AT&T Launches Pro-Rated ETF System > 1Billion? WTH

1Billion? WTH

i dislike the idea of ETFs on Renewed contracts. you are already customer and you are just saying i want to keep paying the company.

i thought ETFs where to help cover the cost of the cheap/free phone you got at sign up with the carrier.
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[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports

reply to NOCMan
I agree with your premise, but there is an exception that has happened and needs to be addressed.

People sign-up for service, pass the 30-day service out clause, and then the service goes to hell and there *is* no recourse. There is more than just empirical evidence that this has happened with all carriers, and the customer is just stuck. The carrier can blame it on whatever problems they so desire without having to do a thing -- the customer is under contract and without reliable service.

There are plenty of other circumstances where a customer can be held hostage by onerous ETFs and spotty service. I wouldn't mind the ETFs if I had a guaranteed level of service. But the carriers like to pass off wireless as a "it is what it is service" when it benefits them.

It would be nice to be able to purchase devices from competitive vendors and know that they are going to work. Verizon has my area covered and is very reliable, but where can I find CDMA phones? Verizon and their resellers, which is essentially only Verizon.

GSM phones are slightly better, but only slightly.

reply to NOCMan
In most cases you can buy a phone online, at a deeper discount than what you can get from signing a 2 year contract. The ETF is a BS fee, along side all the other "cost recovery fee's" that they make you pay. Not to mention the cost of text messaging packages that are horridly over-priced. If you think for a second that these mega companies are loosing money then think again.
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World of Warcraft - My anti-drug.

reply to Kearnstd

Honestly, no matter what people are never happy with anything they have. If a company gave everyone who signed up a free phone and then they turn around and cancel their service the company wouldn't be in business very long. AT&T 70 million customers X 175 per phone = 12,250,000,000. Hmm yeah that's a lot of money don't you think? Even though you think they phones are cheap AT&T does have to purchase those phones from whatever company that makes them at probably more than 175 a piece. I think people should just be an adult and either live up to their commitments or simply don't make a commitment at all. After all either you pay the full 175 ETF or after 23 months 60 which is saving you 115 bucks. Who would complain about saving 115?????

As a long time veteran of selling to the carriers, I can tell you that the $175.00 ETF rarely covers the cost of the phone.

Customers want that free, or heavily discounted phone up front, and agree to a 2 year contract so the carrier can write off the phone.

Don't want an ETF- bring your own phone.

Anyone who brings there own phone, or buys a phone from a carrier should get an unlocked phone. If AT&T sells you a phone at an un-discounted price, you should be able to use it anywhere- on any GSM carrier in the world (as long as the frequencies are the same). Since I travel all over the world, I only buy a "world phone" that will work in Europe and Asia, etc. And these phones are unlocked so I can use local SIM cards- that are much more economical than roaming on my AT&T SIM card.

If you are on a 2 year contract and want a new phone after the contract runs out, don't go back to the carrier for a new phone and sign a new contract. Buy your own phone and stay on month-to-month with the carrier.

That way you keep control of what you want to do- not the carrier.

By the way, I do not agree with many other of the carrier's practices, but I do understand the need for an ETF.

Almost anytime you get free equipment from any service supplier, it comes with some kind of ETF. Or worse.
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No good deed goes unpunished.