Our son has been grounded and when he is grounded, we put blocks on phone numbers from friends so that he cannot receive calls or texts from them. However, we've discovered that he and his friends have found a way to circumvent this by emailing (hisphonenumber)@vzwpix.com, which he then receives as a text, and he can then text them back (which I assume goes to their email).
1) My understanding is that the VZWPIX service was discontinued in 2014, and was replaced by Verizon Cloud (which we do not subscribe to on any of our lines). So how is it that these vzwpix.com emails are still in service? Our son's line was only created last summer, so it's not some kind of holdover from before 2014.
2) HOW do we stop this feature, so that people can't email (hisphonenumber)@vzwpix.com and have him receive a text?
1) Only the online album/backup features of the Vzwpix website were replaced with Verizon Cloud.
Thanks for the information on VZWPIX/Verizon Cloud.
I've seen the FAQ, and that's where I discovered you could go to the "Block" link under "Plan" on MyVerizon and go to the section marked "Block emails & domains" and mark boxes that say "Block all text messages sent from the web" and "Block all text messages sent from email" specifically for his line.
Unfortunately, it didn't work. After marking both of those boxes for his line and applying the change, both my wife and I were able to still send an email to his number @vzwpix.com and have it come through as a text message to him. So that doesn't seem to have done anything.
I'm sorry to hear that the block options didn't work properly for you, zauriel. We do have other options for blocking access to all services such as our Smart Family service. Along with the companion app, you can block access to all services so your son has no access to his cell phone. You can find more information by clicking the following link. http://spr.ly/6581EuwBS
JesusG_VZW
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Yes, I'm aware of Smart Family. But we don't want to limit his access to the Messages app entirely (which I could already do if I wanted to, using Apple's Screen Time feature). Our son is diabetic and so his mother and I both need to be able to be in communication with him when we see he is experiencing lows or extreme highs, and for other various reasons (telling him what he needs to do after he gets home from school, etc.).
What I'm looking for is a way to turn off/discontinue the @vzwpix.com (and, I assume, also @vtext.com) email assigned to his phone line so that he specifically can't receive emails from people as texts. The obvious answer (which I outlined in my second post) doesn't appear to work. And neither VZWPIX nor VTEXT are listed as services you can turn off in MyVerizon. It only allows you to turn off regular (SMS) and multi-media (MMS) texting entirely, which is not what we want.
We understand it is important to stay in touch. With Smart Family, you can create a trusted numbers list, that always have access to communicate no matter if there is a restriction or block in active. The only other option will be to block these emails or text messages. Here is a link with more information: https://www.verizonwireless.com/support/verizon-smart-family-faqs/ Go to contacts on the right side, and there you will find more details.
AaronS_VZW
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If my response answered your question please click the _Correct Answer_ button under my response. This ensures others can benefit from our conversation. Thanks in advance for your help with this!!
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