MacDailyNews - Where Mac news comes first

that I am first to call them "Thieves."

Nov 13, 09 - 01:08 pm Comment from: Tiger Leopard

That is f-ed up. Whistleblowers unite!

Nov 13, 09 - 01:17 pm Comment from: iQuack

Sorry to hear that AT&T;is doing this same thing with the downloads. So happy I have an iPhone where this is a non-issue, and on the AT&T;network where I can check my email while I deal with a caller.

Nov 13, 09 - 01:28 pm Comment from: HMCIV

I wondered why my new Android phone had a separate $ button on it. Problem now is the plastic keypad is stuck in the down position so it keeps pressing $ repeatedly.

Customer support says they should have the problem looked into within a week.

Nov 13, 09 - 01:31 pm Comment from: Predrag

I have had the same accident happen to me many times. Sony-Ericsson phones (of which I have used five) have their "MediaNET" button (This is on AT&T's flavour of the phones) on the front face. In addition, they have several choices on the main menu that take you online.

This is an insidious scam of massive proportions that totally merits some congressional/senate investigation.

Wow, that's low, really low. Someone needs a $1B fine.

"This fee drops slowly over time ($10 a month), but after two years, it’s still $110."

Wrong! Once your contract expires at the end of the contractual period, there is no $110 fee to cancel your Verizon service. David Pogue should do his research instead of peddling blatant lies.

It's called an Early Termination Fee for a reason. They can't charge you $110 to leave after your contract is finished. Leave the day before your two-year or one-year contract expires and THEN it's $110. Or you could always buy the phone at full retail and have no contract at all.

Nov 13, 09 - 01:46 pm Comment from: HolyMackerel

Buy your iPhone as PAYG dummies - higher cost up front but way less cost over time and data plan is included. Even if you move to another phone or carrier there are no termination fees.

Even with the iPhone, you have to call and tell ATT to block text messages to avoid getting a 20 cent fee every time a random bozo decides to send you one. There should be a setting on the phone itself to disable incoming text messages so you can enable it at your convenience if you wish.

Text messages - WTF - it's a phone, it's a computer. Call or email me. Nobody, nowhere, no how needs to instantly contact me, especially for an added fee for a service that transfers far less data than an email or phone call.

Nov 13, 09 - 01:53 pm Comment from: MrMcLargeHuge

I have Verizon, and this happens to me every month as well. The most ridiculous thing is that I have data blocked on my plan, yet every month I am still on the phone getting charges removed.

Nov 13, 09 - 02:02 pm Comment from: Mac-nugget

Yes, ATT does exactly that. The phone I used to have before getting my first iPhone did this exact same thing. It's crap.

Nov 13, 09 - 02:02 pm Comment from: blah blah blah...

This why I dropped verizon. Always Fighting for those overcharges with a data plan. Yeah they really f'ed my bills up. It was never the same month after month. Problem was solved when I moved to iPhone.

Nov 13, 09 - 02:04 pm Comment from: Beowulf

An easy fix for this problem (and it is a BIG problem) is to move your quick keys to do something else. I did this as soon as I got charged the 1.99 the first time. Just because the quick key might have an icon on it doesn't mean that you can't program it to do something else. So, I changed all of my quick key actions to start either the calendar, calculator or alarm clock. So now, I have to drill down into the menus to get to the web browsers or any of that other data using stuff. Worked for me. Verizon should just have it that way to start...thats where the real problem sits.

Nov 13, 09 - 02:11 pm Comment from: Amorstus

@R2
dude, calm down and quit harping in people. What he is saying is that there is a $110 fee down to the last day. He very well knows the once your contract ends, you can leave without a penalty. Oh, and someone better not dare turn this comment section into a political battle! That pisses me off more than anything else here...

I thought government can't do anything right?

Can I get an AMEN!?

Nov 13, 09 - 02:23 pm Comment from: Journo

Hey MDN,

I've been visiting this site daily for many years, so I'm curious where exactly MDN stated that "the government can't do anything right." Link, please?

I have the same probelm with my Centro on Sprint. I kept it as a backup to my iphone but I get clobbered with inadvertant data charges and theres no way to turn the data off.. I hate SPRINT the people in their stores are liars and scammers also. I went there to change my plan , they made the wrong change and I got stuck with an extra month of their stupid charges cause of their mistake. If i didnt need to keep old number active a little while longer I'd leave them flat..I would never use Sprint again even if they had the iPhone

Telstra in Australia does the same thing. But they have an even bigger scam - they charge you for expensive phone services, especially ringtone subscriptions, which you have never subscribed to. When they recycle a phone number, the subscriptions are left in place and start to appear on your bill, even though you may never have heard of the company providing the service. If you complain, Telstra advise you to contact the provider, and that is not always easy to do, and they are often reluctant to cancel the subscription. The only way to avoid the charges is to refuse to pay the bill and switch to another telco.

Speaking of scams, I don't know if anyone else sees the Google ads on these pages for 'a mom's simple trick for white teeth' (if you haven't seen it here, you'll have seen it on other pages).

Don't be suckered. The trick simply boils down to mixing two 'free' sample whiteners. Except they aren't free. You get charged a few dollars for shipping but they secretly sign you up for a repeat scheme in the small print and hike the cost up to nearly 200 dollars a month. Apparently it's difficult to get out of and they've even been known to take money out of accounts after cancellations have been made.

Nov 13, 09 - 02:50 pm Comment from: silverwarloc

That has happened to me with my wife's non-iPhone with ATT. However, ATT always refunded back the money they took. Never had a problem with this.

you can't get the iphone payasyougo. it's on contract or nothing. and even if you had an old fully paid phone that someone gave you, ATT still makes you go for the monthly

MDN, your take, and your suggested remedy, are right on the money. But it will never happen, because these big bad boys own the regulatory agencies.

pogue is right it is wacked. so what that they drop the $110 if you wait one day after the end of your contract. if you are one day before you are hosed. they claim that you are repaying that amount, which they put upfront for the phone for you, over time.

well $350 over 24 months is $14.58, not $10. and $14.58 is how much it should go down every month. so that if you quit one day before the contract ends, you haven't paid the last $14.58 on your phone so pay up.

with Verizon's math and reasoning,you not only paid off the phone but they get a nice extra amount off of you. not cool.

Nov 13, 09 - 03:08 pm Comment from: auramac

Had the same problem with Sprint regarding being charged for text messages I didn't even receive! After I complained a few times, asking them to be blocked, I had no use for texting, I received complimentary texting. I still don't use it.

R2, @R2 is correct, you just don't know when your pants are being pulled down. I have been reading Pogue for 15 years. I have not found him to be a liar.

Nov 13, 09 - 03:47 pm Comment from: qka

@ Beowulf

Read the article. It mentions that these keys CANNOT be reprogrammed, for the very reason that they are such a lucrative scam.

Nov 13, 09 - 04:06 pm Comment from: NCIceman

Remember those early iPhone bills that were 200 pages long? That was a glimpse into how they track data for these types of devices. It's one of the ways they sell you on the unlimited plans, to scare you with nickel and dime charges if you don't get it. They do the same thing with text message plans.

Nov 13, 09 - 05:16 pm Comment from: MacSmiley

I told my daughter (V cust) about this yesterday and she basically shrugged her shoulders, like, 'so what?' until I told her that people are getting charged $1.99 for the alert message they get even *after* they've voluntarily blocked their access to the web (since reprogramming is evidently not an option).

I think Verizon knows people expect to be ripped off and won't bother do much about it.

Nov 13, 09 - 05:26 pm Comment from: MacSmiley

BTW, since ATT is not yet set up in SD, I've been happy with Sprint's $$ practices.

I was never charged for an a browser alert message back on my Samsung 8500 2G phone (when browsing ate into the minutes plan).

Five years later, when my Samsung bit the dust, and I replaced it with a Sanyo on the original Sprint Vision network, data costs were a few cents by the kilobit, not by the MB. Even then, flat rate access was $15, which transferred over to my Palm Centro and now includes unlimited SMS text messages.

I have to give Sprint credit for not gouging its customers.

Apple needs to become their own wireless ISP. Forget AT&T;and Verizon.

Nov 13, 09 - 06:50 pm Comment from: theloniousMac

Does Obama know about this? Nancy should start working on the Wireless Reform Bill NOW!

I can just see it. Waaaavy dream sequence starts here....

Millions, no tens of millions of Americans don't have smart phones. The new Wireless Equality Act of 2009 will provide phones for all Americans.

The new public option will supply Americans in need of wireless with a competitive Government designed instrument.

See: http://www.gdc4s.com/content/detail.cfm?item=32640fd9-0213-4330-a742-55106fbaff32

By avoiding frivolous features such as GPS, App stores, etc., the Federal Government (your friend) will be able to usher in a new era of wireless egalitarianism.

Those not wishing to purchase the public option are free to continue their existing plans but an additional tax on those luxury plans (in addition to all existing taxes on wireless service) will be added.

Individuals opting to have no wireless service at all will pay a fine.

To manage this a new government agency, The OWE, Office of Wireless Efficacy, will work closely with the IRS to gather the necessary revenue to support this program.

Only those Americans making over $500,0000 per year will be taxed an additional 1% to pay for OWE cellular devices.

Nov 13, 09 - 07:02 pm Comment from: hardmanb

I got a new AT&T;phone, which I use ONLY for phone calls. In the first week, I noticed that inadvertently, my imprecise button-pushing kept getting connected to the web, so I took it in a nearby AT&T;store and asked them to disable web access.

They said people often did this, especially for phones for their kids, and cheerfully disabled web access, and showed me how to do it for myself.

No problem.

Nov 13, 09 - 10:10 pm Comment from: Brau

It goes farther that just "bogus" download fees. Ever notice Apple's Safari *does not* have the most obvious feature - to open with a blank page?? The moment you open Safari you are being hit with data fees before you even begin your new search. Every time you begin a search you get charged twice to load the same site you left off your last search with. To get around this, I'm forced to open a second (blank) page and delete the first one to avoid automatically being charged data fees when I'm out and about - an unwelcome and laborious task.

I ended my 2 year contract with Verizon before moving to the iPhone. Customer Service asked why I was terminating. When I told them it was for the iPhone the rep said "we've had a lot of those lately" so it's no surprise that they are retaliating on their own customers.

Nov 14, 09 - 03:45 am Comment from: DX

Thank goodness for "iPhone-era" data plans. Vodafone AU screwed up their original 3G launch by giving out iPhones and still charging them with the old data rates. I got a call from them saying don't worry if you get a TWO THOUSAND DOLLAR BILL in the mail, it's happened to lots of customers and we're reversing the charges. Accounting must've hated seeing all that go.

uhh... wtf are you talking about?

On the iPhone you get unlimited data... so... you shouldn't have to worry about it, it's the same $30 every month...
On a computer perhaps using a mobile broadband device to tether to, you can change the Safari preference in the 'preferences' menu option to open new windows with a blank page.

Apple isn't screwing you, it's ok.

Your point is dissolved.

they all suck.

Verizon and ATT don't provide phone service, they provide profits.

MDN word - poor Which is why we're all poor and they are all rich.

87-million customers, 3 times a month, 1 year, $2 per fraud, $6-billlion a year.

How is this not fraud on a Madoff scale? Throw 'em in jail!

Nov 14, 09 - 02:52 pm Comment from: The Other Steve

@R2

I think we all got what Pogue was saying, and David makes a good point!

Even worse are the sales people who sell you a GoPhone and tack an iPhone data charge to that account hopping you don't notice. (As I've wrote here before, it happened to my kids, more than once)

Nov 14, 09 - 08:52 pm Comment from: Cubert

Yeah well fck Verizon ! I had them for years. And it did nothing but suck ass!