Deposit 50 Cents To Make A Pay Phone Call

Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) decided new pricing rules for Canadian local phone services. As a result of these new rules, starting June 1, 2007, payphone calls could cost you 50 cents per call. Non-cash calls such as credit card or charge calls could go up as high as $1 per call. These calls now cost half the proposed amount in most parts of Canada.

Definitely these increases will not affect CRTC policy analysts or phone company employees because it is unlikely that the people behind these changes ever need to use pay phones. Although the use of cellular phones has skyrocketed in recent years, Canada has some of the highest cell phone rates among industrialized nations. Minimum wage earners, students and many others are far from receiving the benefits of cell phone and pay phone rates hike will affect these people. Bell has not changed its rates since 1981 and CRTC basically allowing Bell and other phone companies to charge as they wish. If money is desperately needed (although I doubt it), 25 Cents call can be increased to 35 cents (as Telus did in Alberta a decade ago), which is more sensible than doubling it. Obviously these rulings represent the interests of phone companies, not the interests of general population.