Bell & Telus Announce New Fees for Incoming Text Messages
Cell phone users beware. Receiving a text message (sms) on your cellular phone may just become a whole lot more expensive. Two of Canada’s telecommunication giants plan to bring in a new levy on incoming text messages effective in August. Both Bell and Telus are planning to impose the new fee, which many feel is absolutely unfair. Prior to this announcement, there has never been a fee to receive a text message on your phone. Customers have only ever been charged for outgoing messages. All incoming messages were free with Bell, Telus, and Rogers. So in the old system it would cost you to send, but it was free to receive. However, it looks like things will be changing very shortly as both Bell and Telus are implementing this new “cash grab.”
Here are the details. Bell will be charging customers $0.15 per incoming text message effective August 8, 2008. Telus will be charging customers $0.15 per incoming text message effective August 24, 2008. It should also be noted that these new fee’s are in addition to the regular fee’s for outgoing text messages. Rogers has publicly announced that it will not be jumping on board with this new charge. Therefore Rogers customers will not be affected by this latest move; at least for now.
It is unclear if smaller wireless players will be jumping on the bandwagon. Companies such as Virgin Mobile and Primus operate on Bell’s wireless network, so it is hard to predict what will happen to them. Solo Mobile is owned and operated by Bell, similar to how Koodo Mobile is owned and operated by Telus. If anybody has any insight as to what will be happening with these smaller outfits, please feel free to voice your opinions in the comments below. Is this a fair move? Should wireless customers be stuck with the bill when they get spammed on their wireless device? Can we really control who sends us a message? Under the new system, shouldn’t we be allowed to accept / decline the incoming message before any charges are laid? I would love to hear from you!
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July 9th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
I discovered your homepage by coincidence.
Very interesting posts and well written.
I will put your site on my blogroll.
July 10th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the vote of encouragement and the linkback. It’s much appreciated! Hope to see you around again. All the best with your blog The Cell Phone Giant.
August 8th, 2008 at 1:56 am
this is rediculous.
you can’t control who sends you text messages.
and, hey, don’t they already make enough money as it is?
like seriously
if anything they’ll just be losing money.
August 9th, 2008 at 7:18 pm
As usual, Industry Minister Jim Prentice, just doesn’t get it.
This certainly comes as no surprise as most government concerns and decisions seem to favour big corporate business rather than the taxpaying consumer.
In situations like this, it becomes very apparent that big business is in complete control of government in which government will undoubtedly bend backwards to accommodate their every plan and desire.
Most consumers just want the ability of having the choice in whether or not they want to receive text messages or the option to cancel their contracts without charge so that they can enroll with another provider who at the present isn’t charging a fee for received text messages.
As for myself, I especially do not want the inconvenience of the time wasting process to clear spam message charges with my wireless provider.
In the past I have had more than enough bad experiences, not counting the lost time settling other various problems with (Telus) and I don’t want anymore of these same experiences again.
August 10th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
HI DAKO,
Thanks for taking the time to leave your opinion.
It certainly seems like just another money grab. Charging for incoming text messages opens up a big can of worms. To make things fair, we should now have the ability to accept / reject incoming text messages before they hit our cell phones; similar to collect calls. Otherwise, we would be paying for spam / unwanted messages without any choice in the matter. This would require a large software change in the way text messages are sent and received. Perhaps such a system change could be on the horizon as well.
August 10th, 2008 at 2:29 pm
Andreanne,
I tend to agree with you. At the end of the day, at least we always have choice as consumers. Competition is always good for the consumer, so we can always send them a “message” by moving on.
Thank you for commenting on my blog!
September 17th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
k well i’m with bell .. and my friend tries to call me collect… but it says i have something blocking collect calls on my cell phone … how do you change that ?
October 5th, 2008 at 1:40 pm
Hi Cassy,
Thanks for dropping by.
I would recommend that you contact Bell in regards to the collect call issue. If you explain to them exactly what happens when a collect call is placed to your cell phone, they should be able to assist you in rectifying the problem.
Good Luck!
November 24th, 2008 at 2:19 am
There is s much spam out there,that is a total cash grab. Telus,& Bell Mobility do not suprise me at all.
WHAT IS UP WITH MINUTE BILLING????????
Fido NO SYSTEM ACCESS FEE,BILLED BY THE SECOND,& UNLIMITED TEXT,& MUCH MORE. The NEW Fido is out Nov-24-2008. Check it out,and its GSM go anywhere in the World,and it still works!
Bell Mobility & Telus limited in only Canada,& the U.S did you all know that?
…NOW YOU DO!!! ..Now that sucks
December 3rd, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Hey George Pappas,
Thanks for bringing up some good points. The Bell CDMA network is indeed behind the rest of the world - as Rogers (who owns Fido) has been going strong with the GSM technology for some time now.
A cash grab certainly - per minute billing benefits the wireless provider immensely, and has been around forever - We are certainly getting gouged there.
Thanks.