science

System access fee

System access fee is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand System access fee rather than just read about it. In short: The system access fee is a non-governmental surcharge imposed by most Canadian telephone companies on their customers' monthly bills. Although it is normally charged for wireless services, Rogers Communications and the now-defunct Sprint Canada also charged its home phone customers a system access fee.

Key takeaways

System access fee belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect System access fee to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of System access fee from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The system access fee is a non-governmental surcharge imposed by most Canadian telephone companies on their customers' monthly bills. Although it is normally charged for wireless services, Rogers Communications and the now-defunct Sprint Canada also charged its home phone customers a system access fee. Price for the system access fee varies by carrier and date it was applied with Bell charging between Can$8.95 and $6.95. Rogers normally amounts to $6.95/month (the System Access Fee on Rogers Home Phone Services was $5.95/month, but has since been merged to the base price). For example, if a wireless plan has been advertised at $20/month, the customer subscribing to it would actually be paying an unadvertised rate of at least $26.95/month, excluding other fees and government taxes.

Government Regulatory Recovery Fee Since October 5, 2009, Rogers Wireless has increased the base cost of all of its monthly plans by $5, and also renamed their former System Access Fee to Government Regulatory Recovery Fee (GRRF). This fee currently ranges from $1.93 to $3.35, depending on the wireless service selected. Rogers clarifies in its fine print that the GRRF "is not a tax or charge the government requires Rogers to collect." In a press release issued by Virgin Mobile Canada (at the time a joint venture between Rogers' chief competitor Bell Canada and the Virgin Group), Virgin Group chairman Richard Branson, criticized Rogers' Government Regulatory Recovery Fee. On July 4, 2012, Rogers Wireless included the non-optional and non-governmental GRRF in the price for their monthly plans, such that the charge is no longer listed separately. Bell Mobility's monthly plans are similar to Rogers', so a $2 increase can be found on those plans if client does not subscribe to online billing.

Criticism The Canadian Government has required Canadian cellular carriers to make it clear that the SAF is not required for any regulatory or government purpose. As a result, the carriers claim that the system access fee covers network operation and maintenance costs. Some critics have argued that the SAF results in much price gouging and should simply be added to the advertised monthly fee instead of being a separate entity and that network upgrades and infrastructure maintenance are simply the costs of doing business. Thus, the monthly plan price point should already reflect that.

Class action lawsuit In 2006 a class action lawsuit was brought against the major carriers with respect to the System Access Fee. After an initial rejection, it was certified as class action on 7 September 2007 by the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan. Lawsuits in other provinces, such as British Columbia are also pending. The Supreme Court of Canada released a ruling on 28 June 2012 that it would not hear an appeal of the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan decision by the telecommunications companies.

References

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with System access fee

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what System access fee claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to System access fee before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about System access fee ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of System access fee

In research: System access fee appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses System access fee in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: System access fee is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Telecommunications in Canada, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for System access fee outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study System access fee in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what System access fee means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain System access fee out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is System access fee in simple terms?

Why does System access fee matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study System access fee?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on System access fee.