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I recently signed a three-year contract with Bell Canada and got a Samsung A640 phone with a built-in camera and Bluetooth. Samsung's Web site said I should be able to transfer images from my phone to my PC via Bluetooth, but I couldn't. A Bell Canada customer service rep told me that the company doesn't support this capability, and wasn't helpful when I asked about data cables for transferring the photos. According to the rep, I'd have to pay 50 cents per picture to upload them to the Web; then I could download them to my PC. How can Bell Canada get away with this behavior?

-Andrew MacDowell, Pincourt, Quebec

OYS Responds: Bell Canada's restriction on customers' use of Bluetooth isn't uncommon. You can always use Bluetooth on your cell phone to connect to a Bluetooth headset or hands-free kit, but it's up to your cell phone company to enable the use of Bluetooth phones as wireless modems or for syncing data wirelessly with a PC, and many (including Bell Canada) don't. But as the reader suspected, various third-party companies--such as Datapilot--will sell you a data cable and software for moving address books, photos, ring tones, and other data from your phone to your PC.

Bell Canada says that the cable and software will cost more than its phone image service--but that depends on how many photos you transfer over the lifetime of the phone. Either way, if you plan on moving photos off your cell phone, be sure to ask your carrier what your options are before you sign a contract. Newer, more-expensive phones generally have so-called side-loading features--the ability to move data to and from flash storage (built-in or in the form of removable memory cards)--so you may be able to dodge the image transfer charges that MacDowell ran into.