Verizon Doubles Early Termination Fee and More 520
An anonymous reader writes "If you buy a smartphone through Verizon, be prepared for an increase in the early termination fee. Verizon is doubling the phone-subsidy to $350. What's more, is that Verizon also actively charges customers for accidental data transmissions of as little as 0.02kb. 'They configure the phones to have multiple easily hit keystrokes to launch 'Get it now' or 'Mobile Web'—usually a single key like an arrow key. [...] The instant you call the function, they charge you the data fee. We cancel these unintended requests as fast as we can hit the End key, but it doesn't matter; they've told me that ANY data--even one kilobyte--is billed as 1MB. The damage is done.'"
What happens to the other .99 KB? (Score:1, Funny)
Do they just throw that away? What a waste.
Re:Wow (Score:5, Funny)
The flaw of DROID is locked to Verizon.
The flaw of the iPhone is locked to AT&T (but at least you can jail break it).
I guess I am sticking with my SonyEricsson w810i until the phone providers adopt the buisness model in Europe...which might be right about the time they are tossing snowballs in hell...or DukeNukem Forever is released.
Verizon: "there's a scam for that". (Score:5, Funny)
Don't want to use the data service? There's a scam for that. Want to upgrade your phone? There's a scam for that. No matter what you want to do, we'll get your money. Because there's a scam for that.
Re:It's not just a "phone subsidy." (Score:4, Funny)
Guy/Girl: "Hey Verizon, can you block my data service so I don't accidentally use it?"
Verizon: "Sure we can. (click)"
Guy/Girl: "Uh, Why is my bill showing charges for data, that I have disabled?"
Verizon: "Because silly.... we have to send you data to tell you that you can't use the data plan!"
Re:Wow (Score:1, Funny)
Way to go, Verizon. Get a cool phone like the Moto Droid, and then be as big a bastard as you can possibly be. I see bright things in your future.
Re:Verizon is doubling the phone-subsidy to $350.. (Score:2, Funny)
"People who make a lot of calls aren't going to come in at $9 per month - pre-paids are only good for people with very low usage."
And the award for the best stating of the obvious goes to MBGMorden. Take a bow.
Re:Verizon: "there's a scam for that". (Score:5, Funny)
Charging for incoming text messages: Scam
Charging for data service without a verification nag: Scam
Seeing an iphone/droid user wander into oncoming traffic: Priceless!
Re:Wow (Score:1, Funny)
You can hate them for their poor business practice, but their 3G coverage is undeniably superb!
There's a map for that.
Re:Manage these features online. (Score:5, Funny)
As much as I can bash Verizon for their gestapo-like moves in other areas, at least they've given us the tools to completely disable features like these through account management online.
Cool. I never really understood what "Stockholm Syndrome" meant until now.
RUN AWAY FROM VERIZON WIRELESS! (Score:5, Funny)
Please, for the love of God and all that is decent in this world, steer clear of Verizon Wireless!!!
I am a Verizon Wireless customer. They make "horrible customer service" sound like something to aspire to.
They haven't been able to get my bill "right" for months. Every single month there are random charges tacked on, that they cannot explain when I call. Until recently, they've cancelled these charges with good apology. But now?
I have two phones suspended because they are lost. Originally, I was told I could suspend them indefinitely. Then I was told that I could only suspend them month-by-month. Then I was was told I could suspend them three months at a time. Now, they're telling me that I can only suspend 6 months per year. None of which was mentioned when I asked up front, and none of which is ever consistently said after the fact.
So I decided to buy out the contract. Get this: Not only are they're charging me for two months' service for two phones I don't even have, they're charging me for an entire two months of service for both of those two phones AFTER the contract has been cancelled by being bought out!
If you are ever, EVER tempted to go Verizon, RUN LIKE HELL OUT OF THERE. They make a pack of lying vultures being eaten by a horde of hungry lawyers seem friendly!
Re:Seems reasonable... (Score:2, Funny)
I don't know why you all are so confused. The contract is pretty unambiguous to me:
> megabytes sent or received
> using Mobile Web (including
> advertising) will be aggregated each month, rounded up to the next
> megabyte, and billed at
> $1.99/MB.
> Rates are rounded to the nearest whole megabyte. One megabyte is equal
> to 1024 kilobytes.
This would imply a charge of $0 in your case. It would also charge you $2 when rounding up to the whole megabyte.
Using my verizon math skills, I can see that adding these two charges together gives us $2 + 0 = $20.
It would appear that you managed to save a whole 18 cents.