Public Mobile is a no frills service (not No Frills ;please) that does not have a call centre. Support comes from moderators on their community forum here: https://productioncommunity.publicmobil ... _Community
List of their current plans here: https://www.publicmobile.ca/en/on/plans
SIM cards cost $10. They can also be purchased Online or at WOW mobile, The Mobile Shop, London Drugs, K-Mobile, some Koodo kiosks, and Walmart. .
Data in ongoing plans does not roll-over to the next cycle. Lump sum data add-ons do roll-over.
PM uses LTE network for 3G plans. On 3G plans, latency is as good as LTE, speeds are throttled down to 3G.
There are no overage charges. Once you run out of your allotted data, it just stops.
Porting a number happens in at least 2 stages: The first stage, which typically happens in less than a minute, allows your PM SIM/phone to make calls and texts under the ported number. The second stage, which takes longer depending on how long it takes your current carrier to release the number, allows your PM SIM/phone to receive calls and texts made to your ported number. Before the second stage arrives, your old SIM will still be receiving calls/texts.
You can change your plan at any time. When you do, the options are
a) immediately or
b) with the next billing cycle ("renewal")
Since PM is prepaid, if you choose "immediately", you will be billed immediately and you will NOT be credited for the time remaining of your previous prepaid plan. Unless you need features of the new plan immediately, it is usually best to change your plan with the next billing cycle. You cannot schedule a change further ahead than the next billing cycle.
On-going promotions:
1) $1 per friend: If someone activates an account using your PM phone number as the referral, you will get a $1 added to your account every 30 days while their account remains active. There is no limit, and if your monthly credit exceeds your plan's cost, it will accumulate in your account. It can't be cashed out, but can be spent on add-ons.
2) People opening a new account will get a $10 if they have a PM mobile phone number to put under the section: "Were you referred to Public Mobile by a friend?".
3) $2 auto-pay. PM is a pre-paid service. If you keep a credit card on file authorized to pay for next cycle's costs, you get a $2 credit to your account every cycle. Since keeping a credit card on file is so easy to do for most people, people typically consider the plans $2 cheaper than the listed price. If account activation doesn't go perfectly smoothly, make sure auto-pay was enabled as it is commonly not enabled when hiccups happen.
4) After your first year with PM, you get a $1 credit each 30 day cycle. This increases by $1 each year to a maximum of $5.
Current promotion:
$10 referral credit: $1 credit to person making referral to PM, $10 credit to person referred to PM (and starting a new account)
If you get a error message during the activation process, and it looks like it didn't work: Test the SIM card in your phone.
If the SIM card works for sending texts or calling, then the activation is complete. Text another phone to confirm the phone number, and then create a PM account.
If the SIM card doesn't work, check if your credit card has a pending charge. If there is no pending charge, try activating your SIM card again.'
If the SIM card still doesn't work and there is a pending credit card charge, contact one of the moderators on the PM forum for assistance.
PM advantages: Price (especially if you take advantage of the perks), no overages, no credit checks since it's prepaid and the service itself reliable, long distance and data add ons roll over until used up and are cheaper than other carriers, referrals can be had, with Other Carriers, they have a limit per year, PM does not have restrictions or limits to their rewards until your bill becomes $0, you can always up the plan to continue to earn more rewards if it gets to that. VOIP calling has been confirmed working by several members, Wifi calling works via 3rd party apps
PM disadvantages: no call center, slow website especially when busy, 3G LTE lite data speeds which is plenty fast for most applications but not always (good for 99% of users, speeds are 3Mbps, not really a disadvantage (unless you have lots of data on your plan for video streaming) but listed here anyways), no phones to buy, limited add ons, no US roaming aside from incoming text when you travel. With PM you need to buy the add ons which are cheap to have all roaming features. carrier Wifi/VoLTE (not working), no eSim, no international roaming (US only). Comparable to Other Carriers, they are all pretty close to the same thing price and service wise as is. PM has all the rewards which is why this provider is so popular.
Regards.
