Public Mobile’s wireless customers have lived in a state of flux ever since TELUS bought them out this past year. Launched in 2010, Public Mobile, vowed to target the “value conscious Canadian consumers” with lower pricing on all of its plans. Once TELUS bought them, the customers had to migrate over from the older CDMA network to TELUS’ more modern HSPA+ network – meaning that the Public Mobile Customers had to buy new devices – not to mention new monthly plans that were not as ‘value’ conscious as the previous plans.
Then, a few months ago, we got word that Public Mobile would be fading from existence – or at least into the background. TELUS said: “The brand will no longer have a retail presence. Customers are now able to buy service vouchers at more than 3,500 locations including gas stations and convenience stores and redeem them online or by phone for service. As part of its ongoing transition, Public Mobile is becoming a self-serve value brand, offering customers more options to track usage, make changes to their plans, and make payments online and by phone.”
The next blow was a couple of weeks ago when Public Mobile sent out a message that it was introducing a new logo (see above) and that they will “introduce some new products and services.” On their Beta website, they are now branding themselves as “Canada’s cooperative wireless provider” and their goal is to provide “a new kind of no-frills business.” What the heck does all of that gibberish mean?
No frills and no real retail presence is exactly what this means – no costly store overhead, no inventory of devices – you bring your own phone (BYOP), buy a SIM card, grab a low-cost plan and away you go. Public will run on TELUS’ 4G LTE network, so you should get great service. Following the chart below, you can grab a 30-day SIM card for $10 a month and then, just like making an omelet, you can pick your talk option, text option and data option. Based on the number of your selections, you can receive a discount of $5 for two choices or $15 for three choices.
To earn more money off your monthly fee, Public will “reward” its subscribers for their efforts. For instance, there is $1 per year discounts – one year of service will gain you a $1 a month off your billing, two years of service will get you $2 off per month, and so on for each year. They will give you another $2 a month off your bill when you sign up for pre-authorized payments, and if you bring a friend over to Public, you can gain another $1 a month savings. Public also has set up a Public Mobile Community board where you can earn rewards based on your participation and the contributions you make.
This entire program is still in the Beta stages, and as their website states: “At the moment, we’re in BETA. That means we’re only opening our doors to a small group of people, in order to ensure that everything is running smoothly before we officially launch.” It goes on to say, “customers who joined Public Mobile prior to January 27, 2015, are not affected by this change and can continue to enjoy their current base plan rates and support service, including enhanced online support.”
Please hit us up on our Google+ Page and let us know if you were or are a Public Mobile customer – we would love to hear your saga and how you are coping with all of the changes…as always, we would love to hear from you.