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Sorry, that is baloney. The surprise costs of using a cell phone have given the industry a bad name for many many years. Let's go back to the basics for starters. If the company computers can discern when a minute of cell phone time is billable (going beyond the purchased minute plan), the customer could certainly be told - in real time.. Why people can't be alerted when they are going over their plan is beyond me. Second, what about the simple(!) act of choosing a phone? You research, and research some more, but in the end, you are buying a pig in a poke because you can't really learn ahead of time how the phone behaves in terms of signal strength, call clarity, call volume, ring volume. OK, you can exchange the phone, but just one time. And you're out of luck getting out of the contract altogether.

    Moving on to data charges. The MB charges that Verizon is getting away with are the latest flimflam. Cell phone usage involves data, whether by voice, text or surfing. Verizon knows which data it will charge you extra for, but it won't give you reliable ways to avoid the charges. I personally resent, as a two-week Verizon customer, that a national access block will be required, crippling the MMS I am paying for, to make sure I don't have MB charges showing up on my bill without even a time and date of use supplied (and further, not obtainable from telephone customer support).

     I think this practice is sleazy, and VZW is making a lot of money off of it. And furthermore, if Mobile Web, VZ Navigator, and ringtone shopping costs money, can the customer have those capabilities removed from the phone? Of course not. My husband's Nokia Intrigue came out of the box with one of the shortcut arrow keys going right to Mobile Web; that default setting must be worth its own line item in Verizon's budget.

    VZW knows that ordinary everyday actions by customers will pour money onto the bottom line (with the added bonus that the customer won't even notice or bother fighting it). You shouldn't have to be an expert on the phone system to avoid unintended charges.

    I came to VZW from Sprint, which was extending contracts every time you said boo. VZW personnel I have dealt with have been a pleasure to deal with over all and I have no complaint there. 

    Rant over.