FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24796836/

Re: FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

I dont think customers realize that the early termination fees associated with long term contracts are high are to pay back the subsidies they received on their heavily discounted phone.

Re: FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

exactly. ppl don't think about from the right perspective. sometimes it's worth it, sometimes it's not. if there's a plan out there that will save them $50/mo or even $20, then just pay the $175. granted you don't have to spend $$$ on new phone(s).

Re: FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

Thats some good news! I wonder who's getting a class-action lawsuit though... hahaha



Oh, and can anyone access google.com? They seems to be down... REALLY weird. Everything else works, but google is out? *shudders*

Doesn't that violate some sort of fundemental law for the proper operation of the internet?

Re: FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

i highly doubt google is down they have 6x redundancy by me it works fine

Re: FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

Thats whats weird! Its STILL down at my place! I've heard about their redundancy, caching, etc... but I can get to google.com fine, but it won't search anything. It just says keeps loading and times out.

And its not my internet connection - I've got T1.5

-ON TOPIC-

It seems the FCC is wanting to help everyone more, especially with the whole nationwide WiFi network, cancelling out analog signals to clear frequency, helping with WiMax...

Now if they would just let us record certain programs with our DVR's...

Re: FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

Yep, that's why they have it. Carriers discount the phone when you first sign up. If you keep their service for 2 years, they recoup the price of the phone. If not, then that's when they hit ya for the price of the phone.

Of course a prorated ETF would be nice!

Re: FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

I think carriers 'pro-rate' it now in the form of halved discounts on new phones on additional 2 year agreements 1 year through the first one. But still, yeah a month to month pro-rate would be excellent.

Re: FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

To be fair, this is not ALWAYS the case. Multiple times through my history with Sprint they talked me into extending my contract for reasons NOT related to a new phone. 10% discounts, change in plans, etc. Point is, a subsidized phone is not ALWAYS relevant to each person's two-year-contract. Besides, we're not interested in losing the termination fee altogether. Pro-rating it is much more reasonable.

Re: FCC chief ready to regulate termination fees
 

Which is true if you recently got a heavily discounted phone.
But I've been with Sprint for many years- they extend my contract every time I change plans or get some little discount. If I were to decide to terminate early, I don't think I'd see my 5% discount as a good trade-off for some $150 or more early termination fee.
Good thing I'm not considering leaving them any time soon.

Oops. I guess I should have read the rest of the posts before saying the same thing.