Less Expensive Plans are Available in Change Subscription

[funpig1]

@Kirsten403 @Kmfilipow @luxray @SKSuh @phurf2023 @SteveQuin 

Recently, the available 4G "change subscriptions" plans have been better than the "new activation only" 4G plans.

The current "new activation only" plans are: $19 1GB, $22 3GB, $25 5GB.

My current available "Change Subscription" plans (YMMV) are: $19 1GB, $20 3GB, $23 6GB, $27 20GB.  Much better.

My advice:  if you or your friends want to activate a new plan, sign up for the cheapest plan that meets your needs. Do not get sucked into buying a more expensive plan with a huge bucket of data which you cannot reasonably use or for roaming that you rarely need. It may be much cheaper to buy a travel esim on an "as needed" basis for any country that you wish to travel, not just the US or Mexico.

PM will generally offer better plans to existing subscribers to try to get them to upgrade to more expensive plans. On the other hand, it is usually very difficult to downgrade from a more expensive plan (particularly those that are over $30) to a cheaper plan.

You have to be very patient and check your account frequently to wait for an opportunity to downgrade. You may not get the cheap plan that you want, but you can incrementally downgrade your plans over time. I was able to downgrade from $29 to $23 to my current $20 plan, but it took about 8 months.

Or you could port out to another carrier and port back in, but then you would lose any referrals or loyalty benefits that you have earned.

Good luck.

[SKSuh]

Kudos to Public Mobile for allowing me to tweak my subscription as follows:

Feb 2025: $39/68GB 5G CA-US-MX

Apr 2025: $29/30GB LTE CA

May 2025: $27/20GB LTE CA

Jun 2025: $29/20GB 5G CA-US-MX

[funpig1]

"Definitely good news to the returning snowbirds who upgraded to Cdn/Mx plans in the fall, but now want to downgrade to cheaper domestic plans."

Caveat: unfortunately, what may be available to one subscriber may not necessarily be available to other subscribers. Public Mobile does not treat every subscriber equitably. So, your returning snowbirds must be prepared for disappointment.

[hairbag1]

@funpig1 

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@funpig1 wrote:

@SKSuh 

A $39 to $27 downgrade is huge. That is helpful information which gives hope to a lot of people who would like to downgrade without porting out and porting back in and losing referral and loyalty benefits. Let us know if further cheaper plans become available to you at the $27 level.

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Definitely good news to the returning snowbirds who upgraded to Cdn/Mx plans in the fall, but now want to downgrade to cheaper domestic plans.

[funpig1]

@SKSuh 

A $39 to $27 downgrade is huge. That is helpful information which gives hope to a lot of people who would like to downgrade without porting out and porting back in and losing referral and loyalty benefits. Let us know if further cheaper plans become available to you at the $27 level.

[SKSuh]

I’ve successfully downgraded from a $39 Canada/usa/mexico plan (68GB) to a much cheaper $27 Canada only plan (20GB) as my data usage has always been minimal — just keep checking available subscription options if you’re in the market to downgrade 

[calithebear]

Thanks for the tip!

[funpig1]

You are right. When I first joined in 2019, all of the plans were available and I could freely upgrade and downgrade to any of them. Even in 2023, I was able to switch to a "new activation only" plan with the assistance of a customer service agent. Now the agents flat out refuse to do so. 

My post (and yours) is really for the benefit of people thinking of signing up with public mobile in the future so that they understand the possible pitfalls.

For example, I feel sorry for anybody signing up for the current $29 10GB 5G Can-US-Mex plan. They would surely regret it when that plan changes back to 20GB and they will complain and want to know how to switch. Knowing how the game is played, I would advise them to sign up for the $23 or $25 plan for now and wait for the better version of the $29 plan to become available before switching.

[luxray]

everyone, thanks for the advice ("downgrade to a plan you don't like and wait to apply for a more expensive plan to open up that you do like") and please don't take this the wrong way. I only mean this offense to Public Mobile the company.  it just seems like some are being obtuse. those of us who are upset about the more expensive plan we are on are only upset because there was a better plan that became available and we are deemed ineligible to switch to this specific better plan because we are loyal customers. this is a business practice that I believed I had escaped when I joined with public mobile about a year and a half ago. my disappointment in the company has only started in the past couple of months, because before that, I had always been eligible to switch to the plans that I saw and liked. 

it's not that I don't understand how to play this game. it's that i don't want to participate in this game. i do not like this business practice and it is causing me to have a negative association with the brand. and I wish public mobile cared about that, so I raise my voice about the issue. that's all.