diff --git a/monetio/models/icap_mme.py b/monetio/models/icap_mme.py
index 98bd1aab..b2274b9a 100644
--- a/monetio/models/icap_mme.py
+++ b/monetio/models/icap_mme.py
@@ -11,7 +11,7 @@
 )
 
 
-def build_urls(dates, *, filetype="MMC", data_var="dustaod550", verbose=True):
+def build_urls(dates, filetype="MMC", data_var="dustaod550", *, verbose=True):
     """Construct URLs for downloading NEPS data.
 
     Parameters
@@ -57,7 +57,7 @@ def build_urls(dates, *, filetype="MMC", data_var="dustaod550", verbose=True):
     return urls, fnames
 
 
-def check_remote_file_exists(file_url):
+def check_remote_file_exists(file_url, *, verbose=True):
     import requests
 
     r = requests.head(file_url)
@@ -65,7 +65,8 @@ def check_remote_file_exists(file_url):
     if r.status_code == 200:
         return True
     else:
-        print(f"HTTP Error {r.status_code} - {r.reason}")
+        if verbose:
+            print(f"HTTP Error {r.status_code} - {r.reason}")
         return False
 
 
@@ -112,7 +113,7 @@ def retrieve(url, fname, *, download=False, verbose=True):
         return p
 
 
-def _check_file_url(url):
+def _check_file_url(url, *, verbose=True):
     """
     Raises
     ------
@@ -120,7 +121,7 @@ def _check_file_url(url):
         If the file URL HEAD request doesn't return 200,
         with info about how to check available products / data vars for the date.
     """
-    if not check_remote_file_exists(url):
+    if not check_remote_file_exists(url, verbose=verbose):
         raise ValueError(
             f"File does not exist on ICAP HTTPS server: {url}. "
             f"Check {url[:url.index('icap_')]} to see the available "
@@ -128,7 +129,7 @@ def _check_file_url(url):
         )
 
 
-def open_dataset(date, product="MMC", data_var="dustaod550", download=False, verbose=True):
+def open_dataset(date, product="MMC", data_var="dustaod550", *, download=False, verbose=True):
     """
     Parameters
     ----------
@@ -167,13 +168,13 @@ def open_dataset(date, product="MMC", data_var="dustaod550", download=False, ver
     urls, fnames = build_urls(d, filetype=product, data_var=data_var, verbose=verbose)
     url = urls.values[0]
     fname = fnames.values[0]
-    _check_file_url(url)
+    _check_file_url(url, verbose=verbose)
     dset = xr.open_dataset(retrieve(url, fname, download=download, verbose=verbose))
 
     return dset
 
 
-def open_mfdataset(dates, product="MMC", data_var="dustaod550", download=False, verbose=True):
+def open_mfdataset(dates, product="MMC", data_var="dustaod550", *, download=False, verbose=True):
     """
     Parameters
     ----------
@@ -217,13 +218,13 @@ def open_mfdataset(dates, product="MMC", data_var="dustaod550", download=False,
     if download is True:
         paths = []
         for url, fname in zip(urls, fnames):
-            _check_file_url(url)
+            _check_file_url(url, verbose=verbose)
             paths.append(retrieve(url, fname, download=True, verbose=verbose))
         dset = xr.open_mfdataset(paths, combine="nested", concat_dim="time")
     else:
         dsets = []
         for url, fname in zip(urls, fnames):
-            _check_file_url(url)
+            _check_file_url(url, verbose=verbose)
             o = retrieve(url, fname, download=False, verbose=verbose)
             dsets.append(xr.open_dataset(o))
         dset = xr.concat(dsets, dim="time")