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wow, in the U.S you have to pay for received messages?
Sounds like the stupidest thing ever. The possibility of spam never crossed anyones mind?
Also 20 cents would be borderline illegal here for messages sent.
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I've heard of this problem before; a few of my friends and family members would occasionally get spam texts. I even got one once or twice. Fortunately, the problem didn't persist (although I have no idea why not, because telemarketers certainly never stop calling our house...), and we also have unlimited text plans (we use our cell phones *a lot*) so we weren't being charged anything extra anyway.
As far as your specific circumstance goes, I'm not really sure how to resolve the issue, considering even Verizon can't solve it. Changing your number wouldn't guarantee that spammers can't find your new number anyway. Blocking all texts would probably end up being an inconvenience in the end, for those few times you actually want to send or receive a text from someone you know. And being pressued into signing up for unlimited texts just so you can avoid these few small charges is like sawing off your leg just because your toe has a blister 
I guess as long as you can keep reminding Verizon not to charge you for these specific texts (which is, as I'm sure you know, going to be a pain in ass... since they'll probably *conveniently forget* from time to time), then that's probably your best option. I don't know of a way to get rid of spammers though.
Best of luck with this!
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United States24666 Posts
Verizon told me I have to pay for the spam myself. Btw the spam is coming from an @aim.com email accordeing to my phone... maybe I should contact aim?
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That couldn't hurt, as they might be able to contact the sender and demand you be taken off whatever list you're apparently on. Not to say that'll guarantee that it stops, but at least it's being pro-active about the situation 
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Just threaten to leave verizon every bill you get that has spam texts that they charge you for. (assuming you are not under contract and subject to an ETF). It is illegal to be spammed on a cell phone unless they have previous business with you.
The spam is coming from a computer, so there should be an option for blocking all texts from computer sources. Otherwise it should have an opt out code or whatever in it to opt out of their shit. I'm sure there are websites with this informations just like the national do not call registry (you might sign up for that anyways while you're at it).
At the very least, what are the spams? Are you able to respond and contact a person? You can try that and get removed that way.
ps- your phone actually has an email address. Its usually like 5551234678@myverizon.net or something along those lines. You might be able to block all email messages to it? Or just block MMS or SMS or something.
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i thought kakaotalk took over normal text message, since it is free, both in price and spams.
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We pay more for sending texts here on prepaid (I think it's about 29c), but we don't pay anything for receiving, that's just the companies double dipping. It makes as little sense as internet plans here that count uploads as downloads - just greedy.
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My GF is from the US and comparing her phone deal to mine is ridiculous. She's on bill pay for something like $45/month and even then only gets a limited number of free calls/texts. I buy €20 credit for a month and get free calls and texts that month, then the actual credit lasts me for another month so I end up paying about €10/month.
Text spam is annoying but over here the spammers are obliged to have an opt-out mechanism at least. Usually you reply to the text with 'Unsub' or something similar. While calls can have hidden numbers, texts can't. Also paying just to receive texts is probably illegal in every country outside the US 
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that souds really expensive.... i pay 25 euros for my contract and can surf as much as i want ( <3 my TL.net app ), text and call to every person who shares the same provider with me ( like 95% of my friends ) and call as much as i want into the german fixed network ( i hope u know what i mean... donkt know the exact translation and thats what google told me :D )
for a texting into other providers networks i pay 19cent ( but most of the time i just use whats app or icq/fb app to text them ) and when i call into other providers networks i pay also 19cent/min ( i barely call people who arnt on my provider. )
i think 25 euro is pretty cheap :D
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ALLEYCAT BLUES50114 Posts
you have to pay to recieve texts?LOL thats the most retarded thing ever!
I pay 50 paisa for sending texts,thats like free in the US(0.01 USD)
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lol oh wow, and i thought my phone plan was bad...
I pay $45 p/m for unlimited text/calls to any number/network in australia + free international texting + 500mb(?) internet usage. And another $6 per month for the phone itself or something.
Then again, we get buggered because of our shitty internet structure lol. So fair trade I guess.
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I never even thought about that. I have unlimited so i didn't consider paying to receive spam. I wonder if there is a way to handle this. Like have something set up with Verizon so that you block certain call center numbers?
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I know my sprint network sucks but it is nice knowing i dont have to worry about any kind of payments for data usage or recieving messages and what not. Everything is unlimited for me.
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I had the same problem before I had an unlimited but I wasn't charged unless I actually opened the text message.
Wouldn't it be the same with your carrier?
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this has been a fear of mine every time I give out my cell number. I'm just like you where I have no texting plan, with no desire to get one, and only receive a few texts a month. It is just another reason why the U.S. is silly. Honestly, I don't know of a good solution. The best thing you can do right now is keep bugging and complaining to Verizon about the spam and see if they actually do something about it. Unlikely but better than nothing. Hopefully someone here knows of a real solution though.
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It's definitely not just you, I had this happen to me a few years ago and it was annoying as shit. Did the same thing you did, called them up to complain and get my money back. Anyway, I also started getting random solicitation calls on my phone too so I registered my number onto the Do Not Call list, and surprisingly I have gotten a lot less spam since then. It's not zero (grumble grumble..) but it's wayy better than it used to be.
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Wow this thread is depressing. My phone bill is $140/mo for two lines - AFTER a 20% corporate discount with Verizon. This is for the most basic package offered in my area, plus some grandfathered features (I pay $10/mo for unlimited web/text/etc, as opposed to $30/mo for the new plans). I also only get 500 minutes shared between both lines.
Anyway, for the text spam you should be able to block it. If you go to https://login.verizonwireless.com/amserver/UI/Login and sign in you can see a list of all your received messages. Even if it doesn't show up on your phone there will be some form of sender ID on there that you can then block. Probably something like 384234324@aim.com
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You should call them again, and if they don't fix it, tell them you'll take your business somewhere else. They'll likely do something reasonable to help you at that point. Or, you could go to a Verizon store. Preferably one of those kiosks they have at malls. They tend to be more helpful than the phone support.
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EPT
