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But what if you sign a contract with the cable company, which specifies the price of PPV movies?
You agreed to the contract on the basis that if you choose to use the options offered to you by way of the contract, they will cost a set ammoutn of money.
You can have a contract that includes options that are not manditory, but contains specifics on the terms relating to using those options.
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yup, if incomming messages are free, then I would say they have every right to raise the Per-Use Mobile Originated fee, that was not a term or condition of the contract signed upon starting service.
If they charge to receive, as sprint does in most cases, then Ben's statement about auto receive is true. But even in the Sprint situation, They don't charge you until you look at them, also a personal choice made by the individual user.
Regional carriers are where it's at because you can actually go to a store and get in someone's face, and not be ignored over the phone.
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incoming messages are not free on cingular.
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Cingular charges for incoming messages AND they send us promotional announcments about 1x/week.
No amount of calls to them have helped me get off whatever stupid list they put me on. I'm about done with them.
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Has anyone tried Helio or know anyone that has? I currently have Cingular but this rate increase is pissing me off (even though I have a messaging plan) and my contract ends in a week which means bye-bye to them and hello to competitor.
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As an armchair lawyer, I'd have to see an actual contract. If the text message price is explicitly written in the contract, then Cingy is screwed. If the price is not in the contract, it's a much tougher sell to me.
In \"Cingular Foils Reader's Attempt To Break Contract\", Corey posts these T&Cs but as far as I can see no price is listed, it simply says that there is a charge to send/receive texts. Perhaps the actual contract is different or they changed it soon after it was posted, but if not...
Anyone know how I can get a Smartchip (or whatever they call their sims) without signing up for another year of service? I bought a phone on eBay and went to get a chip and they wanted 25 bucks and another year. Give me a break.
Just out of curiosity, why are you all so eager to break a contract you willingly went into? Like the feeling of getting over on a major corporation, or is this just the excuse you were looking for to jump ship? Oh, and Michael, WTF are you thinking, that you will find another carrier that won't charge you for incoming text, or for that matter will keep prices static forever? If you hate contracts people, there's a simple solution! Stop accepting the discounted phones, don't be a cheap fucker, pay full purchase price, and get service with no contract! Simple, huh? Although, last I checked, Cingular, Verizon, and T-Mobile will only give you the unlimited mobile to mobile and nights and weekends minutes with a minimum of a one year contract. Good luck. Next time, again, DON'T ACCEPT THE DISCOUNTED PRICE ON THE PHONES, and then you can go no contract.
I willingly went into a Cingular contract when they first bought up Cellular One. There were the best carrier in my area until they merged with AT&T and started airing those \"Fewest Dropped Calls\" commercials. Now, I have to walk to the end of the street to get anything over 1 bar, when I used to be able to yap at a full signal in my basement. There are dead areas of the city which used to be very strong and when I leave the area, I am roaming when I used to be by one of their major towers. I feel like I have been screwed, since the changes went into effect about a month after I renewed for 2 years.
Uh, people, HELLO? This is an increase in PAY-PER-USE fees. This is NOT an increase in subscription fees. Only by raising subscription rates would that make you eligible for termination of contract without ETF.
Despite what some of you apparently think, texting is optional. Yes, it's enabled be default, no opt in needed... but the same thing applies to, say, pay-per-view movies. Anyway, as I said, as they are not changing your subscription fee, and thusly not changing your contract, you can't cancel without ETF. That simple.
If you are looking at the Cigular TOS that Ben posted, the applicable line is on page 6.
Incoming messages aren't free. From the Text Messaging notes on Cingular's site. (http://www.cingular.com/learn/messaging-internet/messaging/faq-text-messaging.jsp)
Q. What is the pricing for Text Messaging?
A. All Cingular customers with Text Messaging-capable phones are pre-activated to send and receive messages at $0.10 per message with no monthly charge. Or, you can save money and sign up for aText Messaging package.
Therefore, since you are not actually buying a special service (unlimited messages per month for $x.xx), changing the rate without sending you a notice with your bill, charge-free text to your phone from internal systems, etc, effectually liberates you from your contract as you have no choice but to accept any incoming messages on your phone out-of-the-box. And that's key. If all their phones came locked down out-of-the-box, then this wouldn't be an issue.
I'd come right back with \"well i have to pay for incoming messages, and I have no control over that, so its not really optional!\"
I'm on a txtmsg plan though, so after the first 1000 msgs is only 5c each message.
You want to know what BS cingular does though? If you send one txt message to 4 people, it bills you, and each of the four recipients. So one txt message generates 50c of revenue.
Snce you can turn off the incoming VERY easily, you are wrong. Period. Seriously...you write a diary, and you do it online and think that people want to read it. That does not make you a contract lawyer.
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I, and pretty much everyone else unfortunate enough to live somewhere other than The Land Of The Free, find it amazing that it's still so common for US mobile phone users to be on contracts that require them to pay to receive text messages.
Especially since free SMS gateways still exist. It's not as free and easy as it was in the early days (when lots of geeks set up here-today, gone-tomorrow gateways with a Linux box and a mobile phone). But it seems to me that you can still sign up with a dodgeit.com address, or something, then send the victim of your choice ten abusive messages that cost them money. That's nuts.
IF WE INCREASE THE PRICE OF ANY OF THE SERVICES TO WHICH YOU SUBSCRIBE, BEYOND THE LIMITS SET FORTH IN YOUR RATE PLAN BROCHURE, OR IF WE MATERIALLY DECREASE THE GEOGRAPHICAL AREA IN WHICH YOUR AIRTIME RATE APPLIES (OTHER THAN A TEMPORARY DECREASE FOR REPAIRS OR MAINTENANCE), WE WILL DISCLOSE THE CHANGE AT LEAST ONE BILLING CYCLE IN ADVANCE (EITHER THROUGH A NOTICE WITH YOUR BILL, A TEXT MESSAGE TO YOUR EQUIPMENT, OR OTHERWISE) AND YOU MAY TERMINATE THIS AGREEMENT WITHOUT PAYING AN EARLY TERMINATION FEE OR RETURNING OR PAYING FOR ANY PROMOTIONAL ITEMS, PROVIDED YOUR NOTICE OF TERMINATION IS DELIVERED TO US WITHIN THIRTY (30) DAYS AFTER THE FIRST BILL REFLECTING THE CHANGE. If you lose your eligibility for a particular rate plan, we may change your rate plan to one for which you qualify.
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Escalating costs Cingular a lot of money, but it costs you money, too. I can't speak for the rest of you, but my time is valuable. I'd rather not spend weeks on the phone with Cingular reps.
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I dunno... it sounds as if they've got a leg to stand on here.
If I had a contract where I had say 500 Text messages a month and it cost me an extra $20, and they were going to raise that to $25, then that would be a material change. As it is you don't pay for incoming text messages and if you send them that's a choice you make on your own, like downloading a ringtone or a new wallpaper.
If you're paying individually for text messages then they can charge you whatever they want, because it's not built into your specific contract, it's the same rate for everyone.
It would be like the cable company changing the rates of PPV movies. You pay per movie, they're not part of your contract with them, so they can raise rates on you whenever they want.