No Early Termination Fee’s for me Please!

Photo by : Steve Wampler

Earlier this week the FCC Probes the issue of EFT on some of the more bigger cell phone companies. I say great now to see what happens. I can tell you being a Cricket Wireless Customer would be so more cheaper if the FCC told these companies to offer No contracts. This would open up a world of Cell phones for me because the price of a Cell phone in the US would have to drop dramatically.

Why is the FCC looking into EFT problem?

It is simple, several cell companies in the recent past have had Class Action suites alleging that the EFT is to high. We’ve seen Sprint’s Latest suite which comes with a settlement, and AT&T also has one that comes with a Settlement. I am sure if you look around even more you would find several other companies who have had their day in court over the fee’s associated with Early Termination.

What will the Cell companies say to FCC?

I really don’t know and am quite curious as to their response but here is the important thing about this. It will force the Cell companies to at least consider having accounts with no contracts and you buying the phone at cost. Although this means a little more money out of pocket you can save more than if you bought the phone with a contract. One Company has already talked to the FCC. Verizon Wirelss letter to Mignon Clyburn was concerning to say the least. Verizon tries to make us understand why smart phones fee’s where a whopping $350. If You had the Google Android and you wanted to terminate early it could cost you $550 the breakdown would be $350 for T-mobile and $200 for Google equipment recovery fee. This is a lot of money for a phone that should only cost $300 and this is why the FCC is so concerned.

That is why I am so glad the FCC is doing the probe into this. If this makes the cell companies create a NO ETF contract that would mean to Cricket Wireless Customers could start to expect some equipment price drops. This would ultimately be because of the demand for paying for the equipment before you buy the contract would show just how much the companies like Verizon on making with EFT and if you can avoid that you could save even more. Not to mention the price of the monthly contract would drop because there would be no need to pay as much for the each month if the equipment you have is already bought. Some Cell companies use the higher monthly payments as a way to recoup the cost of the phone. You do the math, and you will see that paying for the equipment and then buying the service will save you hundreds to thousands of dollars a year.

This is my hope at least in the future that the prices for the Cell phones and other devices would drop and be more realistic to what is expected of the equipment. Only time will tell though!!