The FCC has been asking plenty of "innocent questions" lately about the mobile space. It doesn't threaten any direct action against companies like AT&T and Apple, it just wants "a more complete understanding" of some situations. But those questions usually get results.

The latest target (PDF) of FCC questions-by-letter is Verizon Wireless, which recently doubled some of its early termination fees (ETFs). An ETF is paid by a subscriber who cancels service before a contract expires, and it's used to ensure that you can't just buy a subsidized smartphone for $200 and cancel service a month later, leaving Verizon Wireless to cover several hundred dollars of the device's actual price.

But is it about more than recouping this amount? The FCC isn't sure, but it has some questions about the newly doubled ETFs for "advanced devices" (smartphones). Question 6, for example, notes that "if a customer cancels a two-year contract after 23 months, the customer would still owe an ETF of $120. Is this correct? If the ETF is meant to recoup the wholesale cost of the phone over the life of the contract, why does a $120 ETF apply?"

There's much more along these lines. The FCC also wants a detailed accounting of the "the cost differentials that Verizon pays for advanced devices over what it charges its customers." It wants to know how consumers would find out about the ETF "other than by calling up the formal Customer Agreement accessible in small type at the bottom of the web page." And it's curious about how customers might learn "the formula for prorating the ETF other than in the formal Customer Agreement."

The FCC letter, sent today, requests a response by December 17 as part of two FCC investigations—one into the entire field of ETFs and the other into how wireless companies disclose useful information on such topics to consumers. In the meantime, a just-introduced piece of legislation intends to reign in early termination fees, although similar bills have failed to make it out of committee in the past.