T-Mobile Now Has Prorated Early Termination Fees Too

A few weeks back, I posted about the news that AT&T introduced prorated early termination fees, and speculated in that post that other major carriers would probably be jumping on the bandwagon as not to be outdone by AT&T. Well it didn't take long, as T-Mobile is introducing their own prorated ETF plan. Rather than AT&T's method of reducing the cost each month, T-Mobile will drop its $200 fee to $100 during the last 3-6 months of a contract, during the last 3 months it drops to $50, and for customers with 30 days or less left on their contract, they will either pay $50 or the amount of the last month of service, whichever is less. As I mentioned before, the cellular industry is definitely listening to unhappy customers who feel they shouldn't have to pay a huge termination fee even if they've kept the service for over half the length of the contract. Now that two of the biggest cellular companies are on board with prorated ETF's, there's no way that this won't be a standard practice with any major carrier before long.

T-Mobile Introduces Unlimited Family Plans

Beginning today, T-Mobile now offers new unlimited family plans. The new plans will require the first phone on the plan will have to subscribe to T-Mobile's $99 unlimited everything plan, which includes voice minutes, text, IM, etc. After the first phone, each additional phone will cost $49 per month, but will also feature unlimited everything. These plans will simplify things for families that want to go all out with no limits on their cell phone usage. Some families have 5 or more phones even on their plans these days, so going through and picking different options for each phone can be a hassle for some, so T-Mobile is laying out this simple deal that gives customers everything without hassle, in this very straight forward approach. With more and more people using cell phones as part of their daily life, unlimited service is basically they only way to go if they want to avoid sky high usage charges.

AT&T Prorated Early Termination Fees Begin Today

In a move that will no doubt make many wireless customers happy, and also probably bring AT&T more business, the company began it's policy of prorating its early termination fees. This means that every month in a 1 or 2 year contract, the fee starts at $175, and will drop by 5 dollars each month. This makes perfect sense, as it just makes sense that someone who has had their phone for months or even over a year, should not have to pay the same termination fee as someone who just got it a month or so ago. ETF's have been a huge hassle and a huge problem for just about every carrier, and I personally have felt the wrath of horrible EFT setups, to the point where even if a carrier wasn't delivering the service properly, there was just no way out without getting nailed with a huge fee. Well at least now, AT&T is taking the steps necessary to give their customers some more options and flexibility. Not only are the ETF's now prorated, but AT&T also offers other options for customers who don't want to deal with termination fees or contracts at all, such as the ability to buy a phone at full price and going on a month to month service plan, bringing your own GSM device, buying an AT&T sim card, and going on a month to month plan that way, or of course going with an AT&T GoPhone and using their prepaid service. It's good to see a carrier realize that the hard nose approach of making people pay big money with little to no understanding in these situations, will simply not work and most customers will end up angry and leave the service for good. Hopefully the other big carriers will offer similar cancellation terms soon.

ATT Launches the Pantech Breeze for More Traditional Users.

AT&T has launched the Pantech Breeze, which is actually a step backward in the world of the latest cell phones constantly outdoing the previous model. Apparently AT&T and/or Pantech have realized that there are some cellular users out there who prefer to stick to basics with their phone. Easy to use, gets the job done, no complications...well that is exactly what the Pantech Breeze brings to the table. A traditional clam shell style (a style that is fading some with all the new styles now available,) big easy to see numbers, one touch keys (for camera, speakerphone, and 3 contacts,) a simple interface, and large text on the screen. This phone could be a great choice for senior citizens who are in need of a cell phone, or maybe even users who just prefer a simple sell phone without the bells and whistles that most of the technologically advanced phones feature today. The Breeze may open some doors for people who have held back on getting a cell phone, although they still may be in need of some mobile communication.

T-Mobile Adds Message Blocking Feature to Block Text Spam

For any of you who have received unwanted advertisements, texts form unknown numbers, or maybe just bombarded by someone you know that sits around and texts you 100 times a day and wasting all your monthly messages, T-Mobile has added a feature that can filter out phone numbers or even words in a subject so they won't reach your phone. This feature will be highly useful with the ever growing problem of text spam now reaching cell phones. The other major carriers will most likely also have to feature some sort of blocking option, because spammers are hitting cell phones more, and more and more customers will be refusing to pay for messages they didn't want, and even those customers with unlimited texting plans, will no doubt become fed up with constant spam texts, just as email users are already fed up with spam attacks that have gone on for years. For T-mobile customers, instructions on how to use the text blocking feature can be found on the T-Mobile Website.

Are Unlimited Cell Phone Plans the Future?

Judging by the flurry of recent marketing, the major cell phone providers are banking on Unlimited wireless phone plans. When I added a new phone to my Verizon Wireless account and upgraded my plan, the new $99 a month Unlimited plan was pushed heavily.

I have also seen commercials for AT&T and a T-Mobile plan that includes unlimited text messages. Interestingly, Sprint was apparently the first carrier with the idea until Verizon decided to "stick it" to them. Sprint thought they could be better by being different, but all the other carriers have now come out with the same deal AND better prices.

I used to work in the wireless department of an electronics store. This was 7-8 years ago when Verizon was new ( we offered Bell Atlantic Mobile previously). During a meeting with our Verizon rep, another salesman said that he never understood the concept of charging for "air" and wondered why we couldnt just have flat rate plans. Apparently we can, and it appears we have competition to thank.

New Cell Phone Blog

We have decided to start the new Cell Saver Blog. We wanted a company blog hosted on our own site mostly for updating company news and updates on our main sites. Blog.ultracellsaver debuted on April 20.

The blog you are reading now will be free to publish broader wireless news and be less self-promotional in nature.