Are you sick of your expensive phone contract? What if I told you you could pay zero dollars a month for a phone plan ready for service! Today I will do a Public Mobile review, if this sounds like something you’re interesting in make sure you read this t’ll the end. Public Mobile, they’re a Canadian self-serve cell phone service provider launched in March 18, 2010 after our federal government initiative to increase competition between the wireless carriers. Public Mobile was later sold to Telus in 2013. Being Telus owned means it’s on Canada’s largest mobile network giving you the most coverage from coast-to-coast. Public Mobile is a prepaid only service which means no credit checks no contracts and no surprise bills. They have no physical stores or any phone customer support. Everything is self-serve for actual support as they have an online community where other members help each other. Public Mobile doesn’t have any cell phones so you must bring your own device. Once you have a phone you can check its compatibility on their website; you might have to go to the phone’s original service provider to get the phone unlocked and this can be done for free at the retailer or calling customer service. After you have your cell phone ready you need to buy a SIM card, you can either order one online or pick one up at certain retailers in your area like Walmart or the mobile shop. They can help you set up your plan or you can do it all yourself online before you activate your SIM card and get a phone plan. Be sure to have a referral code ready to get upto a $25 credit on your first bill, which is on this site. If you want to use my referral code it’ll be in the on this site. This $25 credit will essentially cover the cost of your SIM card. Now the next step, you must pick a phone plan suited for you so you can pay with a credit card or a payment voucher at select locations like Walmart, Canadian tire gas bar, Esso or convenience stores. Their plans include $10 plan 450 talk minutes unlimited incoming texts and 50 outgoing texts. It’s perfect for someone who rarely uses their phone. $15 for a hundred minutes unlimited incoming calls and texts which is perfect for the person who rather text and call. $25 for your cheapest unlimited talk and text plan with 500 megabytes of data is perfect for someone who doesn’t need data. You can also bump up your data to one gigabyte for $35 4.5 gigabytes for $40 and 8 gigabytes for $50. Also unlimited USA time and for the US traveler $60 for 8 gigabytes of data and 2 gigabytes of US data and unlimited Canada and USA.

Talking and text they also have a $30 data only plan of 1 gigabyte of 4G data all plans include call display voicemail and conference calling and a long list of add-ons to further customize your plan. When comparing Public Mobile to the big three, Bell and Telus data plan starts at $70 for unlimited talk and text and 5 gigabytes of data and Rogers cheapest data plan is $75 with limited. Colin techs and 10 gigabytes of data plus unlimited data at reduced speeds with virgin and Koodo. You can get unlimited talk and text and 4 gigabytes of data for $50 per month and you can get the same plan for $50 with Fido.

So for the cheapest plans you need to compare Public Mobile with Chatter and Lucky mobile with $40 lucky mobile will give you unlimited talking text and 4.5 gigabytes of data. This is on par with Public Mobile and with $40 chatter will give you unlimited talk and text and 4 gigabytes of data unlimited data at reduced speeds.

So why choose Public Mobile over Chatter and Lucky mobile? Rewards! Public Mobile has 4 different types of rewards that Chatter and Lucky doesn’t offer. Auto pay rewards give you $2 credit every 30 days so essentially you can take $2 off your bill every month with Auto pay plus. With Auto pay you get an extra 500 megabytes of extra data. With loyalty rewards give you a $1 credit every 30 days after being a member for a year $2 after 2 years and up to $5 for 5 years. Community rewards give you from $1 to $20 every 30 days and the more you contribute to the Public Mobile online community the more rewards you get. Lastly referral rewards give you $1 credit per 30 days for every friend you refer for as long as they stay with Public Mobile. Also the referred friend will receive a one-time cred of $10 so with these rewards, you can essentially get your phone bill down to zero dollars per month. Everything sounds good so far but what are the cons: they only use 3G data. This data is good enough for checking social media browsing the web and even streaming videos and movies but for a more seamless experience you’re better off with someone that offers 4G data. They have no app in order to access your account you must use their website which isn’t bad on the desktop but if you’re using your mobile device it isn’t as convenient. They don’t have a fingerprint ID login so you need to be constantly zooming in to see text and it’s harder than navigate this. This isn’t a deal-breaker but it is a disadvantage because they have no physical stores or phone support so if you have an issue with your bill or your account you can’t just call a number for help or go into a store for support. All these issues are taken to the online community where other Public Mobile users can help you and if you still can’t resolve your problem you need to submit a ticket which can take some time before a solution is found. They don’t sell phones, this means if you want to use the newest iPhone you need to buy it right out and the current retail price for the iPhone 11 is around $1,400. They don’t offer tabs that can be included on your phone bill. Public Mobile makes more sense on older cheaper used phones.

In conclusion Public Mobile is for the budget-friendly user. Just bring your own phone and pick the plan that best suits your needs with Public Mobile. You’re paying the least amount as possible and if you take advantage of the rewards you can lower your phone bill all the way to zero. If you are frugal and don’t care or if you have the latest phone or the fastest data speeds and you just want the best deal possible then go with Public Mobile.