{"id":6912,"date":"2008-07-09T00:48:50","date_gmt":"2008-07-09T05:48:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/?p=6912"},"modified":"2008-07-09T01:00:00","modified_gmt":"2008-07-09T06:00:00","slug":"20080708%e6%97%a0%e7%ba%bf%e9%80%9a%e8%ae%af%e5%85%ac%e5%8f%b8%e5%bc%80%e5%a7%8b%e7%a9%ba%e4%b8%ad%e6%8a%a2%e9%92%b1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.jackjia.com\/?p=6912","title":{"rendered":"20080709\/\u65e0\u7ebf\u901a\u8baf\u516c\u53f8\u5f00\u59cb\u7a7a\u4e2d\u62a2\u94b1"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bell, Telus customers to pay for incoming text messages<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last Updated: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 | 3:45 PM ET <\/p>\n

CBC News<\/p>\n

Cellphone users with Bell and Telus are going to have to fork over a little more to receive incoming text messages under new pricing plans slated to roll out in August.<\/p>\n

Under the new plans, customers will be charged 15 cents to receive incoming text messages, including uninvited spam messages. Previously, customers without text plans were only charged for outgoing messages.<\/p>\n

Customers with a text messaging rate plan or bundle will not be affected by the new charges.<\/p>\n

Bell’s new pricing plan takes effect on Aug. 8, while Telus will begin charging customers for messages on Aug. 24.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for Bell and Telus were not immediately available for comment.<\/p>\n

Kaan Yigit, an analyst with Solutions Research Group, criticized the pricing strategy, suggesting users who rely heavily on text messaging may consider switching to other carriers, including Rogers and Virgin.<\/p>\n

“The user has much less control over the messages they receive so it’s a terrible customer experience to be charged for such a thing,” he said in an e-mail interview.<\/p>\n

“A 14-year-old kid gets 30 Happy Birthday messages and gets saddled with the bill, for example.”<\/p>\n

Customer Debra Messinger, of Halifax, said she plans on switching to another provider once her contract expires.<\/p>\n

“Oh baby, when my contract’s over, I’ll be long gone, for sure,” said Messinger.<\/p>\n

Tom Kriskie, also of Halifax, said charges for incoming messages were unfair.<\/p>\n

“You’re at the whim of other people if they send you a message,” Kriskie said. “Bam, you’re charged \u202615 cents, and I don’t think that’s very fair at all.”<\/p>\n

Steve Yang, an analyst with IDC Canada, said the charge is a method to push consumers to subscribe to a bundling package.<\/p>\n

“You can get rid of that 15-cent charge if you had a package,” said Yang. “That’s probably [what] operators are encouraging you to do.”<\/p>\n

In the first three months of 2008, Canadians sent 4.1 billion text messages, according the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. In 2007, Canadians sent more than 10 billion messages.<\/p>\n

U.S. and U.K. text messaging usage and rates
\nUnited Kingdom<\/p>\n

Number of text messages sent in 2006 – 41.8B (Mobile Data Association)<\/p>\n

Vodafone – 10 pence<\/p>\n

United States<\/p>\n

Number of text messages sent in 2007 – 363B (CTIA)<\/p>\n

ATT – 20 cents<\/p>\n

T-Mobile – 15 cents (rising to 20 cents on Aug. 29)<\/p>\n

Sprint – 20 cents<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/consumer\/story\/2008\/07\/08\/text-messages.html<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bell, Telus customers to pay for incoming text messages Last Updated: Tuesday, July 8, 2008 | 3:45 PM ET CBC News Cellphone users with Bell and Telus …
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