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Nexus One!
April 17, 2010 7:49 PM   Subscribe

Nexus One: How difficult will this be & how much am I actually going to pay?

Right now, I'm on a family plan (and not locked in to a contract) with T-Mobile. I want the Nexus One. I want to buy the Nexus One unlocked, pay $529, and buy a data plan from T-Mobile. (From what I understand from their website, I know that I could always ditch my family, become a "new customer," buy my own plan, and get the subsidized Nexus One for $179, but I'm not interested in doing that). Also, I have already seen this question, but it seems to apply to only new customer information.

So, my questions are:

1. How much will the data plan cost? (googling just finds either cost for entirety of service OR people complaining about inability to get subsidized phone on family plan)

2. Right now I don't have a smart phone. Will adding the data plan on to the family's current plan auto-add any sort of time contract commitment?

3. Is it worth it? Assuming that my only costs will be the $529 phone and the data plan, and that a family member pays for the rest of the family plan, is there any other smartphone option that would be better for me (in terms of super awesome phone & price)?
posted by three bear minimum to technology (7 answers total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
To get the exact cost of the data plan, it'd be best to simply call 611 and ask, or walk into a retail store ( they really are there to help, and they won't bite ). Depending on what plan you currently have, there may be different paths to get to where to need to be. You'll be wanting the "Android" or "Smart Phone" add-on to your line. I'm fairly sure that if you only add a new feature to the plan, you won't have to renew the plan for another contract period. If you change plans, you may be asked to renew.

You say you're on a family plan: unless you are the primary of the plan or are authorized to make changes, you'll need the person who is primary/authorized to actually move forward with it.

I have the N1, and have had it since a week after it's release. It's a great phone, and well worth the price. I've had the G1 and the Mytouch, and used the Behold II and Cliq. I would recommend the N1 without reservation: The screen is incredible and the processor speed makes an appreciable difference.

If you want the best Android phone available right this minute for T-Mo, get the N1. If cost is an issue, you may want to see if you can get a discounted MyTouch for renewing your plan.
posted by HannoverFist at 8:13 PM on April 17, 2010


If you go through the checkout process on T-Mobile's website, they list the "T-Mobile Smartphone Unlimited Web" service as $30/month. When I added it to my plan a year or so ago, all I had to do was log into my account and enable it as a service, no contract extension required.
posted by teraflop at 8:45 PM on April 17, 2010


A little secret, if you had the Unlimited T-Zones support for your phone before (think unlimited web browsing on a feature phone) then this support on an unlocked Nexus One will get you what you want. Even better is that this is only $5/month. It is fantastic.

I have had a N1 for a few months now and I haven't had a problem yet. Even the guys in the T-Mobile store said that I would be ok. Furthermore, they mentioned that they had friends using T-Mobile this way with unlocked iPhones and they were never charged more than $5/month for data.
posted by mmascolino at 11:25 PM on April 17, 2010


I have two unlocked Nexus One phones on a T-Mobile family plan. For some reason I am unable to view my plan online right now but I can see that my outstanding bill for 750 shared minutes & unlimited data + text is ~ $127 (including all taxes and charges). My recollection is that my data plan is $15/phone but I could be mistaken.

One thing to remember is that when you use an unsubsidized phone on a T-Mobile plan, you save ~$15-$20/month. They charge more when they 'give' you a phone. I did not have to extend our existing plan to do this, but be careful because sometimes changing plans can lock you into a longer contract.

Is it worth it? I think so. The phones will pay for themselves in 2 years with the ~$30 less that we are paying for having no-contract phones and I love being able to share the Internet with my laptop. My only complaint is that the service is a bit spotty for me in Pittsburgh but it's bearable. I love the phone.

Your best bet is really to talk to T-Mobile.. they can answer all of this.
posted by Raichle at 11:19 AM on April 18, 2010


Actually, Our usual bill is $108/month... we went over on minutes this month.
posted by Raichle at 11:21 AM on April 18, 2010


I have the same plan as Raichle. the data plan is carried across lines at no additional cost, so each line you add still has access to the data. if we'd add a third line with data, we'd still be paying $127
posted by jrishel at 9:20 AM on April 19, 2010


As to #3, I've had a Nexus One for about 3 weeks and I love it. I don't think anything better exists at present except arguably the iPhone 3GS, depending on your needs. I don't think you can do better than a Nexus One with T-Mobile at present. Of course even more awesome phones are on the horizon, but they aren't here yet.

Things I've discovered that the Nexus One can do that the iPhone can't AFAIK: It's pretty awesome. There aren't the sheer number of great apps that the iPhone has yet, but they're always releasing new ones. The Nexus One is fast, responsive, easy to use, looks cool, runs all kinds of useful programs, has great Google integration, is a usable car navigation system, and it let's me use Last.FM in my car!
posted by Vorteks at 12:19 PM on April 20, 2010


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