Discussions

I have an MTS cell phone. In the past, I used to have a Smart phone, but found it to be cumbersome and a waste of money. I just want a cell phone, and to be able to text once in a blue moon.  
 
Last month I received a 100 kB media message last month on my phone and a $7.49 charge showed up on my bill. I did not ask this friend to send the video, but it came through. There is no option not to download the message, no way to screen it, and no way to not get charged. The sender of this message will also get dinged for $7.49 for sending the message (unless they have media messaging included in their package).  
 
Thus, after receiving my bill, I phoned MTS and asked MTS to stop all incoming media messaging coming to my phone. They say they can't. The CSR then gave me the following options:  
- The CSR recommended me to tell my friends not to send the media texts (after the fact...). I said I can't control my friends, I cannot control people other than my friends, and cannot control people other than my friends, or wrong number texts.  
- She recommded me upgrading from my $15 talk 'n text pack to some other $20 pack that had unlimited media testing. This is a whole $5 per month to protect myself from the off chance that someone feels like sending a media message that I DON"T WANT IN THE FIRST PLACE, and cannot decline before receiving.  
- And lastly she stated that MTS protects it's customers, as the maximum additional charges one will receive from MTS for media messaging in a month is $50. Wow, thanks MTS...  
 
I told the CSR that this is totally unacceptable. If MTS does not have the technology to stop these messages, I should not be charged for their system's issues.  
 
So in the end what's stopping me from paying the $5 for the upgraded pack, and then sending a 150 kB message to every MTS customer out there that I don't know, and costing every user $10 per cell phone. I could do that 5 times in a month, and send out whatever propaganda I want (be it politcal, anti-MTS, regious, etc). And everyone would be up in arms, as they'd get charged $10 per message just for receiving it.  
 
Is this policy the same for other cell phone providers????  
 
 
End of rant....  
 
As I type this, I just received another media message from another "friend"... 86 kB. There goes another $6.52 ($.50 for the message and $0.07 per kB).