Verizon to Nearly Double Termination Fee

This is a bad time to raise anything, and termination fees have always been a sticking point for many – especially when Verizon wants the customer for two years. Setting the price on phones based on two years has always been a difficulty, when a quick look at T-mobile shows 1 yr contracts and the same pricing structure on phones.

It’s a shame that, IMO no GSM carrier will ever take over the United States unless the number of cell towers in total is about 3x what they usually think is about right. The frequency of GSM means less signal penetration, and so many times coverage is not good indoors, plus the towers themselves can’t (by design) handle the call load of CDMA carriers.

I don’t see big losses for Verizon, but I see fewer gains, simply because of the tenuous nature of the current economy.

I love Verizon, but if my family was not in a contract with them, we might look a little harder at T-mobile – the myPhone, the new plans, and the fact i worked for them and know first hand that they deserve the reputation of best customer service are large motivators.

The networks quality of Verizon is why we stay, but T-Mobile gets better (coverage) each quarter.

This is why I stay on a pre-paid phone! At least if I decide I don’t like my service, I can switch to another provider anytime I want!

Alltel was bought by verizon and they are changing their tower frequencies right now . They dont plan on loosing the alltel customers at all . I have a one yr contract with alltel and when its up I dont have to resign and I can purchase any phone update with out new contract . Thats what I want freedom of choice !

Here in Sioux Falls, Alltel will be At&t. I don’t know the specifics, but in certain markets, Verizon needs to give those stores to a competitor.

It has to do with perceived monopolies. If I happened to be on Alltel and found it was changing to AT&T, I’d run away if at all possible.

In smaller subscriber areas, it really can suck, because when something like that happens, you get forced in ways you might otherwise want , such as being moved from CDMA to GSM carriers. Comparatively, GSM is totally inferior.

Oops, forgot to include that, according to an article on ZDNet, the higher disconnect fees only apply to smart phones – lowly voice models don’t have that problem.

This makes me happy that I switched when I did. I now have an iPhone, and for me, the coverage issue in non-existent. I don’t know if I could have afforded to make the switch with a fee that steep.