early termination fee?

[FranDecker]

I found this on your community bulletin board.

"Early termination fee for non-smartphones is $175 minus $5 per month of contract completed.  If you have completed 22 months (with only 55 days left) then it would be $175 - $110 = $65 for your ETF.  You should call customer service to verify this amount.  Of course any and all current monthly plan charges would be due also. "

My son dropped his Verizon coverage since he has been disabled for the entire 29 years of his life and was offered a free cell phone line through a government plan with AssuranceWireless.    We waited til he was more than half way through his contract period ... his was scheduled to end on 8/16/14 .. I'm dismayed to find out we were billed a $250 early termination fee when it looks like it should only be $60 (12 months at $5 per month) 

could someone explain this to me please? 

[tikibar1]

The early termination fee for smartphones is:

$350 minus $10 for each full month of your contract term that you complete

The ETF for a basic phone is:

$175 minus $5 for each full month of your contract term that you complete

The ETF is based on the phone that was purchased with the contract.  For example, if you bought a smartphone but during the contract period placed a basic phone on that line for whatever reason, the ETF is still based on the smartphone.

So, if you dropped his line in August and the contract was up in August 2014, you completed 12 months of the contract, i.e.,

if a smartphone, the ETF is $350 - (10x12) = $230

if a basic phone, the ETF is $175 - (5x12) = $115

Did he purchase a basic phone or a smartphone when he signed his contract?  When was the line canceled?  Did he buy it from Verizon?  The reason I ask is that there may be additional ETFs depending on where the phone was purchased and how long it had been under contract.