Cell users are griping, and Washington is listening.

**radimus** · 07-30-07, 01:07 PM

While I don't want runaway legislation, the cell companies are getting a bit carried away with some things. A 2 year contract with a hefty termination fee is a fair guarantee that customer service will not be a top priority. Then to be forced (or guided) to buy phones locked to a provider, which will cause the average consumer to have to start the 2 year contract cycle over with a new carrier...

Aug. 6, 2007 issue - Hate your cell-phone company? If you answered yes (and chances are you did), just be thankful you're not one of the 175,000 customers of bankrupt Amp'd Mobile who were informed last week, by text message, "Your svc may be disconnected" in 48 hours. Or one of the Verizon users recently dropped for going over the 5 gigabyte limit on the company's "unlimited" data plan. Or one of the 1,000 Sprint Nextel subscribers let go last month for calling customer service too frequently. (A Sprint spokesperson says the company felt that since the customers still weren't satisfied after repeated calls, that "indicated they'd likely be happier using another service.") No wonder the cell-phone industry ranks among the bottom five businesses in the American Customer Satisfaction Index.

Newsweek via MSNBC: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20010697/site/newsweek/

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stevenator65 · 07-30-07, 04:59 PM

Great points, Rad. Why have a contract? Why a term fee? Let the free market rule, just like our home phones and business phones!

**radimus** · 07-30-07, 06:10 PM

I can understand that cell phones are increasingly expensive, especially with high speed data, camera functions, mp3 players, etc. But I'd bet there is a fair majority of people would be more than happy with a basic phone that was compact and reliable. These extra features drive up the costs of the phones which the cell companies use as a gimmick to offer a "discount" for "screwing" people into signing 2 year contracts.

I'd propose a discount policy where the "early termination fee" is prorated over the term of the contract
AND
requires the service carriers to have low cost low feature phones that can be purchased outright at a low price ($50 or so) and require no contract
AND
no phones should be locked to a provider, only the technology of the phone should determine what carriers it could be used on.

If you got a contracted phone via AT&T, didn't like the service and cancelled it, then chose T-Mobile as your new provider using the AT&T phone, you wouldn't need a 2 year contract to offset the expense of the phone as that was paid as the early termination fee of the AT&T contract.

This encourages the carriers to be more 'customer service' oriented while still keeping customers from hopping without paying for the full price of the phone, as well as rewarding consumers by staying with the same provider.

Additionally another detail for staying with a provider would be: Assuming that an average cell phone is discounted the cost of the early termination fee, usually about $175.00, if that was an "earned credit" for offsetting the original cost of the phone ($175/24=7.30), say the carrier then rewarded the consumer by staying with them by discounting the service plan by $5.00 per month beyond 24 months in the contract... unless they renewed to get a new phone.

Pocketbrain · 07-30-07, 08:37 PM

... not to mention slamming and hidden fees. I bundled to save money, but why am I not saving money?

- endentured AT&T customer until 2009 -

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