axus
join:2001-06-18
Washington, DC Reviews:
 ·Verizon Online DSL
| What is an ETF? Early Termination Fee? You're right, those are a large impediment to equal competition. They are justified when the phone is subsidized, no justification if the phone is not subsidized. Not that the wireless companies have felt the need to justify their fees.
I think there's plenty of incentive for all sides to continue the subsidized phone/ETF pattern. Most customers don't want a large up-front fee. Cell phone makers don't want to compete with each other on price. Cell phone carriers like having a standardized platform. I think the Google bandwagon provides the standardized platform, better than the phone makers have come up with themselves. Phone subsidy/ETF are intertwined. Having unlocked phones doesn't necessarily lead to abandonment of subsidies. It is a necessary condition to allowing that to happen, though. |
