Who the HELL is IOS TEL…

… and why am I getting charged $41.81 for a 5-minute phone conversation?

Here’s a bit of history. On a recent flight from Dallas to Germany, I missed my connecting flight. American Airlines set me up on another flight, only it was routed through Paris, and instead of getting to Frankfurt at 7am, I wouldn’t arrive until 2pm (Frankfurt time).

So, my cell phone couldn’t connect and I used a pay phone CLEARLY marked “Verizon”, and there was even a sign that said “Long Distance Service Provided By Verizon”. So I called the person picking me up at the airport, and told her the flight number, the arrival time, and that it was Air France not American. Since it was between 1am and 2am in Germany, the phone call lasted under 5 minutes.

Then I get a charge on my credit card for $41.81.

This isn’t over. That’s outrageous, and considering the state of the US Economy, I wonder how Verizon is going to react when it starts getting out they are allowing some 3rd-Party phone service to screw people over?