Do you have Bell Home Phone Service? Read this too, you may have to start paying a Network Charge as of May 2010
What's the Bell Network Charge?
On many Bell Canada bills, one will see a "Network Charge", now for $5.95. The name implies to many that it is mandatory, since, well, you need to be connected to the network right?
Reality
But the reality in this case is that it is a charge for having a Bell Long Distance Plan. It has nothing to do with local phone service, and you can still make long distance calls without it. And don't forget that Bell often has another monthly fee for having one of their special long distance plans. Hrmmm, why wouldn't they just lump the two together??? Why have one fee for having a long distance plan... and another fee for... having a long distance plan...
How to Avoid Paying the Network Charge
If you don't have a Bell Long Distance Plan, then you don't have to pay this charge. Of course, Bell says that you don't have to pay it if you were to switch to their terrible "tariffed" long distance rates, but you can switch to other LD providers too. So, if one were to switch to Yak.ca , 3web , myworldtalk , or another LD Provider (where you don't dial 10-10, or an access # first), instead of Bell, then you pay neither charge!
The Bottom Line
Don't get your long distance through Bell, just get it through any other company, and you won't have to pay the $5.95/month fee, nor the monthly charge for the long distance plan. Big Savings!
But wait, Bell has contract changes!
Also, Bell now likes to require 30 days notice if you cancel any of their unregulated services (such as Long Distance). I even tried to complain to the CRTC about this charge (I really have no idea how they calculated the penalty, the formula isn't specified anywhere). However, since their LD prices on a per-minute basis are so high anyway, it was cheaper to pay Bell's stupid penalties than to endure another month of their high rates.
Have Internet Through Bell Sympatico Too?
Switch to Teksavvy and save. Same reliability, only faster, and cheaper, with customer service in friendly Chatham. Don't fall for all of Bell's shenanigans about moving customer service back to North America, Teksavvy never out-sourced it out of the country in the first place. Teksavvy does require that you buy your own modem, and I have everything you need for just $40, so contact me.
paying to much
$ 5.95 try $ 6.95 (as of 2013) Bell is way to expensive, hopefully i will be moving away from there price fixing monopoly. What about that Tone touch service for an additional $ 2.80 I want my Rotatry phone back...sorry you cant have it back and we are going to keep charging that Tone dialing feature until the day you die...
Business model
The business model for Bell and many other businesses is called "fee harvesting". The consumer is left to their own devices to discover and opt out from if possible, the elements of "service" that are subject to a fee.
How many people remember a time when their credit card was declined at the check-out because it was beyond the limit? It happens rarely now. Instead, you will be charged a $20.00 "overlimit fee". I have successfully disputed these fees and had them refunded over and over because I expect that the credit card company monitor my usage, this is what I pay an annual fee and interest for. I'm not interested in wasting time monitoring every account I have with every C/C when they have automated systems to do this. And the reason I have to do it over and over is because after the agent manually overrides, the system is programmed to default back after a time.
Have you ever had an automatic debit bounced, and been dinged $42.50, because your grocery purchase went through first? The bank's fee harvesting program deliberately sequenced the transactions to trigger NSF fees.
This business model works because fewer people will complain than not. Those who do always get refunds and perks.
bell canada
im thinking you all have a a hard on for bell canada ,, i have been with bell for 25 years never heard of your shit b4 ,,what did you do make this site just to piss on bell canada fucking morons
Bell25
wow 25 years of Bell brainwashing and lies. You must be totaly brain dead by now. But thats a given concidering you work for bell.
You must work for bell you
You must work for bell you asshole or you wouldnt complain when someone calls then on their bullshit charges They charged me a 6.95 network fee So i could save 8 cents on their so called real plus savings plan
bell canada network
read this article***
http://www.tektok.ca/2011/01/teksavvy-customers-throttled-by-crtc-ruling/
I switched my Bell home phone
I switched my Bell home phone and fax line to Cogeco. I discovered that Cogeco fax line was incompitable with my machine I had to go back to Bell. Primus was my long distance provider. When I received my bill from Bell I found a charge of 268.17 for long distant charges that I had not requested. They offered to waiver the charge if I subscribe to their long distance plan. It was difficult to accept a plan under such a coercion . I knew little about the plan and Bell refused to provide any information in writing I declined. After many intimidation-sounding calls I paid the charges .( Primus would have charged about 22 instead of 268 charged by Bell) . Beware !!!
I thought that I was the only
I thought that I was the only ine tobe cheated by Bell when I returnede to them last year April, 2010. Got squeezed with an astronomical sum of money, by calling through their network. I made several complaints by e-mail to no avail. I eventually had to pay the several hundreds of dollars. What a sin, then they go on T.V. about their big donations to CAMH.
Beware of Bell Charges
I switched my Cable from eastlink to Bell and it was a nightmare. I have noticed month after month my monthly charges kept on increasing from $118 to $175. then when i checked my bills there's so many new charges that's irrelevant. So, I finally can take it anymore, so. I decided to cancell my service. Guess what? the agent told me the cancellation fee is $ 250.00.but again I prefer to pay the penalty rather than dealing with them. but its not over yet, they also taxed me 15% for the cancellation fee. this is ridiculous, for what? there's no service that they provided why I should be taxed? is this legal? I wish people will wake up and boycott Bell. this way they might changes the way they do business.
I checked their long distance
I checked their long distance rates, and it looks like it depends on some other factors. Maybe you have been making an increase in long distance calls or something?
Teksavvy Home Phone
The great thing about Teksavvy is they also have home phone with waaaay better long distance rates. I need to give them a call for some details. The most important thing to do is shop around and check your options.
wrong information on bell.ca
The following is posted on the Bell website at http://support.bell.ca/en-on/Home_phone/Long_distance_and_calling_cards/What_is_the_network_connection_fee_for_long_distance_calls
"If you subscribe to a long distance plan, there is no network connection fee. If you don’t have a long distance plan, you’ll pay a network connection fee of $1.95 for the first long distance call in a month."
The truth is the exact opposite of the above. If you subscribe to a long distance plan, the network charge is currently $6.95/month + tax. The fee of $1.95 only applies to the first long distance call you make using Bell as your long distance provider. If you use any other company for your long distance, there is no network charge or $1.95 first use charge.
Bell.ca is wrong (Again?).
If that's the case, it's been wrong for over a month now. Just how long can such a glaring error exist? We'll see I guess...
Bell Network Charge
I am so glad I just found your Blog. I am lost as what to do next.....but will be cutting all ties with BELL. First understand that I am definitely not tech savvy!! I don't have home computer/internet, cable TV, or Long Distance package....just a regular old home phone. But I am paying nearly $60 per month to Bell Aliant. At least 5 years ago I went to Bell Alliant payment centre and asked what the Network Charge is on my phone bill. The guy working there told me it's for my caller ID, which I do have. Realizing it was a separate and additional fee, I later asked a young girl working there and she told me that it's a charge paid by everyone for quality service. Being very gullible, I accepted that but Finding others who don't pay the fee, I called their customer service line and they told me it's for my Long Distance Package?? I know I definitely never requested one, don't need, and never wanted one. At most I make one long distance call per month for about 5 minutes. They couldn't explain it to me.
I've sent several letters to the address on the bill, and I've sent letters to their Head Office. No replies. I've recently contacted their e-mail customer service, and have again been told it's caller ID, Long Distance, etc, etc. They finally said they have no idea why I'm being charged $10.95 PLUS TAX PER MONTH NETWORK CHARGE but I'd been paying it prior to 2002!! They said they'd credit me for 3 months, and after a long conversation agreed to 12. OK, I feel like an idiot but still want answers. They told me to call their customer service 1-888 #. The first agent told me it's for a long distance package, then checked my account and said he can see I don't have a long distance package.
I was on hold for 15 minutes and the supervisor got on the phone. He told me that the fee is only charged in Newfoundland, it's call a "COMMUNITY CALLING PACKAGE", and is charged to those without a long distance package to enable us to call other communites in Newfoundland. I have never made a long distance call in Newfoundland. I told him I didn't want this service and had never requested it. He told me that it's mandatory. He said he can see on my account that it was reversed, but HE HAS TO CHARGE IT AGAIN AS THEY CAN'T STOP IT.
I've contacted CRTC who said they don't handle it, they referred me to CCTS. They said it doesn't fall under their mandate.
A few days later CCTS contacted me and said it did, and they'd forwarded my complaint to BELL. OMG!!!! Anyway, BELL
called my home yesterday and told me it's a long distance package. I know I never asked for one!! They said it's something called REAL TIME PLAN. Now, they can delete it. But even though I've been paying for 10 years won't refund it.
IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE I CAN DO ALONG WITH GETTING RID OF BELL.
Call Yak.ca at 1.877.925.4925
Call Yak.ca at 1.877.925.4925 and see if you can sign up for one of their long distance plans. They're reputable, and then if you ever did need to make a long distance call, it should be rather cheap.
My guess is that all of the representatives are under strict orders to not properly explain the Network Charge. The company would lose a lot of money if everyone knew how to not pay it.
Don't forget to tell your friends about the questionable charge and how to fix it.
Try Magic Jack
Try Magic Jack
Bell Aliant network service fee
Here's our story. I don't have phone service with Bell Aliant because I use Eastlink for phone/cable and my internet. However my mom, who is 93, and lives in our home has her own phone uses Bell Aliant's service and has a long distance plan called Real Time. Two years ago we authorized YAK as her long distance carrier and any long distance charges added to my bill. (I don't believe she has made a long distance call since then.) Anyway, I just recently looked at her phone bill and discovered this "network fee" of $5.95 + HST. I said "that's Bull feathers"! Bell Aliant has charged this fee monthly to my mother for almost two years. So this morning we called Eastlink and switched her complete phone service over to them. Same number, no hook-up fees and hopefully a better service.
Bell Aliant's costs - Home phone service $26.70 + 911 fees of .62 + network fees of 5.95 +HST = $37.59
Eastlink costs - Home phone service $22.50 + 911 fees of .62 + HST = $26.14
Total savings - $11.45 in mothers purse, NOT Ma Bell's. Bottom line for me is if you don't like how your service provider is treating you... go elswhere. IMO Bell Aliant is cheating thousands of it's customers and they don't even know it.
network fee
I also discovered that 5.95 fee on my basic Bell phone bill. We had not had Long Distance service with Bell for several years. Anyway, I complained eloquently to the right person (I guess) because I managed to get all those charges creditied to my account. HOPE you did too!
Misc telephone charges
The real reason that the incumbent telephone companies charge miscellaneous service fees, is that it allows them to advertise prices that seem to be more competitive or better than the Competitive Local Exchange Carriers (CLECs). Instead of including these charges in the advertised price, they are loaded on afterwards. You only see these charges when you get your bill, by which time you are in a contract. This of course is totally misleading, if not outright dishonest. You will see the same practice on your hydro bill, where the actual price per kilowatt, after adding all the surcharges, is much higher than the advertised price.
network fees on cell phone...
I arrived at this page by "googling" network fees after my neighbour (a former MT&T/ALIANT/BELL employee) told me that if my long distance plan isn't with BELL/ALIANT (it's with PRIMUS/WIN-TEL) then I shouldn't be paying these system/network access fees - costs me abot $9.00 per month per cellphone. From everything I can find out - I shouldn't be paying this, but how do I get it stopped?? or better yet how can I recover the past years that I have been paying it??
Check Your Bill Pt2
The reason companies send out a bill each month is so that you can review it and then ask them any questions you have about it. If you see a charge on there you don't recgonize you can call the company at that time and question them about it. And the article is right, Bell COULD include the price of their network charge in the price of their plan, but that doesn't make good business sense. Why not let customers know what all of their charges are for, why hide costs and make customers wonder why a long distance plan costs so much?
Bell Network Charge
You mean you can call the company and wait on hold for 20 minutes to get some useless scripted answer to your perfectly legitimate question, right? The reality is that this charge is for nothing, they merely made one up with a legitimate sounding name to make you think it's required, but it's not. This _is_ a pseudo-hidden cost. This page exists to educate people on this.
Long Distance charges from Bell
I agree with the last person, Bell is not bell anymore. They used to be my number one choice
but I cant say that anymore.
Talking about their ridiculious rates, They charge me 25 cents per minutes for calls made in
Canada because I don't have a long distance plan with them, and 1.75 cents per minute for
overseas calls which you can get for 29 cents .
Bell long distance charges
I just got notified that Bell is switching my business phone to a new plan: $5 a month for 1000 minutes I will never use, plus a $7.95 a month network fee. Unbelievable!!! I think I will switch to Yak, they look like the best deal going. 3.5 cents/minute and no network fee.
Yep, I love searching for
Yep, I love searching for "Network Charge" or "Bell Network Charge" on Google, and seeing Bell's pages about their $7.95 network charge for small businesses. Ouch! Bell just isn't the same these days.
Check your bill
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