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To Be Canceled; Or Not to Be Canceled
By Jeff | June 24, 2007
A blog about how the major wireless service providers can legally cancel your contract and no longer provide you service through them.
My last blog got me wondering what the other major wireless cell phone service providers had in their own terms and conditions that would allow them to cancel a customer’s contract (the idea also came from a co-worker who had already done the same in an e-mail at work). Lo and behold, while reading through the various legaleses, I found some interesting tidbits that I felt obligated to share with you. I will list the terms and conditions of service provided by the five major wireless service providers: AT&T, Verizon Wireless, Sprint/ Nextel, T-Mobile, and Alltel Wireless. I will emphasize things that I think are interesting in bold, and if I feel the need to add any commentary, I will do so in blue italics (inside parenthesis.)
I’ve done the hard work for you and picked out the particular sections that pertain to the service providers’ right to cancel your service. You can also click the links provided in the name of the provider to view their respective full terms and conditions. All of the below, minus my edits in bold and (italics), are all taken directly from their respective websites. Simply scroll down to find your provider.
Unlimited Voice Services:
Unlimited voice services are provided solely for live dialog between two individuals. Unlimited voice services may not be used for conference calling, call forwarding, monitoring services, data transmissions, transmission of broadcasts, transmission of recorded material, or other connections that do not consist of uninterrupted live dialog between two individuals. If Cingular finds that you are using an unlimited voice service offering for other than live dialog between two individuals, Cingular may at its option terminate your service or change your plan to one with no unlimited usage components. Cingular will provide notice that it intends to take any of the above actions, and you may terminate the agreement.
Off-net Usage:
If your minutes of use (including unlimited services) on other carrier networks (”off-net usage”) during any two consecutive months (watch those extended summer vacations) exceeds your off-net usage allowance, Cingular may at its option terminate your service, deny your continued use of other carriers’ coverage, or change your plan to one imposing usage charges for off-net usage. Your off-net usage allowance is equal to the lesser of 750 minutes or 40% of the Anytime Minutes included with your plan. Cingular will provide notice that it intends to take any of the above actions, and you may terminate the agreement.
Miscellaneous:
Not all plans or Services are available for purchase or use in all sales channels, in all areas or with all devices. If your usage of the Services (including unlimited data plans) on other carriers’ wireless networks (”offnet usage”) during any two consecutive months exceeds your offnet usage allowance, AT&T may at its option terminate your wireless service or access to data Services, deny your continued use of other carriers’ coverage, or change your plan to one imposing usage charges for offnet usage. Your offnet usage allowance is equal to the lesser of 6 megabytes or 20% of the kilobytes (that’s really not very much if using a laptop to use the internet) included with your plan and for messaging plans the lesser of 3000 messages or 50% of the messages included with your plan. AT&T will provide notice that it intends to take any of the above actions and you may terminate your agreement.
Our Rights to Limit or End Service or This Agreement
You agree not to resell our service to someone else without our prior written permission. You also agree your wireless phone won’t be used for any other purpose that isn’t allowed by this agreement or that’s illegal. You agree that you won’t install, deploy, or use any regeneration equipment or similar mechanism (for example, a repeater) to originate, amplify, enhance, retransmit or regenerate a transmitted RF signal. WE CAN, WITHOUT NOTICE, LIMIT, SUSPEND, OR END YOUR SERVICE OR ANY AGREEMENT WITH YOU FOR THIS OR ANY OTHER GOOD CAUSE, including, but not limited to: (a) paying late more than once in any 12 months; (once a year? Procrastinators beware) (b) incurring charges larger than a required deposit or billing limit (even if we haven’t yet billed the charges); (c) harassing our employees or agents; (d) lying to us; (I’m assuming that they don’t ask women’s ages or weights) (e) interfering with our operations; (f) breaching this agreement; (g) “spamming,” or other abusive messaging or calling; (h) modifying your wireless phone from its manufacturer’s specifications; (i) providing credit information we can’t verify; (j) using your service in a way that adversely affects our network or other customers; or (k) allowing anyone to tamper with your wireless phone number. We can also temporarily limit your service for any operational or governmental reason. If you file for bankruptcy, our rights to limit, suspend, or end your service or any agreement with you will be governed by bankruptcy law.
Our Right To Suspend Or Terminate Services
We can, without notice, suspend or terminate any Service at any time for any reason, including, but not limited to: (a) late payment; (b) exceeding an Account Spending Limit (“ASLâ€); (c) harassing/threatening our employees or agents; (d) providing false information; (there’s that lying thing again) (e) interfering with our operations; (f) using/suspicion of using Services in any manner restricted by or inconsistent with the Agreement; (g) breaching the Agreement, including our Policies; (h) providing false, inaccurate, dated or unverifiable identification or credit information, or becoming insolvent or bankrupt; (i) modifying a Device from its manufacturer specifications; or (j) if we believe the action protects our interests, (canceling customers can protect your interests?) any customer’s interests or our network.
Roaming-Included Plans:
Not available with single-band phones, or to customers residing outside an area covered by the Nationwide Sprint PCS Network. Sprint may terminate service if (1) more than 800 minutes, (2) a majority of minutes or (3) a majority of data kilobytes in a given month are used while roaming. International calling, including in Canada and Mexico, is not included in roaming-included plans. Roaming usage may be invoiced after 30-60 days. Vision/Power Vision services and certain calling features (Voicemail, Caller ID, Call Waiting, etc.) may not be available in all roaming areas.
Use of Service.
You may not use, or attempt to use, the Service, the network, or your Phone for any fraudulent, unlawful, improper, harassing, excessive, harmful, or abusive purpose (”Improper Uses”), or so as to adversely or negatively impact our customers, employees, business, ability to provide quality service, reputation, or network, or any other person. We may determine on a case-by-case basis what constitutes Improper Uses. (Would it be improper if I took this phone and shoved it up your…) Improper Uses include, without limit: (a) using an automatic dialer or program; (b) sending unsolicited messages or calls; (c) attempting to interfere with the access of any user, host, or network; (d) identity theft; (e) attempting to decipher, decompile, or reverse engineer any software; (f) posting or transmitting unlawful, infringing, or objectionable content as determined by us; (g) probing, or attempting to tamper with or harm our systems, network, or customers; or (h) reselling or attempting to resell any aspect of the Service, whether for profit or otherwise. If we suspect a violation of this provision, we may: (i) begin legal action; (ii) suspend or terminate Service immediately and without prior notice; (iii) suspend or terminate service provided to you under any other agreement with us; and (iv) cooperate with law enforcement in prosecuting offenders. You agree to cooperate with us in investigating suspected violations. We may terminate your Service or change your rate plan at any time, with notice, if we determine, in our sole discretion, that your use of the Service is excessive, unusually burdensome, or unprofitable to us. (Sorry ma’am, you’re just too much of a burden for us) You have no proprietary or ownership rights to a specific wireless telephone number (”Number”), IP address, or e-mail address assigned to you or your Phone; we may change them at any time. You may not program any other Number into your Phone. We may charge you to change your Number.
Termination By Us
We may limit, interrupt, terminate or refuse to provide a Service for the following reasons, or for any other good cause: (Do they mean the greater good of mankind, maybe?) (a) if you do not honor any provision of these Terms and Conditions (including payment obligations), (b) if you use a Service in a manner that adversely affects Service to other customers or harasses our customers, our employees, or others, (c) if you or others use a Service to engage in fraud or unlawful conduct or are suspected of doing so, (d) if you modify your wireless phone or any software residing thereon from the original manufacturer specifications, including for the purpose of accessing non-Alltel services, (e) if your Service is used in a manner that is excessive or unreasonable with respect to volume or length of calls when compared to the predominant volume or length of call of other customers on a similar rate plan or in your geographic area, (I’m sorry, your usage is just unreasonable – you should be like your neighbors; their usage is much more reasonable) or (f) if the majority of your Service is used roaming on a network not owned or operated by Alltel. You may not resell any Service. We may restore such interrupted or terminated Service, in our sole discretion, following your correction of the violation and payment of any amounts due, including any restoration charge we assess for restoring your Service.
Topics: Alltel, Sprint, T-Mobile, Terms and Conditons, Verizon Wireless, Wireless Contracts |
June 26th, 2007 at 7:40 am
So…basically, they can screw us over whenever they want and we have to bend over and take it…? Sounds about right.
June 26th, 2007 at 10:52 am
Not exactly… but in a way, yes. It’s all about profit. So, if your usage is “unreasonable”, “unusually burdensome”, or mostly off-network, then most likely that company is losing money keeping you around. It reminds me of the stories we all hear about “all-you-can-eat buffets” and football teams getting kicked out of them.
July 10th, 2007 at 5:17 pm
[...] Heard it Here First!! Posted July 10, 2007 As previously blogged, in my To Be Canceled, or Not to Be Canceled post, I explained how wireless companies have the legal right to cancel customers for the various [...]