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So maybe this is it.

Maybe, just maybe, the recent consumer outrage over Rogers's initial, ludicrously expensive iPhone plans – and the equally vociferous public ire over Telus's and Bell's announcements of a 15-cent charge for every incoming text message, spam or not, for customers without a plan – is the precursor to rioting in the streets.

If so, let the melee begin.

Just imagining who will pour into the streets, angrily holding their cellphones aloft in one hand and a sign in the other – “I'm mad about my cell and I'm not going to take it any more” – sparks a fight-back frisson of immense satisfaction in me.

I can see it now. All those teens and twentysomethings who really don't think twice about communicating by cellphone – but who are looking at eventually having to pay for that pleasure themselves – will be there.

And leading the protest will be all their parents. We're the ones, of course, who bought into every mushy, manipulative ad warning us our families could not stay safe and in touch without cellphones.

We teared up over early ads that showed a grown daughter driving away from her parents' house in the dark (ooh, scary) with the underlying message that she's a lot safer with a cellphone.

We even smiled in misty recognition at a recent ad showing a father texting his daughter as she stands only metres away from him, in cap and gown, ready to receive her diploma: “I'm proud of you,” Dad texts his daughter. Aw, so sweet.

Well, not at a bloody 15 cents it isn't.

They say there's a sucker born every minute, but who knew those minutes could be so expensive?

I wonder if there's any family left who hasn't had this experience: You diligently research a phone plan with one of the major companies. You get a low-grade migraine working your way through an analysis of your family's cellphone needs.

You eventually settle on what you think is the most cost-efficient way to be a modern cellphone-using family. And then, whack

The bill arrives. It's $300 So you call the phone company and, if you can stomach the wait, you get a representative who, ignoring your frantic tone of voice, coolly points out how it was all your fault for not getting a better plan, and then talks you into an even more expensive upgrade.

I met someone who works for one of the major telecom companies – in the cellphone marketing division – who admitted to me, in a whisper, that she refused to let her kids have cells because it was getting to be so expensive.

So maybe the consumer gumption is finally building. There's no question people are beginning to question the cost of being connected – especially in this country, which has higher cellphone rates than many others.

Some of my friends and family members who used to talk freely on their cells are trying to redefine it as something you use in an emergency and not, say, to tell your friend you've just seen the shoes she wanted.

When I called my sister-in-law recently long-distance on her cell to ask her something I deemed very important, she didn't bite: “I'll call you when I get home,” she said firmly. For a few seconds I was stunned, and then I admired her – at least she was trying to cut back.

But we are talking about one of the fastest growing addictions that our society has ever fallen prey to.

The cellphone is to the land-line telephone what crack is to cocaine: a far speedier high that, once you start using, is impossible to imagine ever being without again.

Even Industry Minister Jim Prentice, when calling the phone companies on the carpet to at least explain their text messaging fee hike, said his family would be adversely affected because they use texting to stay in touch.

According to news reports, Mr. Prentice said he had no desire to interfere with the business decisions of the companies, but he has a duty to protect the interests of consumers.

He is also protecting his political interests by at least questioning the texting fees. Because he doesn't have to ask for whom the cellphone flap tolls: Consumers want price protection, they want fair rates, they want to finally and fully understand how and why cellphones in Canada are so expensive.

Of course, it's what consumers don't want that's music to a cellphone company's ears: They don't want to ever have to give them up.