and friends as it will be under $100 each, no phones compare for the price in Canada. And if they do prove me wrong and direct me otherwise, would save me the hassel 😉

Jeeves
Great Neighbour / Super Voisin
Canada computers sometimes have good deals too.

Pasharu
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Kijiji has some good deals sometimes, ebay, factorydirect.  I prefer buying brand new from straight from the company, to make sure all accessories are in place and authentic!!

MrSnide
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Thanks for the info on Moto phones. I think I'll go check that out.

Heavyrocker
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Staples sells unlocked Moto phones cheap.


@samgabbay wrote:

If you where wondering what i was talking about: https://swappa.com/listing/GUY510/view


For $19 more you could get a brand new OnePlus X

https://oneplus.net/ca_en/x

His used phone looks seriously overpriced

samgabbay
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

If you where wondering what i was talking about: https://swappa.com/listing/GUY510/view

samgabbay
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Fantastic Choice. Another choice would be the OnePlus One which you can find for rather cheap on Swappa Canada these days 🙂

auxaurus
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Alright, I will take this one.

kutzki
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@auxaurus That is an excellent choice. 🙂

auxaurus
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I would like to know if this one is a good choice.

 

Xiaomi Redmi 3S

 

http://www.gearbest.com/cell-phones/pp_367773.html

 

If not wich one should I get from Xiaomi

 

thank you!


@domenicocortez wrote:

First: all phones are made in China, all.  So when i read "buying guide for chinese phones..."  think its not a good title.  You could say how to buy directly from China, something like that.  

 

Secondly: you must have to pay custom tax (20$~40$) here in Canada because the limit to import is 20$ (yes i know you could bypass this rule but suppose we are legal)

 

 

 


@domenicocortez wait wait wait....

Since when are "all phones made in China"???

Mexico, India, heck even Thailand & Philippines make phones

 

As well some brands (eg Blackberry) have made in Canada devices as well (although usually only for the high end models)

 

Not sure what you think a "custom tax" is, but we have all kinds of free trade agreements these days so often there is no fee

But assuming there was, a CAT5 item is only 8% (which is less than some provinces pay for HST locally)

 

There also is no "$20 limit" to import; all that means is often it is not worth it to customs to hold items since they would become overrun by packages

 

samgabbay
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

I have the Redmi note 3 pro. Its an amazing phone for its price tag, and tuns of Custom roms are available to get rid of MIUI, and if you need il get into the Nitty gritty of it but yea. Overall. Great phone, lemme know if you have questions:)

kutzki
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@Korth you are awesome! This.... This is amazing. 🙂 

kutzki
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Lol @domenicocortez first off, you replied to the wrong thread. Second of all the majority of your points are quite false.  Not all phones are made in China. Samsung has manufacturing plants worldwide, as does Apple, and some phones are made in Taiwan or Korea. You may want to say all phone are made in Asia but even that would be the biggest generalization ever. Second of all, I've never paid customs and I have purchased 4 phones from China and countless other items. Only time I've ever paid import fees is when using 5he DHL or more expensive expedited shipping options so that statement is false. UMI, Elephone and Ulefone are not all crap and the specs are amazing for the price. If you know have access to a computer and have half a brain it's really not hard to update your rom. If you're the type to sit their waiting for the manufacturer then yes, you are correct. You won't get updates, but to be honest I prefer to use custom rooms and update them periodically. Sorry dude but you're completely wrong on this one. All of those brands other than Doogie, how Tom and bluboo make quite decent phones. The Xiaomi note 3 pro is OK but is that in USD or cad? 

Judging whether a particular brand is good or not is highly subjective.  Of course some brands are superior and some brands are cheap junk - and sometimes a single manufacturer (like LG or Samsung or Apple or Intel) will produce vast quantity of products covering the entire range of awesome and mediocre and garbage.

 

Many people must buy the most fancy phone (or computer or TV or car or whatever) gizmo available.  And most of these people are already prejudiced about brand - they will strongly prefer brands they trust and automatically dismiss brands they distrust, they will not seriously compare the full gambit of current products in a purely objective fashion.

 

The cellphone market is saturated.  While there may be a suprisingly limited number of actual cellphone device ODMs and OEMs, consumers can select from a surprisingly large number of cellphone models and brands and variants (and accessories) on market.  And the reality which drives any competitive market which has become saturated with competing offerings is very simple: the products tend to price themselves and you basically get exactly what you pay for.  Whether the factory plants are physically located in China (or Taiwan or wherever) is irrelevant when competing across the world market.

 

Apple and Samsung each sell their "premium" cellular devices for $1000 and up and up.  If that's what you want and what you simply must have then that's what you'll choose to buy regardless of cost (which is incidentally exactly why they cost so much, lol, even though they are also Made in China).  But outside of these few blatant pay-for-the-logo branding exceptions, you can get a working touchscreen cellphone for anywhere between $50 and $500.  If you want to surf and play facebook games and have all the fastest bling then a device with better specs will be a better choice, if you want to just have a working touchscreen phone which can remember your contacts and send txt messages then a lower-cost device will serve you just as well without wasting your money.

 

My advice is to head over to a few cellphone stores/kiosks, talk to the salespeople, play with and compare some of the devices.  Get a feel of what's available, what you like, what you dislike, what you're willing to pay for.  Then feed the internet details about the cellphone brands/models/devices (or features) you like and see what sorts of other approximately comparable products google spits out.

domenicocortez
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

First: all phones are made in China, all.  So when i read "buying guide for chinese phones..."  think its not a good title.  You could say how to buy directly from China, something like that.  

 

Secondly: you must have to pay custom tax (20$~40$) here in Canada because the limit to import is 20$ (yes i know you could bypass this rule but suppose we are legal)

 

Most of all, Umi a good brand? No, no,no, stay away from this brand: elephone, ulephone, bluboo, leagoo, blackview, doogee, homtom, all crap phone.  Try meizu, infocus, xiaomi, vernee or huawei if you want to have update and find some custom rom.

 

My suggestions:

135$ - Infocus M560 (3g only with Public Mobile)

235$ - Xiaomi redmi note 3 pro prime (3g+4g\lte with Public Mobile)

 

 

 

kutzki
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle
I'm just super-powered. That's why. 😛 JK. Go here: http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Discussions/Made-in-China-Kutzki-s-Buying-Guide-To-Chi... I reposted in the discussions. Was having some issues.


@kutzki wrote:

Or read this guys: http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Phones-Hardware/Made-in-China-Kutzki-s-Buying-Guide-To...


I can't view your post?

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Mods? @Mary_M @Shazia_K ?

I purchased my LG phone directly through the official LG.COM website.  LG factory default, unlocked, ready to go straight out of the box, I even got to (had to) choose exactly which variant submodel and firmware options/apps were included and excluded.  The total cost (with shipping) for my "$300" phone was actually closer to $170.  No contracts or financing or payments, all paid upfront and completely owned outright by just little old me (the guy with the original LG receipt and warranty).

 

Alas, I did this in late 2013 and it appears that LG no longer sells their phones directly: they only sell their phones through Telus/Bell/Rogers/etc, along with all the usual carrier-preinstalled bloat and junkware and lockouts and long-term service contracts and tangled billing.  Sad.

 

However, for those who don't insist on limiting their choices to only the latest-greatest devices made by Samsung, LG, etc, there are actually quite a large number of foreign cellphone device manufacturers.  I haven't tried to shop directly at any of their corporate websites, but I'd expect some of them must allow devices to be purchased direct from their factories.  (And c'mon, think how cool it would be to have the only Polish Kruger&Matz LIVE3+ smartphone on our continent!)

kutzki
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

domenicocortez
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

Newegg is a good place to buy unlocked phones (new and refurbished). My zenfone 2 came from newegg.ca and they offer extended warranty if you need it, and reviews from buyers, i recommend!

srlawren
Retired Oracle / Oracle Retraité

Just stumbled upon a couple of handy articles on Android Central:

 

How to buy an unlocked Android phone in Canada

 

Everything you need to know about 4G LTE in Canada

 

The second link, in particular, breaks down all the LTE bands in use by all the Canadian majors!  As PM uses the Telus network, here is the list of bands in use:

 

Band 17 (700Mhz),

Band 7 (2600MHz),

Band 4 (AWS)
Band 2 (1900Mhz),

Band 5 (850Mhz),

Band 29 (700Mhz),

Band 13 (700Mhz)

 

Now, not all of these will be in use everywhere in the country and so on, but it does give you an idea of what bands to look for when buying a phone.  You will definitely need AT LEAST band 4 for any LTE coverage at all.  Consider the rest optional.  Very few phones seem to have band 13 or 29, but many have most or all of the others.


>>> ALERT: I am not a moderator. For account or activation assistance, please click here.

Many stores refuse to sell you a phone without signing up for a plan.

Since Wireless Code came into effect though there is an easy out.

Buy the phone, sign up for plan, and then call customer service to cancel plan immediately.

They will refund the plan monthly cost and line is cancelled same day you activate it.

 

There are some ok prepay handsets but I find most carriers save the best for the postpaid clients.

 

 


@firerat1980 wrote:
How to edit posts

Look like you already figured it out, since you've successfuly edited your last post.

firerat1980
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen
How to edit posts

samgabbay
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

Hes right. Just PM me like you did 🙂 No problem. Xiaomi phones and Chinese phones are my specialty 😉

@firerat1980 This community and all posts on it are indexed on Google, and viewable by anyone around the whole world. It's definitely not recommended for you to post your full email address in plain sight. I would suggest modifying your earlier post. Anyone wishing to get in touch with you can simply send you a private message from the community, which will also be forwarded to your registered email address.

firerat1980
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

Well what ths shipping cost also can we talk more about these type of phones 

samgabbay
Model Citizen / Citoyen Modèle

@firerat1980 wrote:
How is the Redmi Note 3 and what it cost to buy shipped


 

 

Great Phone actually. Although i unlocked my Bootloader so i can have the global version of MIUI. With PB it works with its HSPA/3G frequencies. 245$ + Express delivery. I do love the phone, but if you do plan to buy it. BUY A CASE! 

 

 

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