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I found their rate card. https://support.bell.ca/Mobility/Rate_plans_features/What-are-Bell-Mobilitys-current-pay-per-use-rates https://support.bell.ca/Mobilit

I found their rate card. https://support.bell.ca/Mobility/Rate_plans_features/What-are-Bell-Mobilitys-current-pay-per-use-rates https://support.bell.ca/Mobility/Rate_plans_features/What-ar... Canada to US is $.40 per message sent. US to Canada is $.30 per message received. So $.70 per two way exchange with her American friends and an $1800 bill means she had around 2600 text exchanges. Over a month that's 86 a day.

scott_s 8y ago
That amount of messages (86 a day) seems normal to me. It's just chat, but on a phone.
Aeolun 8y ago
Holy hell, those rates are absolutely insane...
tom_ 8y ago
That's a domestic tariff. The article say they were on a small business contract, which is a different section of the website.
- droithomme 8y ago
  Yeah I found that later but it's .35 to send and .35 to receive so the result ended up exactly the same. There is an error though - the bill was $2000 to begin with and $1800 after Bell gave a discount. So it was actually around 95 messages sent and 95 messages received per day. It's interesting some people say that's a normal amount of texting for a business. Maybe for some businesses. I doubt his bricklaying business used that many, which is probably why he went for the cheapest plan he could get. They also have things like 500 texts for $5 or $7, in addition to the $12 extra for unlimited. If one doesn't make texts very often, saving the $5 or $12 can make sense. My own mobile plan charges around 11 cents per text since I don't pay for unlimited and that works for me since I do at most a dozen texts a year. I don't think these rates of .35 and such are unreasonable at all for someone who basically never texts and wants to save $12 a month. But it is a rip off that they don't just have a ceiling. Doesn't have to be at $12. Could be $100. Like the "max rate" at parking garages, so you can still get your car back. Bell obviously intentionally doesn't have a max rate coupled with intransigence regarding the contract because they regularly catch people with this scheme. Unfortunately there's no law preventing Bell's scheme at present and the guy signed a contract so he's stuck.

scott_s 8y ago

That amount of messages (86 a day) seems normal to me. It's just chat, but on a phone.

Aeolun 8y ago

Holy hell, those rates are absolutely insane...

tom_ 8y ago

That's a domestic tariff. The article say they were on a small business contract, which is a different section of the website.

droithomme 8y ago
Yeah I found that later but it's .35 to send and .35 to receive so the result ended up exactly the same. There is an error though - the bill was $2000 to begin with and $1800 after Bell gave a discount. So it was actually around 95 messages sent and 95 messages received per day. It's interesting some people say that's a normal amount of texting for a business. Maybe for some businesses. I doubt his bricklaying business used that many, which is probably why he went for the cheapest plan he could get. They also have things like 500 texts for $5 or $7, in addition to the $12 extra for unlimited. If one doesn't make texts very often, saving the $5 or $12 can make sense. My own mobile plan charges around 11 cents per text since I don't pay for unlimited and that works for me since I do at most a dozen texts a year. I don't think these rates of .35 and such are unreasonable at all for someone who basically never texts and wants to save $12 a month. But it is a rip off that they don't just have a ceiling. Doesn't have to be at $12. Could be $100. Like the "max rate" at parking garages, so you can still get your car back. Bell obviously intentionally doesn't have a max rate coupled with intransigence regarding the contract because they regularly catch people with this scheme. Unfortunately there's no law preventing Bell's scheme at present and the guy signed a contract so he's stuck.