These days, pulse dialing costs more, because they have to stick an additional 'pulse to DTMF converter' on the front of the line before the call hits the DTMF-only switch. [This is not done] in Bell Canada Territory - they do the reverse, [and] filter out Touch-Tone if you are on a grandfathered rotary dial line.
Politically, however, it is a 'no sale' to try to charge a premium, now, for what was the 'basic' service -- over what was hyped for years, if not decades as the premium ('worth paying extra for') services.
- This is not the thought of the people at Bell Canada (Ontario & Quebec)
Quote from 2001
On June 1, 2001, Bell Canada filed a proposal with the CRTC to include the monthly charge for Touch-Tone service on all residential single-line customer bills - an initiative that would have added $2.80 per month to the bills of affected customers.
"After reviewing various ways in which to address our customers' concerns, we have decided to file to withdraw our proposal to standardize Touch-Tone service and, instead, we will continue to provide rotary dial service on the same basis as we have since 1993," Sheridan added. Bell's existing single line residential rotary dial and digit-pulse customers in Ontario and Quebec - numbering about 285,000 - will be able to keep their rotary phone service at no additional charge. For those choosing to switch to Touch-Tone, Bell is offering refurbished Touch-Tone telephones at a 30 per cent discount, allowing customers to take full advantage of the services.
http://*.bce.ca/en/news/releases/reg/2001/07/24/6243.html Fast forward to 2009...
Bell has grandfathered all rotary dial lines - if you dont move you dont have to pay the $2.80 a month for Touch-Tone, they put a filter on the line so that Touch-Tone will not dial out. If you move then Bell will start charging the $2.80 extra a month.
This was also featured in Readers Digest: