Google Reduces Its Nexus One Termination Fee 56
CWmike writes "The only smartphone Linus Torvalds doesn't hate is that much less unlikable now that Google has quietly chopped $200 off its early termination fee on the Nexus One. Customers who cancel the service had been on the hook for $550, including a $350 Google cancellation charge. Google has reduced their fee to $150 — but users are still liable for a $200 ETF from T-Mobile. Users have a 14-day grace period during which they do not have to pay either charge, although they may be hit with a restocking fee. The $350 total fee matches one of the highest in the industry, charged by Verizon. Google did not announce the change but simply altered its online terms-of-service document." The price cut could add momentum to a phone that, by one reckoning, costs only $49 unlocked.
Slashvertisement at its best (Score:5, Insightful)
Linking to an article mentioning Linus and an older advertisement, with a tiny bit of new information (a 200$ cut because of an about-to-be ruling by the FCC), that overall shows Google in a positive light. With clumsy maths at the end.
Slashdot at its best!
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Slashdot at its best!
I've been reading that for at least a decade. At least you can't fault them on editorial style inconsistencies...
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No, I don't think you get it at all.
If it's Mobile, Apple, Your Rights or Idle, we're supposed to be angry.
Everything else has the potential to still be up to rational debate.
Re:Slashvertisement at its best (Score:4, Interesting)
Parent is not a troll, Korbeau is merely stating the obvious.
The $49 price is not the real price, but the difference between doing it one way, and doing it a different way, both with HORRIBLE subscription prices by european standards.
Early termination fees are a JOKE, especially with a size like that.
This whole story reeks of someone lacking their sense of judgement or deliberately ignoring it.
Yes, teH Nexus One is a nice phone, but
A: it's not that cheap
B: it's not a jesus phone (neither was the iPhone)
C: this is neither the first or second story about it these last few days.
anyway. imo, parent is not a troll
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Subscription prices are crazy not just by European standards, also by Asian standards. Those prices are very high for basically any non-American mobile phone user.
The discount of USD 20 mentioned is about as much as my monthly fee. And then I have a 3G plan now, plan to change back to some 2G plan which starts at less than USD 4.50 per month - including about 800 minutes air time, voice mail, etc.
Getting a USD 20 per month discount for your phone is virtually impossible in Hong Kong, simply because most p
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As AT&T recently found out in NYC and other big cities, more people means you need MORE towers, not less. It's like trying to serve 1000 people from a single WiFi AP. Sure, your signal can reach them, but the throughput sucks. It also doesn't take into account the fact that in large cities in the US, we have population density that can rival even Asian cities. Yet those areas are not nearly so well served as similar areas in Asia or Europe.
If you're going to use population density you need to use a sma
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Number of towers or people/area are both red herrings. Really, it is just area by itself and the main problem is installation and transit. You can have lots of towers in a small region and not need as much digging and cables as the same size network over a whole state.
What the cell networks need is a way to get power to widely spread towers without cable. If all those towers in the middle of nowhere could have rectennas for power and then use directed wireless or optical methods to connect between towers
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Early termination fees are a JOKE, especially with a size like that.
i guess you should explain that comment. should a consumer be allowed to pay $180 + $80 for a contract, then cancel with no ETF thereby getting a $530 nexus one phone for $260?
if the provider is subsidizing the price of the phone, a pro-rated ETF based on the retail price of the phone is fair. in this case, you pay $180 for the subsidized phone and an ETF of $350. $350+$180 = $530 ... and surprise, that's the price of the unsubsidized phone. in other words, if you decide to cancel your contract, you pay the
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You seem to be misinformed. These days, government is run by corporations and special interests. (And don't even get me started on that recent Supreme Court decision [npr.org].)
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Are you trying to defend a consumer-unfriendly business model that should not need to exist in the first place? Of course, consumers *should* understand that you don't get something (cheap subsidized phone) without paying for it somehow (early termination fees). But that doesn't seem to be the case now, does it?
Subsidized phones have only recently been available here in Finland, but they are the rare exception rather than the rule. As an educated consumer, I would rather buy a phone and have the freedom to
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I agree that people should always have the unlocked option, but people should be allowed to do it other ways if they want.
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The market has shown that many people actually want the option of giving up some freedom in exchange for a few hundred dollars. it's a tradeoff you're not willing to make, and I'm not willing to make, but some people are, and we should respect their choice. It's not corporate oppression, the customers signed up willingly, they're getting exactly what they want.
Nexus one eh? (Score:5, Funny)
Nexuses are retired, not terminated.
Just saying...
-- Roy Batty
Wow, brilliant math strikes again (Score:2)
Is this a new form of slashvertisement?
Get Real (Score:4, Insightful)
The price cut could add momentum to a phone that, by one reckoning, costs only $49 unlocked.
And, by another reckoning, it actually saves you $5,000 and rescues your cat from a tree. Incidentally, both reckonings are fallacious.
Problem is (Score:3, Funny)
Stop saying it costs $49. (Score:1, Insightful)
That (1) makes you look stupid, and (2) repeats advertising.
Of course, this is pretty much the default with kdawson.
Dont be... (Score:5, Interesting)
Personally, I am waiting for the phone that is subsidized by non-obtrusive, relevant advertising.
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Personally, I am waiting for the phone that is subsidized by non-obtrusive, relevant advertising.
It will be interesting. I am waiting for the phone that pauses my call to tell me that I am about to pass best buy who is having sales! sales! sales!
I better keep it away from my wife who bases how well she does shopping by how much she "saves" thanks to deals (whether or not it is something she needs - or really even wants.)
Horay for the don't be evil company! (Score:1)
Similar ETFs on Verizon (Score:3, Informative)
Will you please stop the dishonest shilling? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's one thing to have a story/advertisement, it's another to blatantly lie in it.
The bullshit statistic of the $49 dollar unlocked version was ably debunked in the comments of the last story where this was claimed.
Please stop doing it. When you're caught in a blatant lie, you don't repeat it unless you are also an idiot.
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Story posted by kdawson, nuff said.
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Here: http://pipes.yahoo.com/pipes/pipe.info?_id=296b01a23fd9f37289b4c61d63fa8519 [yahoo.com]
It's a RSS feed for Slashdot without kdawson's submissions.
Now can we please move on?
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Jon Katz was the only author I blocked here because he only posted his own stuff and didn't approve submissions.
hah. I was verifying it was Jon and not John and noticed he was criticized just as much by the dog folks for hi
Not that bad. (Score:2, Informative)
Wow, an ETF that adds up (Score:1)
It's not the restocking fee that gets you... (Score:2)
Sean
Early Termination Fee (Score:1)
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Great way to make money (Score:1)
Just buy a lot of Nexi Ones for 49$, and sell them for material price! I am going to be rich!
I didn't expect google of all companies to be braindead enough to subsidize unlocked phones...
You owe them something eitherway. (Score:1)
Who is kdawson? (Score:2)
Linus who? (Score:2)
It'd be nice if the summary told us who Linus Torvalds is, rather than just assuming we know everyone in the tech world.
iphone vs. nexus one math (Score:2)
iphone: $199 + $79 * 24 = $2095 (AT&T, subsidized iphone)
n1: $530 + $59 * 24 = $1946 (T-mo, no contract)
nexus one savings over 2 years: $2095 - $1946 = $149
not having a contract is a big plus, but i don't see where the nexus one is much cheaper.
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i should also note that if you plan on keeping your phone past the 2-year boundary, the savings for the nexus one would continue to grow. despite being out of contract, AT&T does not offer a no-contract discount.
i usually stop reading articles and ads (Score:1)
termination fee on nexus phone (Score:1)