[citation][nom]montezuma[/nom]Unless you suck at math(which seems to be the case here), you know that the price people pay over the life of a two year contract is far more than the value of more than two of any phone you can currently purchase with any of these providers. These companies are increasing the fees because they know that no one will stop them. They could increase it to $2,000 USD and people would continue to pour in.The fact of the matter is that Verizon, AT&T, and all of the other companies are the same. They overcharge customers for sub par service, yet customers continue to flock to these companies. I certainly do not blame these companies, but I do blame the idiot customers. Until people vote with their wallet, these companies will continue to take advantage of their customers.These companies could complete forgo contract and they(the companies) would still make a killing. If Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, and others would work to provide the best service(customer service, coverage, value for money spent, etc), then the sky would be the limit for profits and the customer would also win. Instead, everyone continues to look for shortcuts and "the easy way" to make a quick buck.[/citation]
Lol, what's your solution, give up cell phones, move to the woods, grow crops and fertilize them with your own shit? It's not that everyone is too stupid to go somewhere else, there is no where else to go. You said it your self, ALL providers are doing this, there is no alternative, unless you want to go pre-paid, but then you don't get the fancy data phones.[citation][nom]Azimuth01[/nom]I'm sure that people leaving AT&T because of their network is one of the reasons this is happening, but I think there's more to it. I have to wonder if the increase in fees is to offset the increase in price of some of the new smartphones. Most of us know that the cell phone companies don't charge full price for a new phone when you buy one on a contract. The rest of the price is recovered in the monthly fee. New phones are much more advanced then they were just a generation ago, and I'm sure the price that the carriers pay per phone reflects that. In order to keep the initial cost for us consumers the same, the rest of the cost has to be recovered somehow...[/citation]
Only problem is, AT&Ts only big-seller is the iPhone, and Apple won't let AT&T subsidize it, so its a good thought, but completely inapplicable to AT&T.