FCC Gets Google to Slash Nexus One Return Fee

Google's $350 "Equipment Recovery Fee" on its Nexus One smartphone has pretty much received a universally poor reception among consumers. Complaints have flooded user forums, and apparently some have taken it as far as the Federal Communications Commission. Good news: the FCC's intervention has seemed to have forced the company's hand.

Effective immediately, the fee has been dropped to $150. This would not allow a user to escape T-Mobile's $200 early termination fee; that would still be due to the carrier outside of its normal 14-day return period. To be fair to Google, it seems as if people's complaints are more about the service than the device itself.

Being a former T-Mobile subscriber (and one for nearly seven years before switching to AT&T), I feel these people's pain. Service, when you have it, is good -- however 3G is extremely spotty, and in many rural locales you will have absolutely no service at all.

Now, in the defense of T-Mobile and Google, company officials are saying they are not making these changes due to pressure from the FCC. Needless to say the FCC has been looking into these excess charges, which several commissioners have already said they thought were too excessive, and the commission itself has received thousands of complaints from consumers.