Should cell phone providers be allowed to hold customers to long service contracts?

No

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by Timothy Franklin

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Once upon a time, the telephone was the world's most innovative, cost-effective, time-saving solution to many of life's problems. It replaced the telegraph system and allowed the world to work even faster, accomplish far more in a day and to do it in a far, broader range of the world. Now, however, Alexander Graham Bell's invention is becoming obsolete, all for one simple reason. The cord. No matter how great the cordless telephone was, no one could travel much further than the end of their driveway, much less across town on an errand.

Enter the cell phone. Where the telephone improved communications and sped up life and business, the cell phone further accomplished this. The cell phone, in it's current form (of a hand-held device), has been around for 35 years. The modern versions are far lighter than the original two and a half pound version and are capable of much more than simply dialing and talking.

Today, most cell phones provide much of the same services that the home telephone does: Caller ID, Call Waiting, 3-Way Calling, and so on. Granted, the cell phone provides web surfing, text messaging, video messaging, IM, and Email access. But then, when dial-up Internet access was still new, we used our phone lines to get the same features. In fact, one can still use dial-up service at a low cost between $5 and 10 per month and have all of these features. The cell phone merely packs all of these features plus the convenience of phone conversation into a single device that can go anywhere you do.

So should there be a long-term contract for this? Not a chance.
It is this author's opinion that there should be a cost for start-up, service, the phone, and the features one uses; however, why should there be a contract? The Cell Phone Provider Long-Term Contract serves only one purpose, itis the same purpose that all contracts serve: to keep things as they are now all the way through to a certain point in time to guarantee your participation in the service, thereby increasing the odds of a profit as a result of the constraints of the contract.

In other words: "I'm sorry, sir, but you signed a contract and you are required to pay $X per month until the contract expires two years from now. If you terminate now, we will be forced to charge you an early termination fee." The purpose of a contract (and it's author) is to ensure that they get their money's worth out of the customer. And when that customer leaves, there is a significant chance that they will choose to either not get a cell phone (which won't last) or they will get a prepaid cell phone. If one looks around, they will find that there are dozens, perhaps hundreds of prepaid cell phone providers. But one has to be careful. Most of the pre-paid plans are actually provided by major contract plan providers under a subsidiary group (Verizon and Alltel are a good example).

But, if one looks, one can find prepaid cell phone plans that are not overly costly and are even cheaper than contract plans. They also have the additional benefit of not having a contract either. In today's society, cell phones have increasingly become a must. In fact, there are a large majority of people who do not have a home phone simply because they can do it all on their cell. There have been the occasional news reports suggesting that the home phone is obsolete and useless. And, to a point, this author agrees. If such a service is becoming such a staple of utility and importance, why should you, the reader, be forced to pay for a contract when they are just as obsolete as the telegrapher's office?

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