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Jan. 20, 2010

Without making too much noise, Verizon Wireless has removed 10 handsets from its list of phones subject to a $350 ETF (Early Termination Fee).

So far, no official release has been made by the company on the change, but the wireless carrier’s list of so-called Advanced Devices subject to the fee now appears to include only smartphones and a few netbooks sold by Verizon.

The Advanced Device List filed with the FCC more than four weeks ago contained a number of multimedia phones, including the Motorola Krave, the Samsung Rogue and no less than five LG devices.

Verizon’s current list is stripped of those devices, and the company would not comment further on them.

Verizon Wireless came under FCC scrutiny last December after it doubled its ETFs for netbooks, smartphones and some feature phones. No official action has been taken on the matter as of yet, however.

Verizon’s early termination fee for devices on the Advanced Device List is currently $350, twice that of the fee for devices not on the list.

The reason (s) on why Verizon does that are still unclear.

In its December filing with the FCC, Verizon Wireless said “advanced Devices generally have more complex chip sets, CPUs and licensed software that perform more functions than regular phones.”

More specifically, the advanced category includes those devices which feature dual processor chipsets, Wi-Fi and HTML browsers.

It is still unclear whether Verizon has changed its official criteria for the list.

A Verizon Wireless spokesman was unable to answer queries about the change.

We will keep you posted on Verizon's ETF policy and the changes it seems to make to them quite often.

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Source: Verizon Wireless.