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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE WASHINGTON, D.C. – With the recent launch of Verizon’s newest smartphone, the Droid, consumers should be aware starting Monday, November 15, 2009, Verizon will double its early termination fee to $350 for new customers who buy the Droid and other advanced smartphones. Verizon, the nation’s largest wireless phone service provider, will decrease the $350 fee by $10 a month over the course of the contract. Joel Kelsey, policy analyst for Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of Consumer Reports magazine, said consumers interested in purchasing the new Droid should be aware of the upcoming fee hike. “Verizon has been heavily promoting the Droid as the newest must-have phone, but what many people don’t know is, starting November 15, new customers will pay up to $350 to get out of their contract with the Droid and other Verizon smartphones,” Kelsey said. “This is a huge increase and an outrageous move by the country’s biggest wireless company. As with many cell phone deals, the early termination fee drops by an arbitrary amount each month over the life of the contract, but when the fee starts at $350, it’s a huge hurdle for consumers. Early termination fees are designed to lock people into long-term contracts. Any relation the fees have to discounts consumers receive on their cell phones should be clearly disclosed up front, so consumers know what kind of deal they’re getting.” Media Contacts:
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Airport Scanners Can Store, Transmit Images Contrary to public statements made by the Transportation Security Administration, full-body airport scanners do have the ability to store and transmit images, according to documents obtained by the Electronic Privacy Information Center. Google Apologizes to Chinese Authors HONG KONG — Google has agreed to hand over a list of books by Chinese authors that it has scanned in recent years, company executives said Monday, in an apparent effort to placate writers who say their works were digitized without their permission. Google Nexus One buyers frustrated about help Owners of Google's Nexus One phone may be early adopters, but some of them are also getting an early share of problems with phone and customer service, according to complaints being posted on various forums. Two year contract trend could reverse by 2011 Operators will need to offer extra services to lock in savvy customers, say analysts. Aggressively priced smartphones and up front payments on hardware could see the trend towards two year contracts reversed by 2011. Analyst Gartner says it expects 12 month contracts to return to the norm in two years' time, as consumers move away from Sim-only in improved economic conditions. And there will be more pressure on operators to provide reasonable prices on those 12 month contracts, even on heavily subsidized smartphones. The Network Neutrality Debate Is far From Over In the epic battle between giant corporations and pirates of digital media, the latter faction has struck a severe blow with the help of regulators at the FCC. Bureaucrats soon will be penning regulations that will keep the Internet free forever from -- well, regulation. Meanwhile, Internet service providers (ISPs) like Comcast and AT&T will slink back to their caves to bemoan their inability to further mine profit from customers. | ||
