Bell-Twitter Update: 15 cents for Incoming, Outgoing SMS Tweets

It looks like the free Twitter-Bell SMS service was just a little too good to be true.

Apparently, while the two-way SMS service is still a go on Bell, it won’t be free of charge and will actually cost customers 15 cents per incoming and outgoing message over and above the regular free text messages.

This is contrary to Biz Stone’s announcement in his blog post:

If you’re a Bell Mobility customer, you can update Twitter via SMS and receive updates from Twitter via SMS. There are no limits and no added fees (beyond your normal texting plan).

While an official Bell press release hasn’t been released yet regarding this new service, Bell spokesperson Julie Smithers believes that 15 cents is a justified amount since Twitter is a third-party service. The messages, according to her, are considered premium and not covered by the plans they are offering. She adds:

This aligns with industry standards regarding third-party premium messaging.

This is a bit odd since, just across the border, US carriers aren’t charging 15 cents for incoming or outgoing Twitter SMS. This leaves us scratching our head and wondering exactly which industry standards she’s referring to. Julie?

Twitter hasn’t commented on this latest development, but if Bell does decide to push through with their plans, we wouldn’t be surprised if subscribers boycotted this new service because of its outrageous rates.

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UPDATE: Apparently, it’s back again to being free again. We’re not sure if this is truly the final arrangement between Bell and Twitter, but based on the latest Twitter update, they say that the 15 cents SMS fee has been lifted:

Twitter and Bell have agreed that Bell customers on the company’s text messaging bundles will be able to receive unlimited incoming Twitter SMS messages at no extra charge.

For the time being, everything has been resolved already and hopefully, Bell won’t backtrack on this agreement. Unless, of course, they want to anger the droves of Twitter users in Canada, we don’t think they’ll be making the same mistake twice in a row.