Heres a quarter heres, two quarters, heres a loonie, call someone who cares!
Bell Canada wants to raise a regular payphone call to $1. Yes you read that correctly. 4 quarters. The reasoning behind this hike is because the Royal Canadian Mint is changing the style of the loonie. Apparently payphones will not be able to accept the new tender and will need to be retrofitted.
I personally rarely use payphones. Generally I have my cell phone on me, but there are still times I end up needing to use a payphone. Last time I picked up a payphone I almost fell over at the 50 cent cost. Now they want $1? I definitely will never use a payphone unless there is an emergency.
Do you think they should raise the rate? Are payphones a thing of the past anyways?
Well, while the economy is changing faster then ever we have to expect these kinds of increases and i don’t mind the xtra 2 quarters cause like you i dont you payphones much
Never seen a payphone cost more than 25 cents (at least in New Brunswick), on those rare occasions when you can actually find one. There are actually 5 at our local mall. 2 at one end, 3 at the other.
Last I checked payphones in Toronto were $0.35 but I haven’t looked in a long time. They charge $0.50 now? I had no idea!
It’s the poor that will suffer. The ones with no home phone or cell phones. Sad!
Let’s be real here. How much money are they making off these pay phones now a days. Not much! To maintain the phones, it costs money – so they need to charge more to make up for the loss in income from cell phones.
I teach in a highschool and 95% of my students have cell phones – so who uses pay phones anymore?
But if I needed a payphone (say I forgot my cell) i would just ask a friendly looking person if I could borrow theirs for a sec for a local call… even toss them the loonie – just sayin’
It is a sign of the times when payphones accept visa and mastercard!
Just because we’re having a new loonie they’re increasing our costs…sigh….
Bell payphones are never maintained and are extremely filthy. I just don’t use them anymore.
I don’t own a cell phone (too cheap) and it is getting harder even to find payphones. I searched my local mall, but they’ve taken all pay phones out. Telus runs most pay phones in AB and it was $.35.
I actually use pay phones all the time as I don’t own a cell phone.
$ 1 really is too much, and Bell is making an obscene profit on the backs of the poor who don’t have cells phones.
As there are fewer & fewer payphones, I don’t think Bell needs a lot of manpower to maintain them.
Well, everything else is going up. Looked out my window this morning and gas is near $1.40…so why not the payphones too?
Personally, I don’t use payphones because I have a cell. But as others pointed out, they are nice to use if you forget your cell at home although they are also increasingly more difficult to find in working order. When I was a kid, you would walk into the mall and every mall entrance had rows of payphones lined up for people to use. ha. Don’t see THAT anymore, do ya?
A land line is also nice to have when the cell signal is absent. I was camping a few years ago but couldn’t get signal on my mobile network and I had locked myself out of the camp ground (forgot the swipe card) so I had to find a payphone to call DH on his cell (different mobile provider) so I could get back in to the campground. I was pretty happy to see a payphone at that point!
for a telecommunications company that boasts on their technological accomplishments, I am sure they can implement a cheaper alternative. VOIP? come on bell. this on the heels of them announcing a $2 surcharge for paper bills. just out of curiosity as I am not a bell customer, do they discount/credit the paper invoice charge back? and on the same bell rant, so these clowns are going to charge $2 for an invoice to a paying customer citing environmental clauses yet they will send me tonnes of junk mail on 80lb glossy paper promoting and selling their crappy products and services. in case you havent caught it yet: I hate bell. 🙂
Amitabh — bang on!
Yeah, would it be weird if a stranger asked to use your cell phone?
I forgot my cell phone and had to pick up someone at the subway station and had no choice but to use the payphone. $0.50, c’mon!
It is hard to find payphones these days. $1 is a bit much, but everything else is more expensive, so it goes to reason payphones are too.
I imagine there are a lot of people born after 1990 who have never used one. Amazed payphones are still around,actually.
Definitely not a thing of the past for people like me, who doesn’t have a cell phone, and in case I need to reach someone for an emergency. Even at $1 a call, it’s still cheaper than a cell phone when I need to use it.
I’ve found it’s cheapest to buy a prepaid long distance calling card and use it on pay phones even for local calls. I’ve seen prepaid long distance cards as low as 3.5 cents a minute.
For anyone not familar with prepaid long distance cards; there is normally a toll free number to call, then you dial the number you want to call.
i have no problem with this. the amount of money it must take to install those phones and keep them working (particularly with the amount of vandalism they are subject to) i think it’s fair to make it $1. yes, it’s not cheap, but they can’t keep those phones that at a constant loss. i’d rather they keep them, scarce as they are, and charge more, than get rid of them altogether.
We still have payphones?
About 4 years ago they took out all the payphones in the innercity where I live, as it was discovered that 90% of their use was for drug trafficing. I don’t think I have seen one since, I don’t look for them though.
I have lent a stranger my phone and I have been known to pop into a buiness from time to time and ask to use thier phone when I don’t have my cell. They usually just dial for me to make sure it is a local call.
Honestly I really don’t think the companies make very much off the payphones anymore… and why are we suprised and angered when they raise prices and do things to make more profits. We need to remember that phone companies don’t provide the service to be nice, they do it to make money.
It’s bad enough that they are going to start charging you an extra $2 if you opt to continue receiving paper billing. There is not one company out there that I despise more than Bell.
@ Amitabh — you sure got Bell’s “number” LOL.
We have Bell telephone, internet, cell phone. As soon as online courses are done, we’re gone from bell — Tech Savvy, here we come!
Pay phones are used by the poor and for those who are parolees, who may need to call their parole officer. A call to the parole officer can take 30 minutes. Many can’t afford a home phone with their limited income or monthly allowance.
Shame on you Bell!
I think $1 is too much for a local phone call. So what if they’re not making as much money on the payphones anymore! All those years they’ve been ripping people off and charging so much. Back in the late 80s my parents used to call their family back in Europe, Bell charged $2/minute, because there was no other alternative. They made a ton of money then, and they are still making it now, they just want more money.
Well, what’ll people do when something goes wrong and knocks out cell phone signals? It’s happened before. Or if you don’t have your phone, or something’s wrong with it? Some don’t even have a land line at home. Not me. The land line is more reliable. Eventually the pay phones will be gone, since it’s assumed everyone has a cell phone!
The smug question of “Who uses payphones anymore anyways” was asked a few times.
Answer: My mother, that’s who. You may not care but I do. She is a 70 year old woman who doesn’t want to have a cell phone. When she is done her shopping she calls my dad or a taxi from a payphone to pick her up. $1 is way too steep and the first person I thought of when I read this was her. Once again it will be the seniors who will feel this the most. She would also be mortified to ask a stranger to use their cell phone. “Just sayin…”
Wow, imagine if your pay cheque went up by 50%? But it’s only a dollar, right? What’s a dollar now a day? Well, it’s a whole lot more money into the pockets of Ma Bell. Cheap trick Bell.
Rat, it’s even worse–it’s going up by 100%! I don’t have a cell phone, and although I don’t use a payphone very often, I think a buck for a local call is ludicrous. Especially when I consider my home phone plan: it includes unlimited high-speed internet and unlimited worldwide long-distance calling, for $85 a month. Really, how much maintenance do phones need?
The quarters are not being changed, so don’t worry about retrofitting for the new loonie. As long as people have their quarters for their .50 cent call, everythings good. $1 a phone call is too much. Yes, it will affect those who don’t have cell phones which are the elderly, homeless etc. I don’t care for Ma Bell either.
I have a cell phone but use it for emergencies only. When travelling I always use pay phones to make local calls, especially at airports. A dollar for a local call out of town is still a much better rate than a long distance cell phone call.
…here we go again the people with less money get hurt. Sorry a cell phone is not in my budget so I do occasionally use a pay phone. I guess I’ll be bothering stores,to use their phone. I don’t blame the phone companies I think the govenment should help defray the cost of making phone changes.
Will the prices of pop/juices/snacks at vending machines increase as the Royal canadian mint changing the style of the loonie??
i still use them. i think its time for a calling card
If I only want to make local calls – in Toronto to Toronto from a Bell Pay phone – how do prepaid long distance cards work? If I call from a Toronto Mall to my Toronto home and speak to my husband for 3 minutes, does that mean I only pay the prepaid card’s long distance fee of a per minute fee instead of Bell’s now $ 1 fee?
I’m pretty pissed off at Bell as I purchased a Bell local prepaid card around 6 years ago from Bell kiosk at Yorkdale and they never processed it correctly – nothing was loaded on the card even though my credit card was charged. I called Bell but they weren’t able to help me.
Thanks for anyone’s help in this matter, as I use Bell’s payphones quite a bit.
FYI when using a payphone it’s 0.50 if it’s cash and 1.13 if you use a credit card. honestly $1 plus tax??? guess i screwed myself over doing that as i use my visa for all purchases to save up the points for free items. not so “free” there
I have not been a Bell customer for years but if you are a Bell customer look at your landline bill and see if they are are still charging you $2.70 for using a touchtone phone. Apparently they make over $100,000,000 a year because people are letting them get away with this charge each month. They try to blame the CRTC for this charge but in reality all that the CTC says is that if Bell charges for this they must show the charge to the customer not that they must actually charge this. Robbing customers for a tecnology that is almost 50 years old, ask for a rotary dial and they will not rent you one. START COMPLAINING and spread the protest.