Verizon Users Sue Over Phone Features

A lawsuit filed in California accuses Verizon Wireless of shortchanging its customers by disabling features of some of its cell phones. If successful, the suit could end a common practice of U.S. cell companies to disable functionality of mobile phones in order to encourage use of paid services offered by the provider.

The suit, filed Thursday, alleges that Verizon Wireless disabled some Bluetooth features in Motorola's v710 phone. Bluetooth is a technology that allows a device to link wirelessly, usually within about 30 feet, to a variety of devices including phones, computers and headsets.

However, Verizon has disabled Bluetooth for functions such as transferring photographs between the phone and a Bluetooth device. This means that users would then have to use paid features such for something that they could do for free through Bluetooth, the suit says.

Michael Kelly, the Los Angeles lawyer who filed the suit, is attempting to get class-action status. Kelly says it's not an accident that such features are disabled on these phones. "Our allegation is that it's probably more than a coincidence that the functions that are disabled can be replaced by Verizon functions for which you pay extra," he told Reuters Thursday.

Motorola defended the practice and said nobody ever said Bluetooth "would always be cost free." Verizon, on the other hand, pointed to the fact that you can still connect the phone via Bluetooth to a headset or computer - as long as you are using the Verizon network.

15 Responses to Verizon Users Sue Over Phone Features

© 1998-2024 BetaNews, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy - Cookie Policy.