Starting... GAH! YESTERDAY! Bell has doubled the cost per use of their public pay phones to 50 cents. Their main concern is the growing number of cellphone users being the cause of shrinking profits. A few years ago Bell was ripping phone booths outta the ground due to their lack of usage so perhaps we're all just afraid of gettin' cooties.

This is pretty much a non-issue for me and the millions of other cell phone users that are currently damning Bell's profit margins, but for a lot of low income families as well as those holding out (how can anyone resist that LG Chocolate?) this increase will most certainly be a pain in their collective asses. Also, public phones are an excellent help during non-911 emergency situations, situations where going through the operator to setup a reverse charged call can cause some seriously unwanted delays.

Bell's allowed to increase the rate because the CRTC gave permission to all public phone companies to increase their rates by a maximum of 25 cents, and recently approved Bell's request to do so. It should be noted that only Bell has increased their rates. Telus brand public phones are still a solid 25 cents per ring-a-ding. What we need is a Google Map of Telus' pay phone locations so, if we so please, can shaft Bell up the bum with even lower profits for their next fiscal year. What do you think about the whole increase, does this affect you deeply or are you currently too busy texting your friend to care?

EDIT: Huzaa for editors! This news was posted a few weeks ago. Still, a friendly reminder to be pissed at Bell can't hurt. -Ry C.

Photo from Photendo's Day on the Danforth set