Verizon users got some bad news from Google when they received a notification that they cannot use carrier billing anymore for their Google Play Store purchases. Later on, Boost and AT&T were also removed from the list of participating U.S carriers. Maybe someone pushed the wrong button or they just changed their mind but hours later all of these carriers were back on the list even though there was no official word as to what was happening (other than the earlier email).
If you didn’t know it yet, you can charge your app, in-app, and media purchases on Google Play Store to your carrier, if they’re one of the participating ones in the program. Previously, the list in the U.S included AT&T, Boost Mobile, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, and Verizon. Some Verizon users started posting on reddit that they received an email from the Google Play Store saying that starting February 22, Verizon mobile phone billing will no longer be a payment option.
Android Police said that both Verizon and Boost Mobile became noticeably absent from the list on the Google website of the participating U.S carriers. It was assumed Boost subscribers also received a similar email. And then suddenly, Boost was returned to the list but AT&T now wasn’t part of it, along with Verizon. A day later, all the carriers that were previously on the list are back, including Verizon. AT&T said that it was “Google’s work”.
So basically, everything is back to normal, but questions remain. What was the point of the email sent to Verizon subscribers? Can they still expect carrier billing for their network to end by February 22 or is that now invalid? When a subscriber was able to reach Google customer support when the initial news came out, they confirmed that the changes were happening but did not explain why because of “security concerns”.
Google has not yet responded to any of this pretty confusing development. So for now we can just assume that who’s on the list stays on the list of participating carriers unless we get an official announcement sooner or later.
