Verizon doubles early-termination fee for smartphones

by Justin Horn on Nov 12th, 2009 @ 9:12 pm

David Pogue ask, Verizon: How Much Do You Charge Now? In this article he discusses how Verizon is going to double their early termination fee:

Starting next week, Verizon will double the early-termination fee for smartphones. That is, if you get a BlackBerry, Android or similar phone from Verizon, and you decide to switch phones before your two-year contract is up, you’ll be socked with a $350 penalty (it used to be $175).

I guess Verizon is tired of losing customers to AT&T and the iPhone? I have a friend that switched early from Verizon to AT&T to get the iPhone. She wanted the iPhone bad enough that she  just paid the fee. So it looks like Verizon’s logic is instead of trying to offer something better to their customer to compete with the iPhone, they are taking them hostage.

This new policy fits right in line with Verizon’s recent moves with negative ads against the iPhone and especially AT&T’s network. AT&T has several lawsuits filed against Verizon claiming false advertising and today publicly responded to Verizon’s ads. The response from AT&T let’s know the ads are serving their purpose, but with this new early-termination fee it’s clear that AT&T and the iPhone are really hurting Verizon’s bottom line.

(via @ApexMI_Bob)

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