A $350 early-termination fee for smart phones? Now that smarts

Before you go shopping for a nifty new smart phone this holiday season, keep this in mind: Verizon Wireless, the largest provider of mobile-phone services, has just doubled its early-termination fee for high-end handsets if you decide you'd rather go with a different carrier. It was bad enough when the company would slap you with a $175 charge for jumping ship after a 30-day trial period. Now that penalty is $350. The in-your-face fee applies to BlackBerrys, the much-touted new Droid phones and other smart phones capable of sending and receiving text messages and e-mails as well as accessing the Internet.