New Lum Plans - Cost Analysis - Old VS New.
Lüm Super UserI see there is a lot frustration on the forum about the new plans being introduced. I understand the frustration. I believe the new plans may appear to be drastically different than they will actually be for most people.
I have done some very quick analysis comparing old vs. new to put things into perspective for the average Lum subscriber. By no means, is this a definitive tool that you should use to make a decision. This is just something I put together for myself to get an idea and would like to share with the rest of the community.
Old Plan: Assuming 1 Year Membership w/ 25GB for $40 option ($1.60/GB) and an average talk time of 5 hours/month. These are the results that I get (i.e. average monthly cost including taxes and fees, based on usage).
New Plan: Avg monthly cost including taxes and fees.
Note:
- Anyone using more than 1GB/month is probably better off under the new system.
- 911 Fees are now included in the plans.
- New Plans Include 5G and UNLTD CALLING.
- The frustration some very low data users are expressing is very much reasonable as Lum was extremely cost effective option for those people. However, the difference still isn't as great (I know it is still an increase). But I hope the above table can guide you a little better.
- Larger data users were clearly discouraged under the old system. With evolving competition and increased appetite for data, it is understandable that Lum's old offerings were probably insufficient for heavy data users.
- The new cost structure provides a balance between the two, I believe.
** If you notice any mistakes, feel free to point them out.
Comments
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Thanks for writing this up. Very helpful to look at.
Couple things that I thought of and hope to add to the discussion:
1) this is assuming you use all your data. I'd you're only using 5gb/mo of the 150gb/year, your price/GB is going to increase significantly.
2) I don't really understand them trying appeal to the high data users. $46 for 35gb still isn't really that good of a deal... If you're using that much data there are much better plans out there. Seems like they're just trying to squeeze more out of those of us who used less data.
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That's not quite how it works for someone like me. I bought the yearly membership last November, along with 50gb, enough for three years (I use about 2gb a month). For the next two years, I would only have needed to pay the membership fee, which is what got me interested in Lum in the first place: after buying data, I'd only be paying about $16 month for my membership (and 911 fees).
Ignore that $25/month isn't a particularly high rate and acknowledge that I'm going to be paying an additional $100 a year for data I won't use, faster speeds I don't miss now, and unlimited call and text that I have no need for. I'll never use the data I already paid for because I can't imagine how I'll suddenly go through 10x as much as I was previously. The whole point of Lum was that it was a membership payment for the flexibility of using only as much data as I needed. If I wanted an ordinary plan, then I'd still have one with Telus.
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Everyone's situation would be unique but let's keep costs consistent. In my table all costs are after taxes and fees.
In your case your fixed monthly cost would've been: $20.83 +$~2/GB.
Keep in mind the new plans include the 911 fees.
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I am not here to defend Lum or analyze anyone's individual situations. But I think it would be more appropriate if you looked at it in terms of your needs and the monthly cost. In your case, as I demonstrated above. It would have been:
$250/12 (for membership) +
$2.46/GB x 2GB/Month
=
$~25.75/month. including taxes and fees.
Which isn't substantially different compared to the new plans ( I may even say almost the same considering you now get 5G access and unlimited calling to CAN/US).0 -
I think a key piece of context this post is missing is that by making this change Lum is no longer competitive on either end of the market. For high data users, other providers were and still are a better deal. For low data users, Lum was the best price but will no longer be such.
With these new changes, is Lum primarily targeting generally low data users who have massive, unpredictable spikes in usage? Those are the only folks that I see these changes making much sense for.
I had originally switched from Public Mobile over to Lum, but once my current Lum subscription ends I'll be hopping back to Public Mobile. I think the reason why people are upset is because Lum was a refreshing new pay-as-you-go option, and this change largely eliminates that model.
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Okay hman. I'll spell it out for you. (And I don't think my situation is all that unique, since I know people who both made referrals and bought enough data to last them a few years)
I (regretfully) made successful referrals, which took $50 off my upcoming renewal, making it come to $195, INCLUDING the 911 fee. I thought I was indeed going to be paying $16.25/mont for the upcoming year.
Of the 50 GB of data I bought, I still have 36 GB of data. As Lum keeps saying, it is mine. I own it. It's a service I prepaid for. I worked it into last year's monthlies when I paid for it upfront, not expecting the company to suddenly change their business model. I would've bought only 15 GB had I known it was never going to be used.
Since the company keeps saying I get to keep my data, I'm sure they won't be refunding me what I didn't use, and now never will, because there's no possible way I'll EVER use 150 GB in a year, and can't fathom how others do, unless they constantly hotspot from their phones. That's $60 I'm out whether I stay with Lum or not. And because I'm looking at a $10/mo. difference if I stay, I'll be paying an additional $100 this year. I'm out a fair amount of money, and think I'm well justified in my unhappiness.
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I think H-Man does have a point. the data he bought had more value than the data bundled in with the membership. It would be more fair to offer a credit back on the account for the remaining value of the data before forcing the membership change. Or grandfather in existing customers with large data balances remaining and continue to offer a 0 data membership offer to existing customers until that data is exhausted.
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I agree with that. It's not that $300 a year is a lot for what being offered; it's actually pretty reasonable. As you say, it's that there isn't any consideration for the money that's already been spent.
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My wife and I are both lum customers, for her usage the new lowest price yearly plan is more or less going to be the same price and utility. For myself the new plans are terrible and don’t meet my needs at all. I had no voice, and last year used 4 gb of data. The new yearly membership plan is now $120+tax extra with no utility for me. Like many I had just topped off my data buying 50gb of data I thought I would be using for many years to come.
Not only that, but our plans renew in early Nov. I received an email a few weeks ago that still mentions renewing under the old cost/plans. They couldn’t even give people a grace period or announcement before springing these changes on people.
My wife will likely remain with lum at least for the time being, but I certainly will be looking at other carriers that meet my usage needs.5 -
This is brutal. I think I’m in the same boat as most people where I don’t use that much data and the great thing about Lüm was that I could get a 3 month plan without having to pay for additional data that I don’t need. You guys really dropped the ball with this. I will 100% be switching providers.
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I just signed up to let you know there's a mistake in your pricing chart. The $500 420 GB should be flipped around. (500 GB $420.) FYI.
I feel these plans are a step forward for heavier data users. Lighter users, a step backwards unless they start offering a $240 60 GB, and $180 30 GB yearly plan.
These changes make it a little more tempting for me to change to Lum because I wish to support SaskTel instead of the Big Three. Still, I think the new changes simplifies the plan structure. I think charging for voicemail is a little ridiculous when every carrier includes it, so for me the plan is really $5 more per month.
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@AppleDroid thanks. Mistake should be corrected now.
Smaller data buckets would've been nice too. Good point.
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As someone who actually uses their phone / data these plans have caught my attention… Right now I'm paying $75 with telus for 75gb on 5G on a byod plan. Over one year this costs me $900 before taxes for a total of 900gb of data
I could get a 1 year membership with 500gb of data for $420. If I wanted to same amount of data, I could but 4x100gb top ups for $400, making my one year cost $820 for the exact same thing as with telus.
The best part is I only need about 30gb of data per month, so I don't even NEED to buy those top ups. I'll save almost $500 a year for the exact same plan, while supporting local.
My situation may not be the same as most people on this thread so if you are someone who doesn't use much it's still a good plan. Other companies are charging the same, if not more for peanuts worth of data.
Lucky is charging $25 for 1gb or $29 for 15gb. Koodo, similar with 2gb of 4G speed for $37.50 or 10GB for $34. Virgin too at 3gb for $39 - 3G speed only.
$25 for 300gb to use whenever you WANT to use it over a year, included talk and text and 5G speeds... thats a pretty sweet deal.
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I have two phones that I moved to Lum. My primary phone I will keep with Lum and the new plan. My secondary phone was just for emergencies. It was costing me $200 per year. It is now costing $300 per year. I will be moving it to SpeakOut for about $25 per year. I will miss having the access to some data, but I hardly ever use my second phone.
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For me the whole point to subscribe Lum was to reduce my bill when I was wasting so much data at SaskTel where as 1gb to 2gb per month was more than enough for me. Cause I don't play games or watch videos in work time. As far as I know most Lum users are like savvy minded that is why they are here in the first place, who can compromise with real in person customer care etc. Now if Lum think with this new year long subscription plan with higher rate will put them in competition, I say both Chatr and Freedom already introduced yearly subscription for $119 with 15 GB or $149 with 30GB which are much better price at the moment.
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I'm considering moving to Public mobile which has a 1Gb monthly plan for $19+tax (no other fees) — this is about the price I currently pay with Lum and has almost double the data that I use each month. I know people who are on their 50gb Canada-US plan for $35/month and they seem satisfied with the service. I really want to support Lum since they're a Saskatchewan company, yet they don't have the plans that fit my needs anymore.
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This super annoying. We were using Lum as a low cost option for our two kids, that use basically no data (well under 1Gb /month) just to stay connected. These new plans make absolutely no sense. I guess it's time to look at other options outside of Lum for our kids.
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Unless Lum only recently changed their minds on data already purchased, if you read the FAQs about the new plans, any data you have already paid for will be grandfathered in and will not expire just like what you originally agreed to so the anger over losing prepaid data isn’t going to be an issue. You will use the new data FIRST and any original data not used will continue to be rolled over indefinitely as long as you keep your membership in good standing. Essentially, if you are a low data user who already stocked up, chances are, you will get enough new data every term to suffice and your current data will remain unused and still carried over in until you do use it up, if you ever do.
Losing my rolled over data was my concern as well until I read how it was going to continue to be honoured so it is now looking like the new plans should work out quite well for all users. It would be good if a Lum rep commented here pointing this out as it is quite clearly stated on the FAQ side.
So relax and reread all the terms again. I think you’ll find you should really come out ahead with a better deal. I’m still verified ing it for myself but it sure looks like it will be even better than before for how I’m using it.
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In the FAQ's it states you will use your existing data first from what I have read. I think the point for a lot of people is that the data within the new plans is far more than they can ever use which makes there existing data worthless. I think if Lum was truly concerned with there customers they could have offered a credit for larger amounts of data that some people have towards the new plans if and when they renew.
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Exactly. I use maybe 30gb of data a year. I still have like 65gb of data left from when I bought the 95gb bundle a year ago. If I renewed with Lum that data would never be used and it is like flushing ~$130 down the toilet. Lum should offer refunds or at least bill credits for users who bought data with the understanding that they could keep using it with a membership that doesn't include any data.
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@Rod and @bleejean You guys are both right. I originally read it as old data would be used last but I was mistaken. It is used first which certainly does make a difference.
I calculated my own rates and I will end up paying roughly $7 a month more. Granted, I will have unlimited talk and text and dar more data than I need so it is like throwing the value of the data away after each rollover . And I agree, it does defeat the reason I got this plan in the first place. I chose Lum to have data that never expired and now that feature is gone.
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when I only use 2gb a year it’s not worth staying. I’ll have about 100 terabytes of data never to be used by the time I’m done, lol. time to start looking around for other options I guess. If you’re a low data user this is not a win
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I don't treat this as a "per month" thing, because it's not. I don't have the same data usage monthly for the year. So for me, this is great. Koodo rollover is a month at a time. Here, I can use 2-5 gb a month most months, then for the months I travel more on the road and need data away from wifi, I have a large bucket to go through. I think these new plans will work out just right for our families usage patterns over the course of a whole year.
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I haven't topped up my 25gb purchase since joining 3 years ago. The price hike is real.
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to be fair - 99.9% of my phone usage is within range of a wifi signal I trust, and can operate with data off. Voice doesn't require data. And rich text messages are incredibly data light. Map usage data is also fairly well optimized.
It will always make me sad when a company makes a move that benefits the majority of their customers, but actively harms their outliers.
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