Canadian cell "deals" (ha!)

[bluejaywpg]

As seems to be usual, based on what I've seen, the only "good" deals to be had for cell service are the ones involving getting a brand new phone for $0 (or some really low price) this past Black Friday / Cyber Monday if you're willing to pay for a premium-priced plan, which may actually be worthwhile for some, plus you can get 5G service if it's with the big 3.

Absolutely everything else for just pure service, other than PM, was complete craaaap. $5 off a $70+ plan? 6 months of extra data to switch? Yeah right, what a joke. If I want extra data, it had better be either a data pack you use at your own pace, or perpetual monthly data like the 2 GB bonus.

And what's Cyber Monday in the cell service business? Doesn't exist, I guess. I searched the community for old Cyber Monday offers & couldn't find talk about anything.

While I might complain about PM's offers (especially since there's NOTHING for existing customers, even though they could very easily make the 2 GB bonus available for existing customers), it seems PM is the best in a bad lot again. Though Netlive's offers are intriguing - but I won't be switching.

Is there any hope for Boxing Day? Might something be dangled for existing customers? Or are we left to appreciate saving a couple of loonies or so for luring customers or posting in the community (something no one else does) & nothing more? I cannot lure anyone (besides my dad, & immediate family that I already pay for) - all my friends much prefer to be throwing away gobs of cash for data that many probably don't come close to using to its full potential! 🤣

[Korth]

My phone bill is about $8 per month. Could've been less but I keep giving referrals away instead of properly hoarding them, lol.

Like others, I have accumulated many gifts over recent years. A few thousand minutes of assorted long-distance calling add-ons/promos, maybe 15GB of data, about $100 of actual money awarded into my account balance, plus a few hundred more $ from various Rewards (discounts) over time.

In practice this means I've gone months at a time with "free" phone service, haven't had to pay anything out of my pocket. And I still have piles of "free" add-ons which I won't ever have to buy if I whenever I might need to use them.

So Public Mobile seems like a much better deal than any other provider on the Canadian market. The longer you stick around the more you get and the less you pay.

[jamiepm]

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...and I'm fulfilling my vow to take Rogers down one customer at a time!!  darlicious 5 rogers 0

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A worthy cause!

[darlicious]

@bluejaywpg 

Yes I suppose this is where my hospitality background comes in and its second nature to be open, friendly and conversational. All the clues were presenting themselves.....on a fixed income/budget (lives in an RV), needs basic services, has no contract or device envy (flip phone), with credit likely an issue the phone call was the opening to ask about the provider. 

With chatr being a Rogers company the chances that he feels ripped off are high (robbers and their bad dogs!) and he shared that he was getting poor service and his monthly cost ($22), so I know he has been sold more services than he needs because we have all been brainwashed to pay for unlimited plans or larger data buckets to avoid outrageous overages and extra billing (even on prepaid) that with the inability to pay for unexpected charges service suspension means a provider can hold your number hostage.

So everything added up to bring up public mobile, it is the most wonderful time of the year to get a good deal, the bonus $30 referral credit helps cover any upfront costs I might incur to activate the SIM card before he pays at the time of porting. This is no high pressure sales tactic as I get a thrill just getting a deal for me or for someone else and teaching people how to stretch their $$ buying power and showing kindness to essentially a stranger.  I can't afford to donate my money but I can afford to donate my time to help others.

...and I'm fulfilling my vow to take Rogers down one customer at a time!!  darlicious 5 rogers 0

[bluejaywpg]

@darlicious see, you know how to talk to these people.  When I go shopping, I talk to no one. And even if I did want to talk to someone, I have no clue who wants to talk or who would be receptive.  I wouldn't have a clue on how to talk to essentially a stranger, & eventually get someone like "the shopping cart guy" to talk about switching to PM.  Maybe 1 day as I watch people like you share tidbits like this, I'll get 1 in a similar way.  And that will be like a trophy achievement to me LOL.

But glad to see you may have got another one off Tier1, possibly.  And keeping your service even freer than free LOL.

My achievement yesterday was another pinball tournament win.  I didn't even think about phone service - was after a very busy day of work, prepping for the evening after work, & losing my sandwich to the floor while working (oops).  Didn't talk a lot at the tourney - just with a couple of regulars I always talk to & not much more.  So I'll have to settle for my "pocket change" but I'm not complaining. 🙂  Too bad the tournaments are only once a month LOL.  But it's mostly about having fun & enjoying a rare night out with others I never really see otherwise.  The prestige of the win & the money that goes with it are bonuses to be enjoyed on top of playing my favourite game with pinball buddies.

[bluejaywpg]

@darlicious Cavendish?! I love those fries!!! How the heck do you get paid to take those out of the store??? It's about time they pay me for all the fries I've hauled out of there over the years at regular (& sometimes sale) prices LOL.

I did take a look online just now & I see you can get $2.00 off coupons, meanwhile there are stores that carry the product for as low as $2.14 (RCSS) with most around $2.47 (Wal-Mart, Giant Tiger, No Frills...) or higher.  But that's still not getting paid to haul it away LOL.  I have to run to Superstore today so I'll get some, unless there's a better deal elsewhere.

[darlicious]

@bluejaywpg 

And I don't even have children!!

I've had to move on from cereal to getting paid to put cavendish fries in my freezer...

It looks like I may have lined up a Christmas referral. I just hope pm puts a good promotion on with at the very least a free month credit. I ran into the older shopping cart guy at RCSS who asks if he can return your cart so he can keep the loonie. He's great to have around because he keeps an eye on my e-bike while he's there "working". 

He happened to take a quick call during our conversation. Once he hung up his flip phone I asked him who his provider is...chatr. Which he followed up with "And they are screwing up big time right now!" I told him I will switch him to public mobile and get him a great deal and that I have a card to set him up for autopay for the $2 reward and he can still pay with a voucher. He will save $9 a month from his current plan and I get the added bonus of poaching another customer away from Rogers!😁

[bluejaywpg]

@darlicious I was just about to say that it's too bad you can't pay for your cell service with cereal, but you already have that taken care of via other means so you don't need to. But if you could pay for your mortgage / rent / utilities with cereal, you'd really be laughing! Or buy a car that runs on cereal LOL.

[darlicious]

@jamiepm 

Oh gawd.....please come over to my house and fill your trunk....Ive got to get rid of this stuff!  You can fill the back seat too if you drop half of it off at the food bank for me! Just ask @gpixel .....I've got a real problem....

[jamiepm]

@darlicious wait... free cereal, now you're talking!

@bluejaywpg 100% agreed, a good forum is wonderful thing! And don't get me started on banking, I think I've complained enough for one thread!

[bluejaywpg]

1 thing about the forum here - yes you can earn a small cash reward each month just for participating & perhaps make a few online friends. Getting paid to make friends - sounds like a win-win.

Of course, that doesn't work for everybody. I've been frequenting the forum lately because of checking for holiday season deals etc. that might be announced. But I tend to come & go - I need something to draw me back more often like riveting conversation LOL. I get bored reading the posts about PM service especially when there's always someone answering the question asked within a few minutes.

I would not recommend spending time here at the forums unless you truly enjoy it. I've participated in many forums / message boards over the years because I became part of the community for a time & enjoyed the social banter.

Otherwise, I would recommend most people leave the community alone & get out (safely during a pandemic) & spend time with your friends / family / clubs / leagues / etc. Sitting around watching TV at home relaxing? Then sure, participate in the community if it adds to your surfing experience.

[bluejaywpg]

@jamiepm indeed the cell business, like banking with the big 5, is far from level. I'll grow old talking about how we used to be able to bank for free (before the 1990s) with full branch / teller service in every little neighbourhood - a bank branch for every gas station you could say LOL.

[bluejaywpg]

@darlicious OK thanks - well I was pretty close in my estimates hehe...

Yeah I just don't have many connections in the sense that we just moved this past summer & I don't really know the neighbours yet, I don't really do things like church, I don't really strike up conversations with anyone at local businesses that I patronize, & I don't have a big circle of friends. But I get what you're saying. Pinball buddies can be a possible source for sure. Family too - I still have to talk to my brother-in-law & see why he seemed to quit PM after 1 month - as I got an extra dollar from him joining but then that reverted back to my current monthly total of $3 right the next month. Co-workers are another possible source. 

At the same time, kinda piggybacking on what @jamiepm said, I don't want to become a salesperson. I want to talk like I'm helping them (which often motivates me in general) without alienating them for sounding like I'm throwing a slick sales pitch.

[darlicious]

@jamiepm 

I wasn't inferring that you were complaining....I apologise if that's what you thought. I was merely saying I didn't complain although it almost killed me I that I didn't get a deal. As any regular knows I live for a good deal! I just turned my lemons into lemonade thats all....like you I just shared my experience.

My offer still stands if you change your mind....or want some free cereal or reduce your grocery bill by 80%.......😁!

[jamiepm]

@bluejaywpg as have I 😅

On a level playing field, finding deals can be fun and satisfying but the Canadian communications market is far from level!

@darlicious ignoring (again) your patronising point about how you don't complain...

I have also made use of the offers that allow me to reduce my bill but I have four accounts in the family and I certainly am not willing to give up vast amounts of my time on the forum (and let's be honest almost every post here already has 5+ of the same response so yet another user is not really very helpful) to get any of them down anywhere close to zero.

And yes I suppose I could also pester every person I meet to switch but I'm not a salesman and that sounds miserable.

So I wait for offers and I'm sad when new customers get better offers than me. And from time to time I look around the market (just as bluejaywpg did) and shake my head in disbelief!

(Also you may notice I didn't complain about missing any deal I just shared my experience in context.)

[darlicious]

@bluejaywpg 

Unless you have used lost/stolen and had to have your rewards added manually to your account your total rewards earned since joining public mobile are on your rewards page in your self serve account.

There are many different approaches to get referrals but knowing your target audience and taking advantage of holiday offers makes this the most wonderful time of the year to get a few referrals. Sadly the $30 bonus referral is limited to one per account but you have at least two accounts within your family to work with.....and just having a couple of cheap sim cards on hand is essential or the understanding of how CCS activation bundles work so you can assist with either a retail activation or an online one.

Look around your friends, family, neighbours, faith group, social circles or your pinball buddies. Who has tweens or teenagers that they are considering getting them a phone and plan. Not the ones with the latest apple products, samsung S21 or google pixel 6 pro. The ones with a 2 or 3 year old phone that they might hand down or have recently got a new phone but are smart snough to not trade it in for an upgrade. Whether or not the parents are with pm but they do budget and a pm plan for their teen means no surprise billing, data overages or ringtone subscriptions, pay per use added value text messages etc... and they want to teach their children financial responsibility.

Do you have neighbours who are seniors on a fixed income? Or your parents neighbour's or family members that you visit at their seniors residences? How about the couple that helps run the corner shop that you share a laugh with when you pick up milk? The lady down the street that watches the kids after school until their parents get home from work?

The volunteers at the neighbourhood house or the part time workers at the rink or community centre that you say hi to every week after practice? Just look around at the people around you that are paying $15 to $25 more for the same service they would get on pm for half the price.

They don't have a credit card I will give you some credit gift card numbers you can use to register them for autopay. Find out where vouchers can be bought in your area and confirm they sell them. Shoppers drug mart, Shell, 7/11, Petrocan and Circle K so you can show people how easy it is to pay for their service without a credit or debit/credit card.

In my own experience the referrals that I manage their self serve accounts for them because they are simply lost when it comes to anything online are the most trouble free. Rarely if ever have I had to contact customer support for them. I add the odd add on for them or sell them a voucher if I'm testing out a retailers validity timing. This year's holiday promo is the most troublesome but once they recieved the text offer they replied YES and I will log into their accounts once a day to see if the holiday gifts have been added.....not yet though!

[bluejaywpg]

@jamiepm outside of PM, I've played some crazy games to achieve some sort of deals or savings if I saw them as worthwhile. Others are definitely not worth the time or hassle & I'll pass on those ones.

Though I do agree about many promos being distractions. While I'll still be thankful for the bonuses we get that go above & beyond the level of service I signed up for, they definitely do not completely make up for how much we are ripped off compared to other countries. 

[darlicious]

@jamiepm 

I suppose it's all in the way you look at it. If you noted my last line in my last post my original account was activated the day before a flash sale and without a bonus referral credit for using a referral code.

I didn't witch and complain about it. I set a goal to take advantage of the one thing that no other Canadian mobile provider offers its customers....rewards that can reduce your bill to $0. My original account was $0 by its second month. With diligence my second account was down to a $0 bill ten months after the first. I will never have to pay a phone bill for as long as public mobile exists as a mobile provider.

I don't need to earn a community reward. I contribute here because I enjoy helping others and during a pandemic it allows for socially distant socialization. To each their own....its up to you to decide how you want to use your service. I am very happy with mine.

[bluejaywpg]

@darlicious I'm not sure how much I've earned in 18 months of rewards with PM but it should be 36 for autopay, 6 for loyalty, about 35 for referrals, & I'm guessing about 15 for community rewards. So about $92 total. I'll never ever touch your total for referrals. As I've said before, I don't have the contacts, networkability, or convincability. Almost no one I know wants to save money on their cell service LOL. 

Side note - at the same time you joined PM, I played in my 1st ever pinball tournament. I've won at least $1,000 I think. I'll have to sit down & add up my total winnings 1 day. That's my talent LOL.

[jamiepm]

@darlicious Thanks for offer and I realise I could deactivate their accounts and so on but I'm not interested in playing time consuming silly games for what should be simple common sense fix from PM.

All these promos and gifts are just distractions from the fact we're being ripped off – I'll take them if they're given, but I'm not jumping through imaginary hoops for little treats. It's like cell provider Stockholm syndrome...

(And yes I'm aware that PM is ripping us off less than the others but they're still ripping us off.)

[darlicious]

@bluejaywpg 

Well you were not quite far enough west to be offered the Shaw promo of 1000 minutes and a 5gb data add on from August 2020.

I did a community feedback phone interview for another 1GB DATA ADD ON. And I was invited for further community forum feedback sessions that added another 9 GB of data and 1500 minutes between my two accounts. 

The "More is Merrier" campaigns of 2019 and 2020 added the 400min and 500min international calling add ons and a 1GB and 2GB data add on.

My original account was activated right before pm gave away a 1GB data add on to all customers with an active account on August 19th 2019.

The RBC PROMO came with a 5gb bonus data add on....I activated my second account with that promotion.

Oh and when they initially reduced the price of the $30/1GB data add on by 50% as a COVID-19 limited time sale I spent some rewards credit and bought 2GB (before most of the other freebies were given out or earned so I figured I should stock up before pm raised the price again but that never happened.

Did I miss anything?😁

And customers complain when they miss out on an activation promo...my first account was activated the day before the first flash sale pm had in about 6 weeks and I didn't even have a referral code to use. I made up for that in short order!!😃

[bluejaywpg]

@darlicious holy crap, you've been with PM only 8-9 months longer than me. Where did all those bonus add-ons come from??? You have like 10 bonus data add-ons & a few more bonus phone addons. I only have 1 bonus data add-on & 1 bonus phone minutes add-on, both from a year ago. Surely they weren't all from before May 2020 when I joined? How did I miss out on all of these? Or do I complain too much here? 🤣

[darlicious]

@jamiepm 

If you just signed up your kids then they have new phone numbers. They can't be that attached to their new numbers. Wait now for the Christmas week/Boxing day sale (unless you preregistered emails for the black friday deal) and sign up new accounts with what will undoubtedly be a good deal and get the holiday gifts. Suspend the current accounts and reactivate around day 85 to use up the data/minutes on a $15 plan.

Private message me if you like and I can tell you how to take advantage of future promotions.

@bluejaywpg 

Rewards since joining public mobile :$765 (Since August/September 2019.)

Freebies, promotions, feedback incentives....contest prize won was a $50 Amazon gift card.

Soon but not yet in my accounts....only one text recieved so far anyways.Listed as 1 1GB Add-on

[Guspublic1]

Wow, those bonuses look good.

[jamiepm]

My wife and I have been customers of PM for nearly 4 years, we have none of those bonus deals on our accounts we have two of those bonus deals on our accounts.

Recently we setup two new accounts for our kids who are in high school. I signed them up a couple of weeks before the additional 2GB deal started. I asked support if the deal could be extended to the recently created accounts (if I also upgraded them from $15 to $35) since they were essentially new and we were long time customers... Nope.

When I lived in the UK I paid about CA$20 per month for (literally) unlimited 4G data, minutes and messages with Virgin Mobile. Plans worked with no additional cost across the whole of Europe.

[bluejaywpg]

@jamiepm exactly. As thankful as we may be for the holiday bonuses or other "free gifts" we may get, we should get way more than that for the money we pay. Sure, PM may be good enough for me & my family. But why can't we get say 1 GB for $13, or 4G / 5G service for the same price? Why could I get a 30 GB (yes THIRTY gigabytes) data bonus in Australia for $35 when I was there on vacation almost 3 years ago, to go with the 5 GB base offer which included a sim card & I think 100 minutes of talk & unlimited texts?

I used my work phone as my personal phone for many years simply because I refused to pay exorbitant prices for cell service. I didn't need much - just a little talk & text. I didn't get data for many years but didn't need it badly so I did without. Only when I lost my job last year did I finally bite the bullet & get my own cell service for the 1st time. I'm glad I held out as long as I could. I was not exactly looking forward to giving money to the big oligopoly. 

[ShawnC13]

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@jamiepm wrote:

@bluejaywpg Canadian cell providers are literally the worst in the world – PM is best of an appalling bunch.

@ShawnC13 You like showing off those rewards but how many hours have you "donated" to this forum for those tiny scraps of data and handful of minutes that would be literally free in most other countries?

We shouldn't be congratulating the companies that rip us off daily we should be holding them to account.

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@jamiepm, I didn't donate any hours for those "tiny scraps of data and handful of minutes" those were given to everyone without the requirement for participation.

My time here is compensated by the rewards I earn and if I was in it for the money I wouldn't still be participating.  It is about helping people and the rewards for that are just a bonus

[jamiepm]

@bluejaywpg Canadian cell providers are literally the worst in the world – PM is best of an appalling bunch.

@ShawnC13 You like showing off those rewards but how many hours have you "donated" to this forum for those tiny scraps of data and handful of minutes that would be literally free in most other countries?

We shouldn't be congratulating the companies that rip us off daily we should be holding them to account.

[bluejaywpg]

@ShawnC13 you've obviously been a PM customer a lot longer than me (less than 2 years for me) so I am not familiar with what was given out in the past by PM & why it was given out.

This page tells of many deals:  www.whistleout.ca/CellPhones/Guides/best-black-friday-cell-phone-plans

PM did offer all customers a reduced price for a 2 GB plan earlier this year (then yanked it the morning it was supposed to expire rather than let it be available until the end of the night like most other companies do with offers of any kind). So why not offer the 2 GB data bonus to all rather than just new customers?

Until Canadian cell companies fall into line with other countries that offer cheaper phone service at faster speeds, I will continue to complain about poor, expensive service. It's ridiculous that about 3 years ago I got better & faster (4G) cell service while on vacation in Iceland, New Zealand, & Australia than we get right now with PM or what we would get with Lucky or Chatr. And of course in Canada PM is the cheapest with the best offers for prepaid BYOP plans, so all other Canadian cell companies are automatically even worse. So I'll still stay with PM because they are easily the best - but of a bad lot.

[ShawnC13]

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@bluejaywpg wrote:

As seems to be usual, based on what I've seen, the only "good" deals to be had for cell service are the ones involving getting a brand new phone for $0 (or some really low price) this past Black Friday / Cyber Monday if you're willing to pay for a premium-priced plan, which may actually be worthwhile for some, plus you can get 5G service if it's with the big 3.

Absolutely everything else for just pure service, other than PM, was complete craaaap. $5 off a $70+ plan? 6 months of extra data to switch? Yeah right, what a joke. If I want extra data, it had better be either a data pack you use at your own pace, or perpetual monthly data like the 2 GB bonus.

And what's Cyber Monday in the cell service business? Doesn't exist, I guess. I searched the community for old Cyber Monday offers & couldn't find talk about anything.

While I might complain about PM's offers (especially since there's NOTHING for existing customers, even though they could very easily make the 2 GB bonus available for existing customers), it seems PM is the best in a bad lot again. Though Netlive's offers are intriguing - but I won't be switching.

Is there any hope for Boxing Day? Might something be dangled for existing customers? Or are we left to appreciate saving a couple of loonies or so for luring customers or posting in the community (something no one else does) & nothing more? I cannot lure anyone (besides my dad, & immediate family that I already pay for) - all my friends much prefer to be throwing away gobs of cash for data that many probably don't come close to using to its full potential! 🤣

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I am just wondering what are other providers offering existing customers?  I just not sure why everyone feels it should be required that PM offer existing customers a promo.  They offer us lots of other things and in the past have given out data and/or minutes for a holiday gift (so we can hold out hope for that).  

But to answer your question, here is what PM has given me for being a customer