Rogers Voluntarily Lowers Phone Security:

I was phoned the other day and had some account details read back to me, and this is how conversation proceeded.

Rep: Also letting you know that at the end of July Rogers will now be charging for incoming text messages that are outside of your My5 plan.
Me: Wait, I’m now going to be charged for INCOMING texts??
Rep: That is correct sir.
Me: So you’re lowering the security of my phone willingly?
Rep: What do you mean?
Me: Well, anyone I don’t know could technically add me to their My5, and send me hundreds of unwanted text messages, and I would be charged for them.
Rep: *Silence* Well, you would have to phone up about that and we would launch an investigation into the matter.
Me: So if I am attacked, because you lower the security of my phone, I have to deal with all the hassle of phoning you, and then wait for you to launch an investigation to see what you can do?
Rep: That is correct.
Me: That is entirely unacceptable
Rep: I am not sure why Rogers is doing this, but all of our competitors are doing it.
Me: So you’re actually lowering your standard of service to that of your competitors?
Rep: *Silence* Unfortunately yes
Me: So you are actually lowering your standard of service to that of your competitors, lowering the security of my phone, and opening me to possible attacks.
Rep: Unfortunately yes, you can get an additional plan for $3 that has unlimited incoming texts.
Me: I’m not paying for security I used to get for free, which you removed. I do not need unlimited incoming texts as I do not use them often, but you are opening me to attack.

*The conversation continues a little longer talking about how the contract has been changed without authorization etc.*

So in reality Rogers is willingly and knowingly opening a security hole in their system which could end up costing their users tons of money after an attack, and their reason? Because their competition does it… So Rogers, which used to provide a decent service, is now lowering their standards to what everyone else is doing. While other companies are actually trying to improve their service, Rogers is lowering it to what everyone else is doing. This is sort of the wrong direction don’t you think?

After talking with a TELUS representative I actually received good answers to the questions I asked about this kind of security breach, something I could never expect from a Rogers representative. TELUS actually said they have/were improving a system where members could forward the spammed text message to an automated system for review and have it automatically removed from the bill. Where-as Rogers would rather have me searching my bill for any inconsistency and then phoning up, waiting on hold, and reporting every instance of spam I get, just to get an investigation started. This from other experiences can last up to months.