Cell Phone Companies Need More Money!

I just read something disturbing during my weekly Dairy Queen ice cream trip. I was browsing through a complimentary copy of the Saturday Star, Saturday July 12, 2008, and came across an article entitled “They won’t hear his pleas” written by Brett Clarkson. It is about a deaf man named Mike Augello who uses his cell phone for text-messaging. All is good for now…

To much is his dismay Bell Mobility and Telus have decided to start charging customers for INCOMING text messages and this decision is “an outrage to deaf people all across Canada who need texting to communicate. Sadly Mr. Augello will not be able to freely text his family and friends as much because they will not be able to incur the extra costs. Mr. Augello uses his cell solely for texting; to him it is a communicative tool. He is quoted as saying “They’re telling me they’re not trying to be rude or anything, but unless they hook up to a $5-a-month plan for text messages, then it’s better for me not to text message them because it’s going to cost them too much money that way.”

The article also states, “Both Bell Mobility and Telus Mobility announced Tuesday that they will start charging 15¢ for incoming texts to people who don’t have a pre-paid text package on their accounts”. Thankfully a day after this was announced federal Industry Finance Minister Jim Prentice called the companies’ CEOs to explain this decision.

Mr. Augello (and I am sure many other people) believe it is a “cash-grab”. Of course this is exactly what it is! This is atrocious. Cell phone companies and their plans [in Canada] are deplorable, especially compared to other countries.*** For example, the UK which has much more consumer-friendly plans that are very affordable. There are also free signing gifts!!!! Like Plasma televisions, free iPhones, free electronics and free Playstation 3s. The companies actually compete for your business. What do we get when us Canadians sign contracts?... A bunch of signing fees, user fees, activation costs and then roughly $40+++ monthly bills (and these rates are always changing, like Telus upping their monthly system access fee for no plausible reason).

Jason Laszlo, Bell spokesperson said that “Bell Mobility has no plans to reverse the decision and that Augello should contact them to work something out” he also adds that “We’ve [Bell] made accommodations for people with disabilities in various ways”. I can safely assume (because having personally dealt with Bell) that they will probably charge him 10¢ per text instead of 15¢.

Evidently, 95% of Bell’s customers have text-messaging plans and will not be affected. The other 5% will and speaking in terms of business, 5% is nothing to worry about. The reason for this charge is because Bell Mobility is “simply aligning [themselves] with the reality of the market place”
*** See my previous mini-rant about the outrages costs of wireless contracts in Canada.
This is because (apparently) other North American cell phone companies charge for text. That is a life lesson; to always do what everyone else is doing, individuality (or looking out for consumers as an ally) is for squares.


This 15¢/per text will go into affect August 8th for Bell Mobility and August 24th for Telus. I believe this entire thing is appalling, especially for Mr. Augello. Hopefully Rogers and Fido will be smart enough to NOT follow suit and thus get more consumers.