Shame on Verizon Wireless
In the United States, the number one carrier with a lack of phone selection has decided to effectively shoot themselves in the foot. Last week, they would be charging a $350 ETF for any advanced devices which I could only assume to mean smart phones, and PCs. Their ETF for non-advanced devices are $175. In their defense, they would deduct $10/month of service.
First, for those that don’t live in the US, an ETF is a fee applied to you for the termination of a contract. Most of the time, you would either pay full price for the phone, or be required to sign a 24 month contract. If you break the contract (with the exception of a few loopholes), you would have to pay the ETF.
Now, with the introduction of Motorola Droid, and HTC Eris, these are considered as advanced devices which could cost as much as $150/month for unlimited voice/SMS/data. Almost every carrier requires a data plan on their smart phones if under contract, so $30 of this is required. Now, the contract price is $300 with a $100 mail in rebate. The non contract price is $560. So, in order for you to walk out with the Android, it is either $300 and a possibility of dealing with $350 if your life goes for the worse ($650), or $560 to not worry about it.
To give perspective, my HTC myTouch (aka Magic) is $400. And yes, the Droid from what I seen is worth $560, but why would anyone who wished to be smart pay $300 when they should go for that extra $260. Here is another consideration, when speaking with a Verizon Wireless representative, they told me that their policy is not to unlock their phones. So, another words – you would be paying $560 for a phone to work only on one carrier.
In perspective, I could get my HTC Magic unlocked and take it over to AT&T (if I really wanted too). My opinion, is if you paid full price, fulfill your obligations, or pay these disgusting ETFs, you should be allowed to take your phone anywhere as long as the carrier supports it. In the case of the Verizon’s edition of Motorola’s Droid, it would only go to one other carrier.
