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Rogers Eliminating System Access Fee, Replacing with Government Regulatory Recovery Fee

By: , IntoMobile
Monday, September 21st, 2009 at 1:40 PM

Starting October 5, Rogers will be eliminating the long-hated “System Access Fee” for new subscribers, which totals around $6.95 every month. The SAF will be replaced with what they’re calling the “Government Regulatory Recovery Fee”, which will range between $2.52 and $3.49 per line per mont, depending on provincial 911 fees. If that wasn’t good enough, existing customers can opt-in for the new recovery fee and be rewarded with free Call Forwarding, Call Manager and WhoCalled services (worth $11 monthly total). Now, why would Rogers do all of this? Maybe in the name of transparency, as some legislators are putting pressure on carriers to be more straightforward with Canadian consumers, and, in short, stop boning us with bogus fees. Although the variability of the fees does complicate things a little bit, it looks like in the end it will benefit subscribers, raise our low wireless penetration, and likely pressure Bell and Telus to take similar steps.

UPDATE: So, this whole change isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. It turns out that they’ll be jacking the price on all of their plans by $5 as well. For those with an existing plan, you’d basically be getting $11/month worth of services for about $1.50. Stick with the system access fee. For more information, hit up Rogers’ site.

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About The Author

Simon Sage

Simon Sage’s education largely surrounded writing, technology and online community, leading him to begin his blogging career at www.BlackBerryCool.com and to quickly discover a vibrant and active community surrounding BlackBerry and mobile technology. In exploring RIM’s platform, he has learned what enterprises are looking for in mobility as well as what makes the innocuous BlackBerry so appealing to them. Recently Simon’s been covering RIM’s gradual move into an already-crowded consumer market, and the impact of burgeoning challengers, such as the iPhone, as well as long-time leaders, like Nokia, on BlackBerry’s advancement. With plenty of content under his belt, Simon will be branching off a bit to see what other smartphone manufacturers are working on while still using BlackBerry as a barometer. At IntoMobile, you can count on his posts being even-handed, well-informed and thought-out.

  • Ibilled

    why pay at all? quit and go somewhere else. why stay with Rogers?

    I had them for ten years. I cannot tell you how much better my new service is. I had no idea. Walk away from Rogers or lube up becuase they will drill you monthly.