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NDP Launches Petition Against Text Messages Fees

The NDP has launched a petition against the Bell and Telus announcement of new fees for receipt of text messages.

Update: Industry Minister Jim Prentice has jumped into the issue demanding that Bell and Telus explain their decision. 

10 Comments

  1. Prentice probably wants to know how he can regulate IP rights on the text content and get a slice of the pie at the same time.

  2. disgusting
    That is just disgusting. The act of receiving should be always free (think about unwanted calls or text messages) since it is not an act of will even if the message is sent by your partner, lover or whoever.

  3. Awesome Prentice quote
    If read the article posted on Canoe, there’s this beauty quote:

    “…I do have a duty as Minister of Industry, when necessary, to protect the interests of the consuming public. I believe this was an ill-thought out decision.”

    This from the same guy who gave us Bill C-61. Good to know Jim’s looking out for us.

    Thanks, Jim!

  4. And here’s that article I mentioned before:

    [ link ]

  5. Bell Compares Itself to Sprint, AT&T?
    From the CP article “Prentice calls Bell, Telus to task…”:

    Bell spokesman Pierre Leclerc said the company
    would be happy to meet with the minister, but
    gave no indication of a change of mind.

    “Almost all wireless carriers in North America
    have taken this pay-per-use billing approach
    … and all major carriers in the U.S. do,”
    Leclerc said, adding that only five per cent
    of Bell customers will be affected.

    Apparently Bell now considers direct comparisons between their plans and U.S. plans to be an acceptable comparison. This should be interesting when it comes to wireless data plans.

  6. Dwight Williams says:

    “We expect your obedience”
    That’s what that paragraph sounds like they’re telling their customers AND the government of the moment all at one swipe.

    Nowhere outside of North America is this happening, am I right?

  7. 45 million text messages eh
    Assuming 1/4 kilobyte per message(or about 260 charaters*), that’s still only 10.9 gigabytes. If the combined wireless networks of the providers across the country are crumbling under the weight of a measly 11 cumulative gigs per day, how can they handle voice calls at all?

    And that number is based on a maximum message size, most messages sent are probably closer to 50 characters or less so it’s likely much less(only 2.1 GB for 45.3M 50 byte texts). Sending a text message already costs consumers literally thousands of times more than it does Telus or Bell. If the damn things are clogging up their tubes so bad maybe they should invest their already outrageously high profits into providing enough infrastructure to meet demand.

    *Telus’ online text message sender form is limited to 260 characters,. I assume messages sent by actual phones (at least on Telus’ network) are limited to the same size.

  8. Having been living in Europe for the past 8 years, I’m a little out of touch with the text message situation back home. All I can say is that I receive 3 to 10 spam text messages a week here in France… and I have never given my cell number to anyone but friends.

  9. Rediculous!
    I received my bill without any notice of this charge. This charge is costing me a lot which I can not afford! When I had my contract, they told me that all incoming are free.

    To cancel the contract it will cost 20$ per left over months. Which is rediculous! And now with more spam bots out there, I will be charged even more since it’s very easy to design a spamming application to scan all Bell serviced phone numbers to txt!

    [ link ]
    “Starting August 8, 2008 all text messages received will be charged 15¢ per message, unless you subscribe to a text messaging rate plan or bundle. For prepaid, messages will be deducted from your bundle on a monthly basis. International text messages sent (excluding U.S.) will increase from 20¢ to 25¢ per message for all clients.”

    Also, even if your phone is off or dead, you will still be charged!
    I feel very disappointed and angried about this desicion!

    I feel I must switch to another provider or other forms of urgent communication methods.

  10. To add
    I was charged for pushing the wrong buttons by accident that launched a browser and charged me to the connectivity usage. Even if I didn’t see any window screen or anything.
    Now this!

    I feel that our privacy is being abused. I totally agree with ENO. When someone knocks on your door to sell you products. You either ignore it or tell them that you’re not interested and return to your own duties without a penny spent!

    Now with this charge, even though I accepted incoming long distance charges to be charged on me. I do not want to be charged to ignoring the calls or messages. This is what it is. It’s charging you for just being a Bell user and not using their services, but paying for other people abusing it and harrasing you. It’s like support terrorist and thieves!

    We can’t fight back and tell them to leave us alone! They throw us a bomb and we can’t run to a shelter, rather we have to stay there until it destroyes us.

    We don’t pay for Spam letters in the mail at home, why should we pay for annoying or unwanted messages that we recieve?? Even if it’s a message from your love one, I don’t get charged when she leaves a post-it on my door to remind me of something.

    If someone sends me flowers when it was for someone else, I just tell them that it’s the wrong address and they send it to the proper one without charging me or if they must drop it at my place, I can discard it at no cost!

    We must act for this rediculous act of Anti-Freedom! I am proud to be Canadian because we live in harmony and freedom! This is the start of out loss and soon it’ll become a Telecommunication or Cyber Dictatorship!