SMS Alert: Class Action Suit Filed Against Bell, Telus

Bell and Telus announceed earlier this month that each would begin charging customers without a packaged plan for received text messages in addition to sent ones. The decision has now spurred a class-action lawsuit by a man in Quebec who says the change requires a change in the terms of one's contract.

If you're signed up with a locked in agreement with either carrier, and have selected your desired plan option, the Quebec man is arguing that the carrier is not permitted to change the terms of said plan until the contract has ended. Charging per text message received is a new condition to the plan. Customers from both carriers, as well as GSM carrier Rogers Wireless, have always paid to send text messages.

The charges don't apply to people who already have a text messaging bundle, or add one to, their existing plan. For example, Bell customers can get 100 text messages for $5/mo.

At the time both carriers made their decision, Industry Minister Jim Prentice openly expressed his disdain, calling it a "poorly thought-out decision", and asking the President of both companies to meet with him in Ottawa prior to August 8 to discuss the issue.

"While I have no desire to interfere with the day-to-day business decisions of two private companies," Prentice said back in early July, "I do have a duty as Minister of Industry to protect the interests of the consuming public when necessary."

I find it strange that, as e-mail and MMS continue to gain popularity among phone users, undoubtedly resulting in increased revenues for carriers, Bell and Telus would decide to nickel and dime the occassional users. Meanwhile, both conpanies offer unlimited data plans to smartphone users that browse the web and check e-mail, essentially awarding the heavy users. The situation is oddly contradictory to Bell's Internet "traffic shaping" issues, whereby the company allegedly slows down the services of heavy Internet and peer-to-peer users to appease those who don't engage in such activity.

On the one hand, charging for receiving SMS messages might help to encourage those who aren't very interested in anything but voice to partake in features like text messaging more often. But on the other, it might deter people from using the functions altogether, choosing to just stick to voice, and revert to their laptops and home PCs for communicating via text.

Unlimited data or not (the answer being "not"), Rogers certainly has a leg up on the two CDMA carriers when it comes to good, ol' reliable texting.

Bell, Telus Will Charge to Receive Text Messages

According to reports, while the negative rate plan spotlight is currently being shone on Rogers Wireless for its decision not to offer an unlimited data plan for the iPhone, both Bell and Telus are trying to slip a fast one past the media's radar. Both carriers cleverly (and stratetically) announced they would offer an unlimited data plan for smartphones, including two new touch-screen models similar to the iPhone. But less than a week later, each more quietly announced that they would begin charging customers without a text messaging bundle for receiving SMSs.

Currently, it costs $0.15 to send a text message, but it's free to receive them. While $0.15/received message doesn't sound like a lot in the grand scheme of things (after all, heavy finger-happy users will probably already have a bundle plan), it does add up.

I don't consider myself to be a heavy text messager, but I do send a few every now and then when I don't have the time to chat, or in response to a message sent to me. Usually, it will add up to about $2 additonal bucks per month, which I've learned to live with. If this now doubles to $4 every month; or potentially even more counting finger-happy friends that are on the Rogers network (it is still free to send text messages through Rogers), I could be looking at more than I bargained for some months; or be forced to buy a bundle and then pay for something I don't use half the time. What's more, this will just be another nickel-and-dime fee to add with the rest, like "System Access Fee", and even hefty charges for voice mail: somehow mine has increased by $3 in the past few years without my ever being notified about it!)

If this move is in an effort to cover costs associated with heavy text usage, I don't see how it will work. What will likely happen will be that people sign up for these bundles, then start texting more often to justify the extra cost, resulting in even more usage (and more money in the carrier's pocket).

Bell's new text messaging charges will come into effect on August 8 and Telus' on August 24. Both will charge $0.15/received message.

According to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association (CWTA), Canadians send 43.5 million text messages per day. By my count, that equates to $6.5 million per day. Do carriers really need to charge more?

Koodo is the New Mentos

Do you remember those old, really annoying Mentos commercials where a guy would pop a Mentos into his mouth and somehow, problems would magically disappear and he'd turn into MacGyver? Everyone hated them, yet everyone remembers them, and constantly talked about them at the time. Well, Koodo Mobile is like the new Mentos: I can't watch TV, walk downtown T.O., or scoot through a shopping mall without seeing a retro 80s fitness gal in tights, or a weird, mustached gym teacher-looking dude plastered everywhere. What gives?

Koodo Mobile appears to be marketing itself in much the same way Virgin Mobile does: as an "alternative" concept to pesky mobile phone contracts and hefty bills. Really, though, you're still dealing with one of the big threes. In actuality, Kodoo is owned by Telus, and operates on the carrier's CDMA network. I won't get into specifics of the service, but there are a number of pre-packaged plans, as well as a la carte items, that are pretty much comparable to other service offerings (see http://www.koodomobile.com/ for more information). The gist is that Koodo focuses on "basic" users that just want to talk and text with their phones, and not really do much else.

So how does Koodo differentiate itself from Telus, and the other carriers? Via something called a Koodo Tab, which lets customers charge up to $150 toward a mobile phone to their "tab", to be paid out in increments of 10% of the balance each month. Once the "tab" is cleared, points will continue to accumulate on a new tab that can be used toward a new phone once you're ready to upgrade. When you think about it, although the service doesn't include a locked in contract, it is similar to signing up for one and getting the phone for free. Let's work out the math: if your phone bill is $40.mo., this means $4 is paid toward your mobile phone each month. It'll take, you guessed it, just over three years to recoup the $150 cost for the phone. Unless, of course, you go over your monthly minutes, in which case you'll pay it off faster.

Koodo doesn't place its emphasis on getting rid of hidden fees and cumbersome contracts like Virgin Mobile does (although the latter company recently introduced hidden fee-free contracts). Koodo takes its primary focus right to cutting down on costly bills; hence the whole "fat-free" fitness theme. But when I really examine the details, it isn't that much cheaper than other carriers.

For example, for $40, you can get unlimited nationwide talk and messaging to up to 5 numbers, 100 anytime minutes, unlimited text messages, and free evenings and weekends after 7 p.m., plus the regular stuff, like voice mail and caller ID. One neat thing is the elimination of that pesky System Access Fee, and the addition of per-second billing (instead of rounding off to the nearest minute). But in digging deeper, I did find some hidden stipulations. For example, the five numbers do not apply to customers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and the so-called "unlimited" local calling from 7 p.m. starts on the Monday and only goes until 8 a.m. on the Thursday, recommencing at 7 p.m. on Friday. What happened to Thursday and Friday during the day? Also "detailed billing" is oddly listed as an a la carte option for an extra $3/mo. So what exactly does "regular" billing entail?

Nevertheless, Koodo Mobile sure is making a splash here in Canada. Fat-free mobile? Not quite yet. Some hidden fees need to be trimmed down, and some weight taken off the costs before we get there.

Don't Forget Lights Out for Earth Hour!

Don't forget that tomorrow at 8 p.m., it's "lights out" for Earth Hour, a global initiative organized by the World Wildlife Federation. If you're at home, perhaps rather than turn off all the lights and sit in darkness, you can take a well-needed breather from all of your electronic devices. Turn off the TV, the radio, the laptop/desktop computer, and mobile phone, and relax for 60 minutes. A colleague of mine suggested a nice, candlelit dinner.

"Earth Hour is an opportunity for all individuals, households and businesses to send a very powerful message," said Steve Matyas, President at Staples Business Depot, which plans to participate in the initiative.

Other technology companies have announced their support for Earth Hour, which is meant to "take action against climate change," including Best Buy, Sears Canada, Wal-Mart, and Telus Mobility. All stores will remain open although things like signgage will be turned off, and lights dimmed.

Of course what's a global initiative without a party? At 7:30 p.m. in Nathan Philips Square in Toronto, Canadian music artist Nelly Furtado will perform a free concert, complements of Virgin Mobile and WWF. The event will be low-power and carbon-neutral, with renewable energy supplied by Bullfrog Power.

Sir Richard Branson, Chairman of the Virgin Group, called it a "party with a purpose". Indeed it is.

What will you be doing at 8 p.m. on Saturday night to help conserve energy?