[Merged] Telus drops controversial system access fee

[Kamloops]

Telus drops controversial system access fee

By Gillian Shaw 27 Oct 2009 COMMENTS(13) Digital Life

Telus is dropping its controversial system access and carrier 911 fees for its wireless customers, the company announced today.

It’s a move that appears aimed at making Telus’ wireless offerings more competitive as it rolls out its new 3G+ network November 5 and takes on Rogers' dominance in the iPhone market with the addition of Apple’s popular smartphone to its lineup. The company is also adding voicemail as a standard feature on all its plans.

While the changes will only save a few dollars a month on wireless phone bills, the added fees have irritated wireless customers and dropping them is seen as a plus in marketing wireless services. The access and carrier 911 fees add $7.70 to the average Telus wireless bill and voicemail is $7 as a stand alone feature and not part of a bundle of services.

The company also announced that it is launching "clear and simple" pricing for both new business and consumer wireless rate plans. Existing Telus customers will have a choice of keeping their old plans or switching to one of the new ones.

Telus has declined to reveal plan pricing details for the November 5 launch of its new network and the iPhone, saying it is closely guarded competitive information.

[applecheeks]

Yay!

[TheCheez]

Many years overdue.

It might "only" be $8 but that represents 1/4 of my bill and I had to continue paying it while I was deployed overseas and suspended my service.

Thanks Telus!

EDIT: After reading below I take it all back.:arrowd:

[adblink182]

as it usually is, its too good to be true. They are not just dropping it and thats it.

only the newer plans dont have the access fee, but the newer plans are slightly more expensive so its a trade off

[jm1]

Nope. Same scam as all the others. Eliminate the "fee", then increase other "fees" to make up for it. Please read about the details before praising Telus. For example, CBC's website reports:

Telus subscribers won't see a huge savings though, as the company is also increasing the price of its monthly service plans by $5 to make up for the revenue shortfall. Telus is, however, including its Voicemail 3 service — which lets customers save up to three voice mail messages — with the plans. Rogers also boosted the price of its plans when it dropped the system access fee.

A spokesperson for Rogers did not immediately return a request for comment.

Existing Telus customers will be able to stay on their existing plans and continue paying the extra fees, or they can switch onto the new offerings.

[GtG]

I wish they would drop it for current customers if they did that I doubt i would ever switch companies

[elty]

Nope. Same scam as all the others. Eliminate the "fee", then increase other "fees" to make up for it. Please read about the details before praising Telus. For example, CBC's website reports:

According to the quote then customer is saving $2.7 a month AND getting voice mail for free. More service for less price is not really a scam, just that they are exaggerating the savings.

[SoGood]

hmmm... guess i have to call in to see if it's true and see what retentions can do for me.

[jcon]

They're not 'dropping' the fee, they're simply rolling it into another.

One less line item on your invoice, but the bottom line will remain the same.

[hugh_da_man]

According to the quote then customer is saving $2.7 a month AND getting voice mail for free. More service for less price is not really a scam, just that they are exaggerating the savings.

Which would be great, if you could get a comparable plan to what you currently have for only $5 more. I'm on the 1730 plan and a comparable new plan is $35/mnth compared to the $25 I'm paying now.

I was hoping that they were going to force me to switch plans so that I could cancel the remaining few months on my contract but no such luck...oh well.

[haisam10]

Many years overdue.

It might "only" be $8 but that represents 1/4 of my bill and I had to continue paying it while I was deployed overseas and suspended my service.

Thanks Telus!

EDIT: After reading below I take it all back.:arrowd:

lozl soo full of hope. then that hope turned to sadness...

[Impossibles]

They're not 'dropping' the fee, they're simply rolling it into another.

One less line item on your invoice, but the bottom line will remain the same.

Well duh, but at least they aren't making it look like some sort of government fee. Rogers removed the SAF, but introduced some bull**** government access fee.

[Jucius Maximus]

Nope. Same scam as all the others. Eliminate the "fee", then increase other "fees" to make up for it. Please read about the details before praising Telus. For example, CBC's website reports:

Honestly I prefer it this way because companies aren't hiding the extra charges in the fine print.

Everyone knows the purpose of the SAF fees was to trick people into thinking the price is lower and then making the money back on little fees. Unfortunately most customers are stupid and it works, so everyone has to have a SAF otherwise they would lose customers due to sticker shock. This is also why car dealerships have "mandatory" admin fees and protection plus stickers.

It's taken so many years for people to realise that everyone has this BS fineprint charge that companies can move it back into the normal price and stay competitive.

I see this as a good thing because it will allow companies to compete more on the basis of what their service actually costs and the quality of support, coverage and features versus artificially created prices.

[BananaWeed]

I hope I can extend my contract - I'm on the EPP plan. :)

[dmdsoftware2]

Nope. Same scam as all the others. Eliminate the "fee", then increase other "fees" to make up for it. Please read about the details before praising Telus. For example, CBC's website reports:

Ya, like when rogers dropped it, they introduced a network improvement fee and bumped up the packages $, and the result was more costly then the system access fee.

[najibs]

Maybe I can use this as leverage to negotiate with Rogers a drop in my fees :twisted:

[gazix]

I wonder if I could still get the super talk 10 plan? Since I work within the same "mall" as a telus store, we have access to this plan. Was going to go with pay as you go (virgin or speak out). But thinking $10 a month + tax might be the way to go instead. Then get a free phone (and not have to buy $100 worth of airtime with so to get the free phone). Optimally if mts would axe their system access fees would be the best :)

Wasn't worth paying $10 + $7 saf + tax previously.

Did a search in this forum for system access fee, then telus and found very few articles. Surprised nothing posted about this yet.

[Mayoo]

"Telus subscribers won't see a huge savings though, as the company is also increasing the price of its monthly service plans by $5 to make up for the revenue shortfall. Telus is, however, including its Voicemail 3 service — which lets customers save up to three voice mail messages — with the plans. Rogers also boosted the price of its plans when it dropped the system access fee."

http://www.cbc.ca/technology/story/2009/10/27/telus-system-access-fee.html

[dmdsoftware2]

repost

http://www.redflagdeals.com/forums/telus-drops-controversial-system-access-fee-806658/2/

[gazix]

Ah, figured that they wouldn't just let go of that revenue stream.

Must have glazed over that in reading the article. Still might try to see if I can get the $10 deal though :)

[southnam]

I have the amazing $10 deal as well. If they could drop the SAF on that... I would never leave telus :) Well, maybe I would but that would make it hard and if they dropped my unlimited BB package to $15... wow.... :)