Carrier fees aren’t just affecting Remind users in Canada. In a few weeks, Verizon Wireless—the biggest phone carrier in the US—will be charging Remind a new fee that makes it impossible for us to continue offering text notifications as part of the free service we’ve provided to our users since 2011. Beginning on Monday, January 28, the more than 7 million Remind educators, students, and parents who have Verizon Wireless as their phone carrier will no longer receive text notifications for Remind messages. We’re extremely disappointed by this decision, but our priority is making sure that this transition goes as smoothly as possible for all of our users. If you haven’t already updated your account, please read through the information here so you can continue using Remind—it’ll take just a few minutes.
To provide text notifications free of charge, Remind has always paid for each text that users receive or send. Last year, we learned that Verizon would begin charging Remind an additional fee intended to reduce spam on its network. Your Remind messages aren’t spam, but our attempts to work with Verizon to find a solution haven’t been successful.As a result, the fee will increase our costs of supporting text messaging for Verizon Wireless customers by 11 times. By pushing the amount we pay annually into the millions of dollars, this makes it impossible for us to continue providing free text messaging for more than 7 million Remind users.
Beginning on January 28, anyone who has Verizon Wireless as their phone carrier will no longer receive free Remind text notifications. To get messages, they’ll need to enable smartphone or email notifications on Remind—both of which remain free to use.But this doesn’t resolve the issue for students and parents who might not have smartphones, data plans, or regular internet access. And because Verizon has more customers than any other carrier in the US, their decision won’t just negatively affect the millions of Remind users who have phones on their network: In the middle of the school year, nearly every teacher who uses Remind will have a parent or student who can no longer receive texts about school closures, schedule changes, homework assignments, and more.
If you’re a Verizon Wireless customer and currently receive Remind messages as texts, click here for instructions on how to enable smartphone or email notifications.Our team is working hard on a solution that allows users to receive text notifications no matter the phone carrier, and we’ll share the details before January 28. Additionally, text messaging will continue to be available for everyone in an organization with a Remind School and District plan.Meanwhile, we’ll keep fighting to make sure communication is accessible for educators, students, and parents everywhere. Here’s where we need your help: If using Remind has made a positive impact in your classroom, at your school, or anywhere in between, please ask Verizon to reverse the fee here: www.remind.com/verizon-feeWe’re incredibly grateful for your support, and we’ll share an update very soon.
