Cell Phones

Why isn't Public Mobile a popular choice?

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Jan 17, 2002
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wearysky wrote: I see PM recommended in many threads, actually, but those three downsides are huge deal killers for a lot of people. Subsidized phones are somehow seen as a benefit (even though you're usually paying more in the end), and online-only support (even though PM's online-only support is VERY good, better than any livechat/phone based support I ever had with Rogers) scares a lot of people away.

Personally, I recommend PM to just about everybody I can. But their business model definitely isn't for everybody. People take comfort in being able to call and complain, or go into a physical store to talk to somebody face to face.
I think their online support was a bad joke for 2+ months when they released the 12gb/90 day special and lacks scalability.. Those "oracles" who can do nothing but sooth fellow PM subscribers and tag mods are kind of a joke. They really need a ticketing system.
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frogger wrote: I think their online support was a bad joke for 2+ months when they released the 12gb/90 day special and lacks scalability.. Those "oracles" who can do nothing but sooth fellow PM subscribers and tag mods are kind of a joke. They really need a ticketing system.
They've already admitted they need a proper ticketing system after that fiasco. They were caught SEVERELY flat footed. Thankfully, they've also said they have no intentions of having any more promos until they have a proper ticketing system in place, and fix the activation/porting problems that resulted in the huge backlog of support requests in the first place. Now that things are back to normal, support requests seem to be just fine and dandy again (though there still seems to be some issue with their "contact us" form - I see people complaining about it once or twice a week, that they submitted a ticket via that form but never heard back)
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May 5, 2008
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blackdragon12 wrote: Why isn't Public Mobile a popular choice?
In short, the answer is, because of the utterly ignorant customers :)

I find online customer support model of PM excellent (in spite of of a few past hickups, and of it being often criticised).
It is much more comfy for me to request help online, via a private message on their forums, or via an e-mail ticket,
or, better yet, via a instant chat (PM do not have it yet?).

An inspiring example for PM would be voip.ms, where I've requested a chat support a few times before, and
got an almost instantaneous response, and a solution within a half-hour at most!
Last edited by Tichi on Jan 25th, 2017 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Tichi wrote: or, better yet, via a instant chat (PM do not have it yet?).
PM has made it pretty clear that they have no intentions of offering chat-based support any time in the near future. More expensive.
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May 5, 2008
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wearysky wrote: PM has made it pretty clear that they have no intentions of offering chat-based support any time in the near future. More expensive.
Oh.. well, I can still survive without instant chat for now. It is less comfy, of course, but perhaps, looking forward,
PM can be persuaded to have an instant chat.
If voip.ms (similarly styled online company) have it, I do not see any fundamental reason why PM would not?
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Tichi wrote: If voip.ms (similarly styled online company) have it, I do not see any fundamental reason why PM would not?
Well, cost is a pretty fundamental reason. If they're happy with the level of service that they're providing right now (they seem to be, aside from the issues exposed during the promo period), I'm not sure why they would be inclined to spend more money.
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May 5, 2008
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wearysky wrote: Well, cost is a pretty fundamental reason. If they're happy with the level of service that they're providing right now (they seem to be, aside from the issues exposed during the promo period), I'm not sure why they would be inclined to spend more money.
If they are looking to expand, they should figure it our pretty soon, that an instant online chat would increase their
customer base a lot, and per acceptable cost. Just my naive opinion of course. It is up to them to do the basic calculations..
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Tichi wrote: If they are looking to expand, they should figure it our pretty soon, that an instant online chat would increase their
customer base a lot, and per acceptable cost. Just my naive opinion of course. It is up to them to do the basic calculations..
Their expansion should come by way of the adoption curve. It's early days, so only early adopters are willing to go with the service. Time will change all that.

I don't know why people put so much stock in something you may use once every year maybe. Why do I want to pay monthly for something that is so seldom used.
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Tichi wrote: If they are looking to expand, they should figure it our pretty soon, that an instant online chat would increase their
customer base a lot, and per acceptable cost. Just my naive opinion of course. It is up to them to do the basic calculations..
Their recent promo showed that they have zero capability to handle a huge expansion right now. And on top of that, I doubt that want one any way. Telus has no intention of turning PM into a 5 million customer juggernaut - it's their third tier bare bones brand. They want to keep the majority of their customers on the flagship brand (Telus) or as a lesser option, their second tier brand (Koodo). Those are their money makers where the gigantic profits come in - lock customers in for 2 year contracts, get them hooked on "subsidized" devices so they'll continue to pay exorbitant prices for plans. Telus bought PM for their spectrum, not to be a huge money maker.
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wearysky wrote: Their recent promo showed that they have zero capability to handle a huge expansion right now. And on top of that, I doubt that want one any way. Telus has no intention of turning PM into a 5 million customer juggernaut - it's their third tier bare bones brand. They want to keep the majority of their customers on the flagship brand (Telus) or as a lesser option, their second tier brand (Koodo). Those are their money makers where the gigantic profits come in - lock customers in for 2 year contracts, get them hooked on "subsidized" devices so they'll continue to pay exorbitant prices for plans. Telus bought PM for their spectrum, not to be a huge money maker.
I thought the Public Mobile purchase was to take out competition. The spectrum that came with the purchases was not very valuable given the network was replaced soon after. The PM brand allows Telus to experiment with a different business model. It is really the customer that will dictate where PM goes from here. Their pricing is good enough that the business can grow without having huge sales every few months. It is just a matter of getting over the early adoption phase and having the luddites buy into the self serve, online model. There is no need to have a call center other than to provide a placebo for alleviating customer anxiety. I will take the PM community forum over interfacing with a Fido customer rep.
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Sep 1, 2013
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Personally, I didn't make the move to PM during the recent $120/12gb/90day promo because of the lack of Canada-wide calling. At the time I was with Wind on the Everywhere 60 plan and actually using most of the 10gb, and also all had some hope the (then) upcoming LTE launch wouldn't be botched. I'd have been willing to take less data for a better network, though; the US roaming would've been the hardest thing to give up.

With hindsight, I'm glad I waited as I eventually got the $55 8gb Koodo promo, instead. Tons of data on a great network, and still $5 less than I was paying Wind.
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May 10, 2011
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d1ulove3 wrote: Opps this plan is not for me.
You can buy additional data add-on if you use up all your data. 200MB for $10 and 1GB for $30.
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csi123 wrote: You can buy additional data add-on if you use up all your data. 200MB for $10 and 1GB for $30.
Thanks but I will stay on my current plan.
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Well my 3 month promo 12gb ended and the auto pay and promo still stayed on as well, thank God.

The service has been great, was with rogers for 16 years I can't tell the difference. I don't really miss visual voicemail or call display.

What a great plan seeing my bill cut to almost more then half, unbelievable.
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Tichi wrote: If they are looking to expand, they should figure it our pretty soon, that an instant online chat would increase their
customer base a lot, and per acceptable cost. Just my naive opinion of course. It is up to them to do the basic calculations..
Instant chat would also mean an increase in operations cost, resulting in increase in price to customers.
I want to keep price as is.. Don't want increases.
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Dec 1, 2012
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Keep it simple.
Keep it cheap.

Want bells and whistles?.........Go elsewhere.
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Yah I'm pretty happy. My discounts are now working and I'm effectively paying $38+tax a month. I don't know that many people outside my province. Buying 200 mins for $8 will probably last me a very long time.

I did have a hard time convincing other people to jump on this plan though. I'm not sure why. It uses the Telus network so reception is great. I've got a coworker who got as far as ordering the sim but never activated it. Went on a contract for $80/month that got her a $600 phone subsidy. Less gigs. It makes no sense in my works. That's $42+tax extra your paying a month. That's well over a grand for the two year contract. Considerably cheaper to buy your own phone and jump on plans like public mobile plan when they come up.
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May 5, 2008
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mobifree wrote: Instant chat would also mean an increase in operations cost, resulting in increase in price to customers.
I want to keep price as is.. Don't want increases.
Well, it is disputable, how much exactly does it cost. Luckily, I do not know.
The only reference I can make is voip.ms, which should be operating on about the same budget.
If they can make instant chat, most probably PM can make it too.
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zod wrote: Yah I'm pretty happy. My discounts are now working and I'm effectively paying $38+tax a month. I don't know that many people outside my province. Buying 200 mins for $8 will probably last me a very long time.

I did have a hard time convincing other people to jump on this plan though. I'm not sure why. It uses the Telus network so reception is great. I've got a coworker who got as far as ordering the sim but never activated it. Went on a contract for $80/month that got her a $600 phone subsidy. Less gigs. It makes no sense in my works. That's $42+tax extra your paying a month. That's well over a grand for the two year contract. Considerably cheaper to buy your own phone and jump on plans like public mobile plan when they come up.
Yeah, I'm paying under $30 a month with referrals and community rewards and autopay discount. It's pretty awesome.

For some people, it's worth paying more to get that phone subsidy. Paying off the phone in chunks instead of all up front. They still end up paying more in the end (in her case, she's paying $42/mo extra for 24 months, but getting a $600 phone subsidy, so it's only *really* working out to $17 more per month, when you spread it out over the full 24 months), but it feels like less because it's spread out over time.
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Just had my PM $38 90 day promo plan renewed. Cost me $100.80 taxes inclusive after all the discounts. Loving it so far, pretty much the exact same plan I had with WIND but with Canada-wide coverage and cheaper too! WIND used to cost me $39.90 taxes inclusive but PM works out to around $33.30 taxes inclusive every month. Best decision ever.
¯\_(-.-)_/¯ A wise RFD'er once said, "Buy now, think later."

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