AT&T Hiking up ETF as of June, iPhone 4G Reason Perhaps?
If by any chance you are planning on joining the Big Blue with a view to purchasing the next generation iPhone when it arrives, you just might be in for a bit of a shock over AT&T’s early termination fee, which up until June 1st would have been $175.00.
However according to an article over on the WSJ courtesy of Rosa Golijan over at Gizmodo we are hearing that AT&T is hiking up their ETF from said $175.00 to a rather staggering $325.00 which is quite some jump.
The reason for the ETF hike says AT&T is that in a fair approach the less a customer spends on a handset the less the ETF while the more you spend on a device should reflect in a higher early termination fee, which basically means buy a cheap phone and you won’t be hit by the increase; buy the next iPhone and you can expect that $325.00 ETF to apply.
Apparently though the Big Blue is generous in as much as the closer to the end of your contract, the lower the ETF will be as they will drop the ETF by $10.00 for each month you stay a customer during the balance of your 2 year agreement while previously the reduction was $5.00.
But doesn’t it seem a coincidence that AT&T has decided to up their early termination fee just before the iPhone 4G is expected to be released, drop us a comment with your views in the area below.
Comments
4 thoughts on “AT&T Hiking up ETF as of June, iPhone 4G Reason Perhaps?”
but why ! iPhone can come laterrrr…when 4G is out !
Once again you are biased agsinst AT&T and the iphone. It's funny how you didn't mention that Verizon doubled there EFT sometime last year for ALL of their smartphones. AT&T is only doing this for the iphone, and I think that it just shows your arrogance in not making the distincition and trying tomake AT&T look like they are the only ones doing this. You also did this in and article this week by stating that the next Gen iphone only had a 3.2 MP camera, when it fact it will have a 5 MP camera.
WHy don't you do us all a fovor and stop being biased and riddling your reports with your self serving opinion.
Verizon did the same thing so AT&T figures it can get in on it too. The problem with this is that AT&T still has a bad rep for dropped calls, customer support / service etc. But both Apple & AT&T have made their bed and they're sleeping in it together, for a long time now. I've had an iPhone since Day 1, and I am getting tired of the waiting and the hype – Maybe Froyo is the way to go, I just don't know at this point in time. Not ONE Company has ALL the Features / OS in ONE Smartphone that Most Consumers are looking for.
I have had the iphone since the 1st gen and have never had a single dropped call or a problem with customer service or with Apple as a matter of fact. But I agree with the fact that not one phone has all the features that everyone wants. I am getting the HTC evo when it comes out only because the plan is far cheaper and my employees discount will cut my bill by 15% with Sprint vs 10 % with AT&T and since the next iphone wont hava Flash, it makes no sense for me to get it. The irony is that I have already sold my old iphone and that will pay for the Evo a,d the first month of service, so the iphone has served it full potential as far as I am concerned, but no flash, no iphone for me.