94,000 Verizon Wireless Customers Want Contracts Dropped

Verizon Wireless customers took to the internet this week to demand that the company do away with required two-year cellular plan contracts.

Last week, T-Mobile announced its “Uncarrier” service which eliminated two-year contracts from the wireless carrier all together.

Following T-Mobile’s Uncarrier plans, more than 94,000 Verizon Wireless customers signed a petition on Change.org, which asks Verizon to drop contracts and focus on a system similar to the T-Mobile platform.

Creators of the contract are hoping to push the number of signatures above 100,000 and ultimately to 150,000 John Hancock’s.

Cellular contracts are a very lucrative part of the Verizon Wireless platform. While the company will often lose hundreds of dollars by discounting Apple, Android, and Windows Phone devices, they earn that money back and thousands of dollars more based on a standard two-year contract.

In comparison, T-Mobile sells devices with an attached monthly fee. For example, the iPhone 5 is $99 upfront and $20 per month for 24 months. T-Mobile waves the fee when customers jump over from another carrier or trade in their old smartphones.

Verizon CEO Lowell McAdams said earlier in the month that Verizon Wireless would consider following in T-Mobile’s footsteps if enough customers wanted the change.

Verizon Wireless would not likely do away with contracts all together. Under T-Mobile USA’s current system customers pay a monthly fee for use of an unlocked smartphone and then must pay the phone off in full if they leave the service before their two year period has expired.

Advocates for the no-contract plans argue that it allows for more flexibility since wireless users can simply pay off their smartphone and then jump to a competitor if they are not happy with their cellular providers service.

Verizon Wireless has not chimed in on the petition at this time. We are still not sure what McAdam’s believes constitutes a large amount of support among customers.