Gizmodo: Contracts

Confirmed: If You Bought a 1st Gen iPhone After May 27th, You get a 3G iPhone Free

Mark Wilson — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 17:07:00 EDT

Do you plan on upgrading your now-obsolete iPhone on July 11th? Great—good for you big spender. Here's the skinny. AT&T informed us that anyone who bought an iPhone after May 27th will be able to swap out their handset with no additional charges for an iPhone 3G. What about everyone else? If you signed a 2-year contract with AT&T when the iPhone came out (which you pretty much had to), you'll have to sign another new 2-year contract to score a new iPhone 3G. The good news is that AT&T will allow you to overwrite your old contract with your new contract. In other words, you're just locked into another 2 years, not 3.

You Don't Have to Extend Your AT&T Contract to Upgrade Your iPhone

matt buchanan — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 14:25:59 EST

Benny Goldman: "I wonder how many jerkoffs went out and bought the new [16GB iPhone] even though they already owned the old one." Apparently, a fair number of people, who I don't think would appreciate being called jerkoffs, Benny. But that's how some AT&T reps treated them according to our viligant brother site's spy network, making a bunch of people extend their AT&T contracts with brand new ones. But that's not how it's supposed to go down.

The official word we got from AT&T via email is that while you do have to sign a new contract because of the iPhone activation process, your new contract should be automatically backdated to the start of the original one, so "bottom line...you don't have to extend your iPhone contract if you upgrade to the 16 GB phone." Obvious follow-up: What's the policy going to be with the 3G iPhone? Update: We did ask that obvious follow-up, but all they could say was that they can't "speculate on future plans."

You shouldn't get your hopes up for a repeat though—they're considering the 16GB phone an upgrade, but iPhone 2 will probably be considered a wholly new and different device, requiring a wholly new and different 2-year contract. [AT&T]

Internal AT&T Memo Details Contract Free Rate Plans, Handset Must be Paid for in Full

Haroon Malik — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 07:35:00 EST

One of our sources at AT&T has leaked to us an internal document; the memo details the process for obtaining a contract bundle without the obligatory 1 or 2-year commitment term. The basis for the non-commitment bundles is the customer must pay for the handset in full, losing the subsidized rate that is offered with fixed contract terms. The memo pins the start date of the non-commitment bundles as November 2007, but we have heard no word on any such contractual freedom previously. UPDATE: This entire document, another source tells us, is meant to inform ill informed employees of an existing thing. AT&T has done this for years.

Is CES Leaving Las Vegas?

Benny Goldman — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 12:35:52 EST

MSNBC reports that rising costs of food and accommodations during CES week could drive the show out of Las Vegas when their contract ends in 2011. [MSNBC]

Imeem Inks Deals With Big Four for Free Music, Its Soul [Updated]

Matt Buchanan — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:15:26 EST

The media-sharing/social networking site Imeem has inked a deal with Universal Music, making it the first site of its kind to forge unholy bonds with all of the Big Four. Update: The WSJ's issued a correction of the original source article. Under the deal, Universal gets a "payment each time a user listens to a given song only if related advertising revenue falls short of a contractually stipulated benchmark." In other words, Imeem cuts Universal a check whenever the ad dollars don't make it to a set amount. So, Imeem's still basically bleeding out for its users to simply embed and stream music (i.e., promote artists for the labels).

No wonder labels don't want to deal with iTunes, this kind of deal is pure money: Imeem's paying the labels so that its users can do free promo work for them! Why pay to advertise your artists when someone else can pay you to do it? Hell, users even do all of the uploading work. If you recall, this kind of arrangement's familiar to Universal—they got kickbacks on every Zune sold—and more immediately, they've got a service going with Nokia that intuition says they're not hooked into for charity or a good time on your part.

While this deal's not really making too much headway in their battle against iTunes, it shows they're looking pretty much anywhere and everywhere that'll make 'em a buck while they look for an endrun around Steve. They probably won't get his contract with the devil canceled anytime soon, but it looks like they've found that internet thing they were looking for. Maybe they'll find that "Facebook" thing next. [WSJ]

Sprint Allows Users To Change Plans Without Extending Contract

Sean Fallon — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 16:00:41 EST

Beginning on Monday November 12th, Sprint will allow users to alter their contracts without getting locked for another two years. The new kinder-gentler Sprint also plans to implement a new prorated early termination fee (ETF) policy sometime in early 2008. So if you plan on jumping ship early (I wouldn't blame you) or making some changes, be patient. [Sprint]

T-Mobile to Start Prorating Early Termination Fees Next Year

Adam Frucci — Wed, 07 Nov 2007 13:45:20 EST

T-Mobile has plans to start prorating its early termination fees early next year, charging less if you've been under contract for a while. Previously, you were stuck paying the same hefty cancellation fee whether or not you signed up last month or 23 months ago. Thanks, T-Mo.

You Can Now Change Your Verizon Contract Without Extending It

Adam Frucci — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 10:40:00 EDT

In a change of policy that's actually customer friendly for once, as of this Sunday, Verizon will allow you to change your contract without tacking on another 2 years of being shackled to their service. Until now, if you wanted to drop down or increase your monthly minutes, Verizon would force you to resign a contract. No longer! Nice one, big V. [PR Newswire via Consumerist]

Sprint Raises SMS Rates Again, Claims You Can't Use This to Get Out Of Contracts

Jason Chen — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 14:50:23 EDT

It was around this time last year that Sprint raised their SMS rates to $0.15, allowing you to get out of your contract for free, since it constituted a material change. They've gone and raised SMS rates again, from $0.15 to $0.20, but this time they say that it DOESN'T constitute a material change. What the hell? Sprint says SMS isn't covered under your contract, and is an opt-in service. Have they changed their contracts since last year? Or is this just bullshit they're spewing to fool some customers into thinking they can't get out of their contracts free this time? [RCRNews via Boy Genius via Wireless Info]

Weasel Out of Your Verizon Contract for Free

Adam Frucci — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:15:00 EST

Want to get out of your Verizon contract? Still have like 18 months left on it because you have an inability to commit to things even though you've signed a legal contract committing to paying for two years of service? Looking for a sleazy yet legal loophole to ditch the contract only to sign another contract with someone else that you'll be trying to get out of in three months? Good news, asshole. Here's a way to do just that.

Consumerist (have we mentioned lately how much we love Consumerist?) is reporting that Verizon is hiking up their monthly fees by a measly 30 cents in March. That constitutes a material change of your contract, allowing you to break it with no penalty. Yeah, 30 cents. Have fun keeping a straight face while you argue with the Verizon CSR about how much that hurts you. –Adam Frucci

Cancel Verizon Without Penalty Over Admin Fee Increase [Consumerist]

Celltradeusa: Walk Away from the Cellphone Contract

Charlie White — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 10:06:15 EST

If our handy tips for getting out of your cellular service contract didn't work, here's help: Celltradeusa, a service that's been around for about a year now, claims to be able to get you out of that ball and chain by hooking you up with someone who's looking for a contract. You put up your user profile, listing your remaining contract obligation, and then others can contact you if they're willing to take over the rest of your contract. Celltradeusa ensures a "smooth transfer of responsibility." If you find somebody willing to take over your contract, Celltradeusa charges you $19.95 to be a member and make it happen.

There must be a catch here. Celltradeusa says the cellular providers are eager to help, and are "happy to assist you with the contract transfer of responsibility." All that has to happen is the person taking over your contract has to pass your cellphone provider's credit check. The company admits that things get a bit dicey if you want to keep your phone number. But it's hard to believe that any cellular provider would be eager to help with anything.

Anyway, sure would be nice to ditch my cellphone provider and that dreadful Motorola Q so I could get a brand-new cellie for Christmas. Anybody care to share experiences you've had with this Celltradeusa site? – Charlie White

Product Page [Celltradeusa]