Good news for anyone considering a shorter-term stay on AT&T’s HSPA network. AT&T has announced that it has gone official with its new Early Termination Fee (ETF) policy.
Customers can now expect to have their ETF reduced by $5 for every month that they pay their bill. What that means is that customers won’t have to worry about paying a ridiculous $175 ETF with just a few months left on their contract – although, AT&T customers looking to terminate the contract a month prior to its expiry date will still have to pay $60 dollars worth of pro-rated ETF.
Verizon Wireless already has pro-rated ETF policies in place and T-Mobile USA is expected to fall in line on June 30. No word on when Sprint will be going live with their pro-rated ETF.
The move is a step in the right direction amidst a changing wireless environment where consumers (and even Congress) are rallying against wireless carriers’ traditionally accepted practices of rolling out exclusivity contracts, locked handsets, and unreasonable ETFs. Of course, we probably won’t ever see the demise of the ETF (even multi-billion dollar corporations have to make back the money they eat for subsidized handsets), but here’s to hoping that carrier-locks and hardware exclusivity deals (like AT&T and the Apple iPhone) soon bite the dust.