(Reuters) ? Verizon Wireless, which this month angered customers with three separate data service problems, said on Thursday it will add a $2 fee for one-time telephone and online bill payments.
The planned change, to take effect on January 15, was greeted by a storm of criticism.
Consumer blog Engadget said charging customers to pay was "downright ludicrous." Another tech website, cnet.com, said the move "made little sense."
"The fee is designed to address costs incurred by us for only those customers who choose to make one-time bill payments in alternate payment channels (online, mobile, telephone) and who choose not to use the other options available to them ...," Verizon Wireless spokesman Thomas Pica said in an email.
Verizon Wireless rivals AT&T Inc and Sprint Nextel Corp said they do not charge their customers for any bill-payment options.
In addition, some customers complained on Verizon's online forum on Thursday about problems activating their new phones.
The episode followed reports of a problem with the company's high-speed network on Wednesday. Verizon said on Thursday that it had resolved that issue overnight.
"GROWING PAINS" WITH 4G NETWORK
Verizon, the biggest U.S. mobile service provider, admitted on Thursday it was having "growing pains" with its new fourth generation, 4G, high-speed wireless network and had suffered several separate technical problems that caused service outages.
After saying earlier in the day that services on its older third generation, 3G, network were not affected, the company admitted Thursday night that 3G customers were also affected.
Verizon said it had proactively "moved" its fourth-generation (4G) wireless users onto its third-generation (3G) network to ensure all would have a data connection.
However, Verizon admitted that for brief periods, such as on Wednesday, 4G customers could not connect to the 3G Network as quickly as the company would have liked.
The company also said that it is working closely with its network suppliers to ensure smooth functioning of its 4G network, while estimating that connectivity has been available at about 99 percent of the time this year.
Verizon Wireless statement is available at:
http://r.reuters.com/wav75s
Some customers had earlier complained that they were having 3G service problems, while others said their 4G service was being restored on Thursday morning. One person complained about the lack of a public announcement.
"At least acknowledge there is a problem, do you really expect your paying customers to not notice??" one person wrote on Verizon's online message board.
Verizon Wireless spokesman Thomas Pica told Reuters that the company does not plan to compensate its customers who had experienced service problems.
Earlier this month the company, which has long boasted that its service is "most reliable," faced two data service problems.
On December 8 some Verizon customers were unable to access the Internet on their wireless devices for about 24 hours. The company had to fix another problem on December 21.
Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.
(Reporting by Sinead Carew and Sakthi Prasad; Editing by Dave Zimmerman, Matthew Lewis, Steve Orlofsky and Ed Lane)
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In an immensely surprising disclosure, it has recently been revealed that scores of people suffering from cancer are seeking more and more support from charity handouts since they are struggling to pay the rapidly increasing fuel bills. The statements can clearly be made evident by sneaking a look at the figures revealed recently by the Macmillan Cancer Support.

In April, Expedia 

Rumors of a Jurassic Park 4 have swirled for years, so when asked what it?s going to take to finally get the film off the ground, Kennedy sensibly answered that it all boils down to the script:
It should be noted that Dean Cundey was the director of photography on Jurassic Park while Kaminski shot the sequel The Lost World, so it?s unclear whether Kennedy misspoke or if Kaminski would be the one overseeing the 3D conversion instead of Cundey. Nevertheless, Kennedy mused that the key to a successful post-conversion is getting the filmmaker involved, so it?s doubtful that a Jurassic Park re-release will happen without Spielberg taking a very hands-on approach to the process:
While it doesn?t open in the U.S. until Christmas, The Adventures of Tintin has already been doing great business internationally. Spielberg and producer Peter Jackson have made it no secret that they plan to make multiple entries in the franchise, with Jackson primed to direct the sequel. Since he?s obviously very busy with The Hobbit for the next two years, Steve asked if work on a sequel was already underway:
What?s it gonna take to get a fourth Jurassic Park off the ground?
There?s been some success recently of older films being re-released in 3D. Do you see any of the films that you?ve done that you think could be successful if given a post-conversion 3D for re-release?
Well Cameron said on Titanic that they?ve done, I believe, 60 weeks, $18 million, four people looking at every single frame, and then he comes in and looks at the frames. And that?s why the 18 minutes of footage I saw was incredible.
The first Tintin has been very successful around the world. Mr. Jackson is very caught up in The Hobbit for a while. Assuming that it?s a success in America, when do you envision a sequel being able to move forward? Is it being moved forward right now?
LAS VEGAS - John Dodson has too much energy to be contained in a cage. After he knocked T.J. Dillashaw silly, Dodson back flipped off the Octagon, then danced and bounced off the walls.