Rogers Charging for SMS

Canadian carrier Rogers is likely to follow Bell and Telus in beginning to charge for incoming text messages outside of its normal plans. A tip sent to BGR says Rogers will start notifying customers today that, as of July 7th, it will charge 15 cents per incoming message for customers that aren't already signed up to a bundle that includes SMS. The changes don't affect Fido customers or incoming messages from Twitter, which were restored to the service today and are free until the end of the year.

Hiking the change may create controversy for Rogers as it echoes its rivals' pricing and would give no major alternative to avoiding such fees, effectively pushing up the minimum price for cellular service. Critics in Canada, the US and elsewhere have noted that the cost for carriers of transmitting a given SMS message is often less than 1 cent.

Rogers hasn't commented on the rumor or, if true, its reasons for the change.

By Electronista Staff