AT&T to offer prorated early termination fees

This is the kind of story we love to lead with. AT&T has announced that they’ll follow Verizon’s lead in offering prorated early termination fees, rather than forcing customers to pay a flat rate if they wish to leave their agreement prematurely. This may seem like a small concession by the telecommunications giant, but it’s really the least they could do. Flat-rate ETFs are one of the most unfair practices of a contract, and to see it go prorated is a small victory in our minds. With T-Mobile headed to court over early termination fees, among other issues, this could be an industry-wide change. The Big Two have done it, so we can see the others immediately piggybacking. After all, they wouldn’t want to lose even more customers to these conglomerates. Also included in AT&T’s announcement is that they, like Verizon, will not force you to extend your contract if you change your plan mid-term. This was a long time coming. We’ll see now how AT&T reacts to the charges against T-Mobile of unfair practices, re: locking phones. Hopefully we’ll have more announcements in this vein in the coming months. [Reuters]]]>