Simple Tips to Avoid Nasty Early Termination Fees

[JMcEntegart]

The FCC offers advice to customers unfamiliar with early termination fees.

Simple Tips to Avoid Nasty Early Termination Fees : Read more

 

[mianmian]

To be brief: We are can charge ETF in many ways. You can't avoid it unless you stick to the contact. Any change to the contract will refresh the 2-year period.

 

[matm347]

This should be a slap in the face for the FCC to WAKE UP!! When companies start RAISING prices this SHOULD be a signal for the government to take a hard look at the current LACK of competition. at&t was SPLIT UP in to "baby bells" for the monopoly they held, guess what? They bought up ALL of the "baby bells" and are back to where they were!

 

[zoemayne]

The FCC isnt even looking at this I think their more focused on credit card fees. This is different. This goes out to all the new 4G buyers. Lets see if they will line up for hours for this RAPE.

 

[descendency]

ETFs are generally to regain the subsidies that are paid out to new customers who buy phones at discounted prices. Yes, it includes interest and yes the interest is steep.

If you don't want an ETF, buy the phones unlocked.

 

[geminireaper]

[citation][nom]matm347[/nom]This should be a slap in the face for the FCC to WAKE UP!! When companies start RAISING prices this SHOULD be a signal for the government to take a hard look at the current LACK of competition. at&t was SPLIT UP in to "baby bells" for the monopoly they held, guess what? They bought up ALL of the "baby bells" and are back to where they were![/citation]
Actually Verizon was the one broken up and was part of the baby bells.

 

[descendency]

[citation][nom]geminireaper[/nom]Actually Verizon was the one broken up and was part of the baby bells.[/citation]
Shh. They are "clearly" breaking the anti-trust laws. . .

 

[Glorian]

I never understood why people bitch about ETF. IF you don't want a contract buy the phone at full price. AT&T and Verizon are only covering their ass for the price of the phones. The average smart phone costs between 500-600 bucks with out a contract, so it would make sense that the discounted price plus the ETF would be about the cost of the phone.

 

[Guest]

The Bell System divestiture, or the Breakup of AT&T, was initiated by the filing in 1974 by the U.S. Department of Justice of an antitrust lawsuit against AT&T.[1] The case, United States v. AT&T, led to a settlement finalized on January 8, 1982, under which "Ma Bell" agreed to divest its local exchange service operating companies, in return for a chance to go into the computer business, AT&T Computer Systems. Effective January 1, 1984, AT&T's local operations were split into seven independent Regional Holding Companies, also known as Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), or "Baby Bells". Afterwards, AT&T, reduced in value by approximately 70%, continued to operate all of its long-distance services, although in the ensuing years it lost portions of its market share to competitors such as MCI and Sprint. And Verizon was one of the Bell renamed.

 

[zoemayne]

lol @ the random interacial love spam goodbye fangfang

 

[brendano257]

[citation][nom]mianmian[/nom]To be brief: We are can charge ETF in many ways. You can't avoid it unless you stick to the contact. Any change to the contract will refresh the 2-year period.[/citation]

Actually, Sprint hardly refreshes the contract for anything. I just had the other 3 members of my family join my plan, and as far as I know the contract wasn't modified in terms of termination dates.

 

[orionantares]

I don't understand why people are upset over the changes in ETF? These are expensive phones they are subsidizing to customers to get business. If the customers break contract they want to be able to recover the upfront loss they were taking on the phone.

As other have said, if you don't like it then buy the phone at full price and don't sign a contract.

 

[mlopinto2k1]

How about... PAY YOUR BILL ON TIME.

 

[matm347]

[citation][nom]orionantares[/nom]I don't understand why people are upset over the changes in ETF? These are expensive phones they are subsidizing to customers to get business. If the customers break contract they want to be able to recover the upfront loss they were taking on the phone. As other have said, if you don't like it then buy the phone at full price and don't sign a contract.[/citation]

IF the US was as cutting edge on the service and phones as other developed countries, I could see this. But we are far behind for "the greatest country on earth"..you see how quickly phone prices fall after the novelty wears off and/or new generations come out..so if we are two or three gens behind where our phones are made...they are much cheaper by then. Wireless companies are not hurting for $$ in the least and for them to continue to RAISE prices for THE SAME services...it's ridiculous.
For instance, about 4 years ago with at&t..I got my unlimited data plan for my smart phone for an extra $20 a month, now, for THE SAME service, it's $40 extra(wife's iphone). Did at&t improve the service? NO, it's actually worse. at&t DISABLES tethering on the iphone...so they are charging TWICE as much, for LESS...how is this progress??? Imagine paying $1200 for the next Intel Pentium II, or AMD Athlon CPU. $300 for 128Megs of SDRAM RAM...catch my drift?

 

[gtvr]

If you look up articles about how much these phones cost to manufacture, it is MUCH less than these ETF fees. Some of the really generic dumb phones probably cost $50 to make, I think the iPhone costs maybe a few hundred.

 

[igot1forya]

Or... buy your phone outright and pay month-to-month...

 

[mattclary]

[citation][nom]Glorian[/nom]I never understood why people bitch about ETF. IF you don't want a contract buy the phone at full price. AT&T and Verizon are only covering their ass for the price of the phones. The average smart phone costs between 500-600 bucks with out a contract, so it would make sense that the discounted price plus the ETF would be about the cost of the phone.[/citation]

OK, cool. So let me pay less for my service than someone who is using a subsidized phone.

 

[sliem]

I pay $100 a year using pay as you go phone. Never needed smartphones and keep my money in my pocket. How much do you pay a year? Yea, think about that.

 

[nekatreven]

[citation][nom]zoemayne[/nom]The FCC isnt even looking at this I think their more focused on credit card fees. This is different. This goes out to all the new 4G buyers. Lets see if they will line up for hours for this RAPE.[/citation]

If you're talking about credit card fees here I think you might be getting mixed up on the difference between the FTC and the FCC.

 

[Guest]

The big government, 'don't hold me accountable for my decision' wimps are out in droves on this one, let me see you sign a contract which you unilaterally decide to terminate and you don't want any financial repercussion ... grow up little boy thats how contract law works, there are always penalties.