Might I say finally?

At least, it looks like one Mobile Carrier in Canada understood; don’t stop charging for access fees, just hide them in more expensive plans. I admit it doesn’t really change anything. TELUS’s new charging model isn’t very different than previous prices in the end, but the jump to an all included price that doesn’t hide service charges is an appreciated change.

For example, say you take the Clear Choice iPhone 50, a 50$ plan that gives you 150 local minutes and a choice of extra features, like doubling minutes or 1000 outgoing text messages and unlimited incoming, which unfortunately means Canadian providers have, as rumored, started to charge for incoming text messages (total rip-off) and 500 MB of data (also a total rip-off). Well, that’s it, that’s all you pay, 50$.

On the other hand, Bell has an almost identical iPhone plan that looks cheaper; 45$ (the difference being that you only have one extra option; favorite 5 numbers. But add on top of that the system access fees; 6.95$ and the 0.75$ 9-1-1 emergency service fee, and you get a fabulous 52.70$ (not mentioning the fact that the 9-1-1 service charges can be as high 1.28$ depending on the province, in this case New Brunswick). So, who’s cheaper now? Note that, however cool TELUS’s new scheme may be, Bell’s higher cost plans totally kick TELUS’s ass, really.

And on Rogers, well as always, it’s even higher, coming in at 57.58$ for the same thing TELUS offers. Oh, and I almost forgot to mention Rogers’ best matching plan to the highest Bell offers, coming in at 105$, doesn’t even manage to match the Bell’s offered minutes and unlimited text messaging plus the unlimited favorite 5 numbers for 95$. Good luck Rogers, cause really, you’re total rip-off. I hope nobody ever buys an iPhone again from Rogers.