Terry’s Weblog

Is Bell and Telus trying to kill text messaging in Canada?  According to an article, published yesterday, both companies will start charging 15 cents per received message, in August.

For anyone who just uses text messaging occasionally, it probably won’t affect them, if they have a plan that allows messaging.  But if you have no “plan” or if you are someone who communicates a lot by text, it will really hurt.

I forsee a lot of people calling up to cancel the feature completely because who wants to pay $2.00 one month, $1.50 the next month because of “spam” text messages they received?  It is like being charged by Canada Post for each letter received. 

Bell and Telus must be doing this as purely a cash grab.  Expect Rogers to follow suit unless there is a massive uprising in the Bell/Telus community.

I think teens and people in their early 20s will be the hardest hit by this.  I know of family who’s kids text as their primary means of communication.  If they currently stay under their limit per month, that will be blown away by this change.

If this doesn’t kill text messaging, it will definitely reduce it’s usage greatly.

What is the grand scheme here?  To reduce the usage?  To beef up profits?