Service features

[lndyhpr]

I'm considering becoming a customer and had a question but seems that it is impossible to ask support without having an account. This is very bizarre.

The question is, in fact, about international long distance. There is not list of rates. Community has partial answers but not all - no info on all countries, 400 min add on lists some countries UT unclear what are the rates for countries not listed.

Simple question but seems incredibly hard to get an answer.

[imm1304]

Hi @lndyhpr!

400 minutes for $15 works out to approximately 3.75 cents per minute. This would be the rate for the list of countries that are included in the long distance add-on.  

You will not be able to make long distance calls to any other countries besides the 20 on the list using your PM account.  There are plenty of alternatives out there to get around this... I use Skype and some calling cards which usually cost less.. even for the countries on the long distance list.  Hope this helps.  

[lndyhpr]

Thank you @imm1304. I am surprised at this set up with international long distance. Clearly it is possible technically and I wonder why Public Mobile would artificially limit access to a particular feature. This, IMO, detracts from the great network coverage they offer.

[srlawren]

Hi @lndyhpr - I think you are thinking of PM like a post-paid provider.  If you have a post-paid account at Telus or Roger or Bell or others, you use whatever you use through the month, and they send you a bill at the end of the month for you to pay for what you used.  In that way, they can set whatever price-per-minute they think is right for each international country you may call, and they just bill you for what you used.

Public Mobile is entirely a pre-paid service.  They don't send you a bill at the end of the month, and instead they charge you up front for what you will want to use.  So, if you want some long distance minutes, you buy them up front.  But the only way to keep that sane, instead of being able to say I want to pre-purchase 100 minutes to China at 4c per minute and 88 minutes to India for 6c per minute and 200 minutes to Australia at 3c per minute (these are all made up numbers, just for illustration), they instead sell you a bucket that includes several countries all at the same rate of 400 mins for $15, oe 3.75 cents per minute.  You pre-buy it, use the minutes until they are gone, and then buy some more (if you still need/want it).

Hopefully that helps illustrate why you dont' see a listing of country x at y cents per minute published anywhere on Public Mobile's site.  You get the countries they include, and they are all 3.75 cents per minute, purchased in advance in blocks of 400 minutes.  

[lndyhpr]

Thanks @srlauren.I'm not sure what the pre-/post-paid has to do with it. They idea of pre-paid is great for budget control and uneven usage. But feature availability should be independent of that, especially since PM operates off Telus' infrastructure. Why only offer international long distance to 18 countries? What about the rest? Whether flat rate or not , again that's a secondary question.

Anyway, as others have responded, there other options. Although, the option of direct dial would have been great.

Finally feel a bit strange that this type of info is not available to prospective customers directly. Eliminating direct customer support is not entirely unexpected for a discount brand. And this community is a great and innovative idea. But this would require a few extra self-serve options, and for prospective customers as well.

Cheers!

[lndyhpr]

Btw, Mobilicity had a great pre-paid international long distance option - you purchased $X in credit and used it up at individual country calling rates.