Public Mobile currently has a promotion where customers can get a $38 per month plan with 4GB of data
(if you setup auto renew; otherwise it’s $40/mo), which comes with unlimited province-wide calling, unlimited international SMS/MMS, voice mail and call display.
The company was acquired by Telus three years ago and as it stands, all customers now operate on the latter’s LTE nationwide network. The $38 per month plan with 4GB is compelling since it’s the closest thing to a ‘hot’ plan, outside of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec, provinces which get special offers from Rogers, Telus and Bell, due to regional competition.
Are you interested in switching from Rogers/Fido, Telus/Koodo or Bell/Virgin Mobile over to Public Mobile? Here’s a guide on step-by-step instructions on how to port your number over to Public Mobile. I recently switched one of our cell lines from Fido to Public Mobile, and documented the experience.
How to Port your Number from Rogers, Telus, or Bell over to Public Mobile
1. First, you should have ordered and received a Public Mobile SIM card by now. It costs $5 plus tax and shipping is free. Order one here.
2. Your SIM card will ship and arrive in about five business days or so, via Canada Post Priority letter mail . Here’s what it looks like:
Inside you’ll find instructions on how to get started, plus the 3-in-1 SIM card, which allows you to pop it out in a size to fit your unlocked iPhone (or other cellphone) SIM tray. If your iPhone is locked, you need to unlock it by contacting your carrier and paying them $50-$75 to do it.
Update: Existing Telus/Koodo iPhone users do not need their phones unlocked as they will work just fine.
3. Next, head over to https://activate.publicmobile.ca. From here, you’ll be asked to setup your account. Enter in your SIM card number (found on the SIM card), personal details, plus also enter in a referral. People who refer you will save $1/mo on their plans.
If you’re signing up for Public Mobile and require a referral code, use KE7204 to get a $10 bill credit.
You’ll also need to setup your Self Serve Account, which involves an email, username, password, security question/answer, language preference and 4-digit PIN. If you’re a 1Password user, my Profile autofill messed up the form (I couldn’t check off box to accept terms) with Safari, so I ended up doing everything manually in Google’s Chrome web browser instead.
4. Step two asks you to choose a phone number. If you want to keep your existing number, choose the second option to transfer (or port) over. For Koodo or PC Mobile users, Public Mobile says you need to choose a new number first, then contact them to manually complete the port.
All you do is enter in your existing phone number, then click “Check Eligibility”. Note this step took a while in the browser before it completed.
Next, just enter in an alternate phone number and your authorization name, along with either your old account number, IMEI or PIN. Tick off the box to say you’re authorized and click “continue.” Again, this step took a while to process as well. Just be patient.
5. Next, you now select your plan and add-ons if you wish. Select the 90-day pass, unlimited provincial talk, unlimited international text, 12GB data and your total should come to $120:
If you want an add-on, add it here (you can do this later too). Unlimited provincial-wide talk means you can make and receive calls anywhere in your home province, anytime. But if I leave BC and visit Quebec, I won’t be able to receive calls unless I have long distance add-on.
In this case, the $15 option for 400 international minutes includes Canada and is your best bet. Add-ons do not expire with your active plan and will roll over. So essentially, you only need to pay for the minutes you plan to use.
6. Review your order.
7. Payment: this is where you get to pay with your credit card (Visa/MC/Amex). If you setup AutoPay, you will save $2 per month. This means your plan will renew itself automatically and charge your credit card every 90 days. Select you want to register for AutoPay at the bottom.
Our Amex failed to authorize at first, but our MasterCard worked. Others trying with Amex are seeing failures to authorize. The trick is to do the initial charge with Visa/MC, then go back later to your profile and switch your credit card to your Amex.
8. This is the summary screen, which will confirm your account is activated.
9. Pop the Public Mobile SIM card into your unlocked iPhone (or Telus/Koodo iPhone) or other unlocked smartphone.
You’ll see an Activation Lock screen, where you will need to login with your Apple ID linked to the phone. This is an iOS security measure in case someone steals your unlocked iPhone and tries to pop in their own SIM card:
Once this is done, you’ll see Public Mobile as your carrier. There was no need to enter in any APN settings. Everything just worked. We were able to send and receive text messages, plus make and receive calls, immediately.
Public Mobile will also send you text messages confirming your account PIN, plus a congrats message showing your rewards (in our case, AutoPay):
We performed a quick Speedtest.net test and with two bars of LTE, our initial test showed 21.92 Mbsp download and 0.47 Mbps upload speeds on an iPhone 6s (we didn’t try a second test but will do so in an area with better signal).
There was discussion of whether Telus was throttling Public Mobile download speeds, but the company told users in their community forums last year “No, PM traffic is not throttled.”
As for our Fido account we just ported to Public Mobile? We don’t need to do anything. Public Mobile will deal with Fido and we will be pro-rated, reflected on an upcoming final bill. Note this account we moved over was under our main Fido account.
We have one more line with Fido (an old $56/2GB unlimited nationwide plan) and after calling the retentions department, they offered the following plans to make us stay:
Overall, the porting experience was seamless and easy, but do set aside some time to get everything done. It was nice to be able to port over online and not have to visit a store or deal with a human (which isn’t possible with Public Mobile, so get used to their forums).
This promo expires on November 20, 2016, so if you’re on the fence about switching, just go order a SIM card today (it’s $5 only), regardless, so you can make the port over in time if you decide to move over.
Public Mobile also has a great loyalty program, which offers customers $1/month off after their first year with the company, $2/month off after year two, and so forth, up to $5/month in year five. That effectively takes this $38 plan down to $33.
As long as you keep renewing this promo plan, you’ll get to keep it, says Public Mobile. So that means do not let it expire after 90 days! Just setup auto renew and you won’t have to worry about a thing.
But, it can get even cheaper with referrals. Every person you refer will net you $1/month, up to the cost of your plan. So theoretically you could get down to a free plan every month.
Public Mobile Caveats:
How did your porting experience go with Public Mobile? Let us know if we missed anything in the comments!
Update Nov. 17/16: The promo is no longer advertised on Public Mobile’s website, but it is still available when you go to the activation page. The reason they took it off was because users won’t get SIM cards ordered now in time for the Nov. 20 deadline.
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Nice ????????
I switched from telus. Went smoothly. No need to unlock the phone from telus.
I was just going to ask this. So we have 3 phones on Koodo are you saying they wouldn’t need to be unlocked?
Sorry they will work, will update the article. Telus/Koodo phones will work no problem.
Can you confirm this? If we have four phones on Telus, we do not have to
spend $200 to unlock all our phones before signing up for this offer?
I was with Telus and switched to this plan and didn’t have to unlock my phone. Koodo and Public Mobile are owned by Telus and run off the same network so you can switch freely between them and not have to unlock your phone.
Yes, confirmed.
Plug your IMEI here and it’ll double confirm:
https://publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-started
I’ve had nothing bud bad experience with Telus in my past. Both places I lived in the Surrey B.C areas just happen to be dead zones, my parents place too. 3 houses all in the Surrey area I have to step outside just to get signal. I’ll never go back to Telus or an affiliate again.
I’m sure others do fine, I just happen to be locked to a 3 year agreement to a service I could barely use, left a bad taste in my mouth.
Surrey is a very “unique” territorial zone. In general, Telus coverage in BC is much better than Rogers/Fido.
This is a great plan. I would switch in a second if the add-on data offerings were more reasonable.
How long am I going to have to wait for a reasonable 6gig plan? It’s been like 8 years since 6gigs for $30 was easily obtainable.
I think it’s pretty reasonable, the 12GB is over three months, if you split it evenly it works out to be 4GB a month but it carries over for the three month term. For example, if you use 2GB one month you would have 10GB left for the other two months. I try to be on wifi as much as possible anyway, but I like how flexible this plan is because my usage varies quite drastically from month to month.
I was talking specifically about data add-on prices. $10 for 200MB and $30 for 1GB is not reasonable IMO.
I do close to my 6 gigs every month. Keeping with that, I would be looking at $40 more a month in add-on. $120 for 3 months.
A 1GB add-on is close to the price of a month of the service of voice, text and 4GB of data.
Now $10 a GB of add-on data and I would jump on this.
Yeah, the add-on prices for data are not exactly cheap. But this plan works well for those who use Wi-Fi a lot during the workweek.
Does anyone know if Fido would be willing to match the offer?
No they won’t because this is actually a pay as you go service and they don’t really have anything that is close to matching Public Mobile (for what they offer me at least). The best offer I got from them is $45 unlimited canada-wide calling and 1gb data or $50 for 2gb data. I have been with Fido for over 6 years at least, so i am kind of disappoint with what they offer and will be switching to Public Mobile tomorrow.
I called today and got the retention offers noted in the post. Try Fido again if you wish, but I still think Public Mobile offers more value for unlocked iPhone users.
Thanks for replying. They’ve been offering the $50 for 3GB for some time now. Unfortunately, a 3 month bundle may not work for me for now because I’ll be going out of country for a month mid January.
They have a new “loyalty” offer. $50 for 3GB. I was offered that 3 weeks ago.
And I guess any of the +10/15/35 options for hardware subsidy are on top of that?
This is for BYOD only, unfortunately.
Also on their site it’s tough to figure out. Is voicemail, call display standard? Also as it’s only province wide if they get a call from outside the province is that ok? Just outgoing calls the issue?
I just signed up last night, voicemail is included, I think call display is as well. You can change your add-on to be nation wide instead of province wide but it will cost extra, I believe it was around $15 more.
That’s ridiculously scary. You think a feature is included and you ordered anyway? Not me. If it’s not in writing, I won’t believe it.
Voicemail and CD is standard. If you’re in your home province you can receive calls from anywhere.
It’s only CID, not name display.
@Gary as far as iPhone features, how well are they supported? i.e. VVM or
Wifi calling. I expect neither but wanting to confirm.
No visual voicemail. But you can set it up so one tap of the voicemail icon goes straight to the inbox without entering a PIN. I rarely get voicemail nowadays so not a deal breaker anymore.
WiFi calling, not available yet.
I thought I’d miss visual voicemail especially with Fido’s new transcription feature but then I realized pretty much everyone who calls me and doesn’t reach me calls back or immediately goes to send me a SMS/email.
Exactly! In my case a missed call gets a quick email follow up or text like you said.
When you have very elderly parents you’ll quickly realize that a call is not something you want to miss.
Again, the $8/$15 add-on solves any Canada-wide calling issues. Don’t want to miss a call? Get an Apple Watch too 😉
The other option is having a Rogers/Fido plan that includes call forwarding, wifi calling, VoLTE, etc. so you can forward your cell number to a virtual VOIP number like Fongo for the same total monthly cost as I have. Although, I have to admit 400 international minutes for $15 is pretty good for a mobile provider. It works out to be $0.04 a minute. Not sure if there is any commitment associated with the add-on though. That info is no available online.
Again, the add-ons don’t expire. They roll over as long as your plan is active. So that initial 400 minutes for $15 as a one-time payment will last me a long time. That’s 13 hours of long distance talk time.
This Is what I’d like to know too. I’d like to know if iMessage while on cellular using phone number to phone number works. I know it doesn’t on wind.
Yes it works. Tried on our iPhone 6s. This is the Telus LTE network so no issues.
I believe that’s due to how wind handles text messages with certain characters (and I thought they fixed it). Telus supports the proper iMessage activation texts so I expect PM is fine in that regard.
iMessage does work on WIND phone-number to phone-number, something must have went wonky with your settings… Been using WIND on an iPhone for 2 years
Is this promotional price $120 for three months permanent ?
Yes as long as your account stays active you’ll keep the promo.
Ya. You should amend the list of caveats to mention the iPhone features not supported. Such as vvm, wifi calling and (obvious to some because Telus doesn’t support it) VoLTE. This isn’t a big deal for some, but I switched away from public when I got a new iPhone (let’s ignore the subsidy for this conversation) because I wanted to maximize my experience on such an expensive device.
A Canada specific caveat is that it doesn’t support extended network the way the big carriers do. If you are on Telus or Rogers and leave their respective coverage area, they connect to each others’ networks semi-transparently. (No action needed but shows diff carrier at top; EXT).
Other than that, Public is great. I recommend them. Sweet that they are rolling out US roaming. That’s news to me.
No need to unlock phone if switching from Telus. Also if you’re switching multiple devices you can use each one as a referral for the next one.
Don’t forget call forwarding and Canada wide roaming is missing with pm. I think when wind gets LTE might give new iPhone users more standard features than PM. As such, I think I would recommend Wind over them when this happens primarily due to their roaming agreements
For me, Canada wide calling is important. If I pick that option, my monthly costs are coming out to $67 per month. I currently have the $65 6GB plan from from Fido. Nothing is ever perfect 🙁
How many minutes do you use monthly Canada-wide? 400 minutes add-on for international ($15/one time)includes Canada. Unused minutes roll over and do not expire as long as your account is active. Works out to an extra $5/month, if you want to get it every month and let minutes bank up.
And if you use even less, then the $8 option gives you 200 Canada/US LD minutes. If all you need is a cushion for the occasional LD call, then this saves even more.
Agreed! However the 400 minutes at $15 is a better deal since it’s international (I never make international calls!) and cheaper by $1 for double the minutes of the $8 add-on for those counting pennies.
No need to unlock phone if switching from Telus.
Do they support Wifi Calling by any chance?
Thanks!
No, unfortunately
I didn’t know about that site, thanks for that info.
I’m sure it’s just bad luck on my part, it’s just 3 out of 3 locations to be dead zones is just terrible for my area hah.
Works great on my iPhone 7, I’ve been with them for over a year and love them.
U.S roaming is coming sometime this month.
Hi Gary, do you mind sending me a referral code please. Much appreciated.
Check email!
Thanks. Will I save anything by using this code?
No, only the person who shared the referral will get $1/month off.
so the more people you refer, the more off your bill?
Yes
For the voicemail – how many messages, how long and for how many days?
I believe it’s 10 messages and they are saved for 10 days from the time of recording.
Thanks Gary! SIM ordered. Will email you if I decide to pull the plug on this offer.
My Rogers plan is about to go up $10 after the credit disappears, it’ll be $90 for unlimited Canada wide and 5GB. Should I just go for the Public plan and buy outright iPhones. Or try and get Rogers to somewhat price match.
Really depends on your data usage–what’s the average use per month? An unlimited Canada-wide plan with 4GB would be $67/mo with Public Mobile, or you can just do a 400 minute (6.7 hours) International minutes add-on for a one-time payment of $15 and keep refilling as you need them. Referrals and loyalty will bring your plan lower over time, too.
Buying outright from Apple seems like a lot up front, but depending on calculations, it is usually cheaper than going with a contract. Your device will be unlocked so you’ll be free to move to the next ‘deal’ that comes along better than this one.
Again, Public Mobile doesn’t have Wi-Fi Calling or Visual Voicemail or VoLTE, so those are downsides to consider. But you do get the TELUS nationwide LTE network.
I don’t really use Canada wide minutes, I use average 3-4GB monthly. And the USA roaming add on will have to be added soon.
Tells LTE speeds are on fact much slower than Rogers/Fido but adequate for most people, especially for those who can’t see a difference.
having switched from Rogers to Koodo (Telus) i would disagree, at least in Ottawa i see exact opposite
Rogers lately seems to be getting quite saturated on their LTE network. Back east, Bell is quite fast.
Gary. You lost me in paragraph 2 of step 4:
“Next, just enter in an alternate phone number and your authorization name, along with either your old account number, IMEI or PIN. Tick off the box to say you’re authorized and click “continue.” Again, this step took a while to process as well. Just be patient.”
What do you mean by alternate number? Authorization name? Old account number? Tick off the box you’re authorized. Authorized for what? Isn’t this tutorial for new users to enroll to PM. Do you have to enter you IMEI number of your current device to port over?
As for me. I’m on the fence. Currently I have 6 GB with data and most bells and whistles with Rogers. I lost my call forwarding which was valuable to me. I don’t use most other features.
I pay $59 now after the increase before tax. I got a goodwill credits to bump me down to 55 before tax which is slightly higher than before. I use about 3 GB a month. I have a hard time swallowing giving up data when the trend is to be using more, not less.
Alternate number like your home phone number. Was just listing the fields you need to fill out. It’s on the form in the screenshot. Two are required along with one from three other choices like IMEI.
Authorized to port the account over (i.e. Fido etc). Yes this tutorial is for new users. IMEI is not required but one of three additional fields you can fill out. It’s the easiest to get right.
It depends on your usage patterns. Do you have WiFi during the work week or do you like to stream videos or use lots of data in general? With the 12GB, since you’re managing data yourself you could just track it with DataMan like what I’m doing. Then vary usage based on the first month and how much data you have left.
While the $56/2GB Fido plan was good, most of the time I’d incur coverages of $10/1GB. Visual Voicemail was rarely used. Voice minutes were rarely used (who talks anymore). So bills were $66 plus tax.
Now I’m at $38 with 4GB. Got the 400 international minutes add on. That’s 13 hours of Canada wide that doesn’t roll over or expire as long as my account is active. It’ll take me a while to talk or use that much voice. Saving $30/month over a year is $360. Even if I need to buy extra data in the rare case at the pricey $30/1GB, I’m still ahead versus Fido in the long run.
There’s no WiFi calling or VoLTE but hopefully Telus will bring that out soon. But from where I’m located and based on my usage needs it’s not a deal breaker. Plus with loyalty this plan will be $33/month in five years. Don’t see cellphone prices coming down from the Big 3 anytime soon! 😉 hope this helps #sentfrommyiphone
Ok thanks. I saw the screenshots on a PC. They’re hard to read on the tiny iPhone 7+ screen, lol. Unfortunately, I still find your explanation above confusing to understand. However, I can figure things out when looking at the screenshots.
What I don’t understand is how in the $38 a month you got the extra 400 minutes thrown in? That’s an add-on and unless I am missing a promo-code, it’s not gratis?
I have to say, I don’t like how PM does their billing statement. It shows just the amounts, not broken down eg. 3 months @ $40 month=$120. Again, as the PM forums have shown, PM doesn’t believe in transparency and disclosure.
In my case, I bought two SIMS, one for myself and my wife. My wife has an older HTC One X from Taiwan. I am not sure if it’s compatible on PM (Telus/Bell’s) network.
I will try to get something in writing from PM directly on all my questions, not even the forums can answer them. I can always sell the PM SIM cards if we decide not to go with them.
I suggest everyone browse their forums before changing plans.
$40 per month, but drops to $38 per month on the 90 day plan due to AutoPay $2/month discount. The $15 Add-On is a one-time charge that never expires. PM charges for SIM cards because many people (like myself) ordered SIM cards way back when they first started and never activated … until now.
What Kev just said!
Try entering in your IMEI here to see if the phones will work: https://publicmobile.ca/en/on/get-started
That’s not a full proof way of checking, it’s failed many
It’s the recommended way from Public Mobile, for those who aren’t sure if their random smartphones will work or not. For those who have iPhones in Canada, we don’t even need to check.
It’s a wrong recommendation, I almost live in those forums these days, so please trust me
What do you suggest then for people to check?
willmyphonework.net But nothing’s perfect.
I’ve seen so many say they used the imei checker and it said it would work but doesn’t. If you’re really not sure, start a thread in the community and ask.
Rockdaddy22 on PM community 🙂
What is WiFi calling? Does that include Skype calls?
I’m using WiFi calling on my Fido plan with iPhone. From what I understand, in case where your cell phone reception gets at two bars or below, your phone routes all calls and messages through your WiFi and not through the cell phone network. The minutes are counted against your plan but most talk plans are now unlimited anyway. The only issue I had was being in the mall with shitty WiFi and poor cell phone reception – then phone gets confused as it switched to WiFi Calling but poor WiFi speeds don’t help the lack of reception.
It works great at my home where I usually only get two bars but have very fast internet so all my voice calls (vary rare I make those) are of good quality without any drops or issues. I believe WiFi calling is a free add on from Rogers and Fido but only some handsets are compatible with it (iPhone 5C and later are compatible for sure).
Hopefully this helps
As mentioned below. Telus download speeds are slow but acceptable but their upload speeds are not.
Where is the full particulars of the plan and what you get? It’s hard to see on the tiny screen of the iPhone 7 plus ????
Where we live, my wife’s iPhone 6s Plus got 47 Mbps down with two signal bars of LTE. That’s still plenty fast. Again depends on what you want and your Telus coverage. But overall this is still good, not 100+ Mbps down but who really needs that?
47 Mbps is awesome. Anything over 30 is fast. The speeds in the screen shot you showed wasn’t that good 😉
There’s another number that’s just as important, PING – indicates responsiveness of network. With Telus and Rogers I get ping responses of under 20ms. With Wind sometimes it was in the hundreds. Anything faster than 5Mbps download and ping responses less than 50ms is more than enough for anyone who doesn’t download video.
It’s prepaid, it’s very simple. When you run out of data it stops working.
How do they figure overage gigabytes are worth $30 each??
Public Mobile is a prepaid service so typically they charge more outside of your defined plan. Yeah it’s not cheap to use more than your 12GB over 90 days.
im confused with entering an alternate number in step 4. What if i dont have one? can it be any number like a friends or my work number?
Yes any number will work. You can change it after in the profile section.
so public mobile has LTE?
Yes
Gary I have 97.99 fido dollars which I can use to get a new iphone 7. I am planning to buy an iphone out right and use my fido dollars $97.99 to bring price a little. But again even though I am buying out right from fido I still have to pay 50 dollars to them to get it unlock. My contract will be expiring on January 25, 2017 and if I want to get out early I have to pay $44 to fido. I am confuse whether to buy phone from fido by using my fido dollars then pay $50 for unlocking and $44 for canceling my contract or should I just buy from apply store and pay only $44 to fido for cancelation. What do you suggest please advise?
Fido’s outright pricing of the iPhone 7 is $20 more than Apple.ca ($919 Fido vs $899 Apple.ca). Add in the unlocking fee from Fido, and you’re paying $70 over Apple’s unlocked price.
If I were you, I’d just pay to end the contract early and buy unlocked from Apple.
I suggest everyone have a look at Public Mobile’s forums before taking the plunge. You can search for them just by typing in “Public Mobile forums” without quotes.
You got lucky with your activations. The public mobile ‘forums’ are clogged with those of us who get the dreaded Activation Failure…. where they are happy to bill us, but don’t actually create an account. AVOID!
That’s the thing about forums, people who don’t have a problem very rarely post there so the perception gets a little skewed.
does this work any where in the province ? I’d love to switch my parents over from Wind.
It uses the Telus LTE nationwide network so coverage will be way better than Wind. Yes should work anywhere in the province where Telus has coverage
Gary, can you please send me referral code.
Check email! Thanks
Does the data roll over every 90 days with 12 GB being added to your allotment or do you only get reset to 12 GB again?
Data does not roll over as it’s prepaid. Every 90 days, you get 12GB more to your account. This means you’ll have to self manage the 4GB/month (I’m using DataMan Pro).
So can I purchase one of the SIM cards now before the promotion is over and hold onto it for, lets say 6 or 12 months, in case I want to leave rogers and get this deal later?
No. You must activate the Public Mobile SIM by November 20th to get the promo.
You could buy the SIM card, activate a new PM number and pay the $38/month until you decide, as a way to hold onto the promo, if that’s what you’re asking. Then, just port your existing number over to Public Mobile later.
Hey Gary, I have a question. I’m planning to switch from a Fido’s Family plan (only one line for now). Is that possible? or should I get out of it first. FYI…Primary member in the plan is my father and he’s gonna remain with fido for now. And if I can switch without getting out, would the authorization name in step 4 be my fathers’ then?
Yes should be your father’s info. Should be able to switch out.
I’m in the same boat. I have my parents on my account. when I port over does the name and credit card info have to match? would it be possible to change the name afterwards? thank you
5GB for $48/month and 6GB for $54/month from Koodo is still a better deal and more value due to Canada-wide talk and Worldwide texting.
True. But for non-SK/MB people who can’t be bothered to jump through the hoops and risk their plan being revoked, this ain’t bad. The $15 add on with 400 minutes international rolls over. I rarely call Canada wide anyways. This plan has global text too.
Does anyone have confirmation from PM somewhere that after 3 months, even though [paraphrase] “you keep your plan and it auto renews”.. Whether the $126 Plan discount still applies? The wording here can be tricky and after 90 days a lot of people might be getting a nice surprise on their autorenew.
Yes it’s confirmed. Check Public Mobile Twitter or forums.
Just signed up for this deal tonight! Went flawlessly, my advice for those porting, just make sure you look over all of your details carefully. I received a text confirming my port within 15 minutes of activating. For those who might be wondering, I ported over from fido.
Nice! Our Fido port was instant. Agree on the part about the form being very specific when it comes to your info.
Gary, Can I get referral?
Yep! Check email, thanks
Nice Gary… you’re racking up quite a few referrals! You deserve it for maintaining this site. Kudos to you!
^_^
Hey Gary can I please get a referral? si*****@**.com
Thanks!
Thanks for the guide. I’ve successfully switched from Telus and chose to port my number automatically. The process was not without some confusing glitches, but in the end, I’ve signed up and got the deal and am looking forward to the savings. Connectivity/speed is identical to Telus, as far as I can tell. Thanks again!
Cheers. Sucks you ran into port issues but solved them. Enjoy the savings!
GARY, I AM GONNA GET THIS PLAN. MIND SENDING ME THE REFERRAL INFO? THX
CHECK EMAIL 😉
My experience unlocking with Rogers is a 20-minute phone call while they unlock it online for you. You just have to backup and restore for the process to complete.
So, it’s less than an hour in this case, not days.
My experience unlocking with Rogers is a 20-minute phone call while they unlock it online for you. You just have to backup and restore for the process to complete.
So, it’s less than an hour in this case, not days.
Sorry I missed this…. what is the fee to port a Rogers number over?
And – is there any benefit to having a referral code?
thanks!
There is no fee, but only whatever device balance you have remaining if that applies at Rogers.
The benefit to a referral code is that you give the referrer $1 off their bill / month.
Successfully ported our 2 numbers from Fido. Whole process was very smooth and took 10 minutes. Only getting one bar at my work place but so far no problem with internet and voice quality.
Hey Gary, is there a phone # for Fido retention or just ask to be connected? I’ve been w/Fido since the beginning (19+ years) and currently on the old $56 2GB plan. Wouldn’t mind getting little something for loyalty. Meantime, I’ve ordered the PM sim card. Thanks.
Just dial 611, then ask to speak to retentions. They’ll try to persuade you they can help first but just say you’re considering cancelling
Thanks!
Don’t expect a lot, though. I was on the phone, went to “customer relations” team and the best they could give me were the $45 plan for 2GB or $50 for 3GB. These were the same offers I was able to get from the regular rep. As I have 2 years of Spotify on my plan ( the new plans only offer 6 months free ), I have to evaluate whether my Fido plan is worth $200 of Spotify.
I’ve been with FIDO for decades (1.5 of them).
We pay $38 for 300MB now with FIDO ( + 250MB “Loyalty” credit), so even the REGULAR Public Mobile deal ($111) for 3GB/90 days is better than that.
Thanks for the great write up. I have ordered my SIM card on the weekend as soon as I found out about this deal. Do you know if it is absolutely necessary that the SIM arrive before I am able to sign up? I live in a major city so hopefully it arrrives before next weekend.
Hi Conor,
No problem. Yes, you will need the SIM card to sign up. The SIMs arrive pretty fast, usually two business days or so. You’ll get it this week most likely!
Hi, Gary. Can you send me your number for a referral?
Hi, Gary. Can I have a referral please?
Sent! Check email
No way to pick up these SIM cards in person somewhere that sells public mobile? Like Walmart?
No, they need to be ordered online only. Telus changed it up a while back, there are no more Public Mobile retailers.
I ordered two SIMs, one never shipped. I had to order a new one, and then customer service said they’d ship me new one via FedEx. But i still wasted $10 on sim cards. so im off to a bad start with customer service. I have a similar koodo plan, but its 500 canada wide mins (rarely call) and 2gb of data for $50
Damn, that sucks. They may be overwhelmed with the surge in demand for this promo plan. FedEx for the replacement is nice though!
from what I understand Public Mobile is pre-paid right? Currently Im on a no-contract month to month plan with fido so i have no commitments, but in your opinion is pre-paid or post paid a better option. The 4GB for $40 ($38 with autopay) is really convincing
Depends on your data usage. Prepaid means if you run out you need to manually add more data at $30/GB. However if you’re frequently under this then it shouldn’t be an issue.
If your plan has free Spotify or whatever you won’t get that with PM.
Since it’s the Telus LTE network this is a decent offer given coverage and speeds.
Bottom line is even with no referrals in five years this plan drops down to $33/4GB with auto pay. Doubt we’ll see something at this price in five years!
my bad, I meant a month to month with koodo aha! Idk how i messed that one up! I know they use the same network, and ik i’ll get $2gb more for $10 less , just weighing options with customer service and such
If you have an unlocked iPhone, there’s not much customer service you really need from carriers
Spent 2 hours on the phone with apple (who called Telus since they own Public Movile) and was informed that my unlocked iPhone 6s Plus won’t be able to connect to Public mobile because sometimes you need to manually enter in the APN settings (like in my case. The menu option that says cellular data was not there) And public mobile doesn’t allow you to do that. (This was not an issue on my 6P where I was able to enter APN settings for public mobile no problem) so just watch out For this or be prepared to be out $120
So manual APN settings for Public Mobile won’t work? That’s really weird since with my iPhone I just popped the SIM in and didn’t have to do anything. What error message is showing on your phone?
Ya it’s weird. Worked fine on my 6P. Tried restoring and everything. Never happened to me before. I had an iPhone way back when public mobile was still in beta and never had this issue before. Really wanted to take advantage of the $40 promo but I guess I’ll have to go with virgin and their $60 3GB plan.
The error is just in the cellular data options menu. When you click cellular > cellular data usually you can enter in the APN settings. But there’s nowhere for me to do that. As soon as I popped in the virgin sim tho everything was good to go right away
I had to do some research. it’s probably because you’re on an old iOS. I encountered the same issue on iPhone 6 on iOS 8. however, I solved the issue by creating an apn through https://www.unlockit.co.nz/
Looks like this promo has been pulled from the website. Apparently its still available to you during activation, but they’ve pulled it from the website since its now too late to order a SIM card.
Yes it’s gone from the front page but still available on the activation page.
http://productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca/t5/Announcements/SIM-Ordering-amp-SIM-Card-Payment-amp-Pick-Up-Locations/td-p/97864
Where can you pick-up SIM cards?
Friday 11am-7pm
Toronto
TELUS Tower
25 York Street
Toronto Ontario
M5J 2V5
Vancouver
TELUS Garden
510 West Georgia Street
Vancouver British Columbia
V6B 0M3
Montreal
TELUS Tower
630 René-Lévesque Boulevard West
Montreal Quebec
H3B 3C1
Those who have not yet ordered a SIM card can purchase a SIM card for $5 each. Credit cards and VISA debit cards are the only accepted payment methods. No other method of payment will be accepted. All SIM card purchases will be non-refundable.
In the spirit of Movember, all proceeds will be donated to the Movember Foundation to address some of the biggest health issues faced by men.
If you have ordered a SIM card and have not yet received it, please bring your Shopify order confirmation email to prove your payment (either electronically or printed). Without this confirmation email, you will need to pay for another SIM card.
Does anyone know the correct address for Vancouver? I went to Richards & Georgia at 510, but they are saying it’s not the right address.
@anothersamchan on Twitter told me they are sold out in Vancouver already!
Looks like they’ve hidden ( or taken away ) the 4GB deal. It’s now $186 / 90 days, which is 62$ / month. $120 is still available for 6GB/90 days.
Update: the promo is no longer advertised as they won’t be able to send SIM cards in time. But the promo is still available when you go to the activation page.