Cingular has been denying customers’ right to cancel over the rise in pay-per-use text-messaging rates, contending they,

“only promised to let customers out of their contracts if we raised the price of a service they “subscribe” to. Pay per use SMS is not a service customers subscribe to.”

However, this contradicts language in Cingular’s MEdia Net Mulitmedia Messaging FAQ…

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Why do I need to subscribe to MEdia Net?
Consider MEdia Net as the highway down which the Multimedia Messaging travels. MEdia Net bills separately from Multimedia Messaging. You can either subscribe to a MEdia Net package or pay per use. If you subscribe to the pay-per-use plan and don’t ever use MEdia Net outside of Multimedia Messaging, you will never be charged. Learn more about MEdia Net packages.

Here, Cingular refers to a pay-per-use plan as a subscription. Also, if you don’t use the function covered under the pay-per-use plan, you won’t be charged. This is exactly the same as how text-messaging works. Therefore, since a = b, and b = c, then a = c, then text-messaging is a subscription.

Therefore, Cingular customers should be allowed to escape contract without early termination fee.

Cingular’s not one to be stopped by mere logic. Andy tried the above approach, and Cingular told him to seek arbitration. Translation: Oh yeah? So sue us.

Someone should. — BEN POPKEN

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