In message
<a5fe0dd1-b61c-4eb5-89f0-19908e20b319@59g2000hsb.googlegroups.com> Joe
Seattle <joeofseattle@yahoo.com> wrote:

>Evidently "assinine" 2 year contracts are now becoming obsolete!
>Robbers... er Rogers in Canada now has 3 year contracts. Orange in
>Israel requires a 36 month (3 year) contract on all upgrades.

Ahh, but Rogers doesn't *require* a three year contract. Most plans can
be set up on a month to month basis, and nearly all plans are available
starting at one year, with the customer choosing one, two or three
years.

The only incentive to choose a longer contract is to get a discount on
the phone.

Until recently the maximum termination penalty was $200, so the length
of the contract was meaningless as long as you got at least $200 off the
handset. Unfortunately, the current generation of contract is now
$20/month, with a minimum of $200, which makes length of the contract
all too important.

In Rogers' defense, however, they are now quite willing to sell
discounted handsets in exchange for early renewal. I currently have a
five line family plan and became eligible for a 3-year-discount on a new
handset renewing only one line in the plan after less then 6 months.