历史在倒退 --- BELL CHARGE INCOMING MESSAGE FROM AUG.08.

[joe_xj]

zt: ottawa citizen.
Customers will have to pay 15 cents for every message — including spam

Cellphone users are about to be hit with new fees as two of Canada’s telecommunications giants plan to bring in a levy on incoming text messages.
Bell Mobility will begin charging customers 15 cents per incoming text message on Aug. 8. Telus Mobility is moving to the same billing practice effective Aug. 24. Until now, their pay-per-use customers who send text messages have been charged a 15-cent fee per message, but it hasn’t cost anything to receive them.
The pending new charge has sparked outrage on blogs, with customers saying they can’t control who sends them messages, especially when spammers obtain their cell number or retailers send them unsolicited messages.
“This charge is unbelievable. If someone sends me ‘spam’ on my Bell phone, I have to pay for it? I made the mistake of giving my cellphone number to a car rental agency and now I get spam text messages,” a Bell customer ranted on a Canadian technology blog.
“I actually work for Bell and I think this incoming text messages being charged is bogus!” posted another.
Text messaging has ballooned in popularity since inter-carrier service came to Canada in 2002.

In its first year, there were 369,000 text messages sent every day, or 11 million annually. Today, Canadians send 45.4 million per day, according to the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association.