Over 70,000 Verizon Wireless customers have signed a Change.org petition urging the company to kill contracts. This petition was set up after T-Mobile’s recent decision to go ‘Un-Carrier’ by getting rid of its 24-month contracts and after Verizon extended its own upgrade period from 20 to 24 months.
The petition was started by Mike Beauchamp, a Verizon Wireless customer from Wichita, Kansas. He wants the wireless provider’s customers to “sign this petition to tell Verizon to end carrier contracts and create an affordable way for consumers to purchase their devices.” He also wants the company to kill off early termination fees. He thinks that these exist only to deter current customers from jumping ship.
Via the petition:
T-Mobile, just this year, revamped their plans and pricing models to eliminate contracts. Customers pay “full price” for the phone with a small down payment and then monthly installment payments thereafter. If you want to leave T-Mobile at any time, you’re free to go (of course you have to pay the phone off).
This approach is less intimidating to customers and embraces our newer ways of thinking, as well as the speed at which the wireless industry (and related technology) is changing.
If you want the latest and greatest phone, great. If you break the one you’ve got and need a replacement, no problem. If you get a new job and your employer provides you a phone, you can cancel with no penalty. If you move to an area where T-Mobile doesn’t have coverage (or overseas, even), that’s not a problem either.
Lowell McAdam, the current CEO of Verizon Wireless, recently stated that Verizon may bring T-Mobile-like plans to its customers. However, the CEO said that this would only happen if his customers showed demand. With tens-of-thousands of customers doing just that, we should see Verizon Wireless announce contract-free plans in the future. But, probably not.
Image Credit: mike.m.carlino
