If you watch TV or listen to the radio, you’ve probably heard your fair share cell phone advertisements, which are ubiquitous. What I’ve always found interesting about them is how the coyly squeeze in all that legal jargon at the end of the commercial, either by displaying it in illegible fine print or by a quickly worded addendum that the average human could never comprehend, or for that matter, would even make the slightest effort to try to understand.

Well, it just so happens that part of that message relates to what are known as early termination fees. These fees, as everyone who has a cell phone is well aware of, are a penalty that the service providers charge if you back out of, or sometimes even simply change, your original agreement.

The reasons for why you might want to do this could be as simple as the phone being too expensive or the realization that maybe you didn’t actually need one in the first place. Whatever the conclusion, once you lock into a phone plan, you’re in it for the duration of the agreement, which usually ranges anywhere from one to three years. If you do want to change, the penalties are steep, often running into the hundreds of dollars.

The cell phone companies claim the fees are necessary because they help subsidize the cost of the cell phones, while consumers argue that the fees are unreasonable and are simply a ploy by the cell phone providers to lock customers into their service.

Well, now the government is trying to do something about it. Under an FCC proposal , lawmakers want to eliminate cancellation fees for up to 30 days after a customer signs a contract or ten days after they receive their first bill. They also want to cap fees and make them more representative of the costs incurred by the phone company while also prorating the penalties over the course of the contract.

Too good to be true? Well, of course there’s a reason behind it, and as hard as it may be to believe, it is not entirely altruistic. It should be mentioned that this proposal was submitted to the FCC by the phone companies, which pretty much says all that need be said.

It turns out that the cell phone companies are currently embroiled in a series of class action lawsuits by angry customers who are trying to recoup billions of dollars of late fees in the state courts. If the FCC approves this bill, it would exempt the phone companies not only from these lawsuits, but also from any further state regulation of these charges. As it stands today, federal law prohibits the states from overseeing wireless rates but gives them some authority over contractual terms and conditions.

Regardless of the outcome, people with cell phones should do their homework and choose a plan responsibly. And remember to take some time to sort through the legal jargon that is sequestered in the fine print of your contract. It could spare you a lot of pain and suffering, not to mention expense, in the future.

如果你看電視或聽廣播，您可能早已聽到過關(guān)于你那款手機的（各種）廣告，這些手機廣告無處不在，充斥著生活的方方面面。這些廣告一直吸引我的地方在于，那些法律術(shù)語是如何被巧妙地塞入到商業(yè)的背后。它們不是通過字跡難以辨認的附屬細則來展示它，就是通過附錄來展示它。附錄措辭簡潔快速普通人可能永遠也無法理解，或著因為如此措辭，人們甚至不會做絲毫的努力去嘗試理解它。

哎，事情就是這樣，那種信息的一部分與人們稱之為的提前終止費有關(guān)。正如每個擁有手機的人所深知的那樣，這些收費是服務(wù)供應(yīng)商對你終止或者有時僅僅是改變原始協(xié)議所收取的罰金。

你可能想要這么做的原因可能僅僅就是因為電話（費）過于昂貴，或者意識到首先你可能實際上并不需要一部手機。無論結(jié)論如何，一旦你鎖定了一個電話套餐，你在協(xié)議有效期內(nèi)都要受到它的限制。這種協(xié)議通常涉及到方方面面，期限范圍為1至3年。如果你確實想改變協(xié)議，罰金是相當(dāng)高的，往往可達到數(shù)百美元。

手機公司聲稱收取這些費是必要的，因為它們（收費）幫助補貼手機的成本，而消費者卻認為收費是不合理的，僅僅是移動電話運營商為把顧客鎖定到他們的服務(wù)所使用的一個伎倆。

現(xiàn)在政府正試圖解決這一問題。根據(jù)聯(lián)邦電信委員會一項提案，立法者想要使消費者在簽定合同30天內(nèi)或者在收到帳單10天內(nèi)取消取消收費。一方面，他們想要設(shè)定收費的上限，使其更能代表（該）電話公司所負擔(dān)的成本，另一方面使各方在合同期內(nèi)按比例分攤罰金。

這條消息太好了，以至于人們難以相信它是真的，不是嗎？當(dāng)然，這背后是有原因的，盡管它可能難以另人們相信，但它不是完全沒有私心的（或完全為消費者著想的）。應(yīng)該指出這個提議是由電話公司提交給聯(lián)邦電信委員會的，這就充分說明了一切。

原來該手機公司目前正卷入了一連串的集體訴訟案件之中，因為憤怒的消費者正試圖通過向各州法院上訴而收回數(shù)十億美元的滯納金。如果聯(lián)邦電信委員會批準(zhǔn)這一法案，它不僅可使電話公司免除這些訴訟，而且還可使其免除各州對這些收費的任何進一步規(guī)定。現(xiàn)在，美國聯(lián)邦法律禁止各州監(jiān)管無線利率，但給他們一些監(jiān)管合同條款和條件的權(quán)力。.

無論結(jié)果如何，擁有手機的人應(yīng)該做自己的功課（自己的事），負責(zé)任地選擇一項計劃。并記住花時間去挑選出隱藏在合同中附屬細則里的那些法律術(shù)語。它可以使你在將來免受很多痛苦和折磨，更不用說錢了。