Public Mobile
Canadian Contracts Are Vampires: Study
Aug 11th
Get it? Flipout?
Canadians pay too much for their monthly cell phone bill, and are dragged into lengthy contracts that punish consumers for ending them before their term, according to a SeaBord Group study entitled “Death Grip.” (Great name!)
There will likely be another wireless spectrum auction in 2012 or 2013, and could increase competition again in the country, as the auction did in 2008, leading to the creation of WIND Mobile and Mobilicity, two companies who are completely contract-free.
But these companies will always be at a disadvantage to the three incumbents, Rogers, Telus and Bell, in part because they are established brands within the country, whose networks extend nationally, but also because they offer huge phone subsidies when signing a contract.
The problem comes in when customers want to remove themselves from the contract; they have already received promotional prices on their phone, and likely preferred monthly rates on their plan, but the cancellation fee is directly tied to how many months remain in his or her contract. Sometimes these penalties can cost more than the cost of the phone itself, which is the whole reason the contract exists in the first place.
But contracts are guaranteed revenue for these carriers, and they are loathe to change their business model, especially for higher-end business and data clients, who spend $100+ every month on their smartphone plan.
The report goes on to say that even though the Canadian carriers have less “buying power” when purchasing handsets, the discrepancy between the cost to the consumer and to the carrier is too high, and consumers end up with the brunt of it.
Read the entire report, and see for yourself.
(via The Globe and Mail)
Public Mobile Partners With Gateway Newstands
Jun 15th
Mobile phone service is reaching a whole new level of “convenience” in Canada. We first had WIND Mobile announce they would launch in Blockbuster video retail outlets. Rogers then announced plans to start selling within Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacies; Telus’ recent acquisition and deployment of cellphones within Black’s photography stores; Bell bought some The Source stores; Mobilicity is almost everywhere; and now Public Mobile is jumping into the cross-marketing idea, but with a different strategy.
They have announced plans to partner with Gateway Newstands (who have 152 outlets across the GTA) and offer customers the ability to buy a phone or pay their bill at any of the locations. This partnership will bring their retail presence in the GTA to over 200 outlets.
I will admit, putting cellphone availability into a convenience store is kind of genius. What was once dominated solely by dime-a-dozen long distance cards, will now house a legitimate cellular carrier as well, offering customers the ability to pay off their phone bill before a commute without really needing to go out of their way.
Read the official press release via Market Wire.
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Public Mobile Readies Launch, With New Tricks Up Their Sleeves
May 26th
So, you’re another start-up carrier, launching in an already-saturated cellular market that is the GTA corridor. Offering a mid-range $40 “Unlimited” plan just wont cut it when competing with the incumbents. So what do you do? You undercut the competition and go cheaper. With the launch date finally here Public is offering a new unlimited offering, targeted at the “low-income value conscious” customer. The new plan is as follows:
$24/month for unlimited local calling with call waiting, call forwarding, and conference calling all included. Call display and voice mail can be added together for $8/month.
Public Mobile CEO Alek Krstaji had this to say:
“We want to offer all the value we can in the marketplace. 38-percent of Canadians don’t have a cell phone because of unpredictable prices. We want to make owning a cell phone affordable, and give everybody the chance to talk. Owning a cell phone shouldn’t be a luxury. Thousands of customers signed up early, and on the first day of our network operation, they are able to use their Public Mobile phones”.
In addition to the $24 per month, Public Mobile has stated a few other enticing promotions to come, including unlimited international long distance.
As we know, wireless competition in Canada specifically Toronto is on fire, and for the first time in a long time the Big Three are finally realizing they need to be aggressive to maintain clientèle. Their discount brands have been aggressively trying to stave off any defections: Fido has reintroduced their City Fido plan, allowing 2000 minutes/month for $40 in a larger service area in Toronto than Mobilicity or WIND and Koodo is introducing BlackBerry service soon with their 8530. I’ll be interested to see what happens with the back-to-school hot season.
[Via The Globe and Mail]
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Public Mobile to Officially Launch in Toronto May 26th, Followed by Montreal
May 20th
Another day, another new entrant into the already-crowded Toronto wireless sector. This time, however, of a CDMA variety.
Public Mobile, who won the rights to G-block CDMA platform back in the 2008 Spectrum auction, opened their doors back in March toting a $40 “Unlimited” Talk and Text plan. They cited a mid-May launch, with huge incentives if customers signed on (i.e. free Canadian long distance for life). Well, May is almost here and our friends over at Mobile Syrup decided to do some digging, emailing Public Mobile via their website to find out if any launch dates had been confirmed yet. The result? A response from the company:
“Our network will be launching in Toronto on May 26th and in Montreal on June 25th. For a limited time, customers who sign up ahead of the network launch will receive free unlimited Canadian long distance for life. After launch, the cost for unlimited Canadian long distance will be $5 per month.”
So, my question is: WIND and Mobilicity are both live, and both 3G/GSM (running on the AWS frequency similar to T-Mobile in the US). Do you think Public Mobile has a chance, when they are launching on,
A) an aging Canadian CDMA network
B) not offering anything spectacular enough to stand out above the other new entrants
May 26th is just around the corner so let’s see how well they can market themselves when launch time comes.
[via MobileSyrup]
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New wireless carrier Public Mobile not as “Unlimited” as they claim to be.
Mar 19th
The new carrier on the Canadian block, Public Mobile launched yesterday, touting a $40 a month “unlimited” talk and text plan. They only offer four phones, all of which are pretty standard that are designed mainly for messaging and calling purposes. Sorry folks, no Nexus One this time around.
WIND mobile has come out to try to inform users to just what this “unlimited” plan includes. WIND issued a press release to make sure customers understand the limits of Public Mobile’s plans. They point out the fact that Public Mobile’s plans only work in their coverage area proving that while the plans may be unlimited, the coverage is not. There is no roaming at all so if you aren’t Public Mobile’s limited coverage areas then you simply don’t have service. Public Mobile is currently able to reach 19 million people in Ontario and Quebec. While this sounds good, the map below shows that coverage is limited to the cities of Montréal and Toronto and it’s surrounding area.
Whether or not Public Mobile will be a serious competitor in Canada’s mobile market is still debatable and to some it seems that Public Mobile is just looking to get bought out by a larger provider. What do you think about Public Mobile? Will they compete with the larger wireless providers in Canada?
[Via MobileSyrup]
There’s a new kid in town…
Mar 1st
Well well well, what do we have here? What is this seemingly happy man offering? food? jewelery? maybe mens suits? hmm… I was just as baffled as you when I first saw it. Cleverly placed ads like this popped up all across Toronto’s bus shelters today leaving commuters asking: “what the?”
So I took it upon myself to do a little digging and found out that Mobile Syrup had discovered the same ads and were just as baffled, however, they got to the bottom of it. The ads are for none other than Public Mobile, the newest carrier to offer the now notorious $40 “Unlimited” voice and text plans. They will run on the G-Block CDMA platform (won in the great spectrum auction of 2008) so NO you cannot use an existing unlocked device with them. No word on the official launch date, but its being said they are taking a similar route to recently launched WIND Mobile and will be distributing through corporate and retail channels.
What do you think? Willing to try them out? Let us know!
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