Previewed at WWDC, launching in the fall.
Verizon Makes Customers Wait Longer for Upgrades
U.S. carrier Verizon has changed its phone upgrade policies, making customers wait longer between upgrades. Until now, customers with a two-year agreement could upgrade at 20 months.
Now, customers will only be able to upgrade at 24 months, when their contract is up. The first customers impacted by this change are those whose contracts expire in January 2014.
In alignment with the terms of the contract, customers on a two-year agreement will be eligible for an upgrade at 24 months vs. today's early upgrade eligibility at 20 months. This change aligns the upgrade date with the contract end date and is consistent with how the majority of customers purchase new phones today. The first customers impacted by this change are customers whose contracts expire in January 2014. As always, customers may purchase a new phone at the full retail price at any time.Verizon's main competitor, AT&T, allows customers to upgrade after 20 months, with an "early upgrade" allowed at an earlier time with a larger initial payment. Sprint offers upgrades after 20 months as well.
T-Mobile recently rolled out its new "uncarrier" plans, allowing customers to buy an iPhone 5 for $100 down plus 24 monthly payments of $20. Customers can buy a new phone at any time, but they will still be responsible for the monthly payments on prior phone purchases.
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68 months ago
This is an excellent idea...
... to push even more people to AT&T, Sprint, and Tmobile.
... to push even more people to AT&T, Sprint, and Tmobile.
68 months ago
This is kind of dumb, if you ask me. One of the benefits for the carrier on allowing the early upgrade is holding a carrot in front of the user that will get them to re-up before their contract is up. Now, they're going to put me in a position to make my carrier decision without any hindrance of the contract.
Cutting their own noses off to spite their face, IMO
Cutting their own noses off to spite their face, IMO
68 months ago
don't worry, Soon AT&T will announce the same thing.
rather than get potential Verizon escapes, they will be greedy and gouge their current customers.
rather than get potential Verizon escapes, they will be greedy and gouge their current customers.
68 months ago
While this seems like a trivial matter, the bigger question is this:
Why in the "land of the free" are the telecoms allowed to charge the outrages prices they do, in ways which are actually illegal in the rest of the world?
For example, in India they aren't even allowed to charge a penny per text, because that is a markup in the 1000%+ range. In this country, they still get away with charging many people plans that cost $20 per month for "unlimited texting". That is outrageous.
In addition, these companies are many times larger than the landline phone companies were during the big breakups. Because they got congress to pass a law saying wireless carriers didn't have to adhere to the same rules of the landline companies, we've allowed these companies to not only consolidate with others making multinational juggernauts the size we've never seen before (literally the holders of the keys for communication and information in large swaths of the world).
T-Mobile is trying to change the game, but not towards consumers. It's interesting that immediately after many of the big companies tried to merge and were blocked, that the dissenting members of the FCC suddenly stepped down. Something in rotten in the state of Denmark.
Why in the "land of the free" are the telecoms allowed to charge the outrages prices they do, in ways which are actually illegal in the rest of the world?
For example, in India they aren't even allowed to charge a penny per text, because that is a markup in the 1000%+ range. In this country, they still get away with charging many people plans that cost $20 per month for "unlimited texting". That is outrageous.
In addition, these companies are many times larger than the landline phone companies were during the big breakups. Because they got congress to pass a law saying wireless carriers didn't have to adhere to the same rules of the landline companies, we've allowed these companies to not only consolidate with others making multinational juggernauts the size we've never seen before (literally the holders of the keys for communication and information in large swaths of the world).
T-Mobile is trying to change the game, but not towards consumers. It's interesting that immediately after many of the big companies tried to merge and were blocked, that the dissenting members of the FCC suddenly stepped down. Something in rotten in the state of Denmark.
68 months ago
I've said it a million times:
AT&T is inept. Verizon is evil. Take your pick, but they are different!
AT&T is inept. Verizon is evil. Take your pick, but they are different!
68 months ago
Verizon I am SICK of you. I get unusable 3G speeds every day in the afternoon and when it does work I get about .3 Mb/s down .05 up in my town. Now they are going to do THIS? I pay them good money every month for my service and I am SO ****ING DONE
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