Verizon Doubles Early Termination Fees; No Other Carriers Follow Suit — Yet
Verizon Wireless (NYSE: VZ) is getting quite a lot of bad press over its decision to double its early termination fees — or the amount of money you pay if you break your contract early.
In advance of the carrier’s latest smartphones going on sale today, it said it will increase its ETF’s from $175 to $350. Verizon insists the decision is justified because of the higher prices of today
Tricia, nice article. I wanted to respond by addressing Verizon subscribers effected by this increasing in ETF because they are considering changing to another provider due to a high Verizon plan cost. We tend to think of wireless costs as fixed, but you can tinker with your plan to optimize its features to best suit your usage and often generate significant savings in the process. I know this firsthand because I work in the consumer advocacy division of the company Validas, where we electronically audit and subsequently reduce the average cell bill by 22 percent through our website, http://www.fixmycellbill.com (and I'll add that 22 percent equates to over $450 per year for the average user). Put simply, Validas guards against frivolous and unnecessary charges that over-inflate a cell bill.
You can find out for free if fixmycellbill.com can modify your plan to better suit your individual needs by going to the website. For more info, check out Validas in the national news media, most recently on Fox News at http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/consumer/conlaw/lower_cell_phone_bills_072409 .
Good luck to everyone reading on cutting the wireless costs, especially in light of this unforgiving economy.
Dylan
Consumer Advocacy, fixmycellbill.com