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Verizon Wireless Eliminates One Year Contracts
Company Hopes to Simplify Purchasing Options
According to leaked Verizon documents posted over at GadgetU, Verizon will be eliminating one year contracts starting on April 17. Month-to-month and two-year contract options will not be changed according to the documents. "Very few customers select one year contracts," notes the internal document, which suggests that eliminating the option simplifies the options available, "reducing customer confusion and questions." "Keep in mind, a majority of our customers select a two-year contract when buying our devices, so we are responding to what our customers want," Verizon says in a statement.
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grimzly
Premium Member
join:2004-06-15
Durham, NC

grimzly

Premium Member

Contracts

said by article :
"Keep in mind, a majority of our customers select a two-year contract when buying our devices, so we are responding to what our customers want,"
Yes. Because customers are begging to be locked into 2-yr contracts.
Os
join:2011-01-26
US

Os

Member

Re: Contracts

It's all about price. VZW makes the 2-year contracts cheaper for the phone, so people sign their lives away for longer.

It's true, but it's a bit misleading and manipulative on VZW's part.
JBT
Premium Member
join:2002-12-06
Odessa, FL

JBT

Premium Member

Re: Contracts

I haven't looked at a new phone in a while but last time I looked 1 year contracts had very little price difference for the device as no contract at all.
jjeffeory
jjeffeory
join:2002-12-04
Bloomington, IN

jjeffeory

Member

Re: Contracts

Bingo!

N3OGH
Yo Soy Col. "Bat" Guano
Premium Member
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs

N3OGH

Premium Member

Re: Contracts

Yep. Everyone knows the best deal to be had with VZW was the 1 year deal. You pay a bit more upfront, but you can upgrade much quicker.

digdug
Premium Member
join:2008-02-01
Mount Vernon, WA
Google Wifi

digdug to JBT

Premium Member

to JBT
I have been doing 1 year contracts for quite some time on my family plan and always buy online. Most phones I get are usually $50 more for a 1 year contract and this give me the option to upgrade eariler w/o paying full retail. Not looking forward to 2 year contracts.

kyler13
Is your fiber grounded?
join:2006-12-12
Annapolis, MD

kyler13 to JBT

Member

to JBT
Wrong. Smartphones are typically only $70 more on one year contract compared to two year. They're nowhere near the contract free price.

Kramer
Mod
join:2000-08-03
Richmond, VA

Kramer

Mod

Re: Contracts

Exactly. 70 dollars more for the privilege of buying a new phone at a highly discounted price every ten months is a good deal and almost a necessity in my opinion. We have two one year contracts expiring this summer and one more expiring next Feb. It may be time to start rolling these over to another provider that is willing to discount a phone on a one year term if there are any left. If phones worked reliably for two years, I wouldn't be concerned. I still have two young adults on our plan. They are really rough on phones and we had been buying insurance on their phones until we found out the insurance was basically worthless. The one year contract was my my insurance. This really ticks me off and I am seriously looking elsewhere.

C0deZer0
Oc'D To Rhythm And Police
Premium Member
join:2001-10-03
Tempe, AZ

C0deZer0

Premium Member

Re: Contracts

Believe me, I've tried - you won't get that option anywhere unless you go with a no-contract plan now.

Collusion, gotta love it.

sivran
Vive Vivaldi
Premium Member
join:2003-09-15
Irving, TX

sivran to Kramer

Premium Member

to Kramer
I guess I'm weird (and my dad too) in that every cell phone I've had (except for the Nokia one I got from Cingular which only lasted a couple months) I've kept for multiple years. Hell my very first cell must've been in service nearly 5 or 6 years (roughly half with me, half with my dad after I switched). 'course that was back when a phone was a phone and upgrades didn't mean much.

Still, my most recent phone is a Sidekick 3 that was old when I got it and I've used it for about 3 years now, and the only reason I'm ditching it now is T-Mo's eliminating the Sidekick Prepaid plan.
rradina
join:2000-08-08
Chesterfield, MO

rradina

Member

Re: Contracts

I bought an iPhone 3G (not 3Gs) from AT&T on a 2-year contact. Before the contract ended, Apple released iOS4 which rendered the phone useless. It would lock up, freeze and jerk -- all because the phone did not have enough memory to run the new version. It never makes sense to me why an OS has to require more minimum memory because a few features are added. Alas, Apple lovers can never bitch about Microsoft requiring them to upgrade their PC to run the next version of Windows.

So what did I do? Fed up, I went to the Apple store (AT&T was of no use, they had no iPhone 4 devices and couldn't tell me when I could get one) and in 20 minutes I walked out with a shiny new iPhone4 that "fixed" all of my problems. I love the phone, not so much the network, but I love the phone. I'm not too happy with Apple and if anyone thinks they didn't plan it this way....ha! I have a hardly-used bridge in Alaska for sale.
Ryokurin
join:2008-12-05
Atlanta, GA

Ryokurin to kyler13

Member

to kyler13
If he has work discounts He can be right. For example, the 1 year contract for the Thunderbolt for me is only $20 more than the 2 year contract.

digdug
Premium Member
join:2008-02-01
Mount Vernon, WA

digdug

Premium Member

Re: Contracts

Yes, must be employee discount factor. Just lookin at my account online and the Thunderbolt 2 year is $219, and the 1-Yr is $249.
NeoandGeo
join:2003-05-10
Harrison, TN

NeoandGeo to JBT

Member

to JBT
said by JBT:

I haven't looked at a new phone in a while but last time I looked 1 year contracts had very little price difference for the device as no contract at all.

The one year contract price was generally $100 more than two year contract. Well below the price of buying the device without a contract at all.

FreedomBuild
Well done is better than well said
Premium Member
join:2004-10-08
Rockford, IL

FreedomBuild to Os

Premium Member

to Os
said by Os:

It's all about price. VZW makes the 2-year contracts cheaper for the phone, so people sign their lives away for longer.

It's true, but it's a bit misleading and manipulative on VZW's part.

That's part of the marketing media propaganda and Gotcha capitalism.
siouxmoux
join:2007-09-25

siouxmoux to grimzly

Member

to grimzly
I thought all of the major US Wireless Companies have Eliminated 1-yr contracts years ago. But I am willing to bet that ATT will soon introduced a mandatory three year contracts for all new iPhone 5 purchases.
patcat88
join:2002-04-05
Jamaica, NY

patcat88

Member

Re: Contracts

In Canada all cellphone contracts are 3 years last I checked the Can cell websites.

Numberz
@speakeasy.net

Numberz

Anon

HUH??

For example, new Droid X

Month to Month $570
1 yr. contract $220
2 yr. contract $150

You save $350 to do a 1 yr deal, but only $70 more to go to a 2 year lock. The 1 year contract has been a no-brainer. Too bad it's going away.

Maybe this is another one of Apple's demands...........
Crookshanks
join:2008-02-04
Binghamton, NY

Crookshanks

Member

Re: HUH??

said by Numberz :

The 1 year contract has been a no-brainer.

Doesn't that depend on how long you typically keep your phones? I've always signed 2 year contracts with Verizon and never leaped right at the chance to upgrade at the end of them. I usually invest some money back into the phones I already own (typically replacing the battery at least once) and go about 30-36 months between upgrades. Hell, when I ditched my v9m in favor of the Droid X I had been out of contract for more than a year.

I've never understood the mentality of wanting a new phone every two years. If you take care of your phone the only part that will ever wear out is the battery and those are cheaply replaced without signing over two years of flexibility. I have four lines on my family share account and no more than two of them are under contract at any given time.

Besides, it is amusing as hell to see how much junk mail Verizon sends you when you've been out of contract for any length of time.

Boricua
Premium Member
join:2002-01-26
Sacramuerto

Boricua

Premium Member

Re: HUH??

I haven't been on a contract since Dec 2007 in case I want to dump their a$$. I get my phones mainly from eBay. Never had a problem except for one phone which was rectified.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup to Crookshanks

Premium Member

to Crookshanks
said by Crookshanks:

Besides, it is amusing as hell to see how much junk mail Verizon sends you when you've been out of contract for any length of time.

I have opted out from receiving commercial email from Verizon. I had a 3G broadband modem that was out of contract for almost a year and of course I never got an email telling me that if I signed up for the new 4G plan it would be $10 a month cheaper and the charge for going over 5 gig in a month would be $10 a gig instead of $250 a gig. Who knew?

BTW I signed up for a new 1 year contract.
Crookshanks
join:2008-02-04
Binghamton, NY

Crookshanks

Member

Re: HUH??

My employer has a bunch of grandfathered 3G cards that are truly unlimited. Most of them stay well under 5GB but there's two of them used by our field salesman that regularly use >10GB a month.

We are going to hold onto those things until Verizon pries them from our cold dead hands.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup

Premium Member

Re: HUH??

said by Crookshanks:

We are going to hold onto those things until Verizon pries them from our cold dead hands.

Be careful. If the guys out in the field are suddenly surrounded by black Verizon SUVs they better hand the 3G cards over.

kyler13
Is your fiber grounded?
join:2006-12-12
Annapolis, MD

kyler13 to Numberz

Member

to Numberz
You hit it on the nose. One year contract is a no brainer if you want to stay up on technology. Of course, it's less profitable for Verizon to provide subsidies on constant one year contract renewals. That is THE reason and the only reason it's going away.
wayne8888
join:2005-10-16
Baltimore, MD

wayne8888

Member

Re: HUH??

Yep I just (March 19th) signed up for a one year contract so I could get the htc Thunderbolt. I felt it was worth the extra $100 that I paid for the phone to avoid a potential huge ETF (paid smaller ETF's 3 years in a row to ATT then Verizon and now Sprint) when something better comes along.

SLD
Premium Member
join:2002-04-17
San Francisco, CA

SLD

Premium Member

Fewer choices == "what customers what"?

"Keep in mind, a majority of our customers select a two-year contract when buying our devices, so we are responding to what our customers want," Verizon says in a statement.
Yes, I'm sure their customers are clamoring to have their choices limited!

IowaCowboy
Lost in the Supermarket
Premium Member
join:2010-10-16
Springfield, MA

IowaCowboy

Premium Member

They lobbied against state regulations

A few years ago, the state of Massachusetts proposed regulations protecting cell phone customers with one of the provisions limiting cell phone contracts to one year. The bill never became law due to the industry lobbying against it.
thecp
join:2004-07-15
Sacramento, CA

thecp

Member

The tin cans and string option starting to look really good.

Verizon has steadily gone downhill and now this BS. I have ALWAYS done the 1-year contract. The extra cost upfront is completely negated by the fact that I can get a much higher price from selling off my old phone which is only a year old vs. a 2-year old one.

No one uses 1-year contract my ass. All of my friends also do the 1-year contract. This really pisses me off.
BlitzenZeus
Burnt Out Cynic
Premium Member
join:2000-01-13

BlitzenZeus

Premium Member

1 year warranties 2 year contracts

When companies first started offering two year contracts I thought people who got them were stupid, and I was right.... They sucker you in so you have to stay for two years, and if you have to replace your phone after the first year, you of coarse want another discount, for yet another two years.... Of coarse under these plans you're forced to pay for a plan that builds up a upgrade discount, and of coarse the cost is hidden in your phone plan.

Sure you can get insurance, but it's total bullcrap as you have to pay for the insurance for the first year also, so an estimated $6 per month, totaling $72 not saved the first year as you had to get insurance to have your phone covered the second year. Look at all that money you're not saving...

These piggyback carriers are looking better, and better. Sure you have to buy the equipment first, but their prices are far better than the main carriers. The greed of these carriers is overwhelming.

This is not for the benefit of the consumers, it's merely to trap people into contracts, and etfs. People are less likely to leave if they are still under contract.

People who get the two year contracts are the same suckers who fell for the interest only home loans, they are idiots.

slothigus
@charter.com

slothigus

Anon

the end of 1 year contracts

It seems to me that if they were doing this just to make it less confusing for the customer they would get rid of the 2 year contracts instead and keep the 1 year contract. Let the customer know that the 2 year plan wasn't saving them much anyway and they won't be facing an early termination fee for getting out after a year which is either $175 for feature phones or $350 for smartphones currently.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

handset makers & wireless companies = price collusion

handset makers are forced to raise prices of handsets by at least $200 so that customers are goaded into signing up for 2 year agreements. there should be NO reason why those $600+ HTC handsets are priced that high when you know that there is at least a $200 premium attached so companies such as Verizon wireless push you into this quid quo pro agreement for expensive post-paid service that you realize you've been screwed.

Do yourself a favor and buy a baisc pre-paid unlimited service account and buy a separate smart device. You can pay 1/10th to 1/2 the price of a post paid account when you factor in a 24 month agreement. More consumers would agree to that once becoming educated about the options that are available. Some pre-paid services are even including android phones as options (or will in the near future). Hint # 2 they will be in the $100-$200 range, not $600!!!

•••

mb6
join:2000-07-23
Washington, NJ

mb6

Member

Just in Time

Glad I caught this article. Called in and got a 1 year renewal 2 months early and a Thunderbolt. It cost me $70 more for the phone than a 2 year deal.

DaveDude
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey

DaveDude

Member

That voip thing

I really think when there cheap carriers get nationwide data, its going to be the end of verizon/att. Because once clear or whoever gets there first. Voip wireless phones , will make companies charging $15 just to use data useless.
Mordhem
Love it, Hate it.
join:2003-07-10
Baltimore, MD

Mordhem

Member

Guess Comcast have been getting to them with their PR Hitman

If you haven't seen the Comcast commercials, they air anything they find in Verizon small text. Especially about the 1 year agreement and the huge ridiculous charge that they you would get when you canceled. In my opinion Verizon should half to give all the areas they still have the old publicly funded phone network installed back the the community's more less back to the government. They are hindering America's movement in to the 21st century trying to milk a network the was built 200+ years ago! While every other country surpasses us this is ridiculous and should not be happen if anything America should be top leader in technology but apparently our government is allowing corporations to hinder the process of upgrading while cable is at least making leaps in technology. So I believe the phone company's have made enough money off a government's built network. So by removing them from the picture of all copper phone wire will send the message to them if you want to continue compete you will need to build your own network, for many years they milk customers with high customers prices that where behind in time! Currently customers don't notice that their being ripped off so if you still with copper phone service and DSL I feel sorry for you! That you got to pay for something that our tax money went to build and now they over charge you while letting the old network just die, along ago they could have at least upgraded to cat 5 or the many other options presented over the years but apparently they see no reason to reinvest to their own network.

Comcast may not be the greatest but at least they invest back in to their network and keep upgrading it over it the years eventually cable will be full fiber and then what will the great Verizon do? For those in bad areas of come cast I feel for you but verizon is constantly expanding the fiber optics and closer and closer to the home and at the same time expanding the feeder, I mean cable offers 12MB where dsl maxes out at 2 or so MB if it can reach that! Then a normal phone comany charges 9 times the price of voip, makes no send.

/end of rate fro my large hatred of Verizon the oldest network running besides its cherry picked fios areas, Do they cherry pick based on money or race? Well I'm in Baltimore Hampden a easy place to be able to pay for able and internet, matter of fact I think most of my state does is fios like 10 times the price?

NOCMan
MadMacHatter
Premium Member
join:2004-09-30
Colorado Springs, CO

NOCMan

Premium Member

It's in preperation for the iPhone 5

Get real folks, Verizon eliminated the new every 2, right before they sold the iPhone, and they dont want to be paying for everyone's new iPhone 5's or 6's over the years. It's about saving them money in the long run.

Minmoe
@205.242.95.x

Minmoe

Anon

Re: It's in preperation for the iPhone 5

What exactly is the new every two they cancelled? If you're out of contract, you're not entitled to new contract pricing? Why stay with them if that's the case?


Bill Neilson
Premium Member
join:2009-07-08
Alexandria, VA

Bill Neilson

Premium Member

Yet another press release where a company

says that consumers love being screwed b/c that is what they REALLY want

You know, rarely if ever do they actually explain WHY. It is just...customers want it secretly

Consumers love high prices
Consumers love limited phone upgrades
Consumers love long contracts when we all know they will change phones in between that time

Yes, consumers love it all

Lenny
@optonline.net

Lenny

Anon

Another VW's ripoff

PHONES DO NOT LIVE THROUGH 2-YEARS USAGE!!!
-----
That's another Verizon's stupid moves to lose their loyal customers like myself (over 12 years). They did that with locking aGPS, restricting Bluetooth usage, making you pay for the data plan even if were not gonna use it and so on...
Countless cases of disrespect to the customers.
I hope someone will class-action sue their aSs asap.