California judge rules early cell phone termination fees illegal

[LoriLawless 0]

I switched from Verizon to AT&T last year. Best.thing.I've.ever.done.

[Amby 490]

Yeah that's my complaint about verizon. I said it earlier, no sim cards. I have 2 phones that I got in England and I use those all over. I have loads of sim cards from different countries. The nice thing about verizon is they let you put your contract on hold for however many months you're going to be gone and just resume it when you return since you can't really use it in another country unless you want to pay like $3/minute

[Steve Y Jessica 1]

I usually upgrade the phone every chance I get. I love gadgets!!!! So for me it is more imortant to get the cheaper phone.

I could be mistaken, but I thought that with Verizon, you could choose to pay the full price for the phone and not be locked into a contract. And some others also.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

Here's more...

Chicago attorney Jay Edelson, who was not part of the case but has filed about 50 other suits nationwide against various cell phone charges. "The phone companies have a tremendous amount of power," he added. "They lock you into long-term contracts and then they allow all these charges to be put on your bill. We have to make sure that consumers are protected."

.....

At a public hearing last month, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin sketched out a plan in which cancellation fees would be reduced over the life of the cell phone contract. Three companies - T-Mobile, AT&T and Verizon Wireless - already do that, and Sprint said it would begin prorating its fees next year.

The commission also is trying to resolve whether states have any role in regulating early termination fees, which are among the biggest source of complaints among wireless consumers, said spokesman Robert Kenny.

Fees or 'rates'?

He said the agency may decide to define such fees as "rates," which are subject to federal regulation under federal law. But if that happened, it is unclear how that might affect lawsuits in California and other states, Kenny said.

"That is something that will have to be addressed," he added, noting that the FCC hopes to resolve the issue by the end of the year.

Chris Murray, senior legal counsel for Consumers Union, said he hoped the California court decision would "drive a stake through the heart" of the industry's desire to remove state courts and state regulators from overseeing the fees.

That view was seconded by Scott Bursor, a lawyer for the victorious Sprint Nextel customers, who said the FCC likely would be persuaded by Sabraw's logic that states should have a role in policing the fees. If the FCC does limit state oversight, "it will get reversed" by the courts, he added.

On June 12, a jury in the Alameda County lawsuit ruled in favor of Sprint Nextel, determining that its customers who canceled their service early had breached their contracts with the company and that early termination fees were warranted.

But in overruling that decision, Sabraw said the jurors appear to have erred in assuming the fees were valid, and she took issue with the way Sprint Nextel determined that its customers owed the fees.

"Sprint did no damage analysis that considered the lost revenue from contracts, the avoidable costs and Sprint's expected lost profits from contract terminations," she said.

Nonetheless, Sabraw preserved a portion of the jury's verdict and used that to scale back the amount of refunds the suit initially had sought.

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_10039461?source=most_viewed

[KarenCee 3]

I hear you! Verizon may be great for some but they definitely were NOT good to me. Anywho, I get a 5% discount through the school system by having AT&T (formerly Cingular). They've not been bad, and not so many dropped calls up here in the mountains.

[Lansbury 19]

So the people in California do away with early termination fees and the cell phones in that State will be sold for their full price of several hundred dollars when the companies stop subsidizing new phones.

Six of one half a dozen of the over.

No they won't. With true choice, they'll know that consumers can now easily change carriers, so they will make the phone prices competitive, although probably higher than what most people have been paying. The key is consumer choice. You don't really have choice when you get locked into a contract everytime you adjust your monthly minutes plan.

It's a question of economics. They sold the phones cheap but tied people into a contract to recover that money.

If they now can't do this they will have to sell the phones at their true price. Also by making the phone the full price and expensive they make it just as hard for the consumer to change because of the high cost outlay to do so. Remember these phones are locked to the provider, unless that court case outlawed that as well.

I agree that it is wrong to extended the contract for changing the pricing plan.

Personally I always pay full price for an unlocked phone from an independent source and then get a sim card from which ever company gives the best call rate. I can change when I want and put a UK sim card when back in the UK. In fact have a US T-Mobile sim card in my unlocked UK Motorola Razr phone.

You could always buy a subsidized phone and have it unlocked if you can find someone to do so. Very easy in the UK not so easy in the USA.

Edited July 31, 2008 by Lansbury

[Steve Y Jessica 1]

I hear you! Verizon may be great for some but they definitely were NOT good to me. Anywho, I get a 5% discount through the school system by having AT&T (formerly Cingular). They've not been bad, and not so many dropped calls up here in the mountains.

Yes, Verizon gives people who work for my company a 15% discount.

We tried Sprint, but their coverage sucks.

[KarenCee 3]

I hear you! Verizon may be great for some but they definitely were NOT good to me. Anywho, I get a 5% discount through the school system by having AT&T (formerly Cingular). They've not been bad, and not so many dropped calls up here in the mountains.

Yes, Verizon gives people who work for my company a 15% discount.

We tried Sprint, but their coverage sucks.

Sprint and T-Mobile don't have good coverage up here in the mountains. Nextel seems to have ok coverage but most of the people I talked with said AT&T was the best. So far they've been right. A 15% discount would be great though.

[LoriLawless 0]

Amber, I use a phone from England too and just put the sim card in it from the free phone I got from AT&T

Steve Y Jessica - Yes you can, but the phones are expensive, and lately? Verizon phones suck compared to AT&T

I also get discounts for both phone companies through work, and I get a better discount through AT&T than Verizon.

I liked Verizon, I really did, but they started putting more restrictions on - outside of the missing sim card, you can't even charge their phones with a USB port!

I hear you! Verizon may be great for some but they definitely were NOT good to me. Anywho, I get a 5% discount through the school system by having AT&T (formerly Cingular). They've not been bad, and not so many dropped calls up here in the mountains.

Yes, Verizon gives people who work for my company a 15% discount.

We tried Sprint, but their coverage sucks.

Sprint and T-Mobile don't have good coverage up here in the mountains. Nextel seems to have ok coverage but most of the people I talked with said AT&T was the best. So far they've been right. A 15% discount would be great though.

I've found the coverage here is better too.

[Steve Y Jessica 1]

I think the best coverage is with Verizon and AT&T. And yes I do not like that Verizon does not use a SIM.

I have AT&T through work. Then whenever I get a new phone I have someone that unlocks them so I can use them outside of the US. And then I give my old one to my wife. But the last one I gave her, a Treo, she is scared to walk around using it in Buenos Aires.

[Dr. A ♥ O 203]

Great I want my money back!

[Steve Y Jessica 1]

I fact, I am trying to figure out what I am going to do when my wife gets here, since she will be here in 2 1/2 weeks

I can put her on a family plan with my daughter with Verizon or go with AT&T. Because she loves to text, so I know she will text her family and friends in Argentina and Peru. Verizon charges like .20 per intl text, but AT&T has a $10/month intl text plan.

Because we text all of the time. If one of us does not text the other one "Buenos Dias" or "Buenas Noches", the other one is calling on the phone, "What's going on? Why didn't you text me?

[Lansbury 19]

Then whenever I get a new phone I have someone that unlocks them so I can use them outside of the US.

Is it anyone you could recommend. I haven't found anywhere reliable to get the US phone my wife uses unlocked.

Edited August 1, 2008 by Lansbury

[LoriLawless 0]

I fact, I am trying to figure out what I am going to do when my wife gets here, since she will be here in 2 1/2 weeks

[Heracles 417]

Sprint and T-Mobile don't have good coverage up here in the mountains. Nextel seems to have ok coverage but most of the people I talked with said AT&T was the best. So far they've been right. A 15% discount would be great though.

I am surprised to hear that. The technology Verizon uses (CDMA) allows their signal to travel quite far. Whereas AT&T use GSM which was originally designed for European style countries / cities. Short distance communication.

If AT&T has a base station somewhere on/near the mountains then the coverage will be pretty good. But generally Verizon's service/signal works much further.