Re: Cancelling Nexus One triggers TWO "early termination fees"?

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Jonathan S. Shapiro" <shap () eros-os org>
Date: January 12, 2010 1:27:58 PM EST
To: dave () farber net
Cc: ip <ip () v2 listbox com>
Subject: Re: [IP] Cancelling Nexus One triggers TWO "early termination fees"?

I do not know if this will prove relevant, but:
 
T-Mobile recently altered their calling plans. It is now possible, for some plans, to purchase a "Plus" version of the 
plan. The difference is that the plus version does not provide handset "discounts", and therefore does not build in a 
monthly charge to pay for those "discounts".
 
We just switched plans and went with a plus plan to save the $40/month. Over a two year period (the hanset upgrade 
interval), the plan that allegedly provided discounts charged an additional $960 to pay for the handset discount. If 
you look at the prices of a la carte handsets vs. the discounted handsets and do the arithmetic, you will soon conclude 
that there is no such thing as a handset discount. There is a handset premium.
 
While I have no idea what's up with the Nexus One ETF, it seems possible that part of the confusion is being caused by 
people being on two different sets of terms because they are on two different plans, or alternatively, that the 
decision to break out the prepayment of discounts had the side effect of breaking out the ETF fees as well. 
Traditionally, some portion of the ETF fee has been offsetting the fact that the carrier (in effect) treats the 
contract as a "note" guaranteeing future payments.
 
One can argue whether carrier accounting makes sense. My point here is that there were always two components to the 
ETF, and with the restructuring of the handset premium -- er, um, discount -- these may now be broken out differently. 
The question would be: how does the new total compare to the old total?
 
 
Jonathan




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