Opinion: New Text Messaging Fees Will Infuriate Canadian Cellphone Users

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Canada is about to get strangled by even more unnecessary cellphone fees. In August, Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility will charge customers for incoming text messages. The deplorable fees should give Canadians good reason to protest the greedy telcos.

Digital Journal — Canadians, say goodbye to the short-lived era of free text messaging. In one of the most despicable displays of consumer disservice, Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility will start charging wireless customers for incoming text messages. So far, wireless companies have only charged users for outgoing texts.

Under the new pricing plan, Bell will charge pay-per-use customers 15 cents per incoming text starting Aug. 8. Telus will unveil the same plan on Aug. 24. Telus revealed some bundle packages for text-friendly customers who don't like the 15 cents-per-text plan — for instance, $15 a month gets you unlimited incoming and outgoing messages.

Bell Mobility director of media relation Pierre Leclerc said in an email statement to DigitalJournal.com: "We strongly recommend that clients who send and receive lots of texts be on an unlimited text bundle."

Rogers Wireless said they won't be adopting this new fee system.

But for Telus and Bell, why this sudden about-face? The telcos claim the phenomenal growth of texting in Canada has weighed down on their network traffic, according to Telus media relation spokesperson Anne-Julie Gratton. She told DigitalJournal.com: "The tremendous volume of text messages means we can't provide them free anymore."

According to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association, Canadians send 45.4 million texts per day. 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. Inter-carrier texting has stormed across the country since the service began in 2002.

Now that telcos want to charge for all texts coming and going, customers can expect an ugly bump in their monthly bills. To suddenly get hit by these fees sideswipes wireless subscribers who signed multi-year plans under the impression there would be no additional fees. Charging for incoming texts can easily add $20 to the average bill — sending five messages a day at 15 cents per text results in a $22.50 charge at the end of a 30-day month. Ouch.

Customers have good reason to be up in arms. What if you get texts you don’t want? Spam messages can annoy wireless customers, and Bell was quick to allay any worries. Leclerc said spam texts can be reported to Bell through a simple phone call. Right. And we all know how quick it can be to access a Bell rep on its clogged phone line (he said sarcastically).

Most importantly, the majority of texts come from friends and family. The deluge of incoming texts can be overwhelming and currently it’s not an issue because Canadians don’t pay for those messages. But under the new pricing scheme, they would be charged for texts they never solicited. It makes sense to pay for things you have control over – making and answer phone calls, sending video messages – but to get charged for services someone imposes on you?

Telus' Gratton responded to this problem by saying, "You can turn off your text function so you don't receive any texts." Um, yay? Shutting down the entire text service is an extreme option that doesn't give customers much comfort when they want to take advantage of their cellphone features.

The text-messaging fiasco is firing up the Canadian blogosphere. In one forum, a frustrated person quipped: “Next thing you know Bell will start sending people text messages so they can collect the revenue.”

Another forum poster wrote: “Text messaging is pure profit for cell phone companies. The lack of true competition between telecommunications companies is rather disturbing.”

It’s not a callous statement. Canada is subject to an oligarchy of three major wireless firms — Bell, Telus and Rogers — and endures some of the highest wireless fees in the world. The Canadian government has pointed out a study that rates in U.S. and Europe are roughly half the cost for the same services in Canada. Rogers recently had to wipe some pie off its face for releasing the controversial rate plans for the upcoming iPhone, forcing some Canadians to launch petitions and protest sites.

Now Telus and Bell want to rip off their customers with a texting charge, and this is one issue Canadians should not take lying down. As sympathetic as some naïve cellphone users may be to the weight of texting bloating networks, slipping in fees is a foolish way of remedying the situation. Canadians are already sick of high plans. It seems like telcos are just shrugging off any complaints and saying, “Since Canada already is ripe for expensive plans, we’re not doing anything different.”

It's funny how Telus justifies the charge: "The revenue from the text fees will fund Telus's capital to extend wireless coverage and offer customers new technologies and cool cellphones," Gratton said. Talk about outfitting a wolf in some frilly sheep's clothing.

It’s a cash grab bound to attract world interest, but it won’t be the attention Canada wants. Instead, other countries will be mocking Canadians for enduring another wireless fee so many other international companies never even consider charging. And if this moronic incoming text charge spreads outside Canuck borders, expect other countries to truly blame Canada.