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

[Wes Felter <wesley@felter.org>]

IMO it's time to treat subsidized phone agreements as what they really 
are -- loans. Sure, this gets into banking regulation, but shenanigans 
such as the Google/T-Mobile issue are exactly why those regulations were 
invented. At least with a loan (1) you know exactly how much you have 
left to repay and (2) you can get out of the loan by repaying the 
remaining principal (not more).

Wes Felter

   [ When situations get this complex from a consumer/support
     standpoint, it tends to be a red flag that something may be
     amiss.  Even if the underlying pricing is sound and justifiable,
     if the overall experience becomes needlessly complex nobody
     comes out ahead in the end.  Whether formal loans are a better
     solution than the current framework I'll leave to the Econ
     wizards to ponder.

     It's interesting to note that (as I recall) in Califoria the
     cell phone industry didn't really take off until a prohibition
     against subsidized contracts was lifted.  Prior to that, paying
     full price for cell phones up front kept most people out of the
     marketplace.

       -- Lauren Weinstein
          NNSquad Moderator ]