Google's Nexus One 'equipment recovery fee' slashed to $150, still a pain

[allaboutsymbian]

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.engadget.com/media/2010/01/eng_nexus_one6_225x149.jpg (http://www.google.com/phone/static/en_US-terms_of_sale.html)So the good news here is that Google appears to have heard the cries for help, having taken a chainsaw to its brutal $350 "equipment recovery fee" (http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/12/google-imposes-350-early-termination-fee-for-subsidized-nexus-o/) that had been lumped on top of T-Mobile's $200 ETF for subsidized Nexus One contracts canceled in the first 120 days. The bad news, though, is that it still exists at all -- a hairy precedent for an industry being watched with eagle eyes by the FCC (http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/26/fcc-expands-etf-inquiry-fires-off-letters-to-atandt-sprint-t-mo/) right now. The company has knocked $200 off the fee, bringing it down to $150; in other words, if you break your contract, you'll pay the same ETF that Verizon now charges (http://www.engadget.com/2009/11/15/dont-shop-drunk-verizons-350-etf-is-now-live/) on its "advanced devices." Whether that was a deliberate move to let 'em say that they're no more expensive than Verizon is unclear, but let's be honest: $350 is extreme, $550 was highway robbery. At least we're going in the right direction.Google's Nexus One 'equipment recovery fee' slashed to $150, still a pain (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/08/googles-nexus-one-equipment-recovery-fee-slashed-to-150-sti/) originally appeared on Engadget (http://www.engadget.com) on Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds (http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/).


Permalink (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/08/googles-nexus-one-equipment-recovery-fee-slashed-to-150-sti/) http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/post_label_VIA.gifPhone Scoop (http://www.phonescoop.com/news/item.php?n=5464), The Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703615904575053641103601412.html) | http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.engadget.com/media/post_label_source.gifGoogle (http://www.google.com/phone/static/en_US-terms_of_sale.html) | Email this (http://www.engadget.com/forward/19349668/) | Comments (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/08/googles-nexus-one-equipment-recovery-fee-slashed-to-150-sti/#comments)

More... (http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/08/googles-nexus-one-equipment-recovery-fee-slashed-to-150-sti/)