| ETF Management A carrier has a right to enforce a service agreement with a patron if they offer him/her a subsidized handset.
But carriers have gone beyond that when trying to force new contracts on customers changing pricing plans or porting their number back in during a win-back situation. This is where it becomes burdensome on the consumer.
The best thing for customers to do to avoid these problems is to educate themselves on wireless industry practices and carrier guidelines. Carriers should also be required to be upfront with their customers when enforcing new contract terms.
Carriers like VZW now force customers over the phone to verbally agree to new contract terms so that the customer can't say later on that they never agreed to it.
There are other options including prepaid, Flex Pay or regional carriers who offer full service without binding contracts.
Pro-rating or discounting ETF's are a start, but still leave room for improvement. I'd like to see ETF's based upon the actual hardware subsidy given. For example, if i pay $ 100 for a phone worth $ 200, then I feel my ETF should be $ 100. If I bring my own handset to a carrier for activation or pay full retail price for my phone, there should be no contract and no ETF applied to the consumer.
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| said by DannyBallZ :
There are other options including prepaid, Flex Pay or regional carriers who offer full service without binding contracts.
This is why my wife and I stick with our local telco's wireless service. No contracts to deal with. We call up every few months, work out a new deal on the phones and not have to deal with signing up for another 2 yrs. Its nice to know that I dont have to pay $175 to move to another service |
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 bencPremium
join:2007-06-17
Glen Carbon, IL
 ·Charter
| reply to DannyBallZ
Here's a better idea:
- No more contracts, month-to-month only. So no more ETFs.
- No more equipment subsidies by the carrier. Reduce monthly service fees.
To replace equipment subsidies, instead have banks offer loans for a small amount of money. There are numerous advantages to this:
- Rates are determined by credit worthiness, which I think is fair.
- More flexible. Want to pay the entire cost of the phone upfront and save money? Fine. Want to pay for the entire cost of the phone over time, for a little more money each month? Also fine.
- Rates can't stay high, since if another bank offers a better rate customers will go there. |
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