Twitter returns to @Bell Canada for $0.15 a pop

While the fact that Twitter's SMS service is returning to Canada is grand news, Bell Canada's 15 cent price for admission is most definitely not. Twitter shut down the outbound SMS service in November last year due to rising costs with a note that it was working toward a solution to fix it. Well, it seems the solution's been found and that's to pass it down the line to the Twitter users as a premium service that they'll pay for, both sending and receiving. Our advice here is to hunt down a free client and use it or call Bell and fire up the waterworks, though, we suspect that'll get you about nowhere.

Update: Just for the sake of clarity, this is in no way related to Bell's policy on 15 cent incoming SMS costs. Bell's Julie Smithers said "Because Twitter is a third-party service, the messages are considered premium and not covered by our plans...This aligns with industry standards regarding third-party premium messaging."

[Thanks, @fruhlinger]

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2009 11:12AM]

How can you pay for receiving? That's f*ing stupid... Hah. It's like someone calls you and you have to pay...

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2009 11:36AM]

What a rip.

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2009 1:24PM]

According to the Twitter website...

"Twitter and Bell have agreed that Bell customers on the company's text messaging bundles will be able to receive unlimited incoming Twitter SMS messages at no extra charge."

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2009 1:44PM]

Good luck getting anywhere with Bell...

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2009 2:55PM]

What industry standard is she talking about?

I have T-Mobile, and all my incoming AND outgoing twitter SMS to/from short code 40404 are covered by my unlimited messaging plan. They always have been for over a year now. The only way I'd pay is the standard per-message rate if I didn't have a message package. And that goes with other 3rd party messages too, including 41414 for redbox, 46xx and 265xxx for AIM over SMS, 46645 for google info via SMS. The only exception are the premium services that say they will charge you (ie "text ringtone to xxxxx to sign up for ringtones for 5.99 a month...")

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 26th 2009 10:24PM]

if you don't want to get dinged for texting, use m.twitter.com. if you've got a data plan it doesnt cost shit.

[shogunmaster Posted Feb 26th 2009 11:22PM]

Does the $0.15 service charge come with a rape kit?

[(Unverified) Posted Feb 27th 2009 7:17AM]

Bell's backing down: http://www.nationalpost.com/news/story.html?id=1333368