Alberta conservatives pass bill to increase cell phone 911 fees...YEESH

[TheGx]

Man this pisses me off, if the governments want to help individuals against big corporations they should pass law that telecommunication providers provide free access to 911 - instead of passing law to increase fees.

This law passed in Alberta today so Public Mobile probably making announcement soon about how this fee will be passed down to customers in Alberta and where this fee will be can be seen on our accounts etc, do other provinces have this 911 fee too?

[AE_Collector]

Almost certain that TELUS Prepaid still has a 75c per month fee on it. Has been that rate for years if not decades. My Telus landline has a 6, 7 or 8 c per month fee on it, I cant remember which.

AE_Collector

[LurganIeUk]

A long time ago my Telus prepaid charged 75 cents a month in BC. 

Not good in the land of free emergency helicopter service. 

[stevenanto]

Correct me if I am wrong. In Quebec we used to have the fees in the plan details when you would sign up for a contract, and then eventually the companies just seemed to have included this in their plans as it wasn't too attractive to see fees charged for the 911. There has been a lot of debate on the internet about this being a fee to charge or not as well. 

[Korth]

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/03/11/alberta-plans-to-increase-911-fees-in-september-and-c...

"The government" has already calculated exactly how much money ($25M) this extra tax will add to their budget. And they've already spent it.

It's not about public safety, it's not about corporate greed ... it's about bad management and bad accounting practices. If they really need $25M more for 911 infrastructure then they really should budget $25M less on some other expense. If "public safety" was indeed the "first and foremost priority" then it wouldn't be the last thing they pay for after spending millions of dollars elsewhere.

[TheGx]

@popping :It is good that upgrades to 911 services can now use SMS, especially for people hard of hearing like you said - still, if the government would have made a better law that forces providers not to charge fees for 911, providers would have to decide whether to increase their rate plans or not.

The way it is now with fees, increases get passed on to consumers easier, no need to decide whether or not to increase plans - just like taxes get passed along automatically.

Thank you for the information about the exact cost of the fee increase.

[TheGx]

@computergeek541 :I agree that someone had to pay for these upgrade and that nothing is free, but that doesn't change fact that government can decide who pays for the upgrades and infrastructure - the consumers, or the providers, or the tax payers, or etc.

So that being said, if the governments instead made law that providers must provide 911 services free, the providers would be forced to include it in their all their products - the costs passed of to their customers in less overt ways other than separate fees.

So I rather have it done how you explained it, the governments can increase the costs of doing business to provide such as increasing infrastructure costs, but providers can increase their plans or not. Governments should not allow any sort of fees for 911 services, whether it per call or by monthly fees.

[popping · Accepted solution]

Prepaid plan does not charge the 911 fee.  Only the postpaid plans collect 911 fee. 

I know Zoomer postpaid plan charges $0.44/m for 911 fee.  People keep the AB area code when they move out of AB to save sale tax and continue to pay AB 911 fee.  Well, you win some and loss some.  That is life.

It will be 95 cents/m starting September.  The new upgrade will accept text message instead of calling.  It will be great for people with hearing problem.

[computergeek541]

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@TheGx wrote:

Man this pisses me off, if the governments want to help individuals against big corporations they should pass law that telecommunication providers provide free access to 911 - instead of passing law to increase fees.

This law passed in Alberta today so Public Mobile probably making announcement soon about how this fee will be passed down to customers in Alberta and where this fee will be can be seen on our accounts etc, do other provinces have this 911 fee too?

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Somebody has to pay the cost of 911 services. While carrier can't charge for individual calls to 911, they can generally charge whatever they wish for the plan and services. Unless cell phone carriers become crown corporations, the market sets the prices.

An increase or decrease in 911 fees doesn't mean that Public Mobile has to change the way that they price the plans. Yes, other provinces have these fees. That doesn't mean that the fee has to be added to the bill.  I would expect that if Public Mobile decides to increase prices because of this, it would be built into the plan price, rather than being added as a seperate charge.