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Google Play Store confirmed (finally) to drop Verizon from carrier billing program
Verizon tells us this was "a business decision"
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Google Play Store shoppers who bill their purchases through Boost Mobile or Verizon will soon no longer be able to. Verizon subscribers have been emailed about the change which will come into effect starting next month.
Every week, I examine somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred app updates while looking for changes. The most interesting things turn into APK Teardowns or Download posts. Many of the remaining updates are unremarkable, amounting to a few bug fixes, routine updates to libraries, or even just pixel-level adjustments to layouts and images. However, there are usually a few updates that land somewhere in between. I don't want to spam readers with dozens of short posts, but I hate to ignore things that people might want to know about, so I'm going to wrap up the leftovers for a little weekend reading and call it Update Notes.
With certain carriers, Google Play offers the option to charge purchases directly to your cell phone bill. That option is now expanding to three new carriers in three new countries: Smart Cambodia in Cambodia; Entel in Chile; and America Movil Peru in Peru.
There are so many thing to buy in the Play Store! I mean, that pack of 1,000 gems for $99.99 is really tempting, but maybe you can't justify the ridiculousness of that expense until payday. No problem—there's carrier billing. Simply bill it to your carrier and pay at the end of the month. Of course, your carrier needs to support it. Google has updated its support docs to indicate several more carriers around the world are now on board with carrier billing.
Google has allowed paying for Play Store purchases through your phone carrier's bill for a while now, but it's not available on all carriers. Vodafone in Portugal just started supporting Play Store carrier billing, becoming the first carrier in the country to do so. In fact, the Google Play support page for Portugal hasn't even been updated yet.
It's been a while since we've seen any progress on the carrier billing front. Admittedly it's something of a niche feature - if you're using a smartphone there's a good chance that you also have a credit or debit card handy. But if for some reason you'd like to send your Play Store purchases to your wireless provider and pay them along with your bill at the end of the month, it's a handy option. Now it's available on a smattering of new carriers in Bulgaria, Estonia, Ireland, Lithuania, and Qatar.
Google Play supports all manner of payment options these days, but for many, carrier billing is still the easiest. You don't have to input any payment details or log into an external account. You just buy things and pay for them on your monthly bill. However, it requires carrier support. Customers on five more carriers will have the option now, according to Google's support site.
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- As a reader has reminded us, this actually marks Vodafone's return to Germany. The carrier mysteriously stopped supporting the option back in 2013.
Apps aren't typically all that expensive, but maybe you still rather put them off until after your paycheck arrives. Maybe you're too young for your own card and get your parents to buy your apps. Maybe you just hate the idea of giving Google your credit card number.
Carrier billing is an alternative way to buy content from Google Play. Rather than adding a credit card and making a payment right away, you can opt to have the purchase show up on your phone bill. The catch? Your carrier has to support the feature.
Finnish customers who send money to DNA each month will soon have the option to add Play Store purchases to their bill. The mobile provider has announced that it's launching support for Google Play carrier billing today.
Not everyone wants to attach a credit card to their Google Play billing, and that's fine. There are other ways to buy content from your phone, like carrier billing for example. This system is quite convenient if your carrier supports it, but that's often not the case internationally. Google has updated its support pages today with five more supported carriers around the world.
The most common way to pay for content in the Play Store is with a good old-fashioned credit card, but carrier billing is also available to many of us. It just depends on whether or not it's supported on your carrier. Starting today, the Play Store supports carrier billing on several new international carriers, including for the first time ever in Mexico.
A new update to Google Play's "Accepted Payment Methods" page has revealed a lot of changes to the direct billing section. First and foremost is the addition of 3 new carriers in Taiwan: Chunghwa Telecom, the country's leading operator with over 11M subscribers (according to Wikipedia), as well as Asia Pacific Telecom and T Star, the fourth and fifth ranked operators, respectively. These join previously supported Taiwan Mobile and FarEasTone Telecom, which have the second and third largest subscriber base in Taiwan.
Direct carrier billing is one of the most convenient ways to buy apps and content from the Play Store. Instead of making sure you have a valid credit or debit card or trying to find gift cards or setting up a Paypal account, you can simply have the purchase amount billed with your regular mobile service.
STC, the largest telecommunications company in Saudi Arabia (with well over 100 million subscribers across various Arab states), has launched support for Play Store carrier billing. Now people in the region can pay for goods by adding the fee to their next bill, rather than keeping a credit card on file. Customers can find the feature highlighted directly on the carrier's site.
Google appears to have turned on carrier billing support for Three customers in the UK. Though the company has not yet appeared on Google's page of listed partners, a reader has submitted a screenshot of the Play Store giving them the option to pay for Sons of Anarchy later on when their Three bill arrives.
Support for Google Play carrier billing has recently extended to a number of additional carriers scattered around the globe. A quick visit to the site's direct billing support page shows that four carriers spread between as many countries have joined the list of accepted companies.
Who wants a faster and easier way to pay for more apps and games? Oh right, you're reading Android Police, I should be ashamed to even ask you this question. But if you live in Poland or the Philippines, you are a lucky app/game addict because Google just turned on direct carrier billing for some of your operators there.