Getting Out of Verizon Wireless Without Paying Early Termination Fees

One of the biggest forms of buyer's remorse is signing with a cell phone contract. If you decide to go for a two-year contract, that means that you're forced to stay with that service through thick and thin, no matter what. The only way to get out of it is to pay them exorbitant Early Termination Fees (ETF).

For this very reason, I used to only sign up for one-year contracts. But with my previous phone, I kept it for two years anyway and thought that, with my new phone, it would be worth saving the $50 and signing for two years. Of course, a little over a year into my contract I want to ditch Verizon Wireless for the greener pastures of.. well anything but Verizon.

So now I'm stuck with three choices. First, I could just pay the ETF and deal with it. Second, I could just stay on Verizon for 10 months (bleh). Or third, I could go through a long, arduous, hassle of getting out of my contract sans ETF.

Ely Rosenstock of Crastinate.com put up a very interesting video on how he got out of his Verizon contract by arguing that government taxes (which shouldn't really be passed down to the consumers anyway) constitute a breach in his contract. He said it took him a few days and multiple calls to finally convince Verizon to drop him, but it's worth the effort if it saves you money.

I'm not sure if I have the resolve to deal with all of this, but if I do try it, I'll let you know how it goes.