Comments on: FCC Fines Verizon $25M for Mystery Fees http://gigaom.com/2010/10/28/fcc-fines-verizon-25m-for-mystery-fees/ Fri, 24 May 2013 22:57:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Luscious http://gigaom.com/2010/10/28/fcc-fines-verizon-25m-for-mystery-fees/#comment-490746 Fri, 29 Oct 2010 00:48:12 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=230960#comment-490746 The FCC sure as hell didn’t cover my back when my service provider breached it’s contract, or is the FCC chairman only interested in scandals that go beyond 6 figures??? Nice to know the court system in this country still works, however – I won my case.

]]> By: JAy. http://gigaom.com/2010/10/28/fcc-fines-verizon-25m-for-mystery-fees/#comment-490471 Thu, 28 Oct 2010 19:45:30 +0000 http://gigaom.com/?p=230960#comment-490471 Can’t say I see an issue with the ETF increase. I have had cell phones in the past, and I have always read the fine print and determined that the ETF was a reasonable accommodation for getting a phone for far less than it was worth.

Should the ETF on a smartphone and a basic feature phone be the same? No. The tel-cos are shelling out far more for that smartphone and “selling” it at a loss. The ETF just allows them to make sure that they recover that loss in future revenue.

And by providing a declining ETF as several of the tel-cos have started doing, they are being more honest about the declining risk they see as the contract life is expended. That said, if you have a $350 ETF on a 24 month contract, the ETF after month 23 should be less than $20, which I do not believe is the case with Verizon.

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