You know what's worse than showing your
Bitter Beer Face to the world after you passed on Apple's iPhone and let AT&T enjoy the spoils? Raising your early termination fee to stratospheric heights. Just over a year ago, we honestly though this whole
ETF thing was headed in the
right direction, as most of the major carriers (
VZW included) sought to
prorate contracts in order to
lessen the charge as one's contract drew closer to an end. Now, however, Big Red is evidently gearing up to pull a 180, with the slide above showing a $350 ETF for "advanced" devices (read: probably anything deemed a smartphone). The newly hiked rate will go into effect on November 15th, and while that $350 will decrease by $10 per month over the life of the agreement, this pretty much guarantees that you won't be adding a line, disconnecting and then flipping that phone on eBay.
