If that statement seems odd to you, you're not alone. ETF's are supposed to cover the ongoing cost of running the business? That will be a new concept for most customers, who link in terms of hardware subsidies (if they think about ETFs at all).

Having been part of the outcry over the fee increase, which no other carrier appears to have adopted, I was interested to read the response, which runs to 77 pages.

In it, Verizon says that even with the $350 fee it loses money on early terminations and that the fee must remain high to the very end of the 2-year contract--when a customer would still owe $120--to prevent even greater losses.

Verizon also tries to make the fees seem beneficial to customers who stay for the full term of their contracts.

It is hard for an outsider to fully understand Verizon's business model, though the fact that no competitor, presumably subject to the same economic pressures, has adopted the new ETF scheme works against Verizon's argument.