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Canada's got all of 3 cell phone companies, and competition is restricted as per the government. Right now they're finally in the process of allowing a 4th by auctioning off the frequency, but it's not here yet.
We've got 1 GSM provider (Rogers) and 2 CDMA (Telus and Bell). Rogers was in the press lately because their iPhone plan is absurd compared to everyone else in the world. It costs more, you get far less, there's no unlimited data option, and you have to get it on a three year contract. Outstanding.
Not a week later, both Bell and Telus jump on the "screw the customer bandwagon" by displaying patently obvious price fixing / oligopoly practice by simultaneously announcing that next month all incoming text messages will cost $0.15 a piece. So now the spam texts I get will cost me money, I don't get to choose if I accept the message as I do when I get called by 1-800 numbers.
I'm so ****ing pissed off that the telco companies in Canada are some of the most expensive in the world, and when the rest of the world is getting cheaper server we're getting more expensive.
So now for every text message sent, or transmitting maybe 100-200 bytes of data, Telus and Bell are collecting $0.30. I don't even want to know what that works out to in $ per GB.
We've got 1 GSM provider (Rogers) and 2 CDMA (Telus and Bell). Rogers was in the press lately because their iPhone plan is absurd compared to everyone else in the world. It costs more, you get far less, there's no unlimited data option, and you have to get it on a three year contract. Outstanding.
Not a week later, both Bell and Telus jump on the "screw the customer bandwagon" by displaying patently obvious price fixing / oligopoly practice by simultaneously announcing that next month all incoming text messages will cost $0.15 a piece. So now the spam texts I get will cost me money, I don't get to choose if I accept the message as I do when I get called by 1-800 numbers.
I'm so ****ing pissed off that the telco companies in Canada are some of the most expensive in the world, and when the rest of the world is getting cheaper server we're getting more expensive.
So now for every text message sent, or transmitting maybe 100-200 bytes of data, Telus and Bell are collecting $0.30. I don't even want to know what that works out to in $ per GB.
Bell, Telus to charge for incoming text messages
OTTAWA -- Cellphone users are about to be hit with new fees as two of Canada's telecommunications giants plan to bring in a levy on incoming text messages.
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. Until now, their pay-per-use customers who send text messages have been charged a 15-cent fee per message, but it hasn't cost anything to receive them.
The pending new charge has sparked outrage on blogs, with customers saying they can't control who sends them messages, especially when spammers obtain their cell number or retailers send them unsolicited messages.
"This charge is unbelievable. If someone sends me "spam" on my Bell phone, I have to pay for it? I made the mistake of giving my cellphone number to a car rental agency and now I get spam text messages," a Bell customer ranted on a Canadian technology blog.
"I actually work for Bell and I think this incoming text messages being charged is bogus!" posted another.
Text messaging has ballooned in popularity since inter-carrier service came to Canada in 2002.
In its first year, there were 369,000 text messages sent every day, or 11 million annually. Today, Canadians send 45.4 million per day, according to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. And cellphone subscribers sent 4.1 billion in the first quarter of this year, close to the annual total of 4.3 billion sent in 2006 and on track to surpass the 10.1 billion sent last year.
Association spokesman Marc Choma said the phenomenon has moved beyond the teenage crowd to parents, who use it as a "family management tool."
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. "This volume places tremendous demands on our network and we can't afford to provide this service for free anymore."
Characterizing the annual growth in text traffic on Bell's wireless network as "massive," company spokesman Jason Laszlo said the result has been greater capacity, licensing and support costs.
He said all but one of Bell's North American competitors charge for both incoming and outcoming text messages.
Bell and Telus customers can avoid the charge by switching to Rogers, which says it has no plans to institute a fee to receive a text message. But Bell and Telus both charge penalties if customers break their contracts, at $20 for every month remaining on a broken contract up to $400.
"We just don't charge for it, and have no plans to. Now it's a unique differentiator for Rogers," company spokeswoman Elizabeth Hamilton said of the move to charge for incoming messages.
Howard Chui, based in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, runs an online forum about the mobile phone industry in Canada. He isn't optimistic that consumers are going to win this fight. And he's not sure how long Rogers will hold out.
"I think overall customers will just have to take it," he said, characterizing the three Canadian carriers as an "oligopoly."
Rogers is dealing with its own customer backlash over its rate plans for the Apple iPhone, on store shelves on Friday. The company, which has an exclusive iPhone carrier arrangement with Apple Inc. in Canada, is offering monthly plans ranging from $60 to $155.
The proposed fee schedule has unleashed an online campaign against Rogers, under the tagline "Screwing Canadian iPhone customers since ‘08."
Canadians already pay more than Europeans and Americans for cellphone services. Industry Minister Jim Prentice acknowledged this fact in the spring when he opened Canada's wireless spectrum auction.
Industry Canada set aside 40 megahertz, out of a total 105, for smaller companies to compete against the established telecommunications giants. Prentice said "the intent behind the auction is lower prices, more choice for consumers.'"
OTTAWA -- Cellphone users are about to be hit with new fees as two of Canada's telecommunications giants plan to bring in a levy on incoming text messages.
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. Until now, their pay-per-use customers who send text messages have been charged a 15-cent fee per message, but it hasn't cost anything to receive them.
The pending new charge has sparked outrage on blogs, with customers saying they can't control who sends them messages, especially when spammers obtain their cell number or retailers send them unsolicited messages.
"This charge is unbelievable. If someone sends me "spam" on my Bell phone, I have to pay for it? I made the mistake of giving my cellphone number to a car rental agency and now I get spam text messages," a Bell customer ranted on a Canadian technology blog.
"I actually work for Bell and I think this incoming text messages being charged is bogus!" posted another.
Text messaging has ballooned in popularity since inter-carrier service came to Canada in 2002.
In its first year, there were 369,000 text messages sent every day, or 11 million annually. Today, Canadians send 45.4 million per day, according to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. And cellphone subscribers sent 4.1 billion in the first quarter of this year, close to the annual total of 4.3 billion sent in 2006 and on track to surpass the 10.1 billion sent last year.
Association spokesman Marc Choma said the phenomenon has moved beyond the teenage crowd to parents, who use it as a "family management tool."
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. "This volume places tremendous demands on our network and we can't afford to provide this service for free anymore."
Characterizing the annual growth in text traffic on Bell's wireless network as "massive," company spokesman Jason Laszlo said the result has been greater capacity, licensing and support costs.
He said all but one of Bell's North American competitors charge for both incoming and outcoming text messages.
Bell and Telus customers can avoid the charge by switching to Rogers, which says it has no plans to institute a fee to receive a text message. But Bell and Telus both charge penalties if customers break their contracts, at $20 for every month remaining on a broken contract up to $400.
"We just don't charge for it, and have no plans to. Now it's a unique differentiator for Rogers," company spokeswoman Elizabeth Hamilton said of the move to charge for incoming messages.
Howard Chui, based in the Toronto suburb of Richmond Hill, runs an online forum about the mobile phone industry in Canada. He isn't optimistic that consumers are going to win this fight. And he's not sure how long Rogers will hold out.
"I think overall customers will just have to take it," he said, characterizing the three Canadian carriers as an "oligopoly."
Rogers is dealing with its own customer backlash over its rate plans for the Apple iPhone, on store shelves on Friday. The company, which has an exclusive iPhone carrier arrangement with Apple Inc. in Canada, is offering monthly plans ranging from $60 to $155.
The proposed fee schedule has unleashed an online campaign against Rogers, under the tagline "Screwing Canadian iPhone customers since ‘08."
Canadians already pay more than Europeans and Americans for cellphone services. Industry Minister Jim Prentice acknowledged this fact in the spring when he opened Canada's wireless spectrum auction.
Industry Canada set aside 40 megahertz, out of a total 105, for smaller companies to compete against the established telecommunications giants. Prentice said "the intent behind the auction is lower prices, more choice for consumers.'"
That was classy also.
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