# Bell & Rogers to Charge for Incoming Text Messages



## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

*Bell & Telus to Charge for Incoming Text Messages*

According to a article in the Windsor Star Bell & Telus plan to charge $0.15 per incoming message.



> Bell Mobility will begin charging customers 15 cents per incoming text message on Aug. 8. Telus Mobility is moving to the same billing practice effective Aug. 24.


For those of you who get spam text messages have fun... beejacon 

Remember those old commercials featuring the 'bankers', with the line 'You have bankers', and the bankers would be under all the furniture etc. grabbing as much money as they could. The same applies to our telephone companies!

Rogers...



> ... says it has no plans to institute a fee to receive a text message.


Still no iPhone for me.


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

what... the...


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## kps (May 4, 2003)

When Bell or Rogers send you those stupid promotional text messages, take $0.15 off the bill. :lmao:


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## HowEver (Jan 11, 2005)

The thread title is wrong, although it looks like the OP tried to correct it.


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## madgunde (Mar 10, 2006)

HowEver said:


> The thread title is wrong, although it looks like the OP tried to correct it.


Yeah, knew it was wrong since I just read this story elsewhere but it was Bell and telus. Thank GOD, I think we have enough reason to hate Rogers, we don't need another one.

Rogers for now says they have no plans to charge for incoming text messages.

It's kinda weird, Rogers being on the right side of the fence for once...


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## bgw (Jan 8, 2008)

Sorry about the heading, I was choking down some bile!


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

Not too uncommon down here in the US obviously. Especially on prepaid phones such as the tracphone we have. If an incoming text comes in and you decide to read it, it'll deduct 0.5 units from your remaining balance (which is approximately bout 15 cents as 1 unit is about 30 cent, and a unit is about a minute of time). 

Thinking bout going to Net 10 whenever we get the money for the phone (its like 30$ for the phone, but they give you 300 minutes free [100 free with the first 3 card purchases]) and its like 10 cent per minute, with 5 cent per text, and 15 cent per minute international. (not like you can go over, its prepaid, you'll just run out of minutes).


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## Amiga2000HD (Jan 23, 2007)

madgunde said:


> It's kinda weird, Rogers being on the right side of the fence for once...


I guess the exception does prove the rule, but I'm not planning to let Rogers off the hook for the screwing around the have done. I'll take an iPod Touch thank you. They can keep the iPhone.


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## nick24 (Jul 11, 2006)

I was listening to a Mac Break Weekly and this type of topic (albeit with US carriers) was discussed. Here's some maths - feel free to correct any mistakes....
So, a message costs 15c to send or receive. Each message is 160 bytes.
There are 1048576 bytes in a megabyte. 
You get 1048576/160 messages per megabyte = 6554
Therefore, a megabyte of text messaging data costs 6554*0.15 = $983.

$983! There is no way that it costs $983 to provide hardware and software services for text messages. From memory, I seem to remember that SMS messages were essentially sent on 'spare' parts of the radio waves, so the true cost of sending SMS is virtually negligible. But, all over the world, customers are taken for a ride and cell phone providers are laughing all the way to the bank. 

From the article "Telus Mobility spokesperson AJ Gratton cites this rapid growth as the reason for the new charge. 

"The growth in text messages has been nothing short of phenomenal," Gratton said, noting Canadians send more than 45 million text messages per day. "This volume places tremendous demands on our network and we can't afford to provide this service for free anymore."

This is nothing but bullsh!t!


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## Elric (Jul 30, 2005)

Isn't there laws against double dipping?


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

Elric said:


> Isn't there laws against double dipping?


You'd think so, but doesn't Rogers triple dip sometimes?


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## Elric (Jul 30, 2005)

kb244 said:


> You'd think so, but doesn't Rogers triple dip sometimes?


ya but those are HIDDEN, this is very obvious...


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

Elric said:


> ya but those are HIDDEN, this is very obvious...


course would be taxed on as a maintenance fee not included in your plan or such. Maybe they'll argue that they have no control over service charges thru other carriers ( though just how many other GSM carriers are there in Canada? ). 

I notice they already limit you to a certain amount of SMS and charge overage for those ( which I think is rapeage but meh ).


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## madgunde (Mar 10, 2006)

Expect to see Bell and Telus start a big marketing campaign heralding "received text messages from other customers on the same network are free!" or "my favorite 5 - free received text messages from any 5 people of your choice."

God, telecommunications in Canada is devolving at an alarming rate...


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## dona83 (Jun 26, 2005)

If you have a text messaging plan they'll usually include unlimited free incoming text, such as the $3 for 30 sent messages. And yes text messages from people on the same network will be free regardless.


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

dona83 said:


> If you have a text messaging plan they'll usually include unlimited free incoming text, such as the $3 for 30 sent messages. And yes text messages from people on the same network will be free regardless.


One should hope so, why can't Paypal do that, why should I pay a credit fee for someone sending me money from their paypal account to mine, not like they were using a credit card with a fee (ie: one network to another).


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## i4detail (Mar 11, 2008)

If you want to register a complaint....

Maybe this is just a cunning ploy on their part. "Hey, not enough people are thinking of leaving us for Rogers, because Rogers is screwing up with the iPhone rate plans. Well, let's see if we can do something that will make our services even less desirable, and have all those people who were complaining about the iPhone break down and go over to Rogers?"


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## The Shadow (Oct 28, 2006)

nick24 said:


> I was listening to a Mac Break Weekly and this type of topic (albeit with US carriers) was discussed. Here's some maths - feel free to correct any mistakes....
> So, a message costs 15c to send or receive. Each message is 160 bytes.
> There are 1048576 bytes in a megabyte.
> You get 1048576/160 messages per megabyte = 6554
> ...


AJ Gratton, you sir, are an assclown. If Telus' network can't handle a simple load like that....I pity the fools who are on Telus. I would be curious to see if Mr. AJ could demonstrate the demands that millions of 160 character messages could have on a modern telecom network.


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## kb244 (Apr 23, 2002)

The Shadow said:


> AJ Gratton, you sir, are an assclown.


Assclown?


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## spitfire1945 (May 17, 2008)

Hey guys make sure that you text this to Telus/Bell/Rogers respectively so they have to pay $0.15 to read it!


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## Trevor... (Feb 21, 2003)

text messages are sent as service packets, the amount of data used to send text messages is nothing in comparison to the amount of data used just as the phone and the network check-in with one another constantly.


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## Ottawaman (Jan 16, 2005)

Text message backlash




> A day after Telus and Bell Mobility – but not Rogers – slapped a 15-cent charge on incoming text messages (previously free), Industry Minister Jim Prentice has summoned the cellphone chiefs to Ottawa to explain their "ill-thought out decision." NDP Leader Jack Layton howled about the "aggressive anti-consumer action" and called for a "consumer revolt" on his very own online petition.
> 
> They might have added, in text lingo, YBS (You'll be sorry).


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