Verizon Blames School Text Provider In Dispute Over 'Spam' Fee

Last week, Ars Technica reported that Verizon's new 'spam' fee for texts sent from teachers to students might stop working on the network because of a dispute over texting fees that Verizon demanded from Remind, the company that operates the service. Now, it appears that Verizon 'has backed down from its original position slightly, and ongoing negotiations could allow the free texting service to continue,' reports Ars. From the report: As we reported Monday, the dispute involves Verizon and Remind, which makes a communication service used by teachers and youth sports coaches. Verizon is charging an additional fee, saying the money will be used to fund spam-blocking services. The fee would increase Remind's costs for sending texts to Verizon users from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million dollars per year, Remind said. Remind said it would absorb the cost in order to continue providing the paid version of its service. But most of Remind's 30 million users rely on the free version of the service, and Remind said it could no longer provide free text message notifications over Verizon's network unless the fee is reversed.

Verizon issued an announcement today, titled 'App provider Remind threatens to eliminate a free texting service for K-12 education organizations (which will cost it nothing).' The title reflects a new offer Verizon said it made on Tuesday, which would reverse the fee for K-12 users of the free Remind service. 'Verizon will not charge Remind fees as long as they don't begin charging K-12 schools, educators, parents and students using its free text message service,' Verizon said. 'Despite this offer, made Tuesday, Remind has not changed its position that it will stop sending free texts to Verizon customers who use the service regarding school closures, classroom activities and other critical information.' The report goes on to note that simply limiting the offer to K-12 users means the fee 'would still be charged for preschools, day-care centers, and youth sports coaches who use the free Remind service.'

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