Telephunk
I have to start out this blog post with an apology. Many years ago, a good friend of mine, Kelly, who has lived in Canada, told us that Canadian mobile phone companies charged you to receive calls. Bullshit, we shouted. You don’t ask to be called! How could they charge you? They do, said Kelly, steadfast. But I didn’t believe her, even up to the point I arrived here myself and signed up for my own Canadian mobile.
So, Kelly: I’m sorry I doubted you. (Oh, and happy birthday!)
Yes, Canadian mobile carriers will charge you to receive a call – the exact same amount they’d charge you if you made the call. Which sucks if you’re on prepaid, because if you have no credit, no one can call you. That would screw so many Australian prepaid users, who rarely top up – or even go weeks without buying more credit and just let people call them.
There’s no grace either – I was on a Very Important Call, discussing my banking or some such, and the call suddenly and mysteriously disconnected halfway through. Aww, you forgot to keep your account topped up, didn’t you newbie?
When I was signing up for an account (you totally can’t live on prepay over here), I said the guy in the shop, listen – I know you didn’t personally create the charge so I’m not blaming you, but how is charging to receive a call justified? “You’re still using the network,” he said flatly.
Hang on to your hats though! They’ve found a lot of other things to charge you for too. Like caller ID. Not receiving the caller ID of the person calling you, but actually sending your caller ID when you call people.
So, hypothetically, someone could be charged for answering a call from someone they didn’t want to talk to but they had no idea it was them because the caller ID wasn’t displayed. Get it?
Hi, I’m a Canadian mobile company. Dolla dolla bill, y’all.
What this does, however, is open up the market to selling ‘packs’. For example, for only $10 a month, all your incoming calls are ABSOLUTELY FREE. And look, for just $5 extra a month you can send your caller ID! OMG JOYGASM.
With the bad comes the good though – I guess they make up for their shitty, shitty pricing by chucking the word unlimited on to everything else to balance it out. For $35 a month, I’m on a fairly reasonable plan: 1,000 minutes peak, and unlimited after 7pm and weekends. And unlimited text messages. Considering it’s rare to make many calls before 7pm, that pretty much means ‘unlimited everything’.
Does this balance out the dual arse rape of paying to receive calls and again to send your caller ID? Just give me a ring and you'll find out.
So, Kelly: I’m sorry I doubted you. (Oh, and happy birthday!)
Yes, Canadian mobile carriers will charge you to receive a call – the exact same amount they’d charge you if you made the call. Which sucks if you’re on prepaid, because if you have no credit, no one can call you. That would screw so many Australian prepaid users, who rarely top up – or even go weeks without buying more credit and just let people call them.
There’s no grace either – I was on a Very Important Call, discussing my banking or some such, and the call suddenly and mysteriously disconnected halfway through. Aww, you forgot to keep your account topped up, didn’t you newbie?
When I was signing up for an account (you totally can’t live on prepay over here), I said the guy in the shop, listen – I know you didn’t personally create the charge so I’m not blaming you, but how is charging to receive a call justified? “You’re still using the network,” he said flatly.
Hang on to your hats though! They’ve found a lot of other things to charge you for too. Like caller ID. Not receiving the caller ID of the person calling you, but actually sending your caller ID when you call people.
So, hypothetically, someone could be charged for answering a call from someone they didn’t want to talk to but they had no idea it was them because the caller ID wasn’t displayed. Get it?
Hi, I’m a Canadian mobile company. Dolla dolla bill, y’all.
What this does, however, is open up the market to selling ‘packs’. For example, for only $10 a month, all your incoming calls are ABSOLUTELY FREE. And look, for just $5 extra a month you can send your caller ID! OMG JOYGASM.
With the bad comes the good though – I guess they make up for their shitty, shitty pricing by chucking the word unlimited on to everything else to balance it out. For $35 a month, I’m on a fairly reasonable plan: 1,000 minutes peak, and unlimited after 7pm and weekends. And unlimited text messages. Considering it’s rare to make many calls before 7pm, that pretty much means ‘unlimited everything’.
Does this balance out the dual arse rape of paying to receive calls and again to send your caller ID? Just give me a ring and you'll find out.
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