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Don't shop drunk: Verizon's $350 ETF is now live

by Chris Ziegler posted Nov 15th 2009 at 2:44PM

Just a word of caution to anyone out there with an itchy credit card finger: signing up for a contract with Verizon just became a considerably more binding affair thanks to a big boost of its contract early termination fee from $175 to $350. Rumored for a few days now, the change became official as of yesterday, which means that anyone who bought an "advanced device" prior to the 14th is in the clear. The advanced device list can be found on Verizon's site, and as you might expect, it's a little broad and ridiculous -- winners like the Versa, Exilim, and Glyde are on there, so they're obviously not just referring to smartphones. They throw you a bone by reducing the ETF by a stout $10 for every month of the contract you successfully hurdle, but that still leaves you with a $120 ETF 23 months into a 24-month deal... so yeah, just be careful out there and don't do anything rash, alright?

Verizon looking to bump early termination fee to $350 on 'advanced' devices

by Darren Murph posted Nov 4th 2009 at 8:42AM

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.

No-contract $30 / $45 Straight Talk wireless plans storm Walmart

by Darren Murph posted Oct 14th 2009 at 1:16PM

Remember when TracFone horrified the world with its Straight Talk phone selection back in July? Clearly the suits in Bentonville weren't so scared, as now Walmart is latching on to that very plan and claiming it as its own. In over 3,200 of the outfit's retail stores across America, consumers will be able to snag an admittedly pathetic cellie and a rather decent calling plan for just $30 a month. Three Hamiltons gets you 1,000 voice minutes, 1,000 texts and 30MB of mobile web access, not to mention nationwide coverage and free 411 calls. If that's not quite enough, a $45 per month option provides unlimited everything (voice / SMS / mobile web). Of course, the price of using an antediluvian LG 220, LG Slider 290 or Samsung 451 can't be measured in mere dollars, but hey, humiliation's only temporary -- right?

Gallery: No-contract $30 / $45 Straight Talk wireless plans storm Walmart

AT&T gets with the program, offers unlimited calling to 'A-List' numbers

by Darren Murph posted Sep 9th 2009 at 9:58AM

Remember how ECON 101 taught you that competition was good? 'Tis true! Long after Alltel introduced the idea of giving customers unlimited calling each month to a select list of numbers, AT&T is mimicking Verizon's Friends & Family and T-Mobile's myFaves offerings with its new "A-List with Rollover." Subscribers with individual Nation plans of $59.99 or higher can phone up their very own VIP cast without tapping into their monthly bucket of minutes, theoretically allowing that rollover pool that you never, ever use to grow even larger. For individuals, you'll be able to select up to five domestic phone numbers (mobile or landline) to call for free, while FamilyTalk customers with plans of $89.99 or more can select up to ten numbers. As with competing plans, AT&T users will be able to manage their A-List online and change them anytime, though new numbers do take 24 hours to register. The time to field bids on securing a coveted spot within your own A-Team is now, with the gratis feature opening up to all on September 20th.

Latest Dell tablet / MID rumor: Intel-based, free-on-contract

by Donald Melanson posted Aug 4th 2009 at 3:43PM

Last we heard, Dell was secretly at work on a handheld / MID that would challenge the likes of the iPod touch, but it turns out it may also have its eye on the Kindle and the still emerging e-reader market, or the two may be one in the same -- or neither, but bear with us for a minute. According to Wired's Gadget Lab, Dell is looking to shake things up in a fairly big way by offering a touchscreen tablet of unspecified size for free to folks willing to enter into a contract and sign up for "one or more digital media subscriptions." Details are otherwise a bit light, as you might expect, but Dell is rumored to be collaborating with Intel on the device, and the pair are supposedly looking to launch it in "about six months."

[Via SlashGear]

T-Mobile UK sneakily offering iPhone 3G to moneyed customers

by Vladislav Savov posted Aug 4th 2009 at 4:59AM

We really couldn't make this stuff up -- it would seem that T-Mobile has been sneaking some hi-tech contraband into the UK in the form of unlocked iPhone 3G handsets, which it is now peddling to its most valued clientele. And by that, of course, we mean the piggies that pay up the most every month. Limited to an extremely select 150 units a week, the Apple devices are being used as incentives for high-rolling customers to renew their eye-gouging contracts of £75 per month and above, though we suspect only a few chums in corner offices know exactly how much T-Mob is charging for the handset itself.

We've done some digging, and while O2 has exclusivity on the iPhone 3G until September, that does not prevent T-Mobile from essentially functioning as a reseller of unlocked SIM-free units. Further distancing itself from legal action, the carrier is only offering the handsets to upgrading customers (as opposed to newcomers), thus the phones technically come sans a SIM. So, the suits at Magenta Towers must be feeling pretty smug right about now, having danced through a loophole and secured a wildly popular (albeit older generation) phone, all in the name of keeping high-brow customers from jumping ship. While you won't hear any PR from T-Mobile on the matter, we have a full statement from O2 on the subject of losing 3G exclusivity come September. You ready?

We have a multi-year agreement with Apple to sell iPhone in the UK. This relationship continues.

Man, those Britons keep it short and sweet, don't they?

Samsung NC10 being offered by UK carriers, Vodafone's pricing surprisingly good

by Vladislav Savov posted Jul 13th 2009 at 3:46PM

Laptops bundled with mobile telephony contracts rarely arouse our penny-pinching passions, but UK carriers are getting pretty aggressive with pricing for the Samsung NC10. Vodafone takes the lead by offering the extraordinarily well-reviewed netbook for free with a £25 ($40) monthly tariff over two years, which makes for a total contract cost of £600 ($972), or just over twice the retail price of the device -- that, dear friends, is a good deal. Packages from the other carriers are similarly stonking, coalescing around the £30 ($48) per month mark, with Three standing out by asking for only an 18-month commitment. We'd prefer even shorter contracts, but can't quibble too much with the value on offer.

Read - O2 (£29.38/month for 24 months, 3GB limit)
Read - Three (£30/month for 18 months, 5GB limit)
Read - T-Mobile (£30/month for 24 months, 5GB limit)
Read - Vodafone (£25/month for 24 months, 1GB limit)

AT&T's "new" video streaming terms are a non-issue

by Chris Ziegler posted Apr 29th 2009 at 7:41PM

There's an awful lot of hubbub going around today about "new" terms in AT&T's wireless contract agreement that seemingly forbid streaming video from your television to your PC or your phone -- in other words, using a Slingbox -- which would seem to be a rewrite of language added and pulled a few weeks ago. Here's the problem: the terms aren't new, and they don't forbid video streaming. One of our editors has a month-old hard copy of AT&T's terms that were mailed to him after agreeing to a new contract, and they're exactly the same -- word for word.

Furthermore, the language in question is this: "This means, by way of example only, that checking email, surfing the Internet, downloading legally acquired songs, and/or visiting corporate intranets is permitted, but downloading movies using P2P file sharing services, redirecting television signals for viewing on Personal Computers..." but the problem is that the examples given here are referring to earlier language. In that language, we see that AT&T is more concerned about "server devices or host computer applications" -- that's subsection (i), if you're interested. In other words, AT&T's trying to stop you from uploading a television stream using its connection, not downloading -- and frankly, that sounds like the most painful operation ever conceived by man anyway, so we don't think we're going to get too many violators here.

In other words, rest easy; we still don't know whether the now-overdue SlingPlayer for iPhone will ultimately be approved, but if it's not, it shouldn't be because of this.

[Thanks, Mike and Tieguy]

Nokia pulling all OEM contracts?

by Chris Ziegler posted Mar 27th 2009 at 5:04PM

iSuppli, of all companies -- you know, the teardown people -- is reporting that Nokia has stopped using outside contractors altogether for manufacturing its hardware. Nokia has always had a good deal of in-house manufacturing capability, but certain products -- including its upcoming MID, allegedly -- have been contracted out to ODMs like Foxconn and its contemporaries, so this calls a whole slew of initiatives into question. Notably, many of its recent CDMA devices are made outside of Nokia proper, so we've got to wonder -- does this mean they'll be taking up the slack internally, or is CDMA once again on the outs for these guys? See iSuppli's full press release after the break.

[Image via Unwired View]

Continue reading Nokia pulling all OEM contracts?

AT&T to offer unsubsidized iPhone 3G with no commitment required?

by Paul Miller posted Mar 18th 2009 at 3:17PM

For existing AT&T subscribers looking to get a new handset for a few months before they make that inevitable Pre / iPhone 3.0 / Gizmondo decision this summer -- or folks who just despise contracts in general -- it looks like AT&T will be offering unsubsidized iPhone 3Gs at last. According to some training slides obtained by The Boy Genius, the "no-commit" price will only be available to existing customers, and will run them $599 for the 8GB model and $699 for the 16GB. Sounds like somebody's looking to flush a bit of stock, or perhaps they've finally decided to almost treat the phone like pretty much every single other device on the market -- wild times we're living in, folks. The no-commit option should be available as of March 26th.

Dell's Mini 9 gets the subsidy treatment

by Tim Stevens posted Jan 10th 2009 at 2:31PM

We all love netbooks, and we also love things costing less than $100. However, since we're not exactly fond of lengthy contracts, it was with mixed feelings that we reported on Acer's Aspire One being available in the US for a penny under a Benjamin -- plus 24 month's worth of your soul. Dell is joining in on the fun now, making its own deal with AT&T to enable the purchase of a hot little Mini 9, valued at $449, for $99 after a $350 rebate and a (qualifying) two year contract. The deal is offered exclusively through Dell, but only until the end of the month.

[Via jkOnTheRun]

Contract-laden 3G Acer Aspire One hitting US at just $99?

by Tim Stevens posted Dec 8th 2008 at 7:42PM

These days most people wouldn't think of buying a new phone without getting a couple hundies off in exchange for their wireless free will. But netbooks? Internationally such deals aren't altogether uncommon, but we haven't seen one here yet. That changes next week if the above image turns out to be legit (and we kinda think it is), with Radio Shack set to offer an Acer Aspire One for just $99 so long as you sign up for a $60/month (or more) data plan through AT&T. (If you squint you can see it's a rather less enticing $499 without.) That comes to something north of $1,500 over the life of the contract, which is hardly a steal -- but then again your average sub-$200 smartphone doesn't seem like such a bargain after two years of $35/month, either.

[Thanks, A RadioShack Guy]

Motorola to prevent secondhand AURA sales on eBay?

by Darren Murph posted Nov 3rd 2008 at 12:31PM

We'll be completely straight-up with you: we don't believe this for a second. Okay, maybe for a nanosecond, but not a full-on second. An unnamed source close to Motorola has reportedly informed Register Hardware that in order to maintain the AURA's appearance of exclusivity, buyers will be required to "sign into a contract that states they can't sell it on eBay." As if that wasn't preposterous enough, this so-called "source" also added that "if an AURA owner wants to sell their phone after they've bought it then they'll only have one option: to sell it back to the manufacturer." Even if this does miraculously prove true, we can't imagine Moto actually doing anything should someone decide to sell, and besides, there's always ~~Yahoo! Auctions~~ the flea market, right?

Verizon comes through with month-to-month plans

by Chris Ziegler posted Sep 22nd 2008 at 6:31PM

As expected, Verizon has announced today that its customers (and would-be customers) are welcome to sign up for month-to-month plans with no contract -- and thus, no early-termination fee -- involved, mimicking a move by AT&T earlier in the year. Of course, anyone taking advantage of the new plans won't be able to get in on carrier subsidies, but the trade-off is that if you decide to bolt for greener pastures, you won't be slapped with one of those nasty prorated charges. Oh, and before you give customer service a ring, take note: you'll need to fulfill the terms of your existing contract before jumping, natch.

Comcast offering a free Wii to new 'Triple Play' subscribers

by Joshua Topolsky posted Jul 28th 2008 at 1:44PM

We've seen our fair share of subscription-dependent giveaways in the past in the form of Eee PC's and even the rare PS3 offer -- but handing out a Wii with cable service strikes us as somewhat notable. According to an offer from Comcast, newcomers to the company's "Triple Play" of digital cable, VOIP service, and high-speed internet will also be able to bag an honest-to-goodness Nintendo Wii on their way out the door. Sure, you've got to sign a two-year contract (à la mobile telco policy), but you'll also walk away with a console that still can't be found on a lot of store shelves. Does this signal the ultimate dilution of the Wii into a ubiquitous and truly casual mainstay, or does it simply suggest Comcast and the big N had a sweet -- and likely limited -- deal? Only the suits know for sure.