Telus-owned Public Mobile is now offering 5G plans.
There are two options to choose from.
The first costs $80/month and includes 50GB of 5G data, unlimited minutes and messaging in Canada, and $4 in monthly points through the company’s loyalty program.
If customers opt for a 90-day subscription over the typical 30-day option, they can save $15, bringing the price down to $65 for 90 days.
After customers use the allocated 5G data, speeds drop to 512Kbps. 5G download speeds will be 250Mbps, which is the same speed other major carriers offer for 5G.
There’s also a $65/25GB option. It has all the offerings of the previous option, with the exception of how many Public points customers earn, which equals $3.25/month. Selecting the 90-day renewal option will bring the plan’s price down to $55/month.
Jim Senko, Telus’ chief product officer, says these are subscription plans, which means they have a flat fee.
“There’s no complexity like you have on postpaid [plans],” Senko told MobileSyrup. “You really just set [it] and leave it.”
Public Mobile has coupled the launch with a new mobile app. It allows customers to make plan changes, activations, upgrades and everything in between.
Customers can activate service in as little as two minutes through eSIMS, Senko said.
There are a number of reasons the company went with these product offerings. Customers were looking for their mobility plans to be as “simple” as other subscription services. The need for affordable and convenient 5G access was also present, Senko said.
“The customers are getting that really simple digital experience. The cost to serve the customers is lower [and] we can then pass through the savings to the customer and buy them affordable 5G, so that was a win-win,” Senko said. “We felt that no one is really serving that market today. That was the opportunity for Public to meet that need.”
While a range of 3G and 4G plans are also available, their speeds won’t see a change for now.
The company’s 3G option has a download speed of 3Mbps. Comparatively, Chatr offers 10Mbps. Lucky Mobile also recently increased its 3G speed to 10Mbps to match the Rogers-owned brand. Senko said the company is evaluating Public’s 3G speeds but couldn’t confirm if the company would increase the speed.
Public Mobile’s 4G speeds are also lower than its competitors at 100Mbps. Both Chatr and Lucky Mobile offer speeds up to 150Mbps. As of writing, Senko said the company doesn’t have plans to change its 4G speeds.
5G is yet to be available on Telus’ flanker brand.
“There are no plans to bring 5G wireless services to Koodo. However, Koodo customers with a 5G-capable phone can take full advantage of Canada’s largest 4G LTE network,” a spokesperson confirmed to MobileSyrup.
“Public Mobile serves a small but growing digitally savvy market, and we are able to bring 5G to Public Mobile because of the savings delivered from the digital-only and self-serve support model.”
Update: 08/08/2023: 5G is now available on Koodo plans.
Update 24/05/2023 9:21am ET: The headline has been updated to remove reference to prepaid plans. The article has been updated with additional plan information. Also corrected the 25GB 90-day price from $65 to $55.
Update 24/05/2023 9:58am ET: The article has been updated to clarify Public Mobile’s app is new.
Image credit: Public Mobile
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