Logos de Lucky Mobile vs Public Mobile vs Chatr

Lucky vs Public Mobile vs Chatr

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If you’re thinking of buying a new cell phone plan, you could end up spending hours searching online. Finding a high-quality plan at a low price can often feel complicated. If you want a basic BYOD plan at an affordable price, consider one from Lucky Mobile, Public Mobile or Chatr. As subsidiaries of the three largest telecom companies in the country, they offer some of the most affordable options for Canadians. Due to their competitively low prices, it’s easy to feel torn between the options. Here’s everything you should know when making the decision between Lucky vs Public Mobile vs Chatr :

 

General Information – Lucky Mobile vs Public Mobile vs Chatr

Before unravelling the Lucky Mobile vs Public Mobile vs Chatr debate, we will start by talking about who owns whom in this space. Lucky Mobile, Public Mobile and Chatr are each owned by one of the Big 3 telecom companies and operate as flanker brands. A Flanker brand is a subsidiary of a main company that shares network resources with the parent but operates independently and targets a different demography and market than the parent brand. 

Thus, Lucky Mobile is owned by Bell, Public Mobile by Telus and Chatr by Rogers. They each target a low-cost market where customers are price-sensitive, have limited needs and know their needs. For these customers, Lucky, Public and Chatr offer some really good deals and substantial savings on mobile phone plans. If you think the prospect of substantial savings sounds appealing to you, read on to see if Lucky, Public or Chatr is right for you! 

 Lucky MobilePublic MobileChatr
Parent ProviderBellTelusRogers
Contracts/Credit ChecksNoNoNo
Prepaid PlansYesYesYes
SIM Card Cost$10$10$10

Of course, there are more differences between these three providers than just the fact that different companies own them! Here are a few more:

Network Coverage – Chatr vs Lucky Mobile 

Since Lucky, Public and Chatr are each owned by one of Canada’s three largest telecom companies, they all offer extensive nationwide coverage. If you’re curious to see which of the three providers offer service in your region, check out our coverage maps for each of them. Until then, here’s a quick overview of Chatr vs Lucky Mobile’s network coverage:

 Lucky MobilePublic MobileChatr
CoverageCoverage: 28.8% of Canada,
Serves: 99% of Canadians
Coverage: 28.8% of Canada,
Serves: 99% of Canadians
Coverage: 19.9% of Canada, 
Serves: 97% of Canadians
5GYes - Available in BC, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario & QuebecYes - Available in BC, Alberta, Ontario & QuebecBC, Alberta, Ontario & Quebec



Yes - Available in BC, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick & Nova Scotia

Chatr’s network is less available in rural areas. However, for urbanites, it offers the widest 5G coverage in the entire country. Meanwhile, Lucky and Public Mobile’s coverage are almost identical, though it’s worth noting that Lucky Mobile offers 5G coverage in Manitoba while Public Mobile does not! Make sure to consider range and 5G coverage when signing up for a mobile plan!

 

Lucky vs Public Mobile vs Chatr : Plans

Next, we’ll look at a number of phone plans from each company. We’ll outline the cheapest, most data-heavy and all-around best plan from each company. 

 

Cheapest Plans

To start things off, here are the cheapest plans from Lucky Mobile, Public Mobile and Chatr. These plans don’t include much data, and some of them have limited talking minutes – in exchange for some incredibly low prices. If you’re someone who doesn’t use their phone much, a plan from any of these three providers would make a great choice. Check them out below:

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Heaviest Data Plans

Moving away from cheap plans, these providers also offer some bulky plans with loads of data. Of course, these plans are on the pricier side, but still available at competitive prices. Check out Lucky, Public and Chatr’s most inclusive plans below:

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Best Data Plans

Last but certainly not least, let’s take a look at each provider’s best data plans. These offers manage to combine decent amounts of mobile data with affordability. If you’re interested in nothing but the best from these three carriers, check out their greatest, most all-around mobile plans:

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8 Comments

  1. Public mobile has no customer service or help available. They tell you to contact community which is lame. Does Chatr work same way?

    1. Chatr has great customer service, your never on the phone very long..
      I am currently with Telus.. was with Chatr for years..

    2. I’ve joined the Public Mobile community and I can tell you this is no longer the case. Through the community website, you can communicate with an agent (CS_Agent). In my case, the community itself was already sufficiently helpful (and VERY FAST) to answer my questions and solve my problem.

  2. s long as you never have any type of problem, you’ll be fine, but the minute you do, you’ll wish that you had went with a different service. Their so called on-line support is nothing less than pathetic.

  3. I am with Chatr. I have never had a problem with loosing cell service and I’m in a small town in Alberta. If you call customer service from your cell phone, you can be charged 5 bucks from your account depending the issue I guess. So call from a landline if you can. Learned that the hard way. The customer service is sort of lacking. They aren’t very thorough on there advice or instructions or why something is happening. I am technically not in a “zone” so I have to take a cut to what I qualify for on the plans and have to end up spending more and getting less. This to me is bs, and was not explained as there map clearly states there is service making you think your in a zone plan.I have been looking at Lucky mobile now as they offer almost the same but better pricing for out of zone customers and i don’t have to sacrifice my data plan. Still not sure what to do….

  4. Lucky Mobile has no phone number, and after activating my Dollarama SIM card and following the 20$ promo to the tee…and you guessed it nada. No way to complain, no service department. I just hope the phone doesn’t go down.

  5. I’ve never tried Chatr mainly because their service is way more expensive and I am already a satisfied customer of Public Mobile for a puny 6$ a month, here are the takeaways:

    – AVOID Lucky Mobile LIKE THE PLAGUE: I’ve had a lot of problems in the beginning (a full month without service + ripped-off with no auto-pay bonus, etc.) and no customer service WHATSOEVER !

    – Public Mobile is the best damn thing since sliced bread: Now I really wished I subscribed to them years earlier. Their offers are simply unmatched for the price. I was a customer of both prepaid Koodo Mobile and Lucky Mobile in the past and not only their offers can’t meet Public Mobile’s offers, the service I got from the Public Mobile Community (productioncommunity.publicmobile.ca) to answer my questions was extremely fast (approx. 5-10 min. delay on their forums).

    One of the reasons why it’s so inexpensive is there’s so many ways to receive rewards easily (automatic payments, referral codes, loyalty rewards, community rewards, etc.). With almost no effort, my next month’s bill is ZERO dollars and my monthly bill for February onward is already down to 6 $ a month !!! SIX DOLLARS A MONTH for 100 min. voice calls + unlimited texts + 250 MB data !

    Feel free to use the referral activation code MMR96Q to save an extra 10 $ in one click.

  6. A little old, but this page was supposedly updated a couple of days ago. One thing to bear in mind is that nowadays a lot of organisations require multifactor authentication, e.g. you are sent a text message with a six digit code to confirm you are you. Public Mobile does not support the receiving of any text messages while abroad (except US with an add on package). This might not sound that important but, it is if your bank wants to confirm you are the person making a transaction while on holiday and sends you a text message. Happened to someone I know, who then had to spend a total of two hours on three separate phone calls to convince her bank. It’s a shame, as I am with PM and think they are pretty good. Never had any issues. However, I expect to be doing more travelling in the future, so I am looking to move to either another provider.

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