Telus and Bell to charge 15¢ per INCOMING Text [SPLIT]

[getbak]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Wow, I bet across Canada millions of parents with teenage children just grasp their chests and fell to the floor.

Most teenagers have some sort of unlimited texting plan already (which is one reason they text so much more than voice calling, where they have limited minutes), so it isn't an issue.

[Kerplunk]

Originally Posted by HOOT

So an emergency is spam? I think that would seem worth the 15 cents as would the 30 cent/min phone call, no?

Ummm....my point was that i want to keep messages just in case, but not get charged for spam. Thanks for putting word into my mouth though.

[Shawnski]

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[llama64]

Originally Posted by Shawnski

It makes perfect sense. If you don't want to use text messaging, call into Customer Service and have text messaging service removed. You won't get any messages, thus no charges.

Well at least I know that's an option now. The mobility companies certainly wouldn't advertise such a thing.

I'm still just getting work-arounds and not a single justification for charging for incoming texts. Am I to assume that I'm correct in that it's got no real logical reason other then being a cash grab? Still seems to me it would be easier for all sides involved just to up the cost to send. Kinda how it works with real mail.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by llama64

Well at least I know that's an option now. The mobility companies certainly wouldn't advertise such a thing.

Would you advertise such a thing if you owned Bell or Telus? If you were a shareholder would you want Telus or Bell spending money to advertise a way to lose money?

[CaramonLS]

Originally Posted by Shawnski

It makes perfect sense. If you don't want to use text messaging, call into Customer Service and have text messaging service removed. You won't get any messages, thus no charges.

Who said anything about him not wanting to use text messages?

I seldom use text, therefore I don't waste time getting anymore than a base text plan. However, I still do received texts from time to time.

So either I cut off text entirely or accept spam bulls**t? What they should have is an option where it comes up as "XXX-XXX-XXXX is trying to send you a text - accept/decline".

Just like I'm not going to call my cell company and ask not to receive phone calls. I screen those myself. I don't accept calls from unknowns/800 numbers, so I don't have to waste my minutes.

[Shawnski]

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[HOOT]

Originally Posted by CaramonLS

I seldom use text, therefore I don't waste time getting anymore than a base text plan. However, I still do received texts from time to time.

So either I cut off text entirely or accept spam bulls**t? What they should have is an option where it comes up as "XXX-XXX-XXXX is trying to send you a text - accept/decline".

What do you mean by "base text plan"?

Do you mean pay-per use?

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by Shawnski

I've had text messaging for around a decade, and in that time I only recall two spam messages, and they came through the same day about four years ago. If you are getting lots of spam, you should confront your carrier.

Or stop texting joke to 6969 or whatever it is.

Or stop looking for a fun girl to flirt with by texting spam to 12345...

[jolinar of malkshor]

Originally Posted by Shawnski

I've had text messaging for around a decade, and in that time I only recall two spam messages, and they came through the same day about four years ago. If you are getting lots of spam, you should confront your carrier.

Spam text does not just include a text from a company. What if someone is pissed off at you and they know that you do not have a bundle plan for texts and sends 500 span messages to your phone?

[calgaryred]

BELL and TELUS have both stated SPAM and NETWORK RELATED texts are not chargable and if you do they will credit them back, the media has blown this all too far. If you don't text this doesn't change a thing if you text then you should have a feature cause your bills are going to be high period. If people are going to get their panties in a twist over .15 that's sad, this really is a non issue.

Id rather talk about high oil prices then texting

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by calgaryred

If people are going to get their panties in a twist over .15 that's sad, this really is a non issue.

That's the attitude which brings in all of these fees. What's another $1? What's another $0.15? What's another $0.15 * 100 occurrences?

Obviously it adds up to huge $$s, or Telus/Bell wouldn't bother doing it.

Originally Posted by calgaryred

Id rather talk about high oil prices then texting

So stop coming into these threads....

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by calgaryred

BELL and TELUS have both stated SPAM and NETWORK RELATED texts are not chargable and if you do they will credit them back

Have you ever tried to get either company to issue a credit? If not, look at all the Telus and Bell customer service rant threads.

I agree, that most of us will not be affected- for now. But this is a start to a very slippery slope. Since I've been with Telus (about 9 years) I have seen them slowly try to erode services away from me:

- By the second billing
- Free texting from their website
- Weekends no longer include stat holidays. (I loved them try to justify it by saying they now give me my birthday. Thanks- take away 9 days and give me one back; one that has a 8% change of falling on a Sat/Sun anyways. )
- They tried to take away my callforward- no answer.
- Free 411
- Free "Surf Sampler"

So for now they start with this, next thing the received texts will be included in my 100 I have per month. Mark my words, we will see this.

[Azure]

Great.

So I get charged everytime TSN sends me a text message.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by Azure

Great.

So I get charged everytime TSN sends me a text message.

I have heard that any text messages coming from a 5 digit number (unless that service is charging, which TSN does not) or is not from another cellular device it will not be charged.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by HOOT

I have heard that any text messages coming from a 5 digit number (unless that service is charging, which TSN does not) or is not from another cellular device it will not be charged.

Is this confirmed?

Good news if true.

[llama64]

Originally Posted by HOOT

Would you advertise such a thing if you owned Bell or Telus? If you were a shareholder would you want Telus or Bell spending money to advertise a way to lose money?

Actually, I would, and I do in my business. But then, I'm not a massive corporation run by ignorant business grads who understand little about customer relationships.

Fact is, Bell and Telus are going to lose more money over this move. They are losing me as a customer. So, would the board like to explain to the stakeholders how they justify trying to recoup $100 which results in a net loss of over $2000 over the average contract term?

I'm seeing a lot of "suck it up, nothing is free" type posts which completly miss the point over and over again. Had Bell and Telus just simply increased the cost to SEND a text message, they would have been able to cut down on the "load" and recovered just as much money. However, in charging for incoming messages they have sullied what was left of their reputation and driven customers away. It's a blatant cash grab in that they are trying to coerce their customers into purchasing a text plan that might not even be needed to avoid potential charge that the customer has no chance of avoiding. It's an unethical business practise and I will do business with no company that I find operating in such a manner.

How hard is this to understand? And how as a customer can you handle being treated like this? Or do you own Bell/Telus stock or work for them and are despretly trying to justify such a brutal plan?

[Barnes]

^^But the cost of text messaging is already too high. 15 cents for 140 bytes? I'll stick with Twitter, Facebook, IM and email. Text messaging is antiquated anyways. Great for my StarTac in 1998 but it doesn't make sense now. Let's move on.

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by Barnes

^^But the cost of text messaging is already too high. 15 cents for 140 bytes? I'll stick with Twitter, Facebook, IM and email. Text messaging is antiquated anyways. Great for my StarTac in 1998 but it doesn't make sense now. Let's move on.

With the price of data plans, it's still the cheapest non-voice way to communicate.

[HOOT]

Originally Posted by llama64

Actually, I would, and I do in my business. But then, I'm not a massive corporation run by ignorant business grads who understand little about customer relationships.

So with your business you have never increased prices? How large is your business? Are you comparing your business skills to someone who has to run a company with millions and millions of customers? Its a lot harder to keep everyone happy when you get into those kind of numbers.

Fact is, Bell and Telus are going to lose more money over this move. They are losing me as a customer. So, would the board like to explain to the stakeholders how they justify trying to recoup $100 which results in a net loss of over $2000 over the average contract term?

I bet they don't lose as many customers as you think they will. Verizon and their almost 70,000,000 customers would tell you that.

A lot of people are upset right now, once people realize how much is won't effect them it will be swept under the rug once everyone has something else to complain about.

It's a blatant cash grab in that they are trying to coerce their customers into purchasing a text plan that might not even be needed to avoid potential charge that the customer has no chance of avoiding. It's an unethical business practise and I will do business with no company that I find operating in such a manner.

You are right it is a cash grab or to increase profits. You don't think Rogers is going to follow soon? They are having enough bad PR with their iPhone data plans they didn't need to add any fuel to the fire.

How hard is this to understand? And how as a customer can you handle being treated like this? Or do you own Bell/Telus stock or work for them and are despretly trying to justify such a brutal plan?

I realize where you are coming from but as stated Bell/Telus are finding ways to improve this so people who don't text can turn it off, or so you can block single numbers from texting you.

Also I am not trying to justify anything because I am a stock holder or worker of a company, its because I see it happening in other parts of the world with different companies. However everyone looks past those little things and just sees a cheaper plan and says I wish we could be like the US. Yet they don't see that companies in the US are charging for things like incoming text msgs.

There are a lot of decisions I don't agree with that Rogers/Bell/Telus/Whoever comes out with, and I would voice my opinion on that, like the SAF/911. However to me this is not one of them and doesn't even compare.

I bet this new fee won't effect 99% of people that are complaining about it.