Marco.org

Verizon and I haven’t had a great history with data-plan billing. Every time I get a new data device or change its plan, they find a way to screw something up.

This time, they’ve allowed my MiFi to receive (and bill me for) an incoming text message. A text message that the MiFi, and indeed any Verizon data-only modem or similar device, isn’t capable of receiving or displaying to me in any way.

It’s ridiculous that their systems permit devices incapable of text messaging from having this service enabled. But since it’s Verizon, the company that intentionally made millions in extra profit by artificially lengthening the voicemail bumpers, it wouldn’t surprise me if this is malicious. I’m going to pay this extra 20 cents for nothing, and so will everyone else whose data modems get spammed with occasional text messages, since it’s not worth calling them and complaining and risking the further breakage of my plan. (Trust me, they’ll screw it up somehow if they touch it. They always do.)

I’ve been using Verizon data service for about six years, and I always get the impression from their systems, billing, and customer-service reps that I’m the first person to use or ask about any of these things.