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Comment by grandalf | Hacker News Reader

If you're a loyal T-Mobile customer you get to pay a loyalty tax if you want a Nexus One compared to if you are not a T-Mobile customer.

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Huh? You've already received a subsidized phone if you are an existing customer so I don't see the point. If I don't want a subsidized phone, why should I pay the same rate as someone that does?

Can we expect LTE phones to work across carriers? If so, I anticipate a demand for change in the US when someone brings their out-of-contract ATT phone over to Verizon and realize they are paying as much as someone that got a subsidy.

What do you mean exactly?

Honestly, it's just the way things work. It's not specific to this phone or provider. You get a subsidized phone when you sign up a _new_ plan. It's part of the cost of the service you're agreeing to. If you're already a customer, in the middle of a contract, they don't "reward" you by subsidizing a phone any time you ask for it (i.e. when a new one comes out).

When the N1 came out, however, people were for some reason surprised about this. There's lots of news about it: http://www.google.com/search?q=t-mobile+%22nexus+one%22+%22n...

What's the difference between me re-upping my contract for 2 years and someone else starting a new 2 year contract?

Google seems to think the former case deserves to pay $100 more for the phone.

T-Mobile pays out more in commission for the latter than the former.

If you're not outside your current contract, that's not really a very good option. If your plan has expired, aka, you're past your initial 2 years, that's fine.

Otherwise, you have people entering (comical) 20 year contracts, which would be (practically) unenforceable.

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