The Change.org petition asks Verizon to consider a better way for customers to purchase devices affordably via a payment plan or by some other means.

More than 119,000 consumers have signed a Change.org petition asking Verizon Wireless to do away with wireless contracts in a sign that mobile users are looking for more flexibility from carriers.

The petition was started last week by a Verizon customer after reading that company?s CEO Lowell McAdam recently said he would consider doing away with mobile phone contracts if consumers demanded it. The development follows the recent announcement by T-Mobile USA that it is eliminating contracts.

?It?s hard to see market leaders Verizon and AT&T following what any other carriers in the market are doing, especially carriers that aim for value-conscious consumers, as Leap, Metro PCS and T-Mobile do,? said Kristin Paulin, senior analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media, London.

?However, Verizon is proving it?s open to the idea of no contracts,? she said.

In search of freedom
The petition targeting Verizon is one of the fastest growing on the Change.org site. Change.org is a Web site focused on empowering anyone to start a campaign for social change.

Every signature on the Change.org petition is being sent via email to Verizon executives including Mr. McAdam.

Not having a mobile phone contract gives consumers more flexibility and freedom.

Financing programs do the same because when consumers take responsibility for the device from the start, they are not in a contract and can choose to move to another carrier at any time.

"Verizon Wireless has for years offered many different choices for customers, including contract plans or month-to-month plans that do not require a contract,? said Norod B. Neptune, vice president of corporate communications at Verizon Wireless.

Handset financing
Verizon already offers customers the option of a month-to-month plan enabling customers to purchase their phones outright to avoid a wireless contract. However, many customers are not able to pay upfront for smartphones, which can cost $600 or more.

Verizon recently eliminated its early upgrade program, which allowed customers to upgrade their device as early as month 20 of their 24-month contract. Verizon offset this change by introducing a handset-financing program that gives customers the option to purchase a device at an unsubsidized price before the end of their contract, spreading the cost of that device over 12 monthly payments.

If Verizon customers choose this option, it does not lock them into another contract.

Higher churn
Eliminating mobile phone contracts offers both pluses and minuses for carriers.

?For carriers, having no contracts brings the risk of higher churn, although handset-financing programs can minimize this risk by locking the device to their network until the device is paid off in full,? Informa?s Ms. Paulin said. ?Without contracts, carriers would probably see their margins improve. Handset subsidies cut into profitability for carriers.?

The Change.org petition also asks Verizon to consider a better way for customers to purchase devices affordably via a payment plan or by some other means.

T-Mobile?s new program, for example, enables users to pay an upfront fee and then make low monthly payments on the device. The carrier promises this will save customers money compared with what they would pay over the life of a two-year contract.

The European formula
Longer term, mobile phone contracts are unlikely to completely disappear, even if Verizon and AT&T follow T-Mobile?s example, per Franceso Radicati, a research analyst at Informa Telecoms & Media.

However, U.S. carriers could follow the example of carriers in, for example, Europe, that have abolished subsidies and switched to handset financing, while still pairing these handset sales with a monthly contract.

?O2 UK, for example, now offers a program where customers effectively take out two contracts, one for the phone and one for the airtime; customers can pay off the phone in full at any time, and either allow the airtime contract to continue or cancel it without a penalty - because the phone?s been paid off,? Mr. Radicati said.

?Given the popularity of SIM-only contracts in Europe, we believe this added flexibility would actually make customers more loyal, because it makes the process of buying a phone simpler and more transparent,? he said.

?Handset financing provides a cost-effective third option to subsidies with long-term contracts or buying the device outright.?

Final Take
Chantal Tode is associate editor on Mobile Marketer, New York