This is Canada, the country with the highest cell phone pricing due to the big three oligopoly. Public Mobile is run as a business, not a charity, and as such will try to get as much money from you for as little service as they get away with. There is a base admin cost that will always be factored into providing a service.
For a long time PM was one of the best low cost for low usage provider on a reliable network. For the past year they have joined "the others", offering way more data at a higher ARPU than their average customer "needs". With this general trend, I don't see prices going below $15 ever again around here.
It's 2024. How much time do you spend talking on the phone these days? To me the $15 plan, combined with $5/500 CW outgoing minutes (which carry over until used up) is as close to unlimited talk & text as I possibly need, at less than $200/year (averaging at about 260minutes = >4hours of outgoing minutes per "month", plus unlimited incoming). There are so many VoIP and / or messenger offers out there that can help you getting around the add-ons if needed / desired.
There are other options out there that offer unlimited talk & text (Freedom's $117/year (with some data) springs to mind, if you are in their coverage area, also comes with some data).
If this is for business purposes you should be willing to pay the price for network reliability where you need it, plus ease of timely access to customer service? Public Mobile is likely not the provider for that.
