http://www.intomobile.com/2008/06/16/sprint-nextel-fogives-early-termination-fee-for-government-subscribers.html Cell Phone News, Information, and Analysis Tue, 24 Nov 2009 08:11:30 -0600 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 http://www.intomobile.com/2008/06/16/sprint-nextel-fogives-early-termination-fee-for-government-subscribers.html/comment-page-1/#comment-252582 Mark Tue, 17 Jun 2008 13:34:19 +0000 http://www.intomobile.com/2008/06/16/sprint-nextel-fogives-early-termination-fee-for-government-subscribers.html#comment-252582 I work in the wireless industry, and while I agree that ETF's can be onerous, consider the fact that on average it takes a wireless company 8 months to a year to make a penny off a new customer. This is because of the subsidizing of phones. So while it's definitely the carrier's responsibility to keep the customer happy and wanting to stay, there's a huge risk in giving away practically free phones and letting customers just cancel after, say, three months. You'd end up with a monopoly in the business (basically the last company standing), and suddenly prices would skyrocket. Just the inconvenient truth about how the industry works... I work in the wireless industry, and while I agree that ETF’s can be onerous, consider the fact that on average it takes a wireless company 8 months to a year to make a penny off a new customer. This is because of the subsidizing of phones. So while it’s definitely the carrier’s responsibility to keep the customer happy and wanting to stay, there’s a huge risk in giving away practically free phones and letting customers just cancel after, say, three months. You’d end up with a monopoly in the business (basically the last company standing), and suddenly prices would skyrocket. Just the inconvenient truth about how the industry works…

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