If you’ve been reading here before, you may know that I’m not a fan of cellphone contracts. Well a local TV program exposed yet another way network providers are trying to get every cent out of users’ pockets: the scam called “Network Service Fees”. You may be familiar with it if you have a contract, it’s that line on your bill that says fees or network access, or something like that, and usually is not a small amount.

Here it can easily be a $7.50 surcharge on a $25 monthly contract. The way it’s worded, you may think, and most people do, that it’s some type of government tax. That’s what the show investigated, and it turns out that’s not the case. Simply look at the full terms or contract on your provider site, and you may find out what these fees really are.

For all four providers here in Canada, these fees include simple things like network maintenance, providing service to rural areas, expending their campaigns, providing services of various types, basically, their day to day operations. It’s just as if your bill included lines saying they have to pay for heating, marketing, and so on, and charge you extra for it. Operating cost is something every business has. It has to be included in the base cost, not charged as some type of extra.

The most ridiculous charge is the “911 surcharge” which, at least here in Canada, can cost $0.90 per month per customer. Yet when asked, the Police department said that only the land-line providers pay them a tax for the 911 service. Cellphone providers do not. So that charge is completely false. What they actually mean is that you pay a surcharge to your network provider so THEY will agree to connect you to the 911 service if you ever need it.

The program ended with the funniest thing of all this. There’s a new virtual provider starting up in the region called Koodo Mobile who spends a lot of marketing dollars boosting that their service has no extra charge of any type. Yet who owns Koodo Mobile? Telus, one of the big Canadian providers charging these fees.