Google imposes $350 early termination fee for subsidized Nexus One in addition to carrier's own ETF
By Ross Miller 
posted January 12th 2010 7:21AM
posted January 12th 2010 7:21AM
Here's another reason to consider going the unlocked route with the Nexus One, in addition to having the AT&T (non-3G) and international GSM option. As a number of people have noticed, Google's got its own Early Termination Fee (ETF) equivalent, here called the Equipment Recovery Fee, in the terms of sale, to the tune of $350 if you cancel within the first 120 days. Sound familiar? It's because we saw it in a leak just before the new year. Here's the kicker, though: this is in addition to any fees imposed by the carrier -- not necessarily a problem on its own, but we just glanced at T-Mobile's terms of sale, and sure enough, there's an associated ETF up to $200. If we're reading this right, Nexus One owners who decide to end their service after the 14-day trial period is over but before four months have passed will be hit with upwards of $550 in fees -- more than if you bought the phone outright from the start, especially when you factor in the upfront $180. There hasn't been enough time for someone to tempt fate, but who knows -- come January 20th when early adopters' trial period ends, there might be some interesting stories abound.
@Shlooky
Should have read...The phone will cost you nothing if you stick with the contract term. Unless everyone want to terminate their contract months after purchase.
What does Ross mean by "in addition to having the AT&T (non-3G) and international GSM option"?
According to Google's specs (http://www.google.com/phone/static/en_US-nexusone_tech_specs.html) the Nexus One supports UMTS at 900, 1700 (AWS) and 2100 MHz.
Is there really another version with support for the 850 and 1900 (+presumably 2100, as it's a common RF-chip configuration) bands?
ok this is nothing new peoples reactions are silly 3rd party dealers such as amazon, walmart, letstalk.com, and wirefly all do this they also charge there own ETF so they make the money back on subsidizing the handset because tmobile doesnt give them there commission within the 120 days. tmobile charges an ETF for the cost they endure when they activate you and of course because you are going back on your agreement people are grown ups tmobile signed u up for service for a contract what the hell is the point of the contract if you cancel it google might as well say keep your service for 120 days or pay the full cost. So in the end that isnt done because people leaving and coming left and right doesnt make carriers money retention of there longtime customers does this is the same for all carriers now VZW charging a huge ETF and forcing 9.99 data plans on 3g devices seems fishy because they still dont offer as good a deal as 3rd party dealers to justify it
Google is just a T-Mobile reselller/dealer, just like those online retailers or little kiosks in the local mall. They aren't gonna let you go cheap just so you can go make profit off it.
Like I said back a couple weeks ago, dealers/resellers have their own Terms of Sale, and if you don't want to abide by them then it's simple: don't buy.
Hard for me to even consider moving to this phone, even though I love the Andriod OS, because I already have an iphone on T-Mobile for just over $50 per month that includes unlimited minutes, text & data. Plus, I bought my iphone on Ebay for $199 brand new. I'll never understand how anyone can justify paying over $500 for any phone, even if it could make an espresso or give me a bj, well maybe if it gave a bj.
Buyers of these over priced phones are living proof of why CC debt is the highest its been in history. It's a $350 phone & even then Google is making 100% profit, plus whatever T-Mobile wants to donate for people who sign up for service.
god, what an epic shaft this whole n1 saga has been. die, n1 and google. next.
Google may just be trying to close a loophole where the N1 can be cancelled and sold for a profit on eBay.