Verizon cutoffs mark an uncertain future for rural customers
Last week, some Verizon customers in rural areas received unexpected news. The carrier would be terminating their service as of October 17th, because they were using a "significant amount of data while roaming off the Verizon Wireless network." These users were roaming because their "primary place of use" was outside the company's service area.
Verizon says it sent notifications to about 8,500 customers (19,000 affected lines) in 13 states this month to inform them of the disconnections. According to the carrier, "the roaming costs generated by the affected lines exceed what these consumers pay us each month." In layman's terms, that means it's actually costing Verizon money to keep those customers.