By david | Posted July 30th, 2010
In Toronto this past week, the Lawrence Avenue and Keele Street site was completed. Over the next coming weeks, we have sites at Finch Avenue and Dufferin Street which will help with coverage at the north end of Downsview Park and Rogers Road and Dufferin Avenue which will improve coverage for the residential area surrounding that intersection.
As for Montreal, here are the areas that we’ve added network equipment in the last week to improve reception:
- Saint-Henri: St-Jacques St. and Highway 15 – site will provide coverage up to Highway 15 south all the way to the intersection of Highway 20/720 in the east
- West of Saint-Pierre City: Boyer Ave. and Des Erables St.
- North of Hampstead: MacDonald Ave. and Plamondon Ave.
- Town of Mount Royal: Henley Ave. & Dovon Ave. and Graham Blvd.
- East of Longue-Pointe: La Fontaine St. and Emile-Legrand Ave.
- East of Pointe-aux-Trembles: Prince-Albert St. and 16th Avenue
- Southeast of Vertu: Lebeau Blvd.
- Montreal-East: Gouin Blvd. East, between Paul Dufault Ave. and Alexis Carrel Ave.
- South of Tetreaultville: De Bruxelles St. and La Fontaine St.
Next week, our work will focus on the areas of northern Boulevard Newman in LaSalle, NDG, and Montreal-West into St-Pierre City.
Tags: montreal, network, reception, toronto | Posted in Latest news | Write a comment »
By david | Posted July 29th, 2010
Thanks for your suggestions of all the countries you’d like to see included in our overseas long distance feature. There were many, many different countries requested (with some of the more popular requests being Haiti and Pakistan). While we are always working to add new countries, we do look at what we are charged to connect these calls, and how we can offer unlimited service for our customers. In some cases it currently just isn’t possible.
We have been able to include 190 countries in our unlimited international text feature, which is included in our $40 talk and text plan.
We’ll continue to work on ways we can add these countries to our overseas calling feature, but in the near future we don’t see a large decline in the costs for calling these countries, so any changes won’t be immediate.
We hope you understand. Thanks again for all your comments and suggestions, we really appreciate them.
Tags: country suggestions, international feature, overseas long distance, public mobile | Posted in General | 7 Comments »
By david | Posted July 23rd, 2010
For Toronto, the work progressed and continues on the sites along the Gardiner Expressway and at the Lawrence Ave W. and Keele Ave site. These sites should improve the in-building coverage for the residential areas surrounding these sites. These sites should be completed by August 2nd.
As for Montreal, the following areas have had work done, and should see improved coverage:
- Lachine: Sherbrooke St.
- Ahunstic: intersection of Charles de la Tour St. and Antonio Barbeau St.
- Montreal-North: intersection of D’Amiens St. and Pigeon St.
- Plateau Mount Royal: near St-Denis, Rachel St., Papineau Av., St-Joseph Blvd., Saint-Laurent Blvd.
- East Downtown: McGill University, near Park Av., Saint-Laurent Blvd., St-Denis St., Rene-Levesque Blvd. West, Sherbrooke Street West
- Town of Mount Royal: Dunkirk Rd. and the intersection of Rockland Rd. and Graham Blvd.
- Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve: Hochelaga St.
- Tétreaultville; the intersection of Pierre-de-Coubertin Av. and French St.
- Anjou & Riviere-des-Prairies: Highway 40, from the Ray Lawson Blvd. (Anjou) to Saint-Jean Baptiste Blvd. And the refineries areas.
- Saint-Laurent: intersection of Grenet St. and Rochon St.
Next week’s improvements will be fewer as the construction stoppage begins to affect what is possible. Currently we are planning on adding a site at St-Jacques St. and Hwy 15, which should improve the coverage from Hwy 15 to Hwy 20/720 in the East.
If you have any questions or comments, please let us know. We forward them on to the teams here at Public Mobile as they help us improve service and be responsive to you.
Posted in Latest news | 13 Comments »
By david | Posted July 23rd, 2010
We’re proud to announce that we will be attending the 24th edition of Festival Nuits d’Afrique. The Festival is a leading event in Montreal and was the 2005 and 2007 winner of Montreal’s Excellence in Tourism Awards at the Gala des Grands Prix du Tourisme Quebecois.
Hosting some 80,000 visitors, the Village des Nuits d’Afrique at Place Émilie-Gamelin will have more than 400 artists play 53 concerts in 5 different concert halls. You’ll also be able to find our team there, and they’ll be able to answer any questions you have about Public Mobile. Here’s hoping you come see us at the Festival Nuits d’Afrique 2010!
The Festival will run from July 13-25. More details about the program and artists here at http://www.festivalnuitsdafrique.com/en.
Tags: concerts, events, montreal, nuit d'afrique, public mobile, publicmobile | Posted in Behind the scenes | Write a comment »
By david | Posted July 22nd, 2010
Check out the latest Public Mobile TV ad that aired during the World Cup featuring Walter.
Tags: $24, ad, public mobile, publicity, publicmobile, unlimited, walter | Posted in General | Write a comment »
By david | Posted July 16th, 2010
In Toronto, the network construction team has also been working hard to enhance our coverage. Here’s what they’ve been able to accomplish in the last week:
- Bloor St E and Parliament – coverage in the St. Jamestown area, improving coverage around the intersection of Bloor Street and Parliament and the southern sections of Rosedale
- Sheppard Ave East and Kennedy Rd – the Agincourt section of Toronto, and east of Highway 404 and North of Highway 401
- Queen St and University Ave – In building coverage in downtown Toronto, and enhance the coverage at the University/Wellington intersection
The next areas we’ll be working on include the following:
- Yonge Street and Gardiner Expressway – along the Gardiner Expressway, and in-building coverage in the commercial buildings that line Queens Quay and Yonge Street.
- Lawrence Avenue and Keele Street –Weston area, and along Keele Street
We’ll provide another update next Friday for both Montreal and Toronto. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know.
Tags: network, toronto | Posted in Latest news | 1 Comment »
By david | Posted July 16th, 2010
The network team is continuing to work hard to improve coverage. Here are the areas with enhanced coverage this week:
- Ahunstic-Cartierville: the intersection of Highway 40 and Highway 15, the crossing of O’Brien Blvd. and Salaberry St., as well as on Louisbourg St.
- Pointe-aux-Trembles: West of 2nd Avenue.
- Montreal-North: Fleury St. East as well as the intersection of Saint-Michel Blvd. and Henri-Bourassa Blvd. East.
- Côte-des-Neiges: Victoria Avenue on the west side, up to Côte-des-Neige on the east side, up to The Boulevard on the south and up to Côte-Ste-Catherine Rd. on the north side.
Our next update should include these sites:
- Plateau Mont-Royal: Parc La Fontaine Avenue, Rachel St., St-Denis St., Papineau Avenue, St-Joseph Blvd. and Saint-Laurent Blvd.
- East Downtown: the intersection of Sherbrooke and Saint-Urbain, McGill University, Park Avenue, Saint-Laurent Blvd., Saint-Denis, René-Lévesque Blvd. West and Sherbrooke St. West.
- Anjou & Rivière-des-Prairies: the crossing of Henri-Bourassa Blvd. and Rodolphe-Forget Blvd. as well as from the Ray Lawson Blvd. (Anjou) to Saint-Jean Baptiste Blvd. And the refineries areas.
One further update that will affect the next two weeks is the province-wide construction stoppage. This will affect our network construction through to August 2nd when the construction stoppage is lifted.
Thanks again for your comments – we read them all and provide feedback to the team here at Public Mobile.
Tags: Ahunstic-Cartierville, Anjou, Côte-des-Neiges, Downtown, montreal, Montreal-North, network, Plateau Mont-Royal, Pointe-aux-Trembles, Rivière-des-Prairies | Posted in Latest news | 5 Comments »
By david | Posted July 15th, 2010
Beginning today, talking and texting to countries outside of North America just got easier.
For just $15 per month you can add the unlimited overseas long distance feature to your existing $40 plan allowing you to dial 45 countries and have unlimited talk with your family and friends.
We’ve seen the blog comments asking us to add countries such as Haiti, Jamaica, Lebanon, Pakistan, Philippines, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Guyana, Trinidad, Algeria St. Vincent, Iraq, Bahamas, Morocco and more. We are working hard and doing our best to add more countries; we most recently added Guadeloupe to the list, as well as adding mobile phones in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Guam. As much as we’d always like to be adding countries to the overseas long distance plan, sometimes conditions beyond our control necessitate removing a country. We’re sorry to let you know this past week we had to remove Jordan from the plan due to a Jordanian government tax that was implemented that affected the connection charges. We will continue to update you as we add new countries.
In addition to launching overseas long distance, we’re also adding international text to the $40 plan tomorrow which will allow you to send texts to 190 countries around the world. For all those asking us to add additional countries to the overseas long distance feature, take a look at the list of countries we provide international texting to. Many of the countries you’ve asked for are now included, so you’ll be able to text friends and family around the world as part of our unlimited talk and text plan.
To view the complete list of available countries and check the availability of the number you want to call, click here
Tags: 45 countries, International Texting, public mobile, Unlimited overseas long distance | Posted in General | 12 Comments »
By david | Posted July 13th, 2010
A question came in over the weekend pointing out that we hadn’t updated everyone on the Toronto network. While we’ve been working hard improving the Montreal coverage and letting everyone know what we’ve been doing, the network build in Toronto has continued as well. Since the end of June we’ve added the following sites that improve coverage at the following locations:
- Bloor Street and Bathurst Street
- Lakeshore Boulevard and Spadina Ave.
- Don Mills Road and Lawrence Avenue East
- Victoria Park and Sheppard Avenue East
- Bloor Street East and Parliament Avenue
- Highway 401 and Meadowvale Avenue
We’re continuing to build and expand the network as fast as we can, and appreciate your patience and feedback as we do so.
We’ll have an update for both Montreal and Toronto on Friday, letting you know what’s been happening in the past week.
Tags: Network Update, toronto | Posted in Behind the scenes | 3 Comments »
By david | Posted July 9th, 2010
Have you spotted the guys from www.freestylesoccer.ca at our Montreal locations yet? Carlos and Houcine have been doing a tour of various locations in Montreal for the past week showing off their amazing soccer acrobatics and tricks with a ball. Each trick is an amazing combination of creativity, imagination and ball control. They will be at the Boulevard Shopping Centre in Montreal this Saturday, July 10th – see details below.
On Saturday, we will also be giving a free ZTE C78 phone to everyone who buys any regularly priced Public Mobile phone. Bring a friend or family member to one of our stores and sign up to one of our unlimited plans, and you’ll both have unlimited time to talk about the big game on Sunday!
The Boulevard Shopping Centre is located at the corner of Pie IX Boulevard and Jean-Talon Boulevard East. They will be there from 9am-4pm.
Tags: free, freestyle, montreal, soccer, unlimited, ZTE C78 | Posted in Latest news | 5 Comments »
By david | Posted July 9th, 2010
Once again, thanks for your comments regarding areas that need improved coverage. In addition to adjusting existing sites based on your feedback, we also added new sites this week, which improved the coverage in the following areas:
- Saint-Laurent (Côte-Vertu Blvd & Cavendish Blvd)
- Ahunstic (Emile-Journault Ave and Papineau)
- Anjou (Les Galeries Anjou Blvd and Beaubien St East)
- Rivière-des-Prairies (Perras Blvd and Armand Bombardier Blvd)
- Lachine (south of Hwy 20, near 46th Ave)
- LaSalle (south of Parc Angrignon)
We also have sites scheduled to go up next week that will improve coverage in the following area:
- Côte-des-Neiges and Queen-Mary
We’re going to work to provide updates on Friday of every week in future weeks. We receive a report from the Network team late on Thursdays and this will allow us to keep you informed as to what we’ve accomplished during the week.
Please keep sending us your comments, and we’ll keep working to improve.
Thanks again for your patience.
Tags: Ahunstic, Anjou, Côte-des-Neiges, montreal, network, Queen Mary, Rivière-des-Prairies, Saint-Laurent | Posted in Latest news | 18 Comments »
By david | Posted July 5th, 2010
Thameen (left) and Alex (right) help introduce customers to unlimited cell phone service in Toronto
We stopped by the Wellesley Street store the other day and spent some time with two of the guys that work there – Alex and Thameen. They are excited to be working for Public Mobile and the opportunities it presents being a new company starting out. Both are currently students studying here in Toronto – Alex studying International Business, and Thameen studying Electrical Engineering.
Thanks for all your efforts guys.
Tags: Alex, public mobile, Store, Thameen, Wellesley East | Posted in Behind the scenes | 8 Comments »
By david | Posted July 1st, 2010
Thanks again for your comments regarding areas that need improved coverage – our network team is working hard and they have adjusted sites based on your feedback. As well, the network team is continually review the network performance. We will update you when we have confirmation of these adjustments.
There are new sites going live in the next week, which will improve coverage in the following areas:
- Côte-Vertu
- Ahunstic
- Rivière-des-Prairies
Additionally, we are extending the remorse return period until July 13th for those customers that activated their phone prior to July 6th. This means that if you are unhappy with our service, you can return the phone with the original invoice and packaging and we’ll provide you with a full refund.
We are aware that some customers haven’t had ideal experience to date, and we apologize for that and thank you for your patience.
Tags: Ahunstic, Côte-Vertu, montreal, network, Rivière-des-Prairies | Posted in Latest news | 20 Comments »
By david | Posted July 1st, 2010
Join us to celebrate the biggest day for soccer fans worldwide. For one day only, July 10th, Public Mobile will give a free ZTE C78 phone to everyone who buys any regularly priced Public Mobile phone. Sign both up for one of our unlimited plans, and you’ll have unlimited talk in time for the finals. Now you have another reason to celebrate, so call all your friends and tell them about it!
To see which store is nearest to you, visit our store locator.
Tags: C78, cheer, soccer, ZTE | Posted in Behind the scenes, Latest news | 16 Comments »
By david | Posted June 28th, 2010
Thanks again for all your comments over the weekend as well as your patience. We read all of your comments and we are working hard to resolve issues you have. Network coverage was the biggest question over the weekend, and we now can provide you with timing and areas of the city that will see improvement in the coverage through the next few weeks.
Here are a list of areas we are working on in Montreal during the month of July.
- Rivière-des-Prairies: July 1st-5th
- Côtes-des-Neiges/Queen Mary: improved today, June 28th
- Côte-Vertu: July 1st-5th
- Lachine: July 10th-20th
- LaSalle: July 10-20th
- Ahunstic: July 1st-5th
- Verdun: July 15th-30th
We will continue to keep you posted as we get new information from our network team regarding their progress.
Tags: Ahunstic, Côte-Vertu, Côtes-des-Neiges, coverage, Lachine, LaSalle, montreal, network, Queen Mary, Rivière-des-Prairies, Update, Verdun | Posted in Latest news | 23 Comments »
By david | Posted June 25th, 2010
This morning, we turned on the network in Montreal, giving Montrealers another choice for wireless service. We’re giving wireless customers unlimited talk and text service at a predictable price. No contracts, no credit checks, no surprises.
For those that took advantage of our pre-network launch offer, they’ll now be enjoying unlimited Canadian long distance for life as part of their $40/month unlimited talk and text service. For those who want to become unlimited, visit one of our 31 stores now open in Montreal. Check our store locator for the store closest by.
**UPDATE**
We heard that a few of our customers experienced some difficulty setting up their Public Mobile phones in Montreal this morning. Our network and systems are ready to get your talking, all you’ll need to do is follow these steps:
1) Turn the phone on and make sure the battery is fully charged.
2) Check your signal bars to be sure you are in the coverage area.
3) Press *228 and ’send’ (green button).
4) Listen for a message to confirm your phone has been properly set up.
If you’re still having issues, please call us at 1-877-999-5055 and we will be happy to help you.
Tags: live, montreal, network, unlimited | Posted in Latest news | 24 Comments »
By david | Posted June 24th, 2010
Public Mobile, ZTE and the Export-Import Bank of China have agreed to the terms of a $350M financing arrangement that supports Public Mobile’s plan to build a wireless network stretching across its licensed area from Windsor to Quebec City.
This vendor financing arrangement, combined with hundreds of millions of dollars in equity commitments from its shareholders, means Public Mobile has a fully funded business plan and can build out its entire licensed area.
From a national perspective, this partnership is important because it supports Public Mobile’s investment in building a competitive wireless network. It will also continue to create and provide Canadian jobs. Construction of the network has already generated 100 high tech jobs in Ontario and Quebec.
“This is a significant deal for both Public Mobile and ZTE,” said Alek Krstajic, CEO of Public Mobile. “ZTE provides the world’s top mobile operators with high-quality and high-capacity network performance,” added Krstajic.
ZTE is a leading global provider of telecommunications equipment and network solutions and has provided products and services to major telecom operators in 140 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and Latin America.
To see the complete press release, click here.
Tags: Cina, financing arrangement, partnership, ZTE | Posted in Latest news | 3 Comments »
By david | Posted June 22nd, 2010
Summer isn’t the only thing to officially arrive in Montreal this week! The Public Mobile network is set to launch this Friday, June 25th. The launch marks the end of our pre-network offer of free unlimited Canadian long distance for life. That’s right, free, unlimited, Canadian, long distance, for life. It’s the beginning of a long distance relationship that everyone will love! So come on out and enjoy this first official week of summer by paying us a visit at one of our Public Mobile locations around town. To find a store, use our store locator.
Everybody Talk!
Tags: free, June 25th, long distance, montreal, pre-network launch, summer, unlimited | Posted in General | 5 Comments »
By david | Posted June 18th, 2010
Thanks again for all the blog comments about countries you would like to see included in our unlimited long distance calling feature. While we are working on adding more countries to our overseas long distance calling feature, we have some great news: we will soon be providing free unlimited international texting as part of our $40 unlimited talk and text plan. We’re delighted to be sharing it with all of you! With it, you’ll be able to send texts to 190 countries. The new feature will be effective as of July 15th. Are your fingers ready for more texting?
To see the complete list of countries, click here
Tags: 190 countries, 40$ plan, International Texting, More Countries, public mobile | Posted in Latest news | 42 Comments »
By david | Posted June 17th, 2010
Last weekend was a busy one in Montreal with many events such as the F1 Grand Prix, fireworks at La Ronde and a street sale on Mont-Royal. Were any of you taking part in the activities on the Plateau? If so, you may have seen our Public Mobile crew out and about having fun in the street, handing out oranges and orange juice. Our favourite color! For everyone who stopped by, we were happy to have met you.
Thanks to Steve, the owner of the 943 Mont-Royal East location who provided the pictures. To find the store and its business hours, use our Store Locator on the Public Mobile website.
Tags: Mont-Royal, Nuit Blanche sur Tableau Noir, Oranges, public mobile | Posted in General | 1 Comment »
By david | Posted June 15th, 2010
Soon, Public Mobile customers will be able to buy a phone or pay their bill at any Gateway Newstand.
Public Mobile will have in excess of 200 retail locations exclusively dedicated to selling Public Mobile phones in Toronto and Montreal when the 152 Gateway locations are combined with the 66 Public Mobile stores that are already open in Toronto and Montreal.
Public Mobile signs and/or kiosks will begin opening in Gateway locations in Toronto and Montreal over the next few months.
To see the complete press release, click here.
Tags: Gateway, GO, montreal, Newstands, Partner, toronto, TTC | Posted in Latest news | 1 Comment »
By david | Posted June 9th, 2010
Thanks for all the comments around countries we should add to our overseas long distance plan. The suggestion list is long and includes countries like Sri Lanka, Lebanon, Bangladesh, Philippines, Pakistan, Laos, Mexico, Haiti, Turkey and Thailand. We’d love to add all these countries and more.
In building the plan we tried to balance the number of countries (taking into account that each country has a different connection charge, with some being significantly more expensive) against the price of providing the service to our customers. We think we’ve come up with a pretty good mix of both number of countries and cost, but there’s always an opportunity to change and add to the list if we get enough comments and suggestions.
Tags: Bangladesh, countries, Haiti, Laos, Lebanon, long distance, Mexico, overseas, Pakistan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Turkey | Posted in Latest news | 91 Comments »
By david | Posted June 8th, 2010
In March, we opened 25 Public Mobile stores, our goal was to double that number by mid May. We’re pleased to announce we’ve exceeded our goal and now have 60 store locations open – 22 in Montreal and 38 in Toronto. We’re not done yet though. We are planning many more store openings to make our service even more readily available to more people. To see which store is nearest to you, visit our store locator.
Tags: march, public mobile, stores, toronto | Posted in General | 3 Comments »
By david | Posted June 7th, 2010
Never before has calling so many countries from your cell phone been so affordable. Starting July 15th, Public Mobile is offering unlimited calling to 45 countries for $15 a month.
All Public Mobile customers who have the $40 unlimited talk and text plan have the option of adding unlimited overseas calling for an additional $15. There are no credit checks, no contracts and no surprises.
Canada has the highest per capita immigration rate in the world (Canada’s Immigration Program – Oct. 2004), and according to Statistics Canada, 2/3 of all Canadians self identify as being of ethnic origin. So it’s no surprise that a vast majority of Canadians want to make overseas calls. Yet, Canada has some of the highest long distance cell phone costs in the world. Public Mobile’s overseas long distance plan provides consumers with something that hasn’t existed until now – great value, flexibility and simplicity.
Continue reading
Tags: $15, 45 countries, long distance, one price, overseas, unlimited | Posted in Latest news | 30 Comments »
Montreal Network Update
By david | Posted June 26th, 2010
Thanks for all your feedback. We are reading all the comments, and trying to respond to you each via email. We are turning on new sites every day. We’ll post updates from our network team later this afternoon on the action plan for the next few days to improve our network. We apologize for the inconvenience and thank you for your patience.
**UPDATE – 10/06/26 at 6PM**
After speaking with the network team we can provide you with the following update. We currently have sites up and broadcasting across Montreal, and we will be adding more over the next three weeks to solidify and expand our coverage.
The following areas we’ll be adding sites in the next week – Côte-des-Neiges, Verdun, Papineau, and LaSalle to solidify the coverage of our network. We’ll also have a repair to one of our sites completed Monday which will also add to our coverage.
We appreciate your patience as we build our network and we’ll keep you updated as we add sites. Please keep sending us your comments, and we’ll keep working to improve.