Public Mobile subscribers outraged over lack of official response to service issue [Update]

Some Public Mobile customers have been without service for the past week.

According to MobileSyrup reader Jon, who alerted us of the situation, hasn’t been able to use one of his Public Mobile accounts for the past 36 hours and counting.

At the moment, it appears the outage is currently only affecting customers on Public Mobile’s $15 30-day calling plan.

The plan includes 100 outgoing Canada-wide talk minutes, unlimited incoming calls, unlimited SMS and MMS messages, as well as voicemail and call display. Customers who sign up for Public Mobile’s AutoPay service, get a bonus 250MB of data per month, as well as a $2 discount on the plan. Public Mobile recently updated the plan to add unlimited incoming calls.

Some Public Mobile customers report they’ve been unable to use their line for the past week. Adding further frustration to the situation is the fact that neither Public Mobile nor its owner Telus has yet to address the situation in any official capacity.

MobileSyrup has reached out to Telus for an update and comment on the situation. We’ll update this article with a response.

One particularly eloquent customer, EnglishChips, captures the situation concisely:

“If you choose to forgo live personnel in addressing critical issues, it is [incumbent] on you to have a system in place that immediately communicates with your customers the problem, and delivers an expected timeline for a resolution,” they write. “We are not frustrated because we’ve been without service for a few hours, it has literally been days now. This is unacceptable.”

In a separate post, EnglishChips encourages other customers to file a complaint with the Commission for Complaints for Telecom-Television Services (CCTS).

Thanks for the tip, Jon!

Update 03/05/19: In a statement issued to MobileSyrup, a Telus spokesperson says the carrier resolved the earlier today.

“Public Mobile identified a service issue that was affecting select customers on our $15 calling plan at 12:15am ET this morning. The issue was escalated and resolved at 1pm ET this afternoon. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused our customers and encourage them to reach out to a moderator in our Community if they have any outstanding questions.”

If you were unable to text or call using your $15 plan, it would be best to attempt to get some type of credit by submitting a ticket with Public Mobile.