William Hook / flickr.com
On the heels of possibly losing their exclusivity deal with Apple’s popular iPhone–thus giving Verizon entry into the market—AT&T has announced that they have significantly increased their fees for smart phone holders who choose to opt out of their contracts early.
AT&T declined to suggest that this change in policy is directly related to the upcoming expiration of their deal with Apple, but the timing may raise some flags.
Smart phone early cancellation fees will jump from $175 under AT&T to a hefty maximum of $325. This change will not apply to current contract holders as their agreements have already been signed. Instead, the fee increase will go into effect for all contracts signed on or after June 1, 2010.
In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel quipped that “AT&T’s smart phone ETF (Early Termination Fee) is, at $325, still less expensive than Verizon’s smart phone ETF, at $350.”
Granted, the hike in fees does not apply to absolutely everyone under the AT&T sun. In fact, if you are not a smart phone user, your fees may actually decrease to $150. Of course, that is only if you re-up on your contract. For now, if you already have a contract with this provider, your fee is still $175 (individual cases may vary based on length of time remaining on customer’s contract).
As many consumers will point out, whether or not AT&T’s fees stack up well against Verizon is not what resonates most with this announcement. It’s that this is yet another example of major cell phone services’ ability to prevent you from moving freely to another carrier.
Early Termination Fees have become a particular point of interest for the Federal Communications Commission lately. Whether or not the FCC will comment on AT&T’s announcement remains to be seen.
