And This is Why I Don't Have a Cell Phone

[teddog]

Wireless carriers to add text charges

Bell and Telus are going to start charging 15 cents for received text messages starting in August. No only is this going to suck if you have talkitive friends, but imagine the problems with spam. Yeah, they claim you'll be refunded if it's spam, but imagine the headaches getting it reversed. Bell's customer service is a headache. As my sister noted, the higher up you get in the customer service chain, the better the English gets.

The inflated costs of having a cellphone in Canada are just not worth it to me. I know this pisses of a lot of my friends, but really... it's too much of a headache.

And this isn't even touch the whole iPhone mess with Rogers.

Comments

[etherlad.livejournal.com]

No cell carrier has yet explained why the cost of sending text messages is 700+% higher than sending the same amount over the Internet via their data plan.

Anyhow, I'm with Virgin Mobile (http://www.virginmobile.ca). They give you a ton of shit for free that everyone else charges you through the nose for, and even then their rates are pretty reasonable.

[commanderteddog.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but isn't Virgin owned by Bell in part? I'm curious if this is going to carry over to them and Koodo.

[urufudo.livejournal.com]

To be fair, the charges are only if you don't have received text messages included in your plan. I know with Rogers that they specifically mention in each of their plans that you get 2500 free received text messages, so I assume that Bell and Telus can't be too different.

I think in this case, it's likely the pay as you go customers that have only talk minutes and nothing else. It still sucks, but at least plan users shouldn't be effected.

As for Rogers, they actually cut us a deal with the iPhone; if you sign up for it between July 11 and August 31, you can get a $30 data plan that offers 6gb. No, it's not unlimited but it's a VERY good deal considering you likely won't use that much. Especially when you compare it to the other crap they're offering. >_>;; I wasn't going to get an iPhone before, but after this announcement, I'm gonna do it.

And FYI, it doesn't piss me off or bother me that you don't have a cell phone. :3 It's more convenient, yes, but it's never actually stopped us from hanging out or meeting up. :D

[etherlad.livejournal.com]

Dag. They are co-owned by Bell. I did not know that.

As urufudo mentions below, Virgin might still be in the clear. They don't advertise that you get x number of received texts, rather, they say that receiving text messages is always free.