The FCC has expanded its formal inquiry into wireless carrier practices first conducted last month by sending formal letters to AT&T, Google, T-Mobile and Sprint along with Verizon Wireless regarding each respective companies’ methods for explaining the early termination fee to their customers. The FCC stated in letters to the companies on Tuesday that since there is not an industry standard termination fee, consumers must be able to understand what they are signing up for when they choose a service plan with an early termination fee.
Verizon Wireless triggered the initial FCC investigation last year when the carrier caused an uproar by raising ETFs for smartphone users who decide to end the agreement early to $350. FCC chairman Julius Genachowski is requesting more specific details after Verizon’s response to the initial FCC inquiry last month had raised more questions instead of answering the questions given by the commission.
In a similar vein, Google made waves after the launch of its Nexus One earlier this month when it was confirmed that customers who bought the phone with T-Mobile service would have to pay 2 ETFs, one for the T-Mobile service contract and one to Google for the difference of the device subsidy, a common practice by third-party authorized dealers to recover the difference in phone cost making up for the deeper than average device subsidy.
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Since I am in real estate here in the East Tennessee mountains it is a must that I have a cell phone. All those qualified buyers out there have to be able to contact me when they want to buy property in Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, Gatlinburg, or Kodak where Bass Pro built their latest store.
I have tried other carriers and thus far, Verizon has beat out the competition as far as coverage areas. In the Great Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee coverage is very limited in certain areas. Verizon has had the strongest signal so far even for their internet air card.
Speaking of air card; I don’t really use mine anymore since I went with Comcast high speed internet in my home and was considering disconnecting it. Verizon was quick to inform me that I would be billed $175.00 for early termination on that line if I did disconnect. They almost sounded threatening!
Ah…go figure. A one time fee of $175.00 or $2,100.00 if I keep it for the length of time left on my 2 year agreement. Seems like a no brainer to me! Do these companies actually think that they can intimidate their customers into such a thing? Not this one!
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[...] Early Termination Fee (ETF) Out, General News, Google, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Following the previous FCC inquiry, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless along with Google have once again responded to the [...]
[...] Phones, Communications Following the previous FCC inquiry, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless along with Google have once again responded to the [...]