Thinking of terminating that AT&T smartphone contract early?

Think again! As of June 1, 2010, AT&T will increase that Early Termination Fee (ETF) to $325 for netbooks and smartphones. Reduced by $10 for each month after you sign up. They will have a cheaper ETF for basic phones.
Could this be in anticipation of people "jumping ship" to get an iPhone with VZW?

AT&T's "open letter"

Sounds exactly like what Verizon has done.

Right you are.

I'm just wondering if AT&T was in a hurry because of the iPhone on VZW rumors, or if it's just coincidence.

Or maybe the iPhone coming to VZW is why VZW raised its ETF's in the first place. Hmm... It's all a conspiracy.
j/k ...or am I??

$325. wow

AT&T sure has been exhibiting some signs suggesting that exclusivity is ending and are looking to tie people in now. Premature upgrades, jacked-up ETFs, speculations about what would happen "if" they lost exclusivity... the Verizon iPhone is coming, folks. This and other extensive rumors are just too much to ignore anymore.

^yep
looks like it

Nice to think that the Verizon iPhone is coming, but having been a Verizon customer for 10 years (still am), I'm not so sure you'll be happy with their fees and services either. They may wind up being even more restrictive than AT&T. But of course the good news is that Ma Bell will have some competition. Now if only T-Mobile would get on board.

Regards.

I'm glad it's on multiple networks. Now the cost needs to drop to $50 for voice/data/txt combined.

Personally, I'm not particularly excited or expecting to jump to Verizon. I'll only consider them if I see decent savings from using the discount available through my employer. I'm not so worried about being nickle-dimed by them... with an unlimited data plan, they really can't slide much in there. Although.. I'm hoping one or the other comes up with a limited data plan for a lower fee.

At&t Sucks but so does everyone

I like my service with AT&#@$%#@% it usually works and I don't get dropped calls. I am paying way to much for service just like everyone else with a smart phone.
I remember saying a long time ago that it should be illegal to charge two people for the same call, but now its the Status Quo.
The Iphone on Verizon sounds interesting only if the price drop comes with it.

1. This only applies to new and renewing contracts, so you can still get out with the old fee now (or just wait out your contract...just don't let it renew)

2. The fee decreases a little each month, so if you're 18 months into a 2-year contract, it'll be quite a bit lower than that

lifeisabeach said:

Personally, I'm not particularly excited or expecting to jump to Verizon. I'll only consider them if I see decent savings from using the discount available through my employer. I'm not so worried about being nickle-dimed by them... with an unlimited data plan, they really can't slide much in there. Although.. I'm hoping one or the other comes up with a limited data plan for a lower fee.

Click to expand...

I'm certain I could do better cost-wise with another carrier, but to me voice quality is paramount. I've yet to use a GSM phone that trumped even the lowliest CDMA phone in that regard. Also, in my experience, Verizon's EVDO rev.A network is more reliable (less latency) and is faster in real world scenarios - at least in this area. And last but not least, VZW's customer service has been nothing short of superb for me.

So, yeah, if cost is the only criteria, I wouldn't recommend jumping to VZW, but I do believe you get what you pay for.

cwa107 said:

I'm certain I could do better cost-wise with another carrier, but to me voice quality is paramount. I've yet to use a GSM phone that trumped even the lowliest CDMA phone in that regard. Also, in my experience, Verizon's EVDO rev.A network is more reliable (less latency) and is faster in real world scenarios - at least in this area. And last but not least, VZW's customer service has been nothing short of superb for me.

So, yeah, if cost is the only criteria, I wouldn't recommend jumping to VZW, but I do believe you get what you pay for.

Click to expand...

Well it's not my only criteria, but I simply have no complaints about the quality of my service with AT&T. In fact, I'm highly satisfied with my voice quality, reliability, 3G data speeds, and customer service. Assuming I can get comparable service with Verizon here, and I have no reason to believe differently (heh.. well maybe except for the 3G speeds), then cost will be the only other consideration.

lifeisabeach said:

Well it's not my only criteria, but I simply have no complaints about the quality of my service with AT&T. Assuming I can get comparable service with Verizon here, and I have no reason to believe differently, then cost will be the only other consideration.

Click to expand...

I'm surprised to hear you say that, but I guess the quality varies based on location. One thing that I've found consistent with GSM is phones is how they bleed noise over to other devices that they're close to. For example, my friend's iPhone loves to make my car stereo pop, click and buzz when he's in my car and the phone is near my radio. I've heard the same noise on just about every conference call I attend at work when an attendee has their phone near their work landline phone. Drives me nuts.

cwa107 said:

I'm surprised to hear you say that, but I guess the quality varies based on location. One thing that I've found consistent with GSM is phones is how they bleed noise over to other devices that they're close to. For example, my friend's iPhone loves to make my car stereo pop, click and buzz when he's in my car and the phone is near my radio. I've heard the same noise on just about every conference call I attend at work when an attendee has their phone near their work landline phone. Drives me nuts.

Click to expand...

Oh it totally depends on location. I suspect it's so good here in part because service here was with Cingular before AT&T bought them out. There is one small area in town here where we lose service, and they really should address that. When we were in NY last summer, there were some areas where AT&T flat out sucked. But on the other hand, when I lived just outside Orlando, I started with Verizon and my service was awful. I barely got a bar in my apartment and frequently dropped calls, even though I lived down the street from the Verizon store where I signed up for service. I only kept them because I was about to move and the sales person said they had service here. Well when I moved here (that was 8 years ago), it turns out they had NO service at all. They only moved in to this area a couple years ago.

EDIT: I can't say I've ever experienced that "bleeding" problem you've seen.

Here in Minneapolis, MN Verizon is reportedly among the best as far as voice and data quality go. AT&T was very good back in Bloomington, IL but is almost unusable at times here in the Twin Cities. I for one will be quite happy when my AT&T contract ends in 11/2010. Hopefully, Verizon will carry a sanely price iPhone by that time. If not, I'll hunt around for another phone and shop carriers again. I haven't shopped carriers in so long, it should be a shocker as to how much prices have changed!

Fortunately, we have a sizable corporate discount with VZW (I think it's 19%), so that makes the pricing a bit more palatable. But from what I understand, VZW is the most expensive carrier by far.

lifeisabeach said:

Personally, I'm not particularly excited or expecting to jump to Verizon. I'll only consider them if I see decent savings from using the discount available through my employer. I'm not so worried about being nickle-dimed by them... with an unlimited data plan, they really can't slide much in there. Although.. I'm hoping one or the other comes up with a limited data plan for a lower fee.

Click to expand...

I could just KILL myself! My wife just found out today that I've had a 24% discount available on cellular services and data plans from AT&T also through my employer. Gaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!

lifeisabeach said:

I could just KILL myself! My wife just found out today that I've had a 24% discount available on cellular services and data plans from AT&T also through my employer. Gaaaahhhhhh!!!!!!

Click to expand...

Well that's good, considering the previous post of yours which you quoted, no longer stands as being valid in a way:

. I'll only consider them if I see decent savings from using the discount available through my employer. I'm not so worried about being nickle-dimed by them... with an unlimited data plan, they really can't slide much in there. Although.. I'm hoping one or the other comes up with a limited data plan for a lower fee.

Click to expand...

Oh... they're nickle and dimin' ya pal ! Go get that employee discount !

Doug

Doug b said:

Well that's good, considering the previous post of yours which you quoted, no longer stands as being valid in a way:

Oh... they're nickle and dimin' ya pal ! Go get that employee discount !

Doug

Click to expand...

Oh we'll be up there at lunch time. We were already planning on dropping to the 200 MB plan since we've only once ever gone over that (on a recent long trip), so I'll see a nice drop in my bill on top of that. Actually, since the discount on data only applies if it is $25 or more, we'll be going to the higher tier. My wife is also going to give them **** and try to get some backdating. They never once mentioned it, even when I applied for my account with them, and she'd asked a couple times over the past couple years about her old discount she had, which she is no longer eligible for.