I didn't check all the details; has anything changed about the settlement since [consumerist.com] was posted?

Will that number know if I paid for ringtones from these people two years ago?

@Clold: Nope. Still the same, Ben just posted all the short codes in the article. It's all good. Hey, in case ya missed it, here's a reminder type of thing. In this case, it's a good thing. I hated those damn commercials, now I kinda wish I fell for it, triple money back, baby!

@ViperBorg:
Yeah, these things are retarded. I'm glad people are getting their money back.

What REALLY pisses me off is how they air these commercials non-stop on tween-oriented channels. Check out Noggin's "The N" evening/night lineup to see what I mean. At least a third of the ads are for subscription-based phone services.

in the future, check out MyxerTones.com - something a fiend of mine made in college, you can buy ringtones from original artists, or upload your own music clips to your phone. not sure of the legality of the "upload whatever you want straight to your phone" part of the site, but it makes me feel better to know that i'm paying $1.99 for original content, and a large percentage of that is going to the actual artists, instead of paying $2.50, all of which is going to verizon.

@Gstein: not exactly verizon, it goes to the music association. The music association has a special rate for music/ringtones transmitted through celluar. Apple had that run in when they took the itunes music store from the wifi to the cellular. gotta love innovation eh?

I take an mp3 of a song I've already ripped, upload it to my phone, select 'use as ring tone'. Done.

People really pay for ringtones? Go download Audacity and you can chop apart your favorite songs for free.

[audacity.sourceforge.net]

@Bevill: The people who pay for ringtones aren't reading this.

@Bevill: I can't imagine why anyone would pay for ringtones, except that most phones come with a slew of embarrassingly ridiculous sounding ringtones. But then again, the ringtones in this article were "free".

@Bevill:

Well the average bear has a difficult time jumping every hurdle to put their own ringtones on many phones. I've found that most carriers make this very difficult with their crap software loads that inhibit the phone's designed functionality.

I always make my own custom MP3 tones for my Sprint phone, but I can not for the life of me get it to work on my mom's Verizon Razr phone. The company disabled the software from allowing you to use sounds as ringtones... it forces you to buy them.

@TheSpatulaOfLove: You said it. Verizon is especially bad for that reason. It doesn't matter how well a manufacturer designs a phone -- it seems all for naught when Verizon shoves their same horrific proprietary software on every single one of their devices.

@TheSpatulaOfLove: Very true. It's so simple yet most people just can't figure it out.

@equazcion: Spposedly they do it to make it easy for people to switch between phones, but conveniently enough it also doesn't make use of features that may have been in the original. Compare the Japanese and American G'Zone phones, for instance.

Hey folks, just a reminder that there's only a week left to submit your claim for a refund if you've been charged an Early Termination Fee by Verizon.
[www.topclassactions.com]

From the looks of the settlement, you'll likely only receive $25 unless you have proof of the higher charge. This covers Verizon customers who canceled from July 23, 1999 - August 10, 2008 and were charged a Flat early termination fee. From the looks of the settlement, if you were charged a sliding fee (one that decreased the longer you were with Verizon) you'll most likely only get the flat refund of $25, but there's always the chance they'll send you the full amount.

Warm Regards,
Scott Hardy
President and CEO of Top Class Actions LLC
[www.TopClassActions.com]
"What settlements do you qualify for? Find out at TopClassActions.com"

@jamar0303: I doubt that's the actual reason. I think it's more likely they do it to make customer support easier. It's a lot easier for them to train support personnel when their customers' phones all work the same way.

The bottom link, "cellphonedownloads.class-action-admin.com" doesn't work.

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