www.WirelessFederation.com/news: Verizon Wireless will reportedly pay a compensation of $1.5 million to the state of Florida as part of a settlement reached with the Florida attorney general for third-party charges that appeared on consumers’ bills. The subscribers were being charged for ringtones, wallpapers and other mobile content that had been marketed as free which later called for hefty phone bills for them.

The subscribers were charged nearly $19.99 per month. The charges appeared on the subscriber’s wireless bill as company’s names, including OpenMarket, M-Qube and M-Blox. As part of the settlement Verizon agreed to adopt “best practices” standards to protect customers from the charges. An investigation found that thousands of Florida customers had been affected by the charges.
“Consumers deserve to get their money back when a company misrepresents something as free that isn’t,” Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum said in a statement. “I commend Verizon Wireless for providing full restitution to their Florida customers and changing the business model to better protect consumers nationwide.”