Comments on: Nexus One ETF Lowered To $150

By: Kojeje

Kojeje — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 17:12:11 +0000

Did you mean that its priced is $150 now…?
Woww.. i want to buy it then :)

By: Matt

Matt — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:40:47 +0000

I wish everyone got this worked up about all those bullshit fees at the bottom of our cell and phone bills that they don’t tell us about then the ETF..

By: fAlken

fAlken — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 18:38:14 +0000

@GIO Google will just turn you into collections since you cut off their means of collecting payment from you and essentially left them hanging. This is no new scam to major companies. I Hope your credit doesn’t mean anything to you.

By: GIO

GIO — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:52:30 +0000

THIS ARTICLE IS WRONG COMPLETELY. THE 150 DOLLARS IS THE EQUIPMENT SUBSIDY. MEANING GOOGLE CONSIDERS THE 180 (PHONE PRICE)+ 150 (SUBSIDY) = THE COST OF THE PHONE. THIS DOESNT MEAN THAT IT TAKES 320 DOLLARS TO MAKE THE PHONE IT MIGHT BE CHEAPER BUT THATS WHAT GOOGLE SETS ITS COST OF THE PHONE FOR THAT PRICE. COST IS NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH SUGGESTED RETAIL PRICE. GOOGLE WILL ONLY CHARGE YOU THE 150 IF YOU CANCEL BEFORE THE 6 MONTHS. EVEN IF YOU CANCEL BEFORE THE 30 DAYS GOOGLE WILL CHARGE 150 DOLLARS BUT ONLY IF YOU DONT RETURN THE PHONE. IF YOU CANCEL AFTER 30 DAYS BUT BEFORE SIX MONTHS GOOGLE WILL CHARGE YOU 150 AND T MOBILE WILL CHARGE YOU 200 (EARLY TERMINATION FEE). AFTER SIX MONTHS OF SERVICE GOOGLE CANT CHARGE YOU ANY LONGER BUT T MOBILE WILL STILL CHARGE 200.

THE REASON FOR THIS IS BECAUSE GOOGLE DOESNT ONLY MAKE MONEY OF THE PHONE SALE T MOBILE ALSO GIVES THEM A GENEROUS COMISSION FOR SIGNING UP A CUSTOMER FOR A TWO YEAR CONTRACT. THEY ONLY GET THAT MONEY IF YOU STAY AS A T MOBILE CUSTOMER FOR AT LEAST SIX MONTHS.

ONE WAY TO AVOID THE 150 DOLLAR CHARGE IS TO REPORT THE CARD THAT YOU USED TO PURCHASE THE NEXXUS ONE AS STOLEN.
THIS WILL MEAN YOU WILL GET A NEW CARD WITH NEW NUMERICAL DIGITS AND WILL MAKE YOUR OLD CARD INVALID. ONCE YOU CANCEL WITH T MOBILE (BEFORE 30 DAYS TO AVOID EARLY TERMINATION FEE) GOOGLE WILL TRY TO CHARGE YOUR OLD CARD AND FAIL. HA HA HA. WORKS LIKE A CHARM THIS IS HOW I GOT A NEXUS FOR 320 USD. LMAO.

By: Brett

Brett — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:23:10 +0000

Lol it’s funny how people get so pissy about this. If you don’t want the phone…don’t buy it. Plain and simple. Why are you all worried about an ETF? If you’re worried about it even the slightest bit…don’t buy the phone. I’m sorry but I’d never buys something that I wasn’t sure I was going to keep for a long time. You guys are just ranting about something so ridiculous that shouldn’t even be an issue.

By: Carmex

Carmex — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 15:44:28 +0000

To be pedantic, Rob, I believe you mean “Their systems/inventory/shipping is obviously….”, not “They’re….”.

By: Keith

Keith — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 14:44:56 +0000

the truth is they impose these ETF fees because people always try to take advantage of the system. You buy the phone at the discounted rate, sell it on e-bay for triple the money and pay the ETF fee. So this is what people who use the discounted rate for what it is intended for has to deal with. If you plan on keeping the phone for personal use and are gonna keep it for a couple of years it does,nt what the ETF is you will not have to pay it. They give you the phone at discounted rate because the make their money off the cell phone and data plan. If you dont plan on keeping phone two years just buy it out rite!!

By: Brad

Brad — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 13:55:44 +0000

@Chris: wait for the HTC Incredible. It’s coming to Verizon soon, has rumored specs similar to the N1, and has Android 2.1 with HTC Sense. As for the ETFs, it is indeed ridiculous. I mean, if you stop and think about it, Google will sell you the phone outright for $530, but the combined ETF fees add up to $550, $20 more than if you bought the unlocked version. In what universe does that make any sense? Since the phone with contract is $180, the $350 one would be somewhat justifiable in terms of recovering the cost of the phone, but the other $200 one is complete bull. As it’s been said, there needs to be ONLY ONE termination fee from one of the companies, and it should be reasonable.

By: Jason71

Jason71 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:49:15 +0000

Actually this is a bit of a bargain compared to some UK contracts. Take out a contract face to face i.e. in a shop and you tend to be liable for pretty much the whole contract price as soon as you walk out the door so the ability to cancel and only owe the equivalent to the sim free handset price seems pretty good and quite fair. I assume this only applies for a limited period after you sign up

By: Abel

Abel — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 12:05:46 +0000

@Jonathan
Great response, way to set the Trolls straight as to how the market works. This is a good move by google and it should equal out to around the price of the phone now when terminating a contract. See, the universe balances itself out.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 11:12:22 +0000

@Gilbert O.
Most other countries have a model more similar to the one that Google is trying to push. Mainly, that the consumer buys a phone and then goes to a carrier for service. In return the consumer pays the full price for the phone (for the Nexus One it would be the ~$500 price). In the U.S. it is customary for the carrier to subsidize the pricing of the handset, offering it to you well below its retail price. In exchange they get you to commit to a service contract where they expect to make back the price subsidy difference. If you take the phone that the carrier partially paid for and terminate your contract, they are out some money, so they make you reimburse them for their contribution to your phone purchase (at least that is the way it is supposed to work).

By: N1

N1 — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:09:01 +0000

I think you can blame Tmobile for the double ETF. Basically, Tmobile already have a standard $200 ETF for their contract. But when they subsidize for Google, they requires 4 months of contract before they pay Google the $350 subsidy. Google just pass it on to the buyer. Tmobile tries to hide behind and quietly charge the double fee.

Google should just sell it for $530 and leave it for the carrier to give the refund based on the contract you sign. If you don’t want the ETF, then pay full price and don’t get into contract. Instead of complaining, the American user should just pay full price like all other countries out there.

By: jMAT

jMAT — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 07:03:53 +0000

ETF stands for Extra Terrestrial Fees… thats just the price you pay for staying in america…

By: Chris

Chris — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:07:53 +0000

I’ll consider the N1 for Verizon if I can actually touch it before buying it. Too bad there is no HTC Sense built in… I like my Eris.

By: azboricua

azboricua — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:41:27 +0000

ok, now what about verizon?