AT&T to Raise Early Termination Fee for iPhone and Other Smartphones to $325

[fiji13]

Ok I think that all factors are pointing to the Verizon iPhone. I remember last year at this time that the rumor mill was going nuts. But I also recall that there were very little factors that were on the Verizon iPhone side. It was just a bunch of hopes and dreams of people rather then what seems to be nearly concrete proof that we have today.

Let us review:

1. AT&T hikes up its ET Fees in what looks like an attempt to prevent an exodus of iPhone users should the iPhone become available to other carriers.

2. Verizon appears to be wanting, even asking, for the iPhone.

3. Verizon is attempting to modify its network in order to allow for simultaneous use of data and voice. (which we all know is a huge advantage that iPhone users seem to covent).

4. Apple has apparently completely revamped the iPhone rather than just updating it which leads many to believe that they may be prepping to install CDMA onto their new iPhone.

5. Reports indicate that Apple is branching its supply chain out which the rumor mill thinks it means that this new supplier will be the CDMA chipset provider.

6. This is a double edged sword but many believe that AT&T gave up iPhone exclusivity in return for the iPad.

7. Reports have circulated that a respectable marketing firm (Landor) is prepping Verizon's marketing department for the iPhone. This would make sense that a big name marketing firm would be brought in order to reverse the damage that Verizon did when marketing the Droid and the "There's an App for that" campaign.

8. The Wall Street Journal has written that it believes this summer will bring the iPhone to Verizon.

9. AT&T is already saturated with iPhone users. For Apple to continue to grow it will need to expand its customer base. Verizon or CDMA is the perfect way to do that. The potential profit margin would be incredible. The fact that CDMA is a dead technology but one that still is years from the grave, means that Apple will need to act now. They can't afford to put off CDMA users for the estimated 3-7 years that it will take to get LTE (or any other next generation network) fully up and running.

10. Android has taken off and, in what was once thought to be a crapshoot idea that would become nothing more than a fad, has become a full-winded and giant competitor. Apple needs to maintain its market share through sales. The CDMA iPhone would expand its potential customer base and help Apple maintain sales numbers. Which when it boils down to it, numbers are the way to the top. Apple has a unique way of producing high quality products that eventually produce large numbers of sales. Nearly all recent Apple products are proof of that. The most recent, the iPad, is no exception.


Whether you agree with any of the above points or not the fact remains that those are ten points that one year ago were never a factor when people were hoping for the Verizon iPhone.

Just my thoughts. Cheers!

 

[samab]

First of all, quit complaining. This ETF is still rather cheap compared to many European and Canadian carriers.

I agree 100%.

Canadians get 3 year contracts and some of the older ETF have a max ETF of $720 (and pro-rated downwards).

UK customers who bought a 3G iphone on contract have to PAY OFF the rest of their contract --- just to upgrade to the 3GS iphone. No ETF in the UK, period --- and you people are complaining about pro-rated ETF's in the US.

 

[aughsum]

Wow... Verizon here we come!!!

 

[HamNCheese]

Go **** yourselves, AT&T

-Steve

Sent from my iPhone

 

[bella92108]

Not quite 1/3, more in the neighborhood of 22-24% of Postpaid subscribers. iPhone revenue probably around 40% of PP revenue

Try again. Read their last earnings call.

 

[crash8130]

List of reasons why I am switching to the evo come June 4th

1. No limit on how much you download over the air. I.E. I can download podcast so I don't have to stream and pray.

2. Down where I work in nashville, which is right off of broadway, is edge! Really?!? 41n int evansville ,IN has 3G coverage. There is no one and I mean no one along that drive.

3. I am tired of AT&T's excuses. I am sorry but you have had an extremely large customer base over the past three years. A lot of income and sprint is beating you to the 4g market!

So I take my money else where not because I am unhappy with apple but because apple continues to do business with a company that cares very little about the customer experience.

 

[Alchematron]

Dog doo X Million

Sprint EVO here I come

 

[xgman]

Ouch. maybe this means lower iphone HD prices via the subsidy.

 

[HamNCheese]

I agree 100%.

Canadians get 3 year contracts and some of the older ETF have a max ETF of $720 (and pro-rated downwards).

UK customers who bought a 3G iphone on contract have to PAY OFF the rest of their contract --- just to upgrade to the 3GS iphone. No ETF in the UK, period --- and you people are complaining about pro-rated ETF's in the US.

Yes, because it's a material breach of contract.

If you entered into this kind of situation knowingly, you could have opted to buy the device outright. But sneaking this ***** in is dirty...

I encourage all of you to exploit your 30 day non-acceptance clause.

 

[benpatient]

People in the US are such a sucker for marketing. If you have extra minutes, it's because you're paying for more minutes than you use.

Say you're on a $60 plan and get 600 minutes. If each month you use 400 minutes, you keep 200 minutes, but you throw away $20. So in a year you add it up you have $120, which at $0.25 a minute you can buy about 480 extra minutes, which would be a 10% overage every month, or easily cover you those months you do spike. Most people don't even look at their minute usage to see what a wrong plan they're on, and ATT realy does well well marketing the rollover, but if you calculate the cost vs benefit, the average person pays more on a rollover plan because of the psychological impact of trying to "save and collect" minutes.

we have AT&T 450 minutes and a family plan, so we use about 100 minutes between us a month for calls that aren't in network(Free), and have 200-300 expire from rollover status every month. They don't offer a smaller plan. If they did, I would take it.

 

[turleymuller]

Try again. Read their last earnings call.

I did, I think I know the numbers pretty well. You want to point to where that was said in the transcript?

Because AT&T doesn't disclose that information. Last time it gave a iPhone customer figure was June last year they said it was nearly 9M.

My numbers are estimates from backing into them in my model

 

[Thunderhawks]

People will complain about anything. Know your facts before you try to rip on something:

- Only applies to new contracts. If you're already in a contract and not happy, don't sign a new contract and you won't be affected at all. This doesn't prevent anyone from "jumping ship" if/when a Verizon iPhone is released, since this doesn't change existing terms.

- Verizon raised their ETF last year to $350 ($25 more than the new AT&T fee).

- Of all the iPhone leaks, none have suggested a Verizon version.

- People have been abusing the current system (buying subsidized phone, cancelling, and selling on eBay for profit). This eliminates that practice.

Also, take a deep breath and think about your raging. If you can afford $100+ per month for a smartphone (plus the initial cost of the phone), an extra $150 for ETF probably won't break the bank.

Yes, too much whining and venom from cry babies.

Facts:

1) If you wanted the iphone ATT was it!

2) Once you accept AT is it, stop whining! There were other phones!

3) When you sign or agree to a contract honor it. It's for 2 years, not forever!

4) You got a subsidized price for the iphone, hence the 2 year commitment for them to recoup!

5) ATT is as good or bad as all the others depending on where you live. In my area a town is resisting to put up a new tower, so they are dealing with issues.

Personally it is frustrating to get 3G everywhere I go, but in my area it supposedly only happening in October and that after 2 years.

When I asked a low totem pole employee if I shouldn't get a discount as they seem to prefer other customer to whom the give 3 G over me, she had no answer.

MOST IMPORTANT!!!

You can get out of these contracts without penalties by porting your number citing bad service or moving.

So, once Verizion or other companies get the iphone you PORT YOUR NUMBER to the new provider.

I have done this 4 times and never paid. Verizon did send me a letter , but when i called that the number had been ported it was resolved and canceled!

There are also exchange websites where people trade contracts, say somebody has 6 months left on Verizon and wants to go to ATT they match up with somebody who wants to switch from ATT to Verizon and live out each others contract without penalty.

As others have posted the venom against ATT, Verizon or for that matter anybody is stupid.

It is a big country and to install technology for 300 million plus people takes a while!

Remember when you had NO cell phones or big clumsy boxes?

Be happy with what you have!

 

[blackpond]

I'm glad my contract is up in September.... to get away from smart phones altogether.

I rarely use my iPhone to be honest. Money wasted.

 

[samab]

Yes, because it's a material breach of contract.

If you entered into this kind of situation knowingly, you could have opted to buy the device outright. But sneaking this ***** in is dirty...

I encourage all of you to exploit your 30 day non-acceptance clause.

There is no sneaking around --- especially if AT&T copies Verizon's ETF big font policy. Every Verizon phone on display has their own price card and their own ETF printed on the price card.

 

[vilasgn]

I apologize ahead of time, but...

Some of you are extremely immature and apparently have no idea how business works. That being said, no one is forcing you to sign a contract with AT&T or buy an iPhone.

+1

 

[potaco]

Yes, too much whining and venom from cry babies.

Facts:

1) If you wanted the iphone ATT was it!

2) Once you accept AT is it, stop whining! There were other phones!

3) When you sign or agree to a contract honor it. It's for 2 years, not forever!

4) You got a subsidized price for the iphone, hence the 2 year commitment for them to recoup!

5) ATT is as good or bad as all the others depending on where you live. In my area a town is resisting to put up a new tower, so they are dealing with issues.

Personally it is frustrating to get 3G everywhere I go, but in my area it supposedly only happening in October and that after 2 years.

When I asked a low totem pole employee if I shouldn't get a discount as they seem to prefer other customer to whom the give 3 G over me, she had no answer.

MOST IMPORTANT!!!

You can get out of these contracts without penalties by porting your number citing bad service or moving.

So, once Verizion or other companies get the iphone you PORT YOUR NUMBER to the new provider.

I have done this 4 times and never paid. Verizon did send me a letter , but when i called that the number had been ported it was resolved and canceled!

There are also exchange websites where people trade contracts, say somebody has 6 months left on Verizon and wants to go to ATT they match up with somebody who wants to switch from ATT to Verizon and live out each others contract without penalty.

As other shave posted the venom against ATT, Verizon or for that matter anybody is stupid.

It is a big country and to install technology for 300 million plus people takes a while!

Remember when you had NO cell phones or big clumsy boxes?

Be happy!

Exactly. You know what you're getting into when you sign the contract. No one is forcing you to get an iPhone. If you don't like the terms, don't sign it. There are plenty of options.

 

[Jeremy1026]

Goto VZ, get off AT&T's network, crash VZ 'speeds', all the while I'll be taking my AT&T 3G to the bank.

 

[dstrauss]

Let's face facts here - ALL of the carrier plans are overpriced and tilted against the consumer - WHY - because in most locations, only 1 or 2 of the "competitors" are worth anything as the other two majors lag far behind. For example, in our two city SMSA of 255,000, AT&T is basically the only game, because Verizon runs suck off the former Altell network, and both Sprint and T-Mobile barely installed 3G, with large coverage holes throughout the area. The same (but different 1&2) for my son and daughter in two different college towns. But for AT&T's iPhone revenue stream, they would be sucking air right now.

I thought about moving my family plan from AT&T to Verizon because it's now running $249 per month for five lines...well, think $299 per month for Big Red and that's WITHOUT iPhones. Wireless service is a license to print money, and de la Vega knows that (Family Plans are "sticky")!

 

[andy721]

really?

AT&T must get a kick out of jacking up the prices with petty crap like early termination fees and government fees and other fees that shouldn't apply whatsoever.
This is an outrage and must pursue action immediately

 

[swajames]

It's staggering how many of the outraged posters here don't seem to realize that this is not applicable to any existing iPhone contracts and that Verizon already charges $350 for its smartphone ETFs...

 

[rwilliams]

AT&T must get a kick out of jacking up the prices with petty crap like early termination fees and government fees and other fees that shouldn't apply whatsoever.

Why should people be allowed to break a contract with no penalty? The only way an ETF wouldn't apply is if you bought an unsubsidized phone at full price. and they still charged you for leaving.

 

[macduke]

This is a tough decision. On the one hand, AT&T is fine and speedy where I live. On the other hand, Verizon is fairly speedy most everywhere and I was hoping to pick up an iPhone 4g around a year from now on Verizon. I had decided to stay on AT&T until I heard that Verizon was adding the ability to use the phone and the internet at the same time. That was a big sticking point for me. Doesn't Verizon also allow the Pre to have free tethering? If a Verizon iPhone had free tethering then I would jump, unless the plan price was ridiculous.

Oh and another thing! AT&T: if you want to jack up my cancellation fee, then allow me to upgrade to the iPhone HD (or whatever) for the standard rate of $199/299. None of this $399/499 bullcrap! I hope the new iPhone has a base of 32gb, because that's all I need. Saves me $100. Every year I've bought the 8gb, 16gb, and 32gb. Finally 32gb is all I need!

 

[sishaw]

People in the US are such a sucker for marketing. If you have extra minutes, it's because you're paying for more minutes than you use.

Say you're on a $60 plan and get 600 minutes. If each month you use 400 minutes, you keep 200 minutes, but you throw away $20. So in a year you add it up you have $120, which at $0.25 a minute you can buy about 480 extra minutes, which would be a 10% overage every month, or easily cover you those months you do spike. Most people don't even look at their minute usage to see what a wrong plan they're on, and ATT realy does well well marketing the rollover, but if you calculate the cost vs benefit, the average person pays more on a rollover plan because of the psychological impact of trying to "save and collect" minutes.

Yeah, but you don't really pay per minute. You are required to be on a plan, so, for example, if, like me, you get the 450 minute/month plan, which I believe is the lowest and cheapest, you pay for the whole plan if you only use, say, 100 minutes. Meaning that on ATT at least you get to keep the extra minutes for a year, whereas on other companies they're just simply gone.

If you literally paid per minute, no matter how few you use, then yes, you would be correct.

 

[potaco]

It's staggering how many of the outraged posters here don't seem to realize that this is not applicable to any existing iPhone contracts and that Verizon already charges $350 for its smartphone ETFs...

Yeah, but it's more fun to knee-jerk post in anger instead of thinking about the situation for a moment.

 

[ltcol266845]

Anyway...if this isn't an indication that they're afraid people are going to jump ship once Verizon gets the iPhone, then I don't know what is.

Verizon has a $350 ETF, so I don't see your logic.

As for me, I'm jumping ship to an EVO 4G on Sprint. Sick of over-paying for service and for an OS that is starting to fall behind. Looking forward to taking back control of the phone and service that I pay over $2500 for (over 2 years).