So, I have been considering my options for upgrading my phone lately. And verizon's new "share" plans haven't appealed that much to a "legacy" user with unlimited data. So I've been looking around.
But then I did the math on my early termination fee and realized that even with about 5 months left the ETF would be $160! And even if I waited till the last month of your contract to cancel it would be a whopping $110!
How verizon calculates their ETF, in case you didn't already know, is $350 minus $10 for each completed month of service.
But there's a much better, and in my opinion more fair, approach that verizon should take in calculating their ETF. You see if they took off an additional $4.50 each month for a total of $14.50 per month of completed service then it would be much smaller fee the fewer months left in service. For an example, 350/24=14.58333 so each month would be nearly equally divided out. And my current ETF for 5 months left would be $74.50. That's much more reasonable than $160! (though it could be argued that no ETF is reasonable). Under this system of calculating with one month of service left would give you $16.50. And if you were in your final month of service you would pay the remainder of $2. Even if they only did $14.00 then you would see a better outcome than under the current policy. You would pay $84 for 5 months left, $28 for 1 month left, and $14 in your final month of service (if you absolutely can't wait to terminate the contract). Now that would be awesome! And they could still charge that outrageous $350 while still keeping customers happy.
From my Eris (rooted 2.1) using Droid Forums
But then I did the math on my early termination fee and realized that even with about 5 months left the ETF would be $160! And even if I waited till the last month of your contract to cancel it would be a whopping $110!
How verizon calculates their ETF, in case you didn't already know, is $350 minus $10 for each completed month of service.
But there's a much better, and in my opinion more fair, approach that verizon should take in calculating their ETF. You see if they took off an additional $4.50 each month for a total of $14.50 per month of completed service then it would be much smaller fee the fewer months left in service. For an example, 350/24=14.58333 so each month would be nearly equally divided out. And my current ETF for 5 months left would be $74.50. That's much more reasonable than $160! (though it could be argued that no ETF is reasonable). Under this system of calculating with one month of service left would give you $16.50. And if you were in your final month of service you would pay the remainder of $2. Even if they only did $14.00 then you would see a better outcome than under the current policy. You would pay $84 for 5 months left, $28 for 1 month left, and $14 in your final month of service (if you absolutely can't wait to terminate the contract). Now that would be awesome! And they could still charge that outrageous $350 while still keeping customers happy.
From my Eris (rooted 2.1) using Droid Forums