Nexus One Early Termination Fee ETF

By on January 12, 2010 in Nexus One, T-Mobile

Did you pick up a Nexus One on contract for $180?  Thinking of canceling your contract with T-Mobile now?  Better do it before Jan 20th if you want to save some cash and keep your phone.  Better yet, wait 121 days and get a Nexus One for $409 (price will vary).We are learning that on top of the typical ETF that service providers charge for canceling your cell phone contract, Google is imposing a special $350 equipment recovery fee.  This happens within the first 120 days, which really isn’t that much time.  Of course, if you return your beautiful Nexus One within 14 days of canceling your contract, you won’t be charged…however you are still out the original $179 you paid for it to begin with.  You will still be charded T-Mobile’s ETF of about $200 as well.  So, let’s do some math:

You cancel your T-Mobile contract you signed up for Jan 5th between Jan 21st and May 6th:

$179 Contract Purchase Price + $200 T-Mobile ETF + $350 Google ETF = $729 for a Nexus One1

You cancel your T-Mobile contract you signed up for Jan 5th on May 6th:

$179 Contract Purchase Price + $200 T-Mobile ETF + $80 for extra service fee = $409 for a Nexus One2

You purchase your Nexus One directly without contract:

$529 for a Nexus One

1: T-Mobile will also charge you for the service you had prorated for those 25 or so days you used the service.

2: You will need to have the $80/month service, so take the service you want with an unlocked phone (say the 59.99 Even More Plus plan for that same 500 minutes) and that is $20 more per month for 4 months, = $80 more.  This is where it’s hard to nail down a perfect number.  Many people 500 minutes isn’t enough and will change their contract for 1000 minutes or similar.  So the differences in price will vary.

Bottom Line: I suggest you purchase a Nexus One on contract with T-Mobile for $179.  Pay their service fee for 4 months, after 120 days (be 100% sure it’s been 120 days), cancel, pay $200 to T-Mobile and sign up for a different (EM+ Plan or AT&T or whatnot).

Does anyone know if you cancel a T-Mobile contract, can you immediately sign up for their Even More Plus plan?

T-Mobile Terms of Service via Google

Google’s Terms of Service via Google

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  • Abe

    The T-mobile staff mentioned this to me today actually (“that’s what some people we know are doing.”)

    The downside: you cannot port your number to t-mobile this way it seems. Is that worth the difference of $120?

    Also, there’s about $8 in extra taxes from the higher priced plans (9% of $80) for those 4 months.

    Everyone pays tax on the full $529 price initially (subsidized or not), right?

    I imagine we’ll see whether this works to save just over $100 and whether you can port your number is about 3.5 months.

    Thanks for posting this info – gives context to the $350 Google ETF on top of the t-mobile $175.

  • Abe

    The T-mobile staff mentioned this to me today actually (“that’s what some people we know are doing.”)

    The downside: you cannot port your number to t-mobile this way it seems. Is that worth the difference of $120?

    Also, there’s about $8 in extra taxes from the higher priced plans (9% of $80) for those 4 months.

    Everyone pays tax on the full $529 price initially (subsidized or not), right?

    I imagine we’ll see whether this works to save just over $100 and whether you can port your number is about 3.5 months.

    Thanks for posting this info – gives context to the $350 Google ETF on top of the t-mobile $175.