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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Considering 42 reviews, most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Customers frequently encountered significant issues with customer service, describing it as unhelpful, non-existent, and difficult to reach a real person, often relying on ineffective chatbots. Many people also faced problems with the service itself, including account access difficulties, payment processing failures leading to service interruptions, and data disappearing. Reviewers also reported poor user experience with the online system, such as login loops and inability to update information. However, some people mentioned that prices were affordable and offered good value compared to other carriers, with some experiencing good data speeds and coverage. Despite this, a few other people also felt that service quality did not justify the cost, noting issues like lack of Wi-Fi calling or international roaming.

What people talk about most

Customer service

Customers consistently express strong dissatisfaction with customer service, frequently describing it as... See more

Service

Reviewers highlight negative aspects of service, with many expressing dissatisfaction with poor quality,... See more

Price

Clients share ambiguous opinions on price, with some initially attracted by great prices and offers, even... See more

User experience

Consumers find the user experience to be negative, with many describing the app as a "joke" and confusing,... See more

Payment

Reviewers mention significant frustration regarding payment issues, with many reporting unexpected charges... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Public Mobile used to be great, then Telus took it over and slowly removed features and incentives (without notifying the customer) while raising prices. They used to reward loyalty by providing a dis... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Good luck speaking to a real person, and the bot is useless. You have to go on a computer and dig to figure out how to open a ticket (keeps taking you back to the bot and you have to know what to say... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Miss a payment and you are locked out of your bank because it uses text based 2fa so you can't fix the issue there. So you go to buy a top up at a convenience store but the finicky, broken, buggy syst... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

The system is not accepting my already activated and non renewed sim card for a new subscription. Have to buy new simcard if I want service. I am logged in yet cant see my account information, billin... See more


Company details

  1. Telecommunications Service Provider
  2. Cell Phone Store
  3. Mobile Network Operator
  4. Phone and Internet Service

Information provided by various external sources

Public Mobile Inc. is a Canadian self-serve, prepaid mobile brand which is owned by Telus.


Contact info

1.4

Bad

TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

357 reviews

5-star
4-star
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2-star
1-star

No history of asking for reviews

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1.4

All reviews

(357)

44 reviews in the last 12 months

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Companies on Trustpilot aren't allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Reviews are the opinions of individual users and not of Trustpilot. Read more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Just awful

Just awful, can't even log back into my account without being "locked out" after one, ONE UNSUCCESSFUL password attempt. And for that I will never use them again, taking my business elsewhere. Can't even contact support as they locked me out of my account for some reason. Awful.

December 27, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

An appalling business model

An appalling business model. I initiated a new credit card and could not log in to change it. Then Public Mobile attempted to charge the monthly payment to the old card and it wouldn't work. They cut off my phone service and I have been locked out of my account for over a week. Their chatbot is ludicrous. I t says to log a ticket. I CANNOT log a ticket because...I am locked out. You cannot get out of the stupid chatbot loop. It is not possible to contact anyone. I sent multiple private messages to their CS_Agent...no answer. All I want now is my account number so I can give it to another service provider and leave Public Mobile. It is a terrible business.

November 28, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Excellent Carrier, but Don't Forget It's Self-Serve

I've been with Public Mobile for over four years, and overall, I’m very happy with my experiences with Public Mobile, but it’s important to remember that they’re a self-serve brand, so the cheaper services comes at the cost of less human support.

Good points:
• As a Telus subsidiary, Public uses Telus infrastructure, which means good network coverage in most areas.
• The prices are good, particularly when comparing to the plans of flagship carriers (e.g. Telus Mobility itself)
• Whenever I feel inclined to look for a better deal, Public usually has a plan with more data for a lower price than whatever my current plan is at the time. The latest plan switch, which prompted me to write this review, was an upgrade from $39/month for 20GB of 4G data to $34/month for 40GB of 5G data. Both plans include unlimited Canada-wide talk and text.
• I’ve never received a marketing call from Public Mobile.

Caveats:
• As a self-serve brand, the support options are pretty limited.
• The app and website aren’t very well built. Lots of time spent waiting for things to load.

November 24, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I cannot believe they are not considered criminal

My account is set up for automatic cc payment. I suffered a credit card hack and notified my credit card company and they closed the account and reopened with a new account. I have been trying to contact PM regarding this change and the fact that they would not be able to use the previous card. I have exhausted all possibilities of my attempts to advise them of the change to credit card. One would think that if a credit card is hacked or a cell phone has been stolen there would be a way of contacting them. Since enrolling in their system it appears that my password is incorrect according to them and as such I followed their directions in attempting to make contact. No luck whatsoever. There seems to be no means of contacting them. Granted, there may have been some reason my password is wrong but nonetheless there should be some way of making contact. NOT SO!!! If my phone had been stolen how would a person successfully contact and advise PM. I even spoke to a Telus rep. and that Telus rep could not access a phone number or other means of contacting PM. I have no alternative but to change to another provider. This should not be happening and CRTC or other government department would hold them accountable.

November 22, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Fraudulent Company - Terrible App and Service

Public Mobile is simply the worst cellphone company I've ever dealt with - and I've used local providers in 40+ countries. You can't contact a customer service rep directly after you've paid for a subscription. It's a nightmare to set up the service through the app, even when you buy a SIM card. $50 a month for data and cell service that doesn't work outside major cities and rarely in them. Cancelled the service after one month and chalked it up to experience. BUT they continued to charge me even though I'm no longer in Canada. Was promised a refund 30 days ago - still nothing. I've alerted my credit card company about a fraudulent transaction and requested a chargeback. I don't live in Canada, but I am a citizen, and I'm filing complaints with the CRTC and the CCTS. Despite their dishonest branding Public Mobile is NOT an innovative startup. It's fully owned by Telus - a company that made $8.6B in profits in 2022 and Canada's second largest telecommunications company. Telus, you should be ashamed of yourself. Hopefully your social media flacks are more responsive than your invisible customer service reps.

November 13, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Worst service

It started off ok, but now they installed all these security features that takes forever to log in. The website is complicated, it is super slow and takes forever to load. Zero customer support. You have to ask a forum where you ask other customers which is the dumbest thing. Sorry but if I'm double charged, a fellow customer won't be able to help me.
Sim card keeps cutting out, changed Sims and phones and still does it nit to mention service drops calls. Worse service I've had, I've gone to cheap prepaid companies before and they've all had 3x better reception and service than this. I'm canceling all our services
Great if you have the patience of a Saint and don't mind wasting your day trying to log in and don't mind bad service or being inconvenienced.

I've been a customer for 5+ years and it keeps going downhill.

Only good thing is being easily able to change your number without changing your plan. Which I've only had to use twice thanks to a stalker ex.

October 28, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Phone company amazing website crap

The phone company it's self isn't the problem. I love public mobile great coverage,good affordable phone plans and phones but the website is garbage. Takes almost an hour just to pay a bill. Everytime you go to pay a bill it takes you to the subscription page. If I wanted to change plans I'd click on the tab but clearly just want to pay my bill. The website is slower then molasses and don't get me started on the crappy app they created that ends up taking you to the website anyways to do anything. What's the damn point of the app then? For a phone company owned by telus it really should be a better experience but it's not.

October 25, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

This company needs to be investigated.

This company needs to be investigated.
I tried them out for 2 months but after finding the network coverage unreliable I ported my number away a few days before my plan was due to roll over. They still charged me for another month today!
There's no customer service, the chatbot is useless and the ticketing system is riddled with errors. Might have to contact my bank and report fraud because it's impossible to communicate with this company. Will be lodging a complaint to CRTC over these business practices.

October 23, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Great value and good coverage

I have been with Public Mobile for 9 months and I have had no issues. I'm set up on autopay which works fine. Public is on the Telus network which has good coverage in my area. While there's no customer service reps I haven't needed any assistance. The site has had some glitches accessing at times.

October 19, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 4 out of 5 stars

Very good price to quality ratio

Very good price to quality ratio
I am using the services of the telecom last two months and I could say 5G coverage and internet speed in Vancouver is very good. My monthly plan is with lower price than the prices of the old telecoms.
If I have any problem in the future I will lower the number of the stars...

October 14, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Fraudulent and disreputable

When something is wrong, It is super difficult to get a ticket going with Public Mobile and once you do, they do their best to try to avoid dealing with it. In addition, they scam people with add ons. I purchased an add on for US roaming and data which did not work. When I finally got a ticket going after the fact, I was gaslighted, then they said my phone plan was only 3G and the US is no longer supporting 3G and even when I switched my phone to 4G, it would not work because of my 3G plan. So, they finally admitted they stole money from me and promised to provide a service they knew would never work, then refused to issue a refund. Fraudulent and disreputable.

October 12, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Cannot get any worse.

Cannot get any worse.
Good signal reception but that's all they have going.
Switched recently to public mobile less than a month ago and leaving soon.
Receiving regular text messages from contacts but security 2-step verification code logins from financial institutions, utilities and including public mobile are not arriving.
Customer support is non-existent, tried issuing a ticket online on their website I get a message, OOPS SOMETHING WENT WRONG, tried many times with the same result.
Also subscribing to 5G service but getting LTE+ using Samsung S20 5G device

October 8, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Yikes

Yikes. They USED to be good and now they are TERRIBLE. Terrible phone service, zero help and they overcharged me by 130 dollars. I am filing a formal complaint with them. They are SCAMMERS.

September 23, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Oh my what a company to deal with.

Oh my what a company to deal with.
On Sept. 18 they processed my order and billed my Visa card. That was 5 working days ago.
Since my visa was processed I can no longer log into my Public Moblie account on my PC.
A am also unable to access my account from their App as it is now reported as under going "App maintenance"
So Public has my cash for a week, I have zero cell service from this company and am burning through my first month of paid cell service with Zero service from Public. What a sweet deal from Public Mobile.

September 18, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Do not buy it

Do not buy it. They cut my phone and internet in middle of a trip in another city and they have only machine to answer you..pay more and buy from better provider

September 12, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

For months now no account access...!

For months now, I have tried to log-on into my account online and never succeed. But PM charges my M/C each month for the fee. I have no way of reading about my statements, payments, balance of minutes or data, rewards, etc...! Asking for help from CHATBOT is impossible (as it repeats the mantra "sign in " that I can't do ) and I cannot even ask for a ticket as was possible months ago.
By the way I am a customer since early 2020..and stay with the company because I have very little need of my phone and the price is right.
But the ONLINE only service is atrocious..!

January 1, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Unable to access account

Unable to access account. Changed password. Keep getting circular messages, PW and Email don't match. I enter the codes over and over. They tell me I have timed out. They tell me their site is under maintenance. They lock me out for 1 hour which is more like 10. Avoid this system for your sanity.

August 26, 2023
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Public MAvoid Public Mobileobiles website is terrible

Public Mobiles website is terrible. It takes at least 5 tries to login each time even when using the correction password. Once you are in the website is very slow. I purchased an add-on for my wife's phone last week while she is in the US. They charged me but she can't make any phone calls. I changed plans and got charged twice for the same plan. I took me forever to finally online chat with an agent (this was a very frustrating experience) Don't use public because you will be wasting your time (a lot of time) and money.

August 19, 2023
Unprompted review

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