Verizon customers can escape their contract without paying an early termination fee, thanks to a recent text message rate increase. The cost for people without a bundled message plan went from 15 to 20 cents, and this constitutes what is known as a “materially adverse” change to contract. That means they’re giving you a new contract and you have a new opportunity to say yes or no to it as they want you to pay more than you agreed to in the first place. This post on SlickDeals gives you the play by play you need to cancel without paying termination fee. Print out their post and keep it in front of you when you call. The poster on the forum says that using his techniques, he’s already canceled five people’s accounts for them.
Get Out of Verizon Wireless ETF [Slickdeals]
(Photo: Getty)
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20 cents? That’s so ridiculous. It wasn’t THAT long ago it was 10 cents to send and two cents to receive. Technology costs are supposed to go down, not up.
They just want to push people into bundled plans. Guaranteed extra revenue. Same goes with extra minutes. Why can one get a prepaid phone that costs 10 cents a minute but if I go over my minutes it’s 45 cents a minute?
God why can’t we be like 99% of other countries and use SIM cards dammit!?!?!?!?
so i ask once again, have we nailed down which service provider is the lesser of the evils? people were just getting out of sprint to go to possibly verizon, are verizon people going to go to sprint?
which is the lesser of the evils?
T-mobile.
@darkened: Agreed.
@darkened: I got my daughter a pre-paid phone from T-mobile. They didn’t have any local numbers so they game her one from the closest city that had a number available. They told me to just call back in a couple weeks to get a local number. The service sucked and she hardly ever has a good signal. Come to find out after 3 months of call for the local number… they don’t provide service in our area. WTF? Their website says they do, the local Target sells their pre-paid phones… If they wold have told me the truth in the beginning I could have returned the phone and gotten my money back. I’m not a fan of T-mobile…
A friend of mine got out of Sprint not too long ago to go to Verizon. He called and said he was moving to a place where Sprint has no coverage and they let him go sans ETF.. I’m thinking trying this with Verizon so I can go to T-Mobile.. Has anyone tried this approach?
@Rukasu: What in the heck do SIM cards have to do with text messaging rates being increased?
So good to see this article again. The last time this happened, I used the opportunity to get out of a horrible contract I let myself get snookered in to.
@snoop-blog: As crazy as it sounds, Sprint has been the best for me. I’m on SERO..I’m convinced you get better service than their other customers.
im a huge fan of verizon, and ive used almost every major cell phone provider. While increasing the text message rate is kinda stupid, I can understand why. Text messaging is huge, people are using it all the time. On new years eve they were flooded. People are going to pay for this. People who text a lot, get texting plans.
A smart person calculates how many texts they can send before its cheaper to get a plan. So while this is consumerist and I agree increasing is not very nice, I also believe you have to be intelligent and get the text messaging plan for 5 bux.
Is there anyway to cancel out of a verizon contract and then sign up again, and keep your old number?
I just want a new phone but don’t feel like paying the retail price
*shrug* I’m already on one of their texting plans anyway because I regularly text with other Verizon users. Still, since my dad has been considering getting out of Verizon, he might be able to do it now without the fee. I’ll forward it to him.
I believe that they should pay ME to use text messaging.
My logic:
-Making a phone call uses tons of bandwidth and air time (it’s all digital right?)
-A text message takes up not even a few kilobytes and takes a few seconds to transmit.
Hence, by using text messages I am actually helping reduce the load on their network.
FYI: I had text messaging disabled on my Verizon phone because their prices are just so outrageous and if a friend needs to contact me, they can *gasp* TALK TO ME.
Yay! I can escape from Verizon! Now if only I wanted too… I live in the mountains, and they are the only ones with decent reception up here.
Bummer about the text messages increase. I get/send about 1 or 2 a week, so it’s not worth bumping up to a plan. But it makes me peeved when I have to pay for messages that I neither initiated nor can stop from coming to my phone. Aarg!
Is there some way that I can use this to cancel my VZW contract without canceling my VZW service?
5 bucks for 250 sms’. Still a lot for someone who doesnt send any, but reccieve a lot because people cant get it through their tiny noggins not to text me.
Why cant we be like other countries and not pay to recieve them. Bloody Hell Verizon, i would switch but you are the only company (well you and alltel) that provides service through out my whole house. I have really stopped recommending your services to all of my friends.
@Bladefist: Can you remind me what text msg plan Verizon has for $5? I thought they did, but I can only find the one for $10/line on their site.
I normally have ~$5-6 in sms charges on both my and my wife’s phone, so a $5 plan would cost the same ammount and let us text with less guilt.
@noquarter: No, by continuing to use the service you in effect “agree” to the new terms. You can’t get out of the contract without cancelling your line.
There is something very wrong when it cost 40 cents to send/receive a text (plus tax) and 41 cents to send a First Class letter across the country. When not abused by corporations, advances in technology (by definition) should make communication faster and cheaper. Imagine if Samuel Morse tried to sell his telegraph as a device that can send messages for the SAME PRICE as the Pony Express.
Think of it this way, SMS max message size is 160 characters. One character equals one byte. There are 1024 x 1024 or 1,048,576 bytes in 1MB. So there are 1,048,576 / 160 or 6553.6 SMS messages in 1MB of data. Therefore, at 20 cents per TXT, Verizon is effectively charging $1,310.72 PER MEGABYTE. Price gouging?
They’re busily working themselves out of business. Text messaging has only just started to catch on like it has been overseas for years, and now they double the price, ensuring that no one will use it?
They should be offering X messages free, to get it to catch on, because it saves time and bandwidth for both parties. Voice mail should be automatically sent as a text message.
Then again, Verizon rips you off on their data packages, too.
@Mr. Gunn: Uh yeah. They’re not going out of business any time soon, which is why they can make such a move. By jacking up the price of texting, all they’re ensuring is that more people will purchase text packages.
@Zgeg: I was thinking about trying this to get out of Verizon … I have been with them for so long that my bill has reached ridiculous proportions and it’s time to leave. Think I could get away with it?
Yowzer, no wonder they can build an uber network, they charge their subscribers to death. I guess if you can afford their plans, it’s not a big deal. I’ll stick to AT&T for the time being.
@heathenmonkey:
Not sure about Verizon but Cingular (and Sprint, I think) will give you the “new customer” rebates on new phones every 18 months… at the cost of a new 2-year contract, of course.
This is great! I’ve been looking for a way out and I think this might be it.
If I go this route, is it going to be any more of a hassle porting my number than if I were to wait until my current contract expires (in May)?
@Sidecutter: No contracts, and text messaging on a scale depending on what phone card you buy.
Did NOT work for me. I followed the instructions and no go.
They said I don’t NEED to USE TM’s if I don’t WANT to so I’m SOL.
I think they are catching on and tightening up. They asked me a ton of questions not covered in the instructions. Some I was prepared for some I wasn’t.
I read them the box text and they said it doesn’t apply to this.
@SwatLax: From my bill:
MSG Camera $5 12/27 – 01/26 5.00
250 txt msg, pic msg, video msg, for 5$ a month.
If its not on their site, call them. I didn’t order it, one month I spent more then 5$ on txt and they put it on my acct for me to save me money. At first I wasn’t real happy about them adding services to my account without asking me, but its turned out to save me money every month since then.
It’s troubling how often consumerist posts news like this, meaning it sucks how often the wireless carriers are modifying their terms of service to screw us over.
@Rukasu: Uh, we do use SIM cards on GSM. It’s part of the spec. However, all the card does is identify the account information to the phone and sets things up so the system knows which phone is tied to which number. It has nothing to do with prices.
@Rukasu: You do realize that prepaid GSM service does exist in the US… don’t you?
@Mr. Gunn: Does “no one” include millions of teenyboppers?
@viqas: I’m hard of hearing. Do I have a “tiny noggin” too? Uh huh. Right.
@DomZ: Not necessarily true. Sometimes you can get out of your contract but continue on month-to-month paying your current rates, just as you would when your contract term is up and you don’t sign a new one.
This depends on the carrier, though. I’m not sure if Verizon will do this or make you cancel your line outright.
@Buran: You are just a bitter bitter man to come in here and go through the line and call everyone out. God your so smart. bleh.
@Bladefist: I believe Buran is a woman. And I don’t think she cares that she comes off as a witch sometimes. But hey we’re all entitled to our opinions.
I saw this post and was just about to switch to any other provider than Verizon, but after looking at Cingular, T-Mobil and Sprint’s family plans in my area (NYC) , they’re all the same price for extremely similar packages. Is there some price fixing going on here?
Last I checked, albeit a few years ago, it seemed like the cell phone companies had more varied service and price options. Is there really an advantage to switch anymore, other than to get a “better” phone?
I’d love to see more media coverage around the ACTUAL costs of sending a text message versus a voice call. It is absolutely asinine that they charge the rate they do. Even .10 is ridiculous.
Their hope of course is to force people who don’t use txting much into the plans where they get guaranteed revenue from people who likely are not heavy txt users.
Wish there was some way to go after them legally for this.
@ATTSlave: yes, we are, and pointing out that preferring to use text messaging doesn’t make you an idiot and that there are very valid reasons for it doesn’t make you a witch either. I guess some people just can’t respect those who point that out though.
To ZGEG: you want to be careful lying about moving. They may ask for proof, so you’d have to doctor up a utility bill. While they may not scrutinize every claim, bad stuff can happen if they prove you lied.
As far as this pricing thing, its a lot like the “meals” at fast food places. If you compare the price of the meal to the price of the individual items, then its insane to buy the items separately. But the prices for the individual items are pretty arbitrary, and its the price of the meal that is the sweet spot between profit and the likelihood of people to buy it. This is no different — people THINK they are saving money by buying the plan.
So at the new rate, 20c/message, 5 messages for a dollar, 25 messages for 5 dollars. After your 26th message, you’d have been better off buying the plan. Of course you are double-dipped if you send a txt to someone within your plan.
@mtaylor924: I have never heard of such an experience. The company changes terms of your contract and by paying your next month’s bill you agree to the new terms. You can not say you do not agree with the new terms and continue to use the service. Even if you are month to month you agree to the text messaging changes when you continue to use the service. You’re just not bound by an ETF because that part of the agreement has expired.
If you could cancel your contract but keep the service Verizon’s call center wait would be 4 hours.
@Buran: I was just referring to your general demeanor. You don’t exactly come off as a ray of sunshine.
Does anyone know if having one line that has a text package and two that don’t would prevent you from canceling sans etf?
@DavidS722: “Verizon is effectively charging $1,310.72 PER MEGABYTE”
But if you ask them, I’m sure they’ll still tell you it’s “point-oh-two-cents per kilobyte.”
@ATTSlave: People who imply that texters are idiots don’t either … yaknow? Honestly, a lot of people here have strong opinions, negative attitudes, also. But I’m starting to feel like there are people who seem to take some perverse delight in following me around and posting derogatory comments about me in threads I post in…
@ATTSlave: (not singling you out here, mind). I also want to point out that discussion forums aren’t a real clue as to how people behave in real life, that it’s hard to tell actual tone on the internet, and that you can have a negative opinion about something without automatically being an asshole. If you want bouncy joyful rays of sunshine from everyone, I’m afraid you’re on the wrong site.
Text messages cost .20/message because you pay it. Same reason MaBell charges you money not to be in the phone book: because they can.
New iPhone at Macworld and I’m so gone….
They seem to knock up the price $.05 every year. I just called and canceled my contract using this info. Here is the fun part; I HAD a messaging plan, however, the international receive rate goes up *regardless* of what messaging package you have. I used this to get the contract canceled anyway.
@DomZ: Maybe I didn’t clarify it properly – I’m not saying you can get out of the rate increase – just that you can switch to a month-to-month and continue using your phone number and their service. Then, if you want to leave 2 months later, you still can without paying the ETF.
Typically they only give you 30 days or similar to get out of the contract/ETF due to a rate change. What I’m saying is that you could get out of the ETF and go month-to-month NOW, then actually switch service and port your number to another provider in a few months.