Hasta La Gadget!

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.

Google imposes $350 early termination fee for subsidized Nexus One in addition to carrier’s own ETF originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 12 Jan 2010 07:21:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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