Remind me not

A popular texting program used in schools is taking a turn for the worst for all Verizon users.

In schools all across the country, the Remind texting program is used as a means of communication between students and teachers. Due to a fee dispute between Verizon and Remind, Verizon will no longer send free text messages for Remind. This leaves many teachers and students angry at Verizon.

Remind is an easy way to relay information to students quickly and effectively. Any time a teacher has an important announcement, it can be delivered to students with the click of a button. All students have to do is enter a short code which will then send “remind” messages to any phone. “Getting remind texts help me to keep everything organized and never forget stuff during the day,” said junior, Shelby Knieriem.

Not only is it helpful for students, but parents benefit from remind messages as well. Many youth sports groups use remind, as well as school sports teams. Parents and students can receive useful information such as cancellations and practice updates.

In the past, Remind paid Verizon only for the text messages their customers were sending and receiving. However, Verizon has decided they are making Remind pay a new  “additional fee” for companies that send “spam” across their network. CEO Brian Grey told Arstechnica that Remind’s cost for sending messages will go from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million dollars per year as a result of this additional fee.

More than seven million people use Remind every day. This will have an effect on parents as well as students with the Verizon carrier. Hopefully, a compromise will come about between the school friendly app and the phone company. For now, remind will stop sending SMS texts to Verizon users starting on Jan. 28.