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Rob
In Deo speramus
Premium
join:2001-08-25
Kendall, FL
 ·Comcast
 ·AT&T Southeast
| Re: I wonder said by timcuth  :... if at&t will follow suit? Tim And lose all those locked in iphone customers?! I think not. | |
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pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD
·Comcast
| Re: I wonder said by Rob :And lose all those locked in iphone customers?! I think not. Some will just one meeeeeeeeeeelion dollars.
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Only SHATNER is Kirk. | |
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Coma
who . . . . . me?
Premium
join:2001-12-30
Nirvana-Land
clubs: |
If they do, I want some money back !
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oKubricko
join:2001-08-06
Miamisburg, OH
clubs: | Re: I wonder agreed! | |
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| | bigboy728
join:2007-07-21
Riverside, CA | I wouldn't count on it its the new ATT unless they sell it soon. | |
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Jim Gurd
Sorry Roger, you tiger now.
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI | I don't believe at&t extends contracts for changing rate plans. They will if you get a new (subsidized) phone but that's to be expected. | |
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| | speedy99
join:2002-09-25
Saratoga, CA
·DSL EXTREME
·Comcast
| Re: I wonder said by Jim Gurd :I don't believe at&t extends contracts for changing rate plans. They will if you get a new (subsidized) phone but that's to be expected. They do. I have a second mobile line right now that will cost me $200 to cancel - so I just pay the $9.95/month, someday I might need it again. | |
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Jim Gurd
Sorry Roger, you tiger now.
Premium
join:2000-07-08
Plymouth, MI | Re: I wonder Did you add a new line? If so that's why. I'm talking about simply increasing or decreasing your monthly minutes. | |
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hhawkman
Premium
join:2001-02-08
Port Hueneme, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
| Re: I wonder said by Jim Gurd :Did you add a new line? If so that's why. I'm talking about simply increasing or decreasing your monthly minutes. So why should adding a new line increase the contract on existing lines and phones? This happened to me when I was with AT&T. We got a new phone and line for our stepdaughter. Separate billing. Separate account. The current plan they were offering was a little better minute-wise than our existing plan (not by much, and same price), so we changed to the new plan (no mention of any contract extensions). A year later when our contract was supposed to end and we tried the cancel the 2 old lines, we were told we had another year on our contract, and would have to pay a "termination fee". We took it all the way to the FTC, and didn't have to pay. Then we kissed AT&T and their crappy 2 year old phones goodbye. | |
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cyrus369
join:2002-09-16
usa
clubs:
| Re: I wonder said by hhawkman :said by Jim Gurd :Did you add a new line? If so that's why. I'm talking about simply increasing or decreasing your monthly minutes. So why should adding a new line increase the contract on existing lines and phones? This happened to me when I was with AT&T. We got a new phone and line for our stepdaughter. Separate billing. Separate account. The current plan they were offering was a little better minute-wise than our existing plan (not by much, and same price), so we changed to the new plan (no mention of any contract extensions). A year later when our contract was supposed to end and we tried the cancel the 2 old lines, we were told we had another year on our contract, and would have to pay a "termination fee". We took it all the way to the FTC, and didn't have to pay. Then we kissed AT&T and their crappy 2 year old phones goodbye. Sounds fishy to me, did you do this over the phone, in a at&t corporate store or through a mall store? Each line has its own separate contract, when you add a line or extend a contract on one line it does NOT change contracts on any other line. And when you change your plan it does not extend your contract, I do it all day long and have yet to see it change a contract date... | |
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visio
join:2001-08-29
Clifton, NJ
| Re: I wonder said by cyrus369 :said by hhawkman :said by Jim Gurd :Did you add a new line? If so that's why. I'm talking about simply increasing or decreasing your monthly minutes. So why should adding a new line increase the contract on existing lines and phones? This happened to me when I was with AT&T. We got a new phone and line for our stepdaughter. Separate billing. Separate account. The current plan they were offering was a little better minute-wise than our existing plan (not by much, and same price), so we changed to the new plan (no mention of any contract extensions). A year later when our contract was supposed to end and we tried the cancel the 2 old lines, we were told we had another year on our contract, and would have to pay a "termination fee". We took it all the way to the FTC, and didn't have to pay. Then we kissed AT&T and their crappy 2 year old phones goodbye. Sounds fishy to me, did you do this over the phone, in a at&t corporate store or through a mall store? Each line has its own separate contract, when you add a line or extend a contract on one line it does NOT change contracts on any other line. And when you change your plan it does not extend your contract, I do it all day long and have yet to see it change a contract date... He says it right there.
When I used to work in the wireless industry it was common practice to extend contracts to 2 years from the date of change. You may not do that now at your current place, but this problem he had was years ago. | |
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atmw
@att.net | You just get screwed out of any extra rollover minutes you have not used but paid for if you change a minute plan or opt for the unity plan as they consider that a plan change. | |
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hoyter
join:2004-01-21
Franklin, TN
·AT&T Southeast
| At&t / Cingy has had this policy for several years. I cannot remember a time when I could not change a plan with no extension. Hell, their website will allow you to change plans (prorated for time used) and features on the fly...
I am glad to be an cingular customer for several years. It is also nice to have full access to the phone and features that Verizon is just now allowing. But I am a geek who wants to exploit any gadget/device to its potential. I am glad cingular/att has ALWAYS let me do that. | |
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not
@swbell.net
| One down, one to go. Now they just have to stop crippling the phones and they really would be #1.... well, that and bring down the pices by about 10-20 bucks. That would be a really good move on their part. They think they would be loosing money, but I bet they wouldn't because of all the new line additions for people wanting to join. One can dream I guess. | |
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BuzzDar
join:2006-01-28
West Frankfort, IL | I was ripped off I know about 4 months ago or so i was made to extend my contract for another year just to change my plan i feel that i have now have been ripped off just like everyother verizon wireless customer that had to do the same thing. | |
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h8verizonDSL
Had fiber today
join:2005-02-25
Middletown, DE | Free 100 Minutes I was wondering why VZW was offering me an extra 100 Anytime Minutes per month for 12 months if I signed a new agreement. Then I read this news item. Pondering...  | |
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xenophon
join:2007-09-17 | Good start Glad to see a carrier step up and do this. All other carriers will have no choice but to follow suit. | |
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TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast
| Re: Good start said by xenophon :Glad to see a carrier step up and do this. All other carriers will have no choice but to follow suit. Of course, this only applies to modifying plans. If you upgrade to get a new improved subsidized cellphone, you will get a new or extended contract.
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Internet News
My BLOG
My Web Page | |
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| | mlundin
join:2001-03-27
Mishawaka, IN
·Comcast
| Re: Good start said by TK Junk Mail :If you upgrade to get a new improved subsidized cellphone, you will get a new or extended contract. I suppose you're never going to get something for nothing, but why does it always feel like making a deal with the devil when signing with these companies? | |
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N3OGH
They both suck, we're so screwed
Premium
join:2003-11-11
Philly burbs
·Verizon Online DSL
| The kindness of their heart? "Verizon Wireless once again demonstrates that our number one priority is delivering the most customer-friendly wireless experience in the U.S. marketplace." Is avoiding lawsuits and bad press before it comes.
Large telcos don't make altruistic moves out of the kindness of their hearts. Everything is a business decision.
I'm a satisfied Verizon wireless and DSL customer, BTW.
But I'll still trash corporate suits any chance I get 
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Petty people are disproportionably corrupted by petty power… | |
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Rick
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-06
Waterbury, CT
clubs: 
| Not sure I agree While I guess it's nice of Verizon to do this, I think i'm more on the side of Sprint on this issue.
If a person negotiates a contract the terms of it should be adhered to on both sides. And, in these types of contracts the number of minutes and price per minute is a key point of those agreements. Usually, the plans call for more favorable rates the more minutes you buy and less favorable rates the less minutes you buy.
I think that further demonstrates the importance of this within these contracts and points to the reasons people subscribe to a particular plan, and the reasons why the telco's offer those plans for a given price.
Along now comes the Minnesota AG and apparently some customers who want to turn contract law into a one sided thing for the benefit of only one party by saying now it's ok for a customer to come along and change what might be the most significant part of that agreement at any time and to suffer no consequences for it.
Verizon, sprint and others on the other hand, now would have to accept a lower price per minute possibly than they otherwise would, and keep that in effect until the end of the original agreement.
This to me would seem similar to a landlord who rents out space to a tenant for a 3 year lease, the tenant decides 6 mos. later his business isn't doing very well..decides he wants half the space instead..and the landlord is then forced to simply accept that for the remainder of the lease.
Simply put, that pretty much vacates the whole reason for ever having negotiated this in the first place..and offers the landlord no protection except that the person will be there in SOME form or the other.
Sprint..should have fought this on a contract law basis.
And Verizon was wrong to cave in without a fight.
Fair..after all..is fair. And there's more potential damage in setting these kinds of strange precedents.
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The Coyote captured the RR! Roadrunner Rick is now Comcastic! | |
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| Ahrenl
join:2004-10-26
North Andover, MA
| Your analogy stinks. (as most do)
To make it correct, the tennant would only be using half the space, and the landlord would have the ability to dynamically lease the unused space unless the tenant wanted to use it. There would also be minimums on how little space the tenant could pay for, even if they aren't using it.
While I think it should be up to Sprint if they want to let you pay for less minutes, it's certainly in their best interest to let you ammend the contract to pay for more.
Of course the whole point of the contract is to cover the phone subsidy. Since every contract size gets the same subsidy (by length) then, you can argue, Sprint loses nothing, since the contract size doesn't effect the benefit the customer receives. | |
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| moonpuppy
join:2000-08-21
Glen Burnie, MD
·Verizon Online DSL
| Bad analogy.
You buy the phone for the same price no matter what price plan you get. From the most expensive all inclusive plans down to the lowest per month plans, the phone still costs the same. The ONLY difference in price is with 1 or 2 year contracts.
So if the plan changes, the phone would have still cost the same and the cell phone companies still get a monthly payment. Notice, they did this whether you degraded or upgraded your plan. Under your reasoning, they should get a bigger discount for people upgrading their plans since the cell phone companies would get more money per month.
Thank you, drive through. | |
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| boober321
join:2003-07-15
Milwaukee, WI
edit:
October 2nd, @02:03PM
| You're an idiot. As previously stated, it's a crappy analogy. And how about the fact that they are extending plans without telling people? You "free market fixes everything" people are about as retarded as they get. | |
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| fiberguy
My views are my own.
Premium
join:2005-05-20
edit:
October 2nd, @04:54PM
| said by Rick :If a person negotiates a contract the terms of it should be adhered to on both sides. And, in these types of contracts the number of minutes and price per minute is a key point of those agreements. There is your problem. This happened to me with Sprint/Nextel, and they wanted to up my contract.. they only told me this AS WE WERE ENDING THE CALL.
Please, tell me, when was anything negotiated?
In fairness, you are correct. When two sides negotiate. This is not a negotiation, rather, this is a policy. Policy and a negotiated contract are two different things.
They got caught with their hands in the cookie jar and now they are getting slapped.
On the other hand, the telephone industry has been regulated for years. This is a good reason to regulate them again. You should NEVER be forced to extend a contract to add minutes or change a plan. (Unless you want to change to a non-qualifying plan that was already agreed to)
Extortion comes to mind in this case. It would be something like this:
customer: "I would like to increase my minutes per month from 400 to 800 because I'm going to use more"..
them: "ok, but I see you have 4 months left, you must re-up a 2 year agreement to do so"..
customer: "I don't want a new contract"
them: "then pay the .40 cents overage.
me: "would you like the $200 ETF now on my credit card? or you just going to bill me. Because your ETF doesn't scare me. You can have the ETF but you will lose the monthly billing.. I'm going to a company that doesn't try extortion.
The ETF fee NEVER scares me. I could have paid the extra up front or on the back side, should I need it. It's a gamble and one that I'm willing to take. Sadly more people don't exercise the ETF and pay it.
On another note. I purchased my own phone on a previous contract.. it expired. (It was on a plan with a business partner and the contract was fulfilled) I took that same phone, to the same carrier, opened up a new line of service, and Nextel told me I had to agree to a 2 year contract with them simply to activate the service.. WTF?! They gave me no phone, they gave me NO promotion, but to simply sign up with them, it was a 24 month commit?
The law suit was LONG over due. These companies can't simply compete and sell their service.. they have to rope their customers in.. it's the only way.
Today, people still bag on Cable TV all the time, but be thankful that they don't require contracts on their service. Even landlines are making it a requirement when you take any promotion these days. SIMPLY WRONG! Contracts are a sign of a poor product.
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"Complaining is the least path of resistance for the self-serving, the lazy, and I’m told it’s a woman’s prerogative..." | |
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rosco
Lumbergh
Premium
join:2003-11-10
Catskill, NY | No, while the customer would be paying less per minute if increasing their plan, they would also be paying more money every month. so vz then makes more money. | |
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burgerwars
join:2004-09-11
Northridge, CA
·RoadRunner Cable
| Sprint Sprint extended my plan for another two years after I ported a number to replace my current cellphone number. I only found out about it when I cancelled their service and ported the number elsewhere. Sprint added a $150 early cancellation penalty to my final phone bill. Only after arguing with them on the phone, did they reverse the charge.
Cellphone companies do anything to try to extend your plan. | |
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pog
Premium
join:2004-06-03
Kihei, HI
·Hawaiian Telcom
| Re: Sprint Here, a rep at Hawaiian Telcom told me I could go month to month no problem, even as new service... I would just miss out on the free/discounted phone. However, there is (was?) also a pay-as-you go plan with a phone for $30 plus 300 minutes @ 10 cents which are good for 60 days.
IOW, I could test the service out for $60, then use that phone and go with a month-to-month plan... no contract.
Seems attractive since the network is actually leased from both Sprint AND Verizon... I was told that I'd get service from whatever network was strongest.
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My Site | |
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bjl
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Laguna Hills, CA
edit:
October 2nd, @10:51AM
|  I thought they (Verizon) were already doing this
We were looking to save a little money and consolidate some bills, so we called up VZW. We had them change our two separate plans into a family share plan with my wife's line as the master account, and mine as one of the additional lines.
VZW did not charge us a fee to do this. Nor did they extend my wife's contract. In fact, my contract effectively was shortened by about two months, and our total bill reduced by about $10/month. This was in summer of 2005.
Last year, we added my mother-in-law to our account as an additional line. No charges outside of the standard activation. And again, no contract extension. | |
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justaguy
@lmco.com
| Re: I thought they (Verizon) were already doing this My wife and I did the same. However they DID up the contract. I would be curious to see what would happen if you called Verizon and asked to terminate early.
My real horror story came from DirecTV. When I signed up with the service, I explicitly asked them if I could cancel at any time, without any ETF. They said yes. I repeated this several times, in several different formats. At one point I asked "If I call you up in 4 months, cancel the service and return the equipment, and I pay for those four months (200$ total), would that satisfy all of my obligations?" The response, yes, you wouldn't owe anything.
Well, lets fast forward 8 months. Guess what they tried to stick me with. A $15/month early termination fee. They said that it was only $15/3 months so they were cutting me a deal from the normal $175 ETF. I would have none of that.
That was probably the only situation where I ever had a customer service agent yelling at me over the phone that I signed a contract and returned it. The funny thing was, they never sent me a contract to sign. I never ended up paying the fee, but damn if it didn't sour me from any company that requires a contract.
I'm even contemplating terminating with Verizon this Spring. Their service was fine (except for the fact that gouge for services that should be free). It is the contract that simply annoys me. I prefer to be free, not indentured under contracts to every company I ever want to do business with. | |
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DaveNJ
No Fear
join:1999-09-01
New Jersey | Verizon is more attractive now Verizon doesnt realize this makes it more attractive, and the blurring differences between Verizon and ATT are getting more numerous. I can consider Verizon now. | |
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MrMaster
What If
Premium
join:2000-12-16
Austin, TX
clubs:
·RoadRunner Cable
| i just want out of my contract! I had to sign a new 1 year contract back in march when my family plan ended and all i wanted to do was drop the phone (not in contract) from my plan.
This will still save me money as I can lower my plan now without extending the contract even further. backdating sure would have been nice.
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One never notices what has been done; one can only see what remains to be done. -Marie Curie | |
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funchords
Robb
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Hillsboro, OR | No Biggie - Verizon Didn't Extend them Anyway, unless... No Biggie - Verizon Didn't Extend them Anyway, unless the plan you were switching to was "promotional."
I've switched plans a number of times and I've never been extended. | |
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MrMaster
What If
Premium
join:2000-12-16
Austin, TX
clubs: | Re: No Biggie - Verizon Didn't Extend them Anyway, unless... like which plans? they're all promotional...and text and data plans are not part of contracts (except the new tiers) | |
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n2jtx
join:2001-01-13
Glen Head, NY | T-Mobile No mention was made that T-Mobile has not been doing this for a long time.
Welcome to the party Verizon... | |
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| budone
join:2002-09-07
Traverse City, MI | Re: T-Mobile Neither has Alltel. | |
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zackwheat
join:2006-05-03
Blue Springs, MO
| said by n2jtx :No mention was made that T-Mobile has not been doing this for a long time. Welcome to the party Verizon... What? I just changed my family plan from 1000 minutes to 2000 minutes per month. T-Mobile made it very clear that my contract would be extended one year from the date the change was made.
We only changed plans, we didn't add any phones.
The ETF is $200 per phone on the plan, so canceling the 4 line family plan before the year is up would cost $800.00. | |
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| phuntism
join:2003-08-01
Los Angeles, CA
| About a month ago, I tried to adjust my T-Mobile contract (a few more minutes, for a few less bucks), and it was made clear that if I did, I would be signing up for a new two year contract term.
I dislike mobile phone contracts in general, but as long as it's made clear you're getting a new contract term, this tactic seems completely fair and sensible. | |
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FListoohot
@sct.com
| That's funny One of the ironically funny things here is that when I got my phones from Verizon earlier this year, one of the things that impressed me was when the rep said that I can change my plan at any time and I *won't* be forced to start a new contract at that point.
So this is new??? | |
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b10010011
Whats a Posting tag?
join:2004-09-07
Bellingham, WA
·Comcast Formerly ..
| But what if you want to keep the same plan? I have found just the opposite to be true...
I just bought a new phone and found out that I can not keep my same plan, but have to get a more expensive one to have the same options as I currently have.
I would certainly extend this plan another two years but noooooooo Verizon will not do that.   | |
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jgkolt
Premium
join:2004-02-21
Lakewood, OH
clubs: | verizon and i just changed plans a few days ago to less minutes on verizon. at least on tmobile they have been doing this for a long time now. | |
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steveymacjr
join:2001-01-25
Matthews, NC | Alltel Eh, maybe they are just responding to competition from Alltel, seeing as they already have it where you can change your plan at any time!
ANyway, i'll stick with my Sprint SERO plan! | |
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ATMW
| Re: iPhone & ATT How about us iPhone buyers. Pay full retail and no plan discount and have to sign up for 2 years. I will say one nice thing. I was able to port over the # from my daughters plan that still had 8-9 months to go, with no early term fee just had to sign up for 2 more years on that #.
If you are an ATT customer and also have ATT as a home # you can go to a Unity plan and be able to call anyone on ATT with no minute usage charges,
Hook.... You may loose any accumulated rollover minutes as ATT threats this as a "plan" change and they screw you out of your accumulated minutes so only switch at the end of the month/billing cycle. | |
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Rob A
Jets 19 - Steelers 16
Premium
join:2005-01-17
Pompton Plains, NJ | Good move VZW being more competative. | |
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tc1uscg
join:2005-03-09
Saint Clair Shores, MI | ...But we still contineu to nickle dime you to death... How big of'em. Now, if they would just lower the cost of their plans and stop locking down their phones, they might have something to brag about. | |
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Verizon Won't Extend Contracts After Plan Changes
I wonder
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