AT&T to increase cellphone early termination fees to $325

If you get a smartphone from AT&T after June 1, canceling your contract early will cost you up to $325. This is almost double the current $175 maximum. It's easy to complain, but more sensible to remind you that when you buy a cellphone from a carrier, you're agreeing to a loan-like financial arrangement that will last for 2 years -- and that you'll be treated, from the day you sign, like a debtor rather than a customer.

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TooGoodToCheck

Yeah, structured debt is pretty much the whole cost of a fancy new phone. You can get a Droid pretty much for free, plus $720 for two years of data, plus another thousand or so for voice, depending on your plan.

They subsidize the hell out of the hardware, then you pay them back monthly. I’m not crazy about it, but even if I bought the phone outright, I’d still need data service to do most of the cool stuff I’d want to do with it so I guess it doesn’t bother me too much.

that having been said, the commitment aspect (and the extra $30 / month) are what have been keeping me away from the droid.
nandorocker

I’d rather pay more for the phone than be stuck to their plans.
evilpyrate

There are any number of reasons that I refuse to do business with AT&T. This pretty much reinforces all of them.

I once had a friend who had a complaint. The service representative actually told her that his job was not to assist their customers, but to protect “company interests”.
- rhoderickj
  
  I once had a friend who had a complaint. The service representative actually told her that his job was not to assist their customers, but to protect “company interests”.
  
  At least that customer service rep was honest. That’s more than I can say for Verizon. Verizon’s rep says “I’m here to help you,” and then steals your lunch money.
  
  I can’t wait for all of these people who complain about AT&T to come to Verizon. They think the grass is so much greener over here. Truth is, most of us hate Verizon as much as you hate AT&T, but the difference is that we don’t have the iPhone so no one pays attention to our bitching.
AirPillo

Got a problem with the way we do business? Well then, we’ll just have to make it that much more expensive to switch to a competitor!
fordprefect

“when you buy a cellphone from a carrier, you’re agreeing to a loan-like financial arrangement that will last for 2 years”

Not if you buy prepaid! Pay a flat rate per month and NO CONTRACT. A few prepaid carriers have some sweet handsets, too, and offer great data services and apps. Example: Virgin Mobile is coming out with a Blackberry and an Android smart phone later this year.
CANTFIGHTTHEDITE

Wow, that’s actually lower than the $400 I would need to pay Rogers to cancel my phone plan.
agraham999

The issue really isn’t AT&T…the issue is the whole carrier structure in the US. What we need is the same ability to walk away that I have for cable tv, land line phones, etc. We’ve allowed ourselves to create a subsidized phone market that locks us in and we jsut barely got away with number portability.

Don’t blame AT&T for good ol’ American capitalism…blame us for letting it happen.
mgfarrelly

A question: Does this count as a change to their Terms of Service? Because that’s the grounds for getting out of paying an ETF. Usually it’s some increase in texting fees or the like, but who knows.

Also, since new iPhones come out in June/July this total rip-off is timed to lock-in a whole bunch of new suckers…er…customers. Including current ones, who “upgrade” and whose contracts are automatically extended for 2 years.

I think I’m just gonna by cheap handset at Target.
Xenu

Is there a way to buy a phone out of your own pocket and then get a discount on your phone bill (since you’re not paying off a loan?)
johnnyaction

Dear AT&T,

Are you trying to make users flee to Droid 2.2?

As a loyal iphone fan I put up with your @ssh@ttery cause I like the iphone but with this bs I may just upgrade to a droid 4G later this year and get an ipad to piggyback off it’s wifi.

I love the appley stuff but hate the service contracts.
Anonymous

I don’t see how its that big of a deal. Sure, if you want to switch carriers, its kind of expensive, but you can get an iphone for 100 bucks from them, so thats a pretty good deal. If you think you might want out of the contract before 2 years is out, then dont choose ATT. You know what youre getting into, so just pick the carrier you want and live with it.
Egypt Urnash

This kind of shenanigans makes me really, really sad that Google shut down their phone store. I was really happy to be able to buy an unlocked Nexus One on its release day without having to enter into any kind of carrier relationship.
- SomeDude
  
  Egypt, what are you talking about? Google STILL offers purchase of unlocked phones over the web… am I missing something?
Anonymous

According to the article, it doesn’t apply to current customers so it isn’t an easy TOS-change escape, just an extra-strong cage for new victims.
Anonymous

Might as well buy an unlocked phone for cash. It’s just not worth it to deal with those people.
Hiroaki

Am I the only one who thinks this may be a defensive measure in anticipation of the iPhone exclusivity ending? If a Verizon iPhone is coming later this year or sometime next year, this will discourage anyone buying or upgrading to the new iPhone with AT&T this summer from jumping ship.
- El Stinko
  
  I think that’s exactly what this is. I think AT&T are anticipating that Verizon, once they are able to sell the iPhone, will be offering to buy people’s contracts out (with the deficit time added to a Verizon contract) as an incentive to switch carriers.
straponego

Really, any phone should be usable on any carrier… to people who say that the costs of phones would go up drastically, may I observe that you can get basic phones for $20. The chips don’t cost that much. Prices would drop and service would improve, as the carriers would have to compete.

But as long as we’re stuck with the status quo, AT&T is the worst of a bad bunch. I had dropped calls every single day I used my iPhone. Got to the point where I seldom bothered using it as a phone– though text messages, too, could be delayed for days, or forever. Switched to Incredible on Verizon a couple weeks back and I haven’t had a dropped call yet. The AT&T rep I spoke to during cancellation sounded like he’d been hearing that a lot.

A company like AT&T would not be able to stay in business without lock-in. In a free market, they’d be forced to deliver what they are paid for.
Anonymous

T-mobile offers a (contractless) discount if you supply your own phone. With AT&T, if you supply your own phone you can get a contractless postpaid plan, however there’s no discounts for it (and the activation fee is not waived). I really would like to see better data options on the prepaid plans (if anyone knows a GSM reseller with unlimited data prepaid, that would be ideal)
Anonymous

Verizon’s is $350.00 for high end devices – why is this news?

Just buy the equipment at full retail or on craigslist. So you may have to save another month to get what you want, but you also have the freedom to tell whoever you want to shove off. Take notice that this does not affect all devices. Just be very aware of your terms and conditions and remember that if you have a legitimate service issue, most providers have protocol for waiving these fees as well as a 30 day buyer’s remorse policy. Its like opening a Macy’s card.
webmonkees

Yeah, they’re just flowing with what the market would bear. focus groups and the like.. “How much would you pay to no longer have to put up with at&t?”

And #evilpyrate is right. I’ve worked for a division’s call center.. Corporate>customer is the math they use. Nearly fired for siding with customers.
jphilby

“good ol’ American capitalism”

There are several oxymorons in that phrase.
delt664

That was my very first thought. Change the contract terms just before the next gen of iPhones launches, knowing that this will be your last.
DogStarMan

Tracfone baby. I pay 11 bucks a month with no contract.
laserjoe

AT&T’s new ETF isn’t any different than Verizon’s ETF for smartphones. I’m not necessarily an AT&T fan, but clearly Verizon is no better in terms of the fee.
theawesomerobot

Well, unfortunately for them – I’m just going to sell my 3GS on eBay which will give me enough to pay the early termination fee and pick up a HTC Evo on Sprint, the lesser of a few evils.
Laser Sanchez

It might be worth it to some of you to get a prepaid phone. I got one from Boost Mobile with a QWERTY keyboard a little over a week ago. Calls are 10 cents a minute and texts are also 10 cents. I’ve had people just call me on my home phone line, or I call them back whenever is best. And I’ve been using Text Plus on my iPod Touch to reply to text messages. I already didn’t talk on the phone a lot, but I’ve spent under a dollar since getting my phone over a week ago. Not a bad phone plan!
OrcOnTheEndOfMyFork

It’s still a better deal than in Canada. Most carriers don’t offer an early-termination clause whatsoever for your cell service and you’re on the hook for the full amount of your contract no matter what (and most contracts run three years). Same goes for satellite TV contracts.
Anonymous

I personally know of 10 individuals that have paid the $175 happily to switch over carriers from ATT/Iphone to the Verizon/Droid as the ATT coverage sucks and the Droid is just a better phone according to them. Apple has the apps but the iphone sucks as a phone. I don’t know anyone still using the Iphone at this point. I have neither, I’m a Net10 occasional phone user and my cell phone cost me less than $50 and I buy 300 mins for $30 about every 3 months. If I decide I want a “hip computer” at some point I will probably buy the IPOD Touch.
bjacques

That reminds me; would anyone like to buy my Gold’s Gym membership? Only 22 months left on it.

Such contracts, essentially mini-mortgages, are a brilliantly evil way to lock in the poor bastard who doesn’t know any better.
Dan Mac

From Canada, this looks enviable.