Fuck you Telus

I have had a few rants about Canadian cellphone carriers on this blog over the years. Since I’m on Telus, my rants seem to be more focused on them like my rant about Telus charging money for SMS and me giving middle finger salute to Telus. Today while browsing the internet I came across CBC’s news about Telus scrapping the much hated system access fee.

From the story:

The company [Telus] announced Tuesday that it was discontinuing its $6.95 system access fee, which it said went toward maintaining and upgrading its network, as well as the 75-cent 911 charge.

“Nobody likes surprises. We are listening to Canadians, who have told us wireless pricing can be confusing,” said Telus chief executive Darren Entwistle said in a statement. “With Telus’s Clear Choice plans, the price you see is the price you pay.”

Great news right? Until you read the story a bit deeper…

Telus subscribers won’t see a huge savings though, as the company is also increasing the price of its monthly service plans by $5 to make up for the revenue shortfall. Telus is, however, including its Voicemail 3 service — which lets customers save up to three voice mail messages — with the plans. Rogers also boosted the price of its plans when it dropped the system access fee.

Wait a minute, wait a minute here! Let me get this straight. For the longest time Telus, or rather all Canadian cell carriers, have been telling us that system access fee is an unavoidable charge. This fee is used for are for maintaining the network. This can be found in many old articles such as this one and I quote:

Canada’s existing cellphone companies — Rogers, Bell and Telus, as well as MTS Allstream and SaskTel — are currently embroiled in a class-action lawsuit over system access fees. Regina-based lawyer Tony Merchant claims the companies have misrepresented the charges as government-mandated fees for years and is seeking a repayment of nearly $20 billion. Merchant’s lawsuit was certified as a class action last year and is still before the courts.

The fee began as a government licensing charge in the 1980s to cellphone providers for using public airwaves. In 1986, the government transferred the collection of the fee to cellphone providers, who were to incorporate them into their monthly charges. Instead, the carriers opted to keep them separate.

The cellphone companies say the charges, which no other carriers in the world break out separately, are for ongoing maintenance and investment in their networks.

So by scrapping system access fee you need to increase all monthly plans by $5 to cover falling revenue? Hmm looks like Canadian cellphone carriers’ little white lie has been uncovered. System access fee had nothing to do with network maintenance and network investment costs! It’s just another method to squeeze more pennies out from Canadians. Hmm I wonder how much Rogers, Bell, and Telus made on so-called “system access fee” since 1986…

(cue Dr. Evil) ONE BILLION DOLLAR!!!

I’m pretty sure we’re talking in the many many multiples of a billion dollar. Sure you can argue that scrapping the system access fee is a step in the right direction but charging an extra $5 on all monthly plan is like taking a 3/4 step backward!

I guess this is what they meant by tough economic times call for tough measures.