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Never pay a cell phone termination fee ever again.
roaminghack.blogspot.com — What is the little known secret to getting out of your cell phone contract early without paying a termination fee? Make your carrier lose money by keeping you.
jwalk81980- 4732 diggs
- digg it
- parker, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3i moved out of the country and at&t wouldn't let me postpone my service even when i told them i'd sign a 2 year agreement starting the day i returned to the usa. maybe it's cause they knew cingular was buying them up but still, it sucked.
- MugatuOT, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I think it's more likely due to the fact that AT&T is a horrible company ;-)
- scottevans, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2dugg, if only for the last paragraph of the article....mentally incapacitated in 49 states, except tx
- nickconfer, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8so you can screw them with 3 months of service at $50, or pay $150 and get out of the contract... hmmm seems like no real gain here. The thing is, this will all be history in a couple of years. As wireless coverage continues to expand and voip gains dominance, prices will fall big time.
- tarzan99, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You'd have to do the math to be sure but I think you might be right
- nymphetamine, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2interesting...
- pinnette, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11if you pay the $150 for termination, you arent getting anything for your money nickconfer.
- boredzo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1clever, though I find it interesting that he started an entire blog just for one page...
- Ignathius, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1ya this is dumb. unless you live right near the border of a your roaming area, this is a huge waste of time/money. i'm sure not gonna drive half way across the state to let my phone idle for hours on end.
- parker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4when living in madison, wi i could stand in my livingroom and be on the att network and then head to the kitchen and be roaming. the backyard didn't seem to like my phone at all.
- Dracos, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9What if instead of finding a roaming area, you just set your phone to use another carrier's network?
I could put my T-Mobile phone on Cingular's network right now, and it's not even a hack, it's a setting. - cctoronto05, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0jkfan87...
that's exactly what i was thinkin' while reading it... well put.
still dugg, though -- "A" for effort... - kylebrothert, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1yeah.. you started a blog!!
and yeah for getting on digg!!
yeah for wasting our time telling us how you waste yours!!
this is lame. - kewlceo, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1Doesn't live up to the title. No digg for you.
- h0dg3s, on 10/12/2007, -14/+1Reported as inaccurate. Where's the proof? Nobody said this works with more than one provider. Look kid, don't post your blog on digg just because nobody else reads it. There's a good reason. We don't care.
- waiwai, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3Don't people have any personal responsibility? You signed up for x years, you got huge discounts for it, maybe you should pay the termination fee instead being a scumbag like this.
- pacificdave, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6sorry... but i don't see any "huge" discounts buddy. it's over priced to begin with and still over priced with the 2 year contract. Verizon and Sprint..... so creating an over priced termination fee is no excuse. maybe having to pay for an extra month after termination would work but 150+ is ridiculous.
- 525600, on 10/12/2007, -11/+1Too much effort, requires 3 months. No digg
- frozendice, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1Another thing, this article is ONLY for cingular. I know sprint PCS still charges their customers for roaming calls. There's a warning. Sprint has been nothing but ***** since I joined, so I really wish this applied to them. Their coverage on campus is deplorable. Most of the time 1 bar or NO signal, if I ever get a decent signal it's roaming on verizons network. Is there any way to switch for free?
- bigsurf, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5what i did when i terminated sprint was to tell them that i was moving out of the country, showing proof with and airline ticket. another way is to move into an suburban area which is out of within their coverage but has "perpetually bad reception", contractually this is a way out that will get you off paying termination fees.
- r©ain, on 10/12/2007, -12/+3This article is so much *****. And you'd have to be a clueless ***** to think this is an easy way out of termination fees. Because it's not, it's a sure fire way to get your ass tossed off the network and a nice hefty cancellation of service bill with those very early termination fees you thought you were gonna scam out of.
If I were their lawyer it'd work like this:
Your honor, we are requesting termination fees of $250.00 from Dudley Dumbass because his patterns of use directly violated our service agreement and warranted immediate termination. At the time of entering service agreement, Mr. Dumbass agreed to a 2 year service CONTRACT, a contract that Mr. Dumbass did willfully BREACH as will be shown in our presented evidence via the terms of his signed service agreement and call records.
So hey -- if you think it's smart to breach a contract through demonstrably will full action, be my guest. Be sure to submit your homepage to digg when you blog about it crying after you get your bill. - Darkdashing, on 10/12/2007, -10/+0Horrid article, if you can call it that--also, nothing for sprint.
- everfalling, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5stop signing up for services that last a year or longer if all you want is the free RAZR phone. I swear, if it's not credit cards it's phone contracts. people can't read the damn fine print.
- Avengelist, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I worked for ATT Wireless as a CSR, and when Cingular bought them, well, I left.
The brainwashing is slowly fading...
Just because they can cancel you, doesn't mean they will.
There are agreements in place between most of the carriers whereby they allow "x" number of competitor's roaming customers, if their competitor does the same. So there is not necessarily a loss of money.
There are a few small regional carriers that don't have agreements, and some of them are excluded from the "no roaming charges" clause in your plan. Check your TOS. If you roam excessively on one of those, you could pay up to $5.00 per minute, plus a daily connection fee. Go ahead, make your 401 minute Moviefone call...
I'll note that this info may be outdated. I don't know. I hate cellphones now. - dukeinlondon, on 10/12/2007, -8/+0why did so many people did this ?
- ToadX, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2I also want to see proof that this works. I would like to see it done with T-Mobile also.
- ToadX, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2I doubt it works. As stated:
"Cingular reserves the right to terminate your service if less than 50% of your usage over three consecutive billing cycles is on Cingular-owned systems. Customer must (1) use a Cingular GSM dual-band handset programmed with Cingular Wireless' preferred roaming database; (2) have a mailing address and live in the immediate geographic area in which subscription is made."
I've NEVER heard of anyone having their service terminated because of something like this. I've heard of people that have basically moved into roaming areas also, and have been using their phone in a roaming area all the time for years (see howardforums.com). - neoclerodane, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5I work for Cingular and most of what he said is true. The company doesn't want you to use more than 50% of your service while outside our coverage area. Cingular is now using a system that will automatically update the print on your screen to notify you if you're off cingulars network. This is to help customers realize that they might not be on cingular's coverage area.
Companys also realize that if they aren't going to see any money from you, they'll write you off. It all comes down to your payment history and how frequently your bills were paid etc... If all of a sudden a perfect credit customer starts ***** around and racks up a huge phone call/bill and refuses to pay it or the ETF, more than likely they will pursue you for doing so - you paid your bills in the past, why aren't you paying this one? If some trailer trash sack of ***** who was consistently not pay their bills etc and all of a sudden decides to ***** off without paying the ETF - is more likely to be written off.
That's how I imagine it works. - MikeMacMan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6These early termination fees aren't as evil as everyone thinks. That camera phone you got for free when you signed up, where do you think that came from? It wasn't free. Cell phone companies usually pay $100-200 of the cost of the phone when you sign up for a service plan. They expect to make this money back over the life of your contract.
If you cancel your agreement before 1-2 years they want that $100-200 they paid for the cell phone you have. Sounds pretty reasonable to me. Why does everyone think early termination fees are robbery?- Pile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If you think these cell companies pay $200 for a phone, you're dreaming.
Even when they discount the phones, they still make money. Even when they give away a phone, they make money.
The truth is these cell companies deliberately obfusicate their calling plans and terms to confuse consumers. The plans are scientifically designed to extract the maximum amount of money from consumers for the minimum amount of resources. Some people who have lifestyles that do not match larger demographics make out better (such as people who work odd hours and can take advantage of free night calling) but generally, the companies are in the business of forcing you to accept an agreement that isn't always right for your or fair. I see nothing wrong with consumers doing the same thing: finding little ways to force the provider to compromise when it comes to raping you with phone charges, terms and service fees.
- Pile, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6If you think these cell companies pay $200 for a phone, you're dreaming.
- Ryokurin, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@jkfan87 Roaming as in on someone Else's network which although hes roaming hes still on Cingular's network. I imagine unless you go out in the boonies somewhere to get away from a cingular tower it would be rather hard to roam off of their network nowadays.
Also I've been on Cingular around a year and every phone I've seen since will just display Cingular instead of whomever's network you are on. Allegedly they made it that way as the name change tended to confuse people. - jweather, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0parker, AT&T has an 'extended vacation' service you can use for 6 months at a time to suspend (and thus extend) an existing contract. It costs $2.99 per line or something silly like that. Call to renew it when your first 6 months is up. Dunno if Cingular still supports it on non-legacy accounts. You won't find it anywhere on the website, but just ask a billing rep to ask their supervisor about it (front-line support may not know about it or be able to find it in their system)
- crawfordbay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2Phone companies are right up there with insurance scams. I got so screwed over by Nextel before, that my lawyer couldn't even get me out of paying the stupid cancellation fees ($400 on top of the $1500 I was scammed for just 2 months of service). I'm for anything with even a remote chance of cancelling without paying their termination fee. They make so much money off of you anyway, you shouldn't have to pay an early termination fee. Evil.
- PurpleMeteor, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2Do you understand you're allowed to READ the contract before signing it? Have you read it? Obviously not because you would not be whinning about termination fees...
- dilbertmouse, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've sent one T-Mobile store rep and another T-Mobile phone rep running to their supervisors when I asked if I could see the terms of the agreement. It was as though no one had ever asked the question. What's worse, is that I felt like an idiot for asking, but why shouldn't I? Do people just blindly agree to these things?!
- supermanontheru, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1No Digg.
While factually true, actually inaccurate. Service prodivers don't get charged that much per minute. Not to mention, the amount it would cost (in time and money) to travel outside your service are for this to work would greatly overshadow the termination fee. On top of all of that, you just give the service provider the option to cancel, they still usually drag there feet for several more months. - automagically, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I tried cancelling my verizon cell phone 3 months ago. They said I would have to pay like $250, and I would NOT get my $400 deposit back. If I wait till May (one year), I'll get my deposit back, but I will still have to pay to shut it off, because they wouldn't let me sign up without a 2 year agreement. Should have went back with Sprint, they didn't care if I had zero (neither good or bad) credit. Sprint let me cancel before the end of my contract too, for both of my deployments oef and oif. Never switch services for a girl! Sigh.
My $39 (including insurance) bill turning into $54 with no extras, not even text messages, is a freakin crime too. - gekkokid, on 10/12/2007, -3/+0did anyone actually read the comments the flipping article?
- oneoffmanmental, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0Despite the fact it might not work, it's also US-centric.
No digg! - fizman01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I've worked for the past 5 years as a computer programmer at a cell phone company. Now if you think these companies have the inclination or the resources to analyse their customer's usage and respond appropriately you are kidding yourself. There are many conditions in the fine print that allow us to termination a customer's service, but in reality the only reason we normally do is because of failure to pay their bills.
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I just told sprint I was moving to an area where they have no coverage and that per my contract I didn't have to pay the termination fee. They agreed, got my last bill this month with no fee on it.
- laila831, on 05/08/2008, -0/+0Im in Ontario, California, is there a way to find out the "no coverage" areas
Email me please alibec69@yahoo.com
Want so out of my sprint contract. Contract not up till 09'
- laila831, on 05/08/2008, -0/+0Im in Ontario, California, is there a way to find out the "no coverage" areas
- NoSuccess, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v323/no-success/IMG_0629.jpg
- NoSuccess, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0damn thought i pasted in something else. can a mod please erase that last post?
what i meant to say is that ive been with cingular for over a year and 100% of my calls are outside my "area" i have never received anything like what they describe ever. - mikev, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is funny because today I am expecting my Sony Ericsson k750i and intend on making a contract with Cingular yet still have one with Verizon. Since my V contract only lasts a month longer I wont try it...however good information.
+digg. - golovko, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This sounds risky if for some reason one stumbles onto a carrier's tower that would subject minutes to roaming charges.
A more fullproof way:
Always read your bill entirely, look for ANY rate changes, ANY new service charges, etc. Your contact requires that your carrier notify you of ANY changes to the contracted plan you signed up for. This includes extra charges they will try to ***** you about by giving an official sounding name that implies some government ordained increase. Once this occurs you have their balls in a vice. Your contract should stipulate a 60-90 day period you have to decide if you want to continue or bail out w/o paying ETF.
Call up your carrier customer service. Stick to your guns here: they've introduced a new charge, they've notified you of it via your bill, and you are notifying them that you wish to cancel your service, and you understand you will not be liable for ETF. They'll stall, offer you *****, tell you its not actually true, its a charge that they have to levy by law, etc. etc. Just ride it out, try to talk to someone above them, reference your contract.
They'll let you out eventually. Verizon started a new universal administrative fee, or some bs like that back in August. Yes, it was only 40 cents, but it was a change to my contract. I called them up and over the course of 1-2 days, got out of my contract w/o ETF. - spacenettnet, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1>>what i did when i terminated sprint was to tell them that i was moving out of the country, showing proof with and airline ticket. >>another way is to move into an suburban area which is out of within their coverage but has "perpetually bad reception", >>contractually this is a way out that will get you off paying termination fees.
This is true I had the same thing work for me when I moved to Australia for a year. Verizon said OK. I faxed the ticket over and all was good.
To the dude that said he wasn't allowed to cancel early because he was getting deployed, that is a crock of *****! My brother is a marine that has done 2 tours of duty in Iraq and each time the cell provider has easily allowed him to cancel with no termination fees. That is the law. It is illegal for them to charge you for canceling. You are conscripted into the service. Once you sign your contract there is no getting out of the Marines until you are done. Same goes for apartment leases vehicle leases and so forth. Yeah you pay what you currently own but no cancellation fees.
--matt - jwalk81980, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Golovko> That's pretty cool. I'm for whatever makes termination fees obsolete. Termination fees are only necessary up to a point. With Sprint, due to the costs involved with signing you up, they don't start making a profit off of you until your 9th month. But their termination fee doesn't end in the 9th month. It stays for 2 years and the amount you have to pay never decreases. That's BS.
- DCesque, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Good info. I'm sticking with Cingular though. They have the best reception in DC except for Verizon. On Verizon, you can actually place calls on the metro (they payed millions to install antennae in all the undergrond tunnels), but I would never give those dicks money again.
Still think T-Mobile had the best customer sevice by far...too bad u can't use their service indoors. :P - isolino, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0This is stupid no digg.
- Flashman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Along with that home-abortion info on Boingboing yesterday, I'll never pay for another termination again!
- ApplePenguin, on 10/12/2007, -5/+0Bunch of retards here that don't understand what the word "roaming" means...
The article is hilarious cuz of his attacks on digg..... - macluvjay, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4"you might of noticed"
"it would of been used"
"may not of taken"
I might of dugg this article if the author could of written beyond a second grade level - Schmitty, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1Y'know, that was my biggest pet peeve working as a cell phone salesman. People think that phones are "free" or "cheap". THEY ARE NOT, people. It's simple damn math. You stay with the company for two years, they pay 150-200 bucks of that expensive little gadget that makes you look oh so cool. So you want to leave early, and take that still-being-paid-for phone with you? I think it only fair that you have to pony up at least some of the dough you're getting from them. I'm not contesting that they are barely making money (quite the opposite, in fact). What I'm saying is, quit blaming the companies for a deal that YOU, the consumer, agreed to in exchange for service and lower cost. So your teenage daughter talked for 4 hours on roaming? If you couldn't afford or even forsee such a problem, then you should take your cum-uppance like a RESPONSIBLE INDIVIDUAL, and stop blaming everyone else around you!
Ok...done ranting... - fffizzz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Here is the coral cache link for anyone experiencing the digg effect..
http://roaminghack.blogspot.com.nyud.net:8080/ - beelz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"Don't make a 5,000 minute roaming call just because you're mad at your wireless provider."
Lol cost them some real money. 4,999.31 - sporkwitch, on 10/12/2007, -6/+0They should add a ban on linking your own blog. Digg isn't free advertising, I don't care if you made the blog just for the one "article."
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