Bell Canada and Telus looking to cash in on SMS spam.
Or that is the appearance.
Starting in August both Bell Canada and Telus Mobility in Canada are going to be charging 15 cents for incoming text messages to pay-per-use customers.
From the Globe and Mail:
“The growth in text messages has been nothing short of phenomenal,” wrote Telus Corp. spokeswoman Anne-Julie Gratton in an e-mail to The Globe and Mail. She pointed to the latest statistics from the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA) that peg the number of text messages sent in Canada at more than 45.3 million a day.
“This volume places tremendous demands on our network and we can’t afford to provide this service for free any more,” Ms. Gratton wrote.
Sadly, this includes spam messages.
Mr. Laszlo said that if a Bell customer receives any spam messages, he or she can contact customer care to have their account credited.
“If a client is experiencing an ongoing issue with spam, the client has the option of changing their phone number,” Mr. Laszlo wrote.
Wow. So, for every spam you received you would have to contact customer service? And if it is bad you have “the option of changing their phone number”. Negative option billing.
Not cool.
[tags]Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility, Text Messaging, SMS[/tags]
Question – what is the incidence rate of spam via text message? I can honestly say I’ve never received one but then I’m not corporate North America or a heavy cell user in general so I’m very curious how often this happens.
Everything comes with a price I suppose, but having to change your number would really suck.
@Harvey
These days I don’t have a spam problem with my cell. Mind you, back before I became “Bell free” I used to get a few a week.
every time bell charges $ 0.15 go to a bell center and take a pen and walk out . Or if if your a little more pissed of take a chiseil to their building and chop of $0.15 of concret.