The Unofficial Speak Out Wireless Canada Consumer Page - Topic: 911 fee

bylo on 911 fee

Mon, 04 May 2009 14:47:00 -0700

Retroactively charging the 911 fee makes little sense. Either the card should be deactivated or the balance should be 0. There should be no negative balance.

Except that then the owner of the SIM would lose their phone number. I'd think that for most people it's preferable to allow the 911 fees to accumulate. The so-called "911 fee" isn't only for 911. IIRC only a small percentage of it actually goes towards 911. The rest effectively represents an account maintenance fee, i.e. defrays the cost of keeping the account open.

Or at least if there is a negative balance, then that is what you should hear when you call to find out what the balance is.

We don't know if that was indeed the case. The OP says "I just bought a Speakout SIM card, there was a balance of .01 on it." without indicating how they determined that. It's possible the seller told them there was $0.01 on the account, they added $25 and then called *777 to get their balance.

Big Ang on 911 fee

Mon, 04 May 2009 09:33:26 -0700

Mudskipper,

There is no such thing as buying an unused new SIM since Speakout doesn't sell them.

Speakout sells replacement SIMs, but that is something else entirely.

Retroactively charging the 911 fee makes little sense. Either the card should be deactivated or the balance should be 0. There should be no negative balance.

Or at least if there is a negative balance, then that is what you should hear when you call to find out what the balance is.

mudskipper on 911 fee

Mon, 04 May 2009 01:05:40 -0700

Yes, bylo's explanation makes sense.
Apparently, Leesburg bought 2 things... first, a used SIM card (not prepaid) and secondly, a $25 prepaid card (or I prefer to call it a $25 prepaid voucher so as not to confuse a voucher card with a SIM card which are TWO different things). Only the VOUCHER is PREPAID. SIM cards have no airtime value without vouchers unless they are programmed with airtime (like usually free $5 for new SIM cards with new cell phones).
Apparently, too, the SIM card that Leesburg bought is a USED SIM card!
An UNUSED, new SIM card costs $25 with no airtime in it... you need to top it up with a voucher ($15 or $25 or $50 or $75 or $100).
If Leesburg had purchased his/her used SIM card for $15, then he/she loses nothing.. still ahead or cheaper by $1.59 because a new SIM costs $25, he/she paid $10 less for it BUT she/he lost $8.41 for unpaid 911 fees = savings of $1.59 over a new $25 SIM card.
If the used SIM was bought for $10, then the savings after lessing the 911 fees would be even more for buying used.
Up to Leesburg to let us know how much the SIM card was purchased for and if there was misleading information given during the purchase that the SIM card was new.
So, bylo is not high on cheap smokes after all... sorry 🙂

dennismiller on 911 fee

Mon, 04 May 2009 00:27:15 -0700

No. It's supposed to be "Prepaid"! So it should be inactive and not incur fees. Otherwise it's not "prepaid".

bylo on 911 fee

Sat, 02 May 2009 07:35:58 -0700

Leesburg said, "I just bought a Speakout SIM card, there was a balance of .01 on it."

To me that means they bought a used SIM card from someone here or off eBay, etc. It's quite possible the previous owner left the card unused for several months before selling it.

Does that make sense? 😉

dennismiller on 911 fee

Sat, 02 May 2009 04:39:05 -0700

How DO you get 8 months of 911 fees deducted off a new balance on a "prepaid" plan. "prepaid" means "prepaid". So you are saying the seller had it sitting unused for 8 months. Maybe the seller wasn't aware that it would accumulate 8 months of arrears. I sure wasn't aware of that being a possibility. Thought the card would be "dead".

mudskipper on 911 fee

Sat, 02 May 2009 00:53:07 -0700

bylo, hope you're not high on cheap smokes...
How can ANY card 8 months in arrears be activated?
Each card needs to be activated within 90 days (I believe) from purchase date. Even then, NO 911 fees will be deducted because the card was not used.
Sounds more like Leesburg left his/her cell phone unused for 8 months after having activated it earlier, used up her minutes until it was 0.01 cents balance (either she was out of country or was having another cell phone or just left it around unused for 8 months).
In which case, how can any 7-11 store know and then inform her that her 911 fees will be so and so.
I don't think any one love to be "interrogated" by the 7-11 clerk about how much balance we have left everytime we want to buy an SO card.
So please spare the "beef" with the clerk. The clerk is just the messenger selling only.
IF there is any beef, it's with SO... not the stores nor the sellers... the stores just follow orders from the top or they lose their franchise.

bylo on 911 fee

Fri, 01 May 2009 23:28:18 -0700

It sounds like whoever sold you that SIM either neglected to inform you that their card was 8 months in arrears of 911 fees. Your beef is with them, not with SO.

Leesburg on 911 fee

Fri, 01 May 2009 14:56:38 -0700

I just bought a Speakout SIM card, there was a balance of .01 on it. When I added a $25. prepaid card, instead of $25.01 I had just $16.59. When I called Customer Service, I was told that there was eight months of 911 fees owing. Have I lost this money or is there any way of trying to get it put back into the account?
Any advice would be appreciated.

bylo on 911 fee

Tue, 14 Apr 2009 11:12:13 -0700

just for your info: i do not have any relationship with VirginMobile...

Just for your info: that makes you eminently qualified to start The Unofficial VirginMobile Wireless Canada Consumer Page where you can freely extol the virtues of Viginity for all to read 😉

JENOM on 911 fee

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 22:15:16 -0700

Yes, you should think, before making BIG IMPORTANT statements, and generalizing everything and everybody, and specially before start calling people with NAMES !
(just for your info: i do not have any relationship with VirginMobile, such as i do not work for VirginMobile, i do not sell VirginMobile, i have/do/will not have a VirginMobile phone)

Big Ang on 911 fee

Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:59:26 -0700

My mistake.

I should have said "Most companies charge the monthly 911, and the few that don't just have higher per minute rates, or short expiry dates, or both".

Sure, Virgin doesn't charge the 911 fee, they just make more money per minute, and make you top up your phone much more often. Oh, and their long distance rates are higher as well.

So, yeah, Virgin doesn't charge the 911 fee. Way to look at the big picture, Virgin Fanboy!

jenom on 911 fee

Sun, 12 Apr 2009 16:13:41 -0700

Big Ang said:

Every company's prepaid plan charges a monthly 911 fee

Most of them does, but not ALL of them !
I am familiar with Virgin Mobile prepaid plans and they DO NOT charge 911 fee !

bylo on 911 fee

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 16:47:39 -0700

Is it true that you get debited each month $1 for 911?

No, the debit is only for 99Â¢ 😛

Nevertheless, it seems reasonable to me to pay ~$12/year for a phone number, phone service and 911 even if you don't make any phone calls. It must cost the cell carrier something to maintain your account regardless of how much or how little you actually use it.

basic on 911 fee

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 13:52:50 -0700

Yep its still a better deal for me, just making sure I know that I only have 152 minutes, not 200 as I thought.

Saturday on 911 fee

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:43:44 -0700

yes

Big Ang on 911 fee

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:43:30 -0700

Every company's prepaid plan charges a monthly 911 fee, which range from $.50 to over a dollar per month.

Speakout's monthly fee is a little higher than most others, but you have to look at all the fees you'll be paying. When you look at everything, Speakout comes out ahead.

basic on 911 fee

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 11:24:19 -0700

Is it true that you get debited each month $1 for 911? so a $50 card over 365 days is really a $38 card?