Fido, our relationship has spanned decades. There's been love, hate, reasonably-priced cell phone service, and ridiculous fees. You and I, Fido, have had quite a run so far. In the end, I chose you a year ago. I asked you, Fido, to be my carrier for the next three years. I wanted an iPhone, and it was between you and Rogers, so there was no question. I've been pleased by this choice on many an occasion in the past year (and annoyed only a few), but last week it became evident that I had made the correct choice. Fido, I love you.
Rogers has decided to follow suits with the other money-sucking wireless carriers and charge 15¢ per incoming text message. They have decided to charge 15¢ for receiving a message that costs them less than a penny to deliver, AND (did you see that, I said AND) someone else has already paid to send the message. How in the hell can they get away with this? This is price-fixing at its finest! Every carrier in Canada charges 15¢ for a text-message. This one, 15¢ message, weighs in at 160 bytes. Experts from the U of W have told US Congress that sending one text message costs 0.3¢. Thats a 5000% markup. With that sort of RIDICULOUS markup, how is it that one carrier doesn't drop the price to 10¢ to attract customers? That would still be a 3333.3% markup (unbelievable). That not one single carrier decides to do this to attract a few customers is absurd! There is no way these prices are not fixed. Absolutely no way.
And now, for Rogers, Bell and Telus to decide to charge another 15¢ to the recipient (who did not consent to receiving the thing) they're basically claiming that they need 30¢ for each text.
That's a 10,000% markup!
They are now charging 10,000 percent more than the bloody service is worth!
Hello?!?!? Does anybody care? Where is my government? Steve! Stevey! You love to chat with old folks in front of fireplaces wearing sweater-vests at election time, where are you now? Why don't you care?
If a car is worth $10,000 and it was marked up 10,000%, the car would cost $1,010,000. Is this making sense?
Why doesn't anybody care? How are they getting away with this?
But anyway, Fido, you are not charging 15¢ for incoming text messages. You are being reasonable. You bill my phone calls by the second, and your staff are knowledgeable and helpful. You don't charge me a $7 per month system-access fee, or a 50¢ 911 fee. You're a good friend.
Fido, I'm glad we're together.
Love,
Andrew Flemming
