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I thought this might be helpful to those of you across the pond:
David Pogue has launched a campaign he is calling “Take Back the Beep,” an effort to bring public pressure on the major American cell phone carriers to make optional the time-wasting messages you have to listen to before you can leave someone a message on their mobile phone.
The time-wasting messages he is referring to are likely familiar to you if you know anyone with a mobile phone:
* Sprint: “[Phone number] is not available right now. Please leave a detailed message after the tone. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press pound for more options.”
* Verizon: “At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press 1 for more options. To leave a callback number, press 5. (Beep)”
* AT&T: “To page this person, press five now. At the tone, please record your message. When you are finished, you may hang up, or press one for more options.”
* T-Mobile: “Record your message after the tone. To send a numeric page, press five. When you are finished recording, hang up, or for delivery options, press pound.”
According to Mr. Pogue, cell phone executives have admitted to him that these messages are there to deliberately waste time, consuming cell phone minutes in the process in an effort to increase what the industry calls Average Revenue Per User (ARPU).
Some of those messages are as long as 15 seconds, and, he wrote, “If Verizon’s 70 million customers leave or check messages twice a weekday, Verizon rakes in about $620 million a year. That’s your money. And your time: three hours of your time a year, just sitting there listening to the same message over and over again every year.”
Mr. Pogue also noted that Apple demanded from AT&T that iPhone owners not have those messages attached to their iPhone accounts, for which we can thank Apple.
Thanks, Apple.
For the rest of AT&T’s customers, and for the other carriers, Mr. Pogue’s idea is that we, the mobile-phone using public, demand that time back, and do so via a public-pressure campaign with the carriers themselves. He contacted them to get contact information for this campaign, and provided the following links:
* Verizon: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/FJncH
* AT&T: Send e-mail to Mark Siegel, executive director of media relations: [email protected]
* Sprint: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/9CmrZ
* T-Mobile: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/2rKy0u
If you want to Take Back the Beep, do your part.
David pogue posts this tip:
STEP ONE. Press 1. If it’s Sprint, you get the beep, and you’re done. If you hear an error recording, go on:
STEP TWO. Press *. If it’s Verizon, you get the beep. If not:
STEP THREE: Push #. You get the beep for T-Mobile or Cingular.
You have to pause after each one, and you have to keep listening. But it’s one small way to fight back. Remember: One Star Pound.
Phone companies are the biggest crooks in the business world, with all their false charges, fees, taxes, etc. Billing for services never requested or used, etc.
Cingular is the same as AT&T now, right?
mezonos maven- what is the point of that post except to incite anger at a business that getting angry at wont do much? If you dont like it, dont use a cell phone! For centuries people have lived fine and well without it. Be quiet or throw in the cell phone.
I sent an e-mail to AT&T and got back a generated e-mail that says the fellow to whom I sent it is out of town or something like that and to call back in a week, or some such notice. I never stopped to think of this and had no idea this is counteed towards our minutes.
havesome: If you have issues with car companies, do you revert to horse and buggy? If you have issues with the government, do you no longer utilize government services? Or do you complain?
1) who is david pogue
2) for mezonos maven- for gov. we have the choice of whom to vote for. And when we complain, we have a chance at helping change the system. One more disgruntled person can change who they were planning on voting for. For the car companies or cell phone companies, we can send in a letter of complaint, but posting it here wont help, unless you are inviting others to do the same (you werent, the original poster was) to try to change the system. Car and phone companies dont really care that much- they dont have to be re-elected…. change companies!
3) is ATAT and Cingular the same???
David Pogue is a technology columnist for the new york times.
seichel, yes. AT&T took over cingular.
thank you Jothar and mepal.
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