Remind is now part of the ParentSquare family! See the announcement for details
Remind is now part of the ParentSquare family! See the announcement for details
Blog
January 7, 2019
 • By 
Remind

Help keep communication accessible for Canadian teachers, students, and parents

News

At the end of 2018, we confirmed that Rogers and Bell—the two biggest telecoms in Canada—would be charging Remind new fees that make it impossible for us to continue supporting text messaging for their customers. As a result, text messaging on Remind will no longer be available for users who have wireless plans with Rogers, Bell, or any of their subsidiaries as of Monday, January 28.We’re extremely disappointed by this outcome, but our priority is making sure this transition goes as smoothly as possible for the nearly 1 million educators, students, and parents affected by the telecoms’ decision. If you’re using Remind in Canada and haven’t already taken steps to prepare your account, please take a minute to read through the details here—we promise to make it as short as we can.

How the telecom fees affect text messaging on Remind

To offer our text messaging service free of charge, Remind has always paid for each text that users receive or send. Now, Rogers and Bell are charging Remind additional fees intended for companies that send spam over their networks. The messages you send and receive via Remind aren’t spam, but our efforts to resolve the issue with the telecoms haven’t been successful despite months of negotiation.Together, the Rogers and Bell fees increase Remind’s costs of supporting SMS in Canada to at least 25X our current cost. This isn’t financially feasible for us to support, and it’s forcing us to end Remind text messaging for everyone who has a wireless plan on the Rogers and Bell networks.

The impact on Remind users in Canada

Beginning on January 28, parents and students in Canadian classes who normally get Remind texts will no longer receive messages if they have wireless plans with Rogers, Bell, or their respective subsidiaries. (For a full list of carriers on the Rogers and Bell networks, click here.)Because Rogers and Bell are the biggest telecoms in Canada, their decision will affect more than just their customers: it will negatively impact hundreds of thousands of Canadian educators, parents, and students. Nearly every teacher who uses Remind will have a parent or student who can suddenly no longer receive their messages about homework assignments, schedule changes, or school closures—resulting in millions of missed opportunities to support student success and a new communication gap.

What you can do

If you currently receive Remind text messages and have a wireless plan with Rogers, Bell, or one of the carriers on their networks, you can download the mobile app or enable email notifications. Our team’s also working hard on a solution that allows classes to continue to use Remind by text, and we’ll share more details soon.In the meantime, we’ll keep fighting to make sure Canadian educators, students, and parents have access to effective communication. To do this, we need your help: If using Remind has made a positive impact in your classroom, at your school, or anywhere in between, please ask Rogers and Bell to reverse the fee here: www.remind.com/canada-carrier-feesWe’re very grateful for your support, and we hope to have an update for you soon.