Why does my Verizon cell phone rat me out?

Factual Questions
1

Ok, I asked this question on MPSIMS, but didn’t get an answer, so I’m resorting to the intellectuals of the group…

Does anyone out there have a Verizon cell phone? When someone calls you and you are on the phone, there is a little telltale beep the end of each ring that the caller hears. This let’s the caller know that you are not away from your phone, but that in fact you are on the phone and can see his/her number on the call waiting display. What the f*&*? Why can’t I not pick up my call waiting in peace? Once the caller hears this beep, I can no longer credibly say that I didn’t get his message until several hours or a day later! The last thing I need is an unwanted caller (whether it be a business or an annoying friend) getting pissed at me because I didn’t return his call or pick up the call waiting. Aren’t I the Verizon customer? Shouldn’t it be my privacy that is important to them? Why do they do this??? Is there a way I can stop it? Thank you in advance!

2

I have heard that ring-beep before, I never knew what it ment. I know you can deactivate call waiting w/ verizonwireless though (call 611 from your cellphone, you may be able to do it through the menu or talk to a rep).

3

Morrison: I’m not always listening to my phone when it’s connected. Sometimes I’ve put it down for a minute.

4

Money.

$, dough, the green stuff.

Phone companies have this nice scam: Add a feature, charge for it. Add the counter-feature, charge for it. Add the counter-counter-feature, charge for it. No end in sight.

They like the fact that you hate it. They will certainly take $ from you in exchange for disabling it. That is, until the other guy pays them to override it.

Nice of them, isn’t it?

5

But call waiting is included in the service and can be turned off if desired at no cost also.