Verizon will waive all long-distance usage charges for
calls from its residential landline and Verizon Wireless phones to
Haiti, from Jan. 12 through Jan. 31. T-Mobile also offers free calls to Haiti until January 31.
Starting Wednesday (Jan. 20), all calls made from a Verizon
residential landline or a Verizon Wireless phone to Haiti will be rated
at $0.00 per minute. Verizon and Verizon Wireless will also provide
credit in future bill statements for long-distance charges for calls to
Haiti that were made since Jan. 12.
Customers with the Verizon International Single Rate
plan who have either 300 or 500 minutes of long-distance calling can
call Haiti without using any minutes from their time-allotment blocks.
Verizon Wireless customers have pledged more than $6 million to the
American Red Cross through texting. Verizon Wireless has already
transmitted more than $2.9 million in pledges to the Red Cross,
representing all of those made by Jan. 15.
"We want to help alleviate some of the agony being experienced by
our customers trying to reach loved ones in Haiti," said Susan Retta,
vice president of consumer products for Verizon. "Waiving the calling
charges will help our customers focus on tracking down and keeping in
touch with their family and friends without having to also worry about
the cost of the call."
Only long-distance usage charges associated with calls made from
residential landlines terminating to wireline or wireless destinations
in Haiti will be waived from Jan. 12 - Jan. 31. All other fees
including taxes, surcharges, monthly recurring charges (MRCs), minimum
spend levels (MSLs), monthly minimum charges (MMCs), etc will continue
to apply. Post-paid calling card charges to Haiti will also be waived.
** If long-distance calling fees were charged, credits will be issued in a future bill statement.