Verizon's Text Message increase, Cancel Contract?

Is it true that we can cancel our contracts with no fear of the Early Termination Fee? Someone please tell me when we can and until when as I have my eyes on the i-Phone.

This is news to me. I had read a couple of months ago that ETFs would depend on length of time already committed to a contract; in other words, the longer you had honored your contract, the less it would be as time went on. I also read that the only people who were eligible for this, would be people who had signed up after September of 2006.

I don't know if there is any truth to it at all, but it was included in a VZW board meeting, coming from VZW's CEO, I believe.

Your best bet is to always check the website and speak directly to a representative.

What were you going to say/ask about a text message increase? Will VZW be charging more or offering more?

Thanks..

No, you can not get out of your Verizon contract based on any changes to your text message costs. Text messaging is not a contract feature, therefore has no bearing on the terms and conditions of your service contract.

Then why could all of the people from sprint get out of their contracts when the text messaging rates increased? Do you have any ideas of how I could get out for free?

Sprint includes text messaging with some of their rate plans. Therefore it is part of the contract!

Hmmm....maybe I am reading this wrong then:

Verizon increases SMS rates -- customers now free of their contracts
Posted Jan 12th 2007 3:25PM by Donald Melanson
Filed under: Cellphones


It looks like Verizon Wireless is following in Sprint's SMS footsteps, announcing a planned hike in text messaging rates for those not currently subscribed to a messaging package. The hike, which will take effect March 1st, will bump the cost of sending a text message to the U.S., Puerto Rico, Canada and Mexico from $0.10 to $0.15 per message, with the price for international text messages remaining at $0.25 per message. The cost of receiving a message from customers of foreign wireless carriers, however, will increase to $0.15 whether you subscribe to a messaging package or not. If this all sounds a little familiar, it's because when Sprint did the same thing late last year, it didn't take long for people to figure out that the rate hikes amounted to a so-called "material change" to their contracts, meaning they could bail on it without paying an Early Termination Fee (EFT). So if you've been sticking to Verizon but secretly fancying another carrier, this looks like it may be your only chance to take the plunge without also taking a hit. In related news, Sprint looks to be planning a price hike of another sort, with a pair of tipsters relaying the news to us that the cost for Sprint's directory assistance service will be going up from $1.49 to $1.79 on February 1st, although whether that's enough to constitute a material change to the contract or not remains to be seen.

The link to the story is located here:

Verizon increases SMS rates -- customers now free of their contracts - Engadget

As I said, text messaging is not part of the contract. That article is wrong in that respect.

In your opinion, what is the best way to get out of a contract, I read that if you have three problems with the same phone then they have to let you out of the contract.

While I don't agree with that notion, its been clearly pushed forth on the web by verizons secret people that they are not going to let contracts get canceled. While some people may have been able to bully Cingular out of this, myself included, its not going to be easy. I've read a few forums where people ran basically into brick walls and go nowhere with ending the contract. Verizon prepped their cs reps immediately for this and i'm sure they are under orders not to let anyone out of contract. One web, consumer something or other thats usually covered by digg.com tried this exact option and ran into a brick wall. I wish everyone good luck but I feel that Verizon will be much better prepped for this compared to Sprint/Cingular.

I don't know if I should be promoting this or not: Script For Escaping Verizon Contracts Without Fee, Based On Text Message Rate Raises - Consumerist

haha

To better clarify, text messageing is not a part of your contract. If you signed up for a text package they will simply remain the same i.e. $5 for 250 $10 for 500 etc. If you signed up for pay per text then this is the only rate that will change also on your contract it did not state as to how much you would pay per text.

Just out of curiousity why would you want to leave a company that spends over six billion dollars a year to improve their network?

Even if you have a text message package, the cost increase affects you, since when you send or receive txt from out-of-network cell phones, thoses aren't part of the included texts from the package.

Would another carrier (say cingular, t-mobile, sprint, etc) pay the termination fee for you, if one left Verizon and couldn't get the ETF waived?

Just curious...

Not very likely!