Wireless Carriers Aid Japan Relief Effort

Last week’s devastating earthquake and tsunami prompted an untold number of long-distance calls and text messages from people reaching out to family and friends in Japan. Carriers have subsequently announced they will help by offering free calls and text messages from the U.S. to Japan. Good for the carriers and thanks goes out for the effort.

Here’s the latest on what they are offering:

AT&T

• The free services are being applied retroactively to calls placed beginning on March 11 and will be offered through March 31
• AT&T wireless customers can text 90999 to donate $10 to the Red Cross’ efforts to provide disaster relief in Japan. No text message fees apply, but the $10 charge will be billed to the account (corporate in many cases if not monitored!)
• Calls and texts as far back as Friday, March 11 are also included
• International long-distance calls from Puerto Rico to Japan will also be included in the free calling offer Residential land line customers are also eligible for up to 60 minutes of direct-dial calling to Japan, effective from March 11 through March 31, AT&T said.
• AT&T said on Monday that wireless calls and text messages sent from the U.S. to Japan will be free for the rest of March, in light of the crisis that has resulted from Japan’s earthquake and tsunami.
• AT&T is also offering its postpaid wireless customers free long distance calls from the United States and Puerto Rico to Japan until the end of the month. Text messages originated from a U.S. wireless number to Japan also will be free until the end of the month.
• Also, AT&T customers can text “redcross” to 90999 to make a $10 donation to the Red Cross’ disaster relief efforts, free of any text-message fees.

A few catches:

* Wireless prepaid customers won’t be eligible for the deal

* Land line users, after they’ve received their bills, will need to call AT&T to “receive adjusted calling for up to 60 minutes,” the company said. “In other words, no charges for up to 60 minutes of call time from the United States to Japan between March 11 and March 31.”

* Customers will either see no charges reflected on their monthly statement for their calls to Japan, or they will see a credit applied to their bill for calls and texts to Japan made between March 11 and March 31, AT&T said.

Verizon

• Verizon is offering free wireless calls and texting from the U.S. to Japan through April 10 for it’s non-pre-paid customers
• Verizon Wireless post-paid customers in the U.S. will receive free text and multimedia messaging to Japan from March 11 through April 10
• Calls made from a Verizon home landline to Japan will be rated at $0.00 per minute from March 11 through April 10
• Verizon is also waiving all pre-paid phone card charges for long-distance calls to Japan from the U.S. from March 11 through April 10

A few catches:

* Only long-distance usage charges are being waived for home landlines. All other fees including taxes, surcharges, monthly recurring charges, minimum spend levels, monthly minimum charges, and other fees are not being waived

* Verizon, too, is waiving text message fees for texts sent to one of 10 organizations raising money to assist in disaster relief programs going on in Japan

* These offers do not apply to pre-paid customers

Text Donations: Monitor Giving on Corporate Devices!

The American Red Cross, Salvation Army, International Medical Corps and a number of other nonprofits have launched mobile donation efforts with groups such as the mGive Foundation, the Mobile Giving Foundation and Mobile Cause to provide aid to those affected by last week’s quake.

The following is a list of the text donation options for nonprofits providing disaster relief to victims of the earthquake and tsunami in Japan. Subscribers should check to see which campaigns are supported by their carrier.

* American Red Cross Relief: text REDCROSS to 90999 to donate $10
* Salvation Army: text JAPAN to 80888
* Convoy of Hope: text TSUNAMI or SUNAMI to 50555
* World Relief Corp. of National Association of Evangelicals: text WAVE to 50555
* GlobalGiving: text JAPAN to 50555 to donate $10
* ADRA Relief: text SUPPORT to 85944
* GlobalGiving: text JAPAN to 50555
* International Medical Corps: text MED to 80888
* Mercy Corps: text MERCY to 25383
* Save the Children Federation: text JAPAN or TSUNAMI to 20222
* World Vision: text 4JAPAN or 4TSUNAMI to 2022
***PLEASE NOTE: Keep in mind, should a user listed on a corporate / business account send a text to ‘redcross” @ 90999, the $10.00 charge will reflect on the corporate / business invoice under the downloads column (technically, this is not a download – it is considered a Premium Text Message)

Equipment Issues

The earthquake and tsunami may also affect the chip industry. “Japan’s massive earthquake affected operations at dozens of semiconductor factories, raising fears of shortages or price increases for a number of widely used components-particularly the chips known as flash memory that store data in hit products like smart phones and tablet PCs.” Says Don Clark of the Wall Street Journal. For more details on this potential shortage, check out this article from The WSJ.