New Voice And Messaging Alerts Will Help Customers Monitor And Manage Their Wireless Usage

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Verizon Wireless customers with limited monthly allowances for voice calls and messaging services will soon have a new tool to help them monitor and manage their usage. 

Starting in October, customers will begin receiving free, automatic text message and email alerts when they reach thresholds of 50, 75, 90, 100 and 105 percent of their domestic monthly voice and/or text, picture and video messaging allowances for a particular line.  Customers who prefer not to receive the new alerts can manage them with the online account management tool My Verizon through the My Usage section, which displays a visual tracker of voice, messaging and data usage.  The account management tool will enable customers to opt out of some or all of the alerts as well as add email addresses and Verizon Wireless phone numbers to receive notifications.  Customers on Share Everything plans with unlimited voice and text features will not receive these alerts.

CTIA – The Wireless Association^® announced in October 2011 wireless companies’ agreement to a standard set of guidelines for sending notifications to help wireless consumers manage their usage.  These “Wireless Consumer Usage Notification Guidelines,” which Verizon Wireless helped formulate, are designed to provide consumers free alerts to help prevent overages and potential additional charges for data, voice, messaging and international roaming services.  The company already provides alerts to customers about their domestic data usage and notifications when customers begin roaming in most international locations.

“Verizon Wireless has a long-standing commitment to provide customers with the right tools to manage and monitor their wireless lives,” said Marni Walden, chief operating officer of Verizon Wireless.  “For customers with monthly allotments for voice and messaging who need to keep close track of personal or family usage, these new alerts can be a valuable tool.  Of course, yet another advantage of our new Share Everything plans is that customers can sign up for unlimited voice and messaging services and can talk and text all they want without additional charges.”

The new voice and messaging alerts complement an already robust offering of account management tools provided to Verizon Wireless customers.  Those tools include:

• Data Usage Alerts – Customers on usage-based plans receive free text messages or email alerts when their data usage reaches certain thresholds.

• Phone Shortcuts – Customers can check their voice minutes used as well as text and data usage by dialing #MIN and #DATA, respectively, and pressing send from Verizon Wireless phones to receive a free text message with the information.

• My Verizon and My Verizon Mobile – Customers can monitor voice, text and data usage directly from their handsets via My Verizon Mobile or online through My Verizon.

• Usage Controls – Customers can set voice, messaging and data usage limits with text and/or email notifications when a subscribed line nears or reaches its limits; designate specific times of the day when a subscribed line should be restricted from calling, messaging or using data; and block 411, phone numbers or email addresses to prevent unwanted incoming/outgoing calls and text/picture/video messages. The Usage Controls service is available for $4.99/month per line. 

• Data Usage Calculator – Customers can learn about common features and activities that utilize data and determine estimated total monthly data usage using the Data Usage Calculator.

More information about usage management tools can be found at: http://support.verizonwireless.com/information/usage_tools.html.

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 94.2 million retail customers, including 88.8 million retail postpaid customers.  Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 78,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD).  For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com.  To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

####