Pogue says ‘beep the cell carriers’

And he’s right. Who hasn’t drummed her fingers waiting for the annoying message to end so that one can leave a message on someone’s phone?

The Mandatory 15-Second Voicemail Instructions
By DAVID POGUE

Last week, in The Times and on my blog, I’ve been ranting about one particularly blatant money-grab by U.S. cellphone carriers: the mandatory 15-second voicemail instructions.

Suppose you call my cell to leave me a message. First you hear my own voice: “Hi, it’s David Pogue. Leave a message, and I’ll get back to you”–and THEN you hear a 15-second canned carrier message.

>>>snip<<<

If enough of us make our unhappiness known, I'll bet they'll change.

I've told each of the four major carriers that they'll be hearing from us. They've told us where to send the messages:

* Verizon: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/FJncH.

* AT&T: Send e-mail to Mark Siegel, executive director of media relations:
MS8460 [@] att [dot] com

* Sprint: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/9CmrZ

* T-Mobile: Post a complaint here: http://bit.ly/2rKy0u

>>>snip<<<

It's time to rise up. It's time for this crass, time-wasting money-grab to end for good.

I hope folks’ll do this. I don’t use any of these four carriers, but I’m calling mine anyway. And I’m calling one of these three to let the folks there know that I am considering switching to that service and that their response will weigh in my final decision.

Link to Mr. Pogue’s post.