Bell, Virgin Adjusting Basic Plans

[DOA]

MobileSyrup received a report from a reader noting that two of their Basic phone plans — plans from Bell that include a small amount of calling minutes, texting or data — were going up in price. One plan was increasing by $3 CAD while the other was going up by $10, a 40 percent increase in monthly cost. The reader said that they would end up paying $35 per month instead of $25 like before.

https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/02/13/bell-raise-basic-phone-plan-cost-10-per-month/

Virgin Mobile is doubling how much it costs to send texts and make calls on its prepaid plans starting March 19th. The carrier has posted a webpage on its site that details how much the new rates will cost. Local calls are doubling from $0.30 CAD per minute to $0.60. Canada to Canada and U.S. long-distance calls are also doubling to $0.60.

Canada and U.S. texting and Canada to international texting are bumping up to $0.60 per text. This means it will cost $1.20 to send a message and receive a reply if you’re plan doesn’t include unlimited texting.

https://mobilesyrup.com/2020/01/24/virgin-mobile-doubling-prepaid-rate-charges-on-march-19th/

[DOA]

---

@Korth wrote:

---

@DOA wrote:

What's significant is those are some fairly large hikes to [Bell and Virgin] basic plans.

---

The Bell/Virgin price hikes only seem significant for those who choose to be prepaid Bell/Virgin subscribers.

But not significant for those who choose to be prepaid Public Mobile subscribers.

---

The point is, the Bell/Virgin hikes for basic plans may drive those customers to Public Mobile.

I wasn't planning to leave Virgin, but last year they hiked my rates and I decided to look around for a better deal and found PM.

Prior to that, I had never even heard of Public Mobile.

[ichor]

---

@DOA wrote:

What's significant is those are some fairly large hikes to basic plans.

---

Which is exactly why I'm here.

I had a 'please don't leave us' plan with a different carrier that had about 59min of talk, no call display, no voicemail, and charge of a few dollars to send (AND RECEIVE) text.  The price went up late last year and then doubled this year.

Raising the price that steep seems like a really good way to get people out of their rut and looking for other options.  I appreciate the sudden price increase otherwise I wouldn't have found PM.

[Korth]

"Cheap retirement plan! Grandfathered forever. With Loyalty Reward."

Way more effective vs targeted demographic than "Less For Less" and "We're For You".

[skrdan]

@fujiyama
I'm not worried at all.
I've done alot if tesearch since I retired last year and this cell service provider has done extremely well. Way better than,Bell,Rogers,and Fido.
AND if there's a few bucks mark-up to pay for this superb company,I'll gladly pay. Unless your retirement income is really treating you the way you want it to rhen,you can afford anything but,to most of us that's not reality. This is the Best Service in the long run.

[Bullet77]

Bell has been challenging the CRTC ruling that forced carriers to have lower rates in the first place. Bell is lobbying to get rates back up so I am no surprized. Bell has never played fair. People talk about Bell, Virgin , and Lucky. They still have Solo but won't allow anyone on it. They will tell you anything to move to the other 3. I was on Solo but not knowing about SIM card cutters and Bell had no intentions of helping except leaving. Now I am here.

[fujiyama]

Always disappointing to hear about price hikes but Bell and Virgin are tier 1 and 2 carriers, so PM should not be affected. If this trickles down to Lucky and Chatr though, then we might have reason to worry...

[Korth]

---

@DOA wrote:

What's significant is those are some fairly large hikes to [Bell and Virgin] basic plans.

---

The Bell/Virgin price hikes only seem significant for those who choose to be prepaid Bell/Virgin subscribers.

But not significant for those who choose to be prepaid Public Mobile subscribers.

[DOA]

What's significant is those are some fairly large hikes to basic plans.

[Korth]

All carriers have changed plans and plan prices before. Business as usual, nothing new. Public Mobile is a slight exception because they usually grandfather legacy plans for as long as they're "sustainable", but even these plans and prices will get terminated or reformatted (like the ancient Pioneer plans did) after enough time passes.

They usually also offer some sort of promo which looks like a great deal in comparison. Restructured prices are more about attempting to migrate subscribers and juggle revenues for best overall gains, not about revaluing a specific plan or two.

[will13am]

Is this intended to be informative or suggestive?  I hope not the latter.