cell phone contract

Turns out I'm not the only one who is worried about the AT&T and T-Mobile merger. About 71 percent of you said in a recent poll that you had concerns, and many of you chimed in with your misgivings. Here's what some of you said:

• "I left AT&T quite a while back thanks to their horrible service (customer and tech both) to move to T-Mobile, and have never regretted it. Until this week. Now I guess I need to look at Verizon." —  z0rkzer0 .
  
• "I have been with T-Mobile for many years. Whenever I have tried another carrier I have always been disappointed and end up coming back to TM. Not even the iPhone managed to make me stray and so I am really scared to see how this merger is going to affect the quality of service I have come to expect with TM." — kindo1313

I'm right there with you readers. My worries for how this move will affect the quality of my wireless carrier got me thinking about whether I can switch out of T-Mobile before the merger takes effect. According to an article from Forbes, it still isn't clear if T-Mobile customers will be charged a termination penalty if they decide to leave the carrier before their contract is up. But something you might be relieved to find out is that it's illegal to change the terms of any prior contract with T-Mobile even after the firm joins AT&T. If you find a "materially adverse" change, such as a price increase, you can dispute that with the carrier and perhaps even break your contract without paying any fees.

The merger won't go into effect until a year later and I'm pretty glad that my contract ends January next year. Hmmm, is it just me or does the iPhone from Verizon look quite tempting all of a sudden?

The Verizon/iPhone rumor mill keeps on turning, and this time it's made a complete 180. On the heels of yesterday's news that Apple was gearing up to produce 3 million Verizon-compatible 3G CMDA phones this coming December comes the report that, while a Verizon iPhone seems possible, it will probably be for the network's not-yet-built 4G network. Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg said that while the company would love to offer the iPhone, he feels that it has to "earn" the privilege, and having a 4G network up and running seems like the way to go.

The new network supposedly won't even be completed until the end of this year in select cities, with nationwide coverage coming in 2012 or later, so the odds that an iPhone will be available for Verizon customers in early 2011 seem very small. That sounds like bad news for current iPhone users, since almost 60 percent of you said you would switch from AT&T to Verizon if you could (although 80 percent of iPhone users would still be trapped in a contract if iPhones started being available on Verizon in early 2011).

To me, this sounds a little like Verizon trying to throw us off the scent of an iPhone . . . who do you believe?

In what seems like an effort to keep iPhone customers on AT&T after the phone's exclusivity runs out, AT&T has raised its early termination fee from $175 to $325 for all smartphone customers beginning June 1. According to a spokesperson for the company, the increase has "nothing to do with the iPhone or any other device." So, it's just a coincidence that AT&T's iPhone exclusivity is rumored to be nearing an end and this fee is raised? Or, perhaps the rate hike is in response to so many recent complaints of poor AT&T service.

AT&T has also cited Verizon's similar price increase earlier this year as a justification of the change. Early termination fees exist because often upon signing new contracts, phones are available at a severely reduced rate. Without the fee, consumers would be free to jump from provider to provider each time they wanted a new phone. Whatever the reason, AT&T definitely has many customers roped into their existing contracts, and even if the iPhone does make the move to Verizon later this year, I expect most customers will ride out the length of their current contracts to save on fees — every month you stay in your contract, the fee is reduced by $10.

If you've been putting off buying that iPhone because you don't want to get locked into a two-year contract with AT&T, your day has come: effective today, you'll be able to buy an iPhone without a contract. If you've got the extra cash for a purchase like this, you can buy one iPhone per day, and the price breakdown will look like this: $500 for the 8GB iPhone 3G, $600 for the 16GB 3GS, and $700 for the 32GB version. However, you (or whomever you're buying the handset for) will have to remain an AT&T customer, as the iPhones will not come unlocked as some had previously thought.

With all the shiny new handsets about to hit the market after debuting at CES, you may be on the lookout for a deal that makes you switch carriers. Well, here it is: Verizon Wireless has dropped the prices on its National Talk, and National Talk and Text plans by about $30 each. Although the unlimited data plan for smartphone users still holds at $30 a month, this price cut gives everyone a break since existing customers can switch to these new rate plans without penalties or contract extensions.

Counterattacking to keep customers in its corner is T-Mobile, who according to Boy Genius, has dropped the rates on some of its most popular phones today by about $30 to $50. Will AT&T throw itself into the price war? Stay tuned.

Update: Looks like AT&T is jumping into the price war and reducing the price on their unlimited talk plans to $70. Additionally, smartphone users can now get an unlimited voice and data plan for $100.

Here's some amazing news for folks who wanted to upgrade to the iPhone 3G S, but didn't want to pay the full price and sign a new contract: AT&T just announced via its Facebook page that it will be extending its upgrade prices to current AT&T customers who purchased an iPhone 3G last year and aren't yet available for upgrade prices (that would be all of you). And if you've already pre-ordered your iPhone 3G S online, you should expect an email from AT&T alerting you to a nice refund. Even better news? If you purchase a new iPhone 3G S at full cost, you won't have to sign a new contract. That's right baby, "commitment free."

Check out the "early upgrade pricing" when you read more