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'Take Back the Beep Campaign': Cell Phone Carriers Respond

by Thomas Houston on August 14, 2009 at 02:15 PM



David Pogue, New York Times tech writer extraordinaire, took to the Web two weeks ago in a campaign to force cell phone carriers to delete time-wasting, pre-voicemail instructions. Pogue writes that over 28,032 blogs have rallied behind the Take Back the Beep campaign, and "thousands and thousands" of complaints have been sent to Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. So, two weeks in, how have the cellular giants responded?

Sprint confirmed that it's possible to remove those instructions from its service, Verizon's mum on the whole subject, and T-Mobile responded to Pogue with a typically vague corporate statement: "We appreciate the feedback we've received from our customers, and these comments are being taken into consideration in our planning." AT&T said it would make some changes, and suggested it would "make Visual Voice Mail available on other devices."

If you haven't taken to the digital streets yet, or if you just want to reaffirm your commitment to the cause, Pogue's got instructions and contacts for making your voice heard. If this succeeds, maybe the momentum can be used to cut down on those absurd text-messaging rates. [From: New York Times via Engadget]

Tags: att, consumer rights, ConsumerRights, sprint, take back the beep, TakeBackTheBeep, tmobile, top, verizon, voicemail

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