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Grandfathered and Addons. or Upgrade?

Rusty
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Hi guys,

So I just saw PM's new pricing and am not sure what to do. I wanted to ask you guys for some input.

Currently out of work. (ty pandemic!)

Currently still on the $15 Canada wide plan. w/ 250MB of data

Earning $8/mo in rewards

My Usage: 150MB/Data and 20 mins calls/month.

Option1: Stay on this grandfathered and just buy addons as they are $5/500 mins and $10/1GB data top ups.

Option 2: Switch to the $25 Canada wide with 1GB of Data to "future-proof" as we know data will be important later....

So do I spend the extra $11.30/mo? (I sound so cheap atm..) but that is $135.60 extra per year which does equal to a LOT of addons at $5 and $10 here and there. What do you guys think? What's the best course of action?

Will addon prices go up? Hrmmm...

 

 

13 REPLIES 13

Korth
Mayor / Maire

If you're thinking in terms of annual costs then consider the Loyalty Rewards. And any Referral Rewards you can claim. And AutoPay Rewards, of course. They all add up and a lower-cost plan has a lower cost distance to work down to $0 monthly costs = $0 annual costs.

 

Buying a $5 add-on every now and then (as needed) ain't such a big deal if you're basically paying nothing or close to nothing for your base plan.

BEER
Town Hero / Héro de la Ville

So do I spend the extra $11.30/mo? (I sound so cheap atm..) but that is $135.60 extra per year which does equal to a LOT of addons at $5 and $10 here and there. What do you guys think? What's the best course of action?

Will addon prices go up? Hrmmm...

 

 


"but that is $135.60 extra per year " ----That's not being cheap but the intelligent way to evaluate purchases / plans. 

@Rusty 

 

I say go with the $15 limited Canada-wide plan plus $5 Canada-wide Talk add-ons. You'd have to use two of them (100+500+500 minutes = over 18 hours of outgoing calls) each month for the $25 plan with unlimited talk time to have an advantage at the same price. While unused add-on minutes will stay attached to the account month after month until they're used up, a better deal if you tend to not even use up your 100 plan minutes on most months, sometimes needing a little extra, only rarely needing a lot extra. Maybe this means you actually need to buy three or more $5 add-ons during busy months, but your annual costs would still work out lower overall.

 

You might also be able to chop your costs a lot by making use of your plan's unlimited incoming minutes. Ask people to call you back - or send a text asking them to call you - if they have unlimited (or unused) outgoing minutes on their plans then it's no big deal. You can't do this with all your calls, depends who (or why) you tend to dial out.

 

And don't forget the gift add-ons Public Mobile has been giving to all its customers over the past couple years. You never know if or when they'll decide to hand gifts out - and there's no guarantee that more will come - but I think it's now gotten to the point where there's an expectation, there would be a lot of backlash if no free holiday add-ons were handed out, there would be a lot of negativity if no free add-ons were offered to counter competitor promos. Any free add-on minutes you might receive would offset your need to purchase paid add-on minutes - and they'd be useless with an Unlimited Talk plan.

@Rusty 

 

You work.....so are younger.  You might see use of the $25 plan that is on sale I assume it would be grandfathered too.  

 

It all depends on your crystal ball, job expectation of who supplies Phone, talkative spouse/friend, etc. What changes do you see in your future?

 

Some of us older folks find the $15 plan meets the needs now and in the future. 

 

And take into account the PM freebies.  


@Rusty wrote:

Thank you. I guess it is true that PM will try to add more incentive for people to get off the $15 plans in the future and for now why spend more when it's not used. With the abundance of wifi and 5G around the corner, things might get even better. We might not even need data plans in 5 years.. who knows! 😄 Thank you guys for not allowing me to make a wrong choice and jump into something that makes no sense for me. I just hope they don't jack up the addon prices.


Yes, @Rusty 

 

Just know that none of us can say with certainty they will offer a future incentive to move existing $15 plan holders, though I have a gut feeling there may be a future offer to that effect.

 

Coincidentally, I've got a user on the $15 plan and have a scheduled $25 plan change in the works which I've got to decide whether to keep or cancel before their next renewal.  Hmmmm...

 

As for general overall price increases, yes, that too may happen so grandfathered or not, we may all face increases to plans and/or add-on's regardless.

 

 

@Rusty...

another great addition to have on your phone is a free app called Textnow. Using wifi, you'll be able to call any North American phone number for gratis. Free texting as well. It's especially handy when they allow out-of-country travel again. For example, while in Thailand, you can call / text home for free using wifi. There seems to be free wifi in most resorts, cafes, bars and public spaces. You get a free Cdn phone number so people can call you also.

Handy little app to have actually.

Rusty
Great Citizen / Super Citoyen

Thank you. I guess it is true that PM will try to add more incentive for people to get off the $15 plans in the future and for now why spend more when it's not used. With the abundance of wifi and 5G around the corner, things might get even better. We might not even need data plans in 5 years.. who knows! 😄 Thank you guys for not allowing me to make a wrong choice and jump into something that makes no sense for me. I just hope they don't jack up the addon prices.

HALIMACS
Mayor / Maire

@Rusty 

 

I'd agree with @Anonymous & @will13am & @hairbag1 

 

If you remain on the $15 plan, you've got a plan which will no longer be offered.

 

If you REALLY feel you'll need extra data in the future, sure, schedule a switch to the $25 plan on your next renewal - then you'll likely have what you'll need, and maybe more, for quite some time.

 

Here are some reasons for sticking with your current $15.00 plan:

 

  1. it's priced extremely reasonably with available rewards - probably best bang for the buck,
  2. it's Canada-wide,
  3. minute add-ons are cheap + carryover to future renewals so if you don't use, you don't lose,
  4. you could always use a calling app to avoid needing to buy add-on minutes,
  5. PM offers free (gifted) items once in awhile which allows free data and minutes to be added to one's plan - whether this will be available is hit or miss, but it's been given away routinely in recent years, and,
  6. I'm guessing Public Mobile will provide future offers for $15 plan holders to switch up plans at the current 'limited time offer' rates.    Can't be sure of that, but I betcha they might.

 

Good luck!!!

Johan
Good Citizen / Bon Citoyen

I am on the $10.00 plan and buy the addons when needed. It is definitely a better way to go, unless you plan on consuming large amounts of data in the near future. Keep in mind, as new competition comes onto the market, all the players will adjust to hold market share, so what is today, may and will be different tomorrow!    

hairbag1
Mayor / Maire

@Rusty...

do a usage audit to see what you can live with. If you find you can make use of wifi...all the better. I had the old $40 plan but have found I can survive quite nicely on the $15 plan now.

I just mostly text nowadays anyhow. If you do need more talk time, you could get the $5 / 500 minute calling add-on.

S'up to you though.

Triguy
Mayor / Maire

The 1GB add-on is $15.  Add-ons remain in your account until used up.  

will13am
Oracle
Oracle

@Rusty , if it were not for the pandemic, would your data usage be dramatically different to the point that the extra data is always needed?  Data add-ons are a little more expensive than minutes, but they have a place in the budgeting for light users.  I had a couple of family accounts downgraded to the $15 plan and the way I see, we are not going back to the $25/$30 plan any time soon.  The pandemic has allowed for a very different perspective between needs and wants.  

Anonymous
Not applicable

Stick with whatcha got would by my opinion. I'm still on the old $10 plan and use add-ons. But then I happen to be a VERY low usage customer.

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