Pay to Receive Texts. WTF?
Rogers has backpeddled on its iPhone pricing following the public reaction to its ridiculously overpriced rates. Meanwhile, Telus and Bell announce that they will soon charge their clients for incoming text messages! Welcome to Canada, a mobility wasteland.
This cash grab angers me for a number of reasons. Not only does it hamper the use, adoption, and development of an effective technology, but this plan shows no respect for customers. The sender of the text has already paid for the service, like a letter sent through Canada Post—the sender pays, the receivers the letter. How can Telus and Bell justify having both sender and reciever pay for the same message?
Telus Mobility spokesperson A.J. Gratton told Canwest that the “volume [of text messages] places tremendous demands on our network and we can’t afford to provide this service for free anymore.” This is simply not true. In an attempt to put a positive PR spin on this story, Telus has opted to lie to the public. The data demand, and therefore the cost, is negligable.
Here’s some math from the Torontoist:
Even at 10¢, a text message already costs the customer sending it almost five times more than it does to send the equivalent amount of data to the Hubble telescope. 15¢ per text message means that any time a customer sends or receives a message (which can’t be bigger than 140 bytes), they are paying the equivalent of at least $1,101 per megabyte—and, if they are, say, Bell customers sending a message to other Bell customers, Bell makes the equivalent of at least $2,202 per megabyte.
Have a link at wikipedia for more info about SMS texting and data costs.
I’m currently a Telus client, but my contract ends in November. I’m going to play the field and find the most innovative carrier I possibly can and then support them. Neither Telus nor Bell seem attractive to me right now; in fact, Rogers is starting to look good! Canada is in desperate need of a new mobility carrier that balances profits with customer respect and satisfaction.
Lastly, don’t buy the line that “Canada is a large nation so mobility costs have to be higher.” Large nations like Russia don’t have cell phone prices like we do simply because people wouldn’t pay such exorbitant rates.
So, how can you sway Telus and Bell? Write a blog post about this topic. Write a note on Facebook and share it with all your friends. Check for Facebook or online petitions. Make some noise online and see what happens.
Photo by .natalie from the Torontoist Flickr Pool.
Jim Prentice, Industry Minister, isn’t thrilled with the new text policies. Sounds like the feds are going to step in.
Keep in mind that this only impacts people who don’t have an “extra value pack” (yes that was sarcasm) of some sort. Most people pay an extra $10 and get voicemail, caller ID, 250 text messages, etc.
But it is still pretty weak from Telus and Bell.
I love marketing language. It is so frequently clear and balanced.
“Extra value pack”! That changes everything! I also think there is a “Happy Unicorns and Rainbows” pack for $20/month that let you give unicorn names to all you friends and gives you 300 free text messages.
I’m all for the feds stepping in on this one. I think it is valid because things like texting and data are still emerging mobile technologies, with versitile application, that will help Canada pursue innovative change and keep pace with the world.
Mobility wasteland, indeed. I, for one, am pissed with the current cell phone options in Canada. I was hoping to get an iphone until Rogers released its ridiculous pricing plans. The “backpedaling” is certainly not much backpedaling at all! The frustrating thing is the utter lack of options. You either sign with one of the big 3 or with one of their subsidiary companies. I refuse to get too excited about Koodoo when I still remember the bargains we could get through Fido, and I remember how long those lasted.