N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

http://www.ctoedge.com/content/smart...oubles-netbook
Read this last line
"Agarwal said Nokia already has a carrier for the N900, but won't reveal which one until later in the month."
It HAS to be Tmobile, right? With the 3G thing..
Maybe this is the delay? The Tmobile Announcement?

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

if this is indeed true, do you guys think i should cancel my pre-order with newegg. I know its the cheapest price out there right now, but I'm fully eligible for an upgrade with tmobile, so if they do indeed get it in lets say december, or even january...then i'd rather get it for 199.99 (considering that droid is goin for that price with verizon, i'm hoping tmobile do the same with n900) SHOULD I JUST WAIT FOR IT? Its already killin me to wait this long, but since i'm purchasing 2 N900 (one for my gf, and one for me)...Instead of spending about $1,200, i'd get it for way cheaper (this is considering the price to be $199.99)

thanks,
Priyank

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

TMobile isn't doing subsidies anymore, now they have this 20 month payment thing where you can pay your phone in 20 installments (though this is dependent on your credit rating and TMobile credit rating if you have been a TMobile customer before).

So it would make sense if they had the break the n900 price into a 20 month installment plan.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

Sounds like its T-mobile to me. Other than the 1700mhz 3G band, many rumors on T-mobile already announced project black/dark mentioned about carrying n900 as well.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

YEA, but there has to be some sort of benefit for extending my contract for 2 more years. I've been with them since 2003 (my first cell phone) and now my contract has been up since september, so i figured if i sign up for 2 years with them, i'll get it for cheaper?

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

So it's 650Mhz and not 600Mhz? Which is it?

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

You can try but as far as I know they're not planning on subsidizing anymore devices since Project Black landed.

@romanianusa

You talking about the speed? It's 600 Mhz.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

see: http://talk.maemo.org/showpost.php?p...0&postcount=46

:p

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

Yes they do. They don;t subsidize if you get the Even More PLUS, which is without contract. Basically, it's $80/month for unlimited everything without a contract but you pay full price for the phone, and no upgrade. But no contract.
OR, you pay $100 a month for unlimited everything, and you get subsidies and upgrades like before.
The one downside is if you move to Even More PLUS, you cannot move back to Just Even More ever. So you HAVE to make sure you don't need phone subsidies. If you DO get Even More Plus, though, you can choose to pay off the phone in 20 installments, or 4 installments. But full price, still.
Their plans are a tad confusing now, yes, but that is how it works :)

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

That's not correct. On the Even More plans, the phones are subsidized and you can pay for them on a 20-month plan. On the the Even More Plus plans the phones are not subsidized and you can also get the 20-month payment option. And it's the same selection of phones on both types of plans. [Edit: Looks like CaptainGinyu beat me to the punch. Hope my explanation is also useful.]

That aside, it seems like it would have to be T-Mobile for the N900, given the 1700 3G band. There have been a lot of rumors about T-Mobile releasing the N900 already. Of course, to get the subsidy, you'd have to sign up for a two year contract on an Even More plan, which is $20 more per month for the plans with data. So over the two years you'd pay $480 more in the monthly cost of your plan, plus the presumably $199 up front for the device. That means You'd pay a total of $679 extra, which is $100 more expensive that just buying the N900 outright from Amazon and even more expensive than the worst price you can get buying directly from Nokia ($649). This is the great lie of phone subsidies, they're a bad deal for the consumer and the carriers make money on them in the long run.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

oops thanks for the correction guys

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

If i was to guess, i would say Q1 2010 for the N900 on Tmobile US.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

it is expected to be 299.99 with 2-year commitment.

tmo is offering both susidized and non-subsidized services and the 20-month payment plans too.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

That article was in reference to the NYC n900 meetup last friday (I blanked on Mr Agarwal's name and position in the other thread). There were probably more journalists and tech bloggers there than 'regular' tablet enthusiasts.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

Wow, that would be a really bad deal. If it's $299, you'd end up paying a total of $779, once you add in the extra cost of the Even More plan over the course of a two-year contract. I wonder what the unsubidized price through T-Mobile will be on the Even More Plus plans?

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

Edit: Turns out I'm off on this, please see discussion below

Your math is off here. The Even More plan is only $10/mo more than the Even More Plus (contract free/no subsidy) plan. Between the two of them, yes, it would be $20 more per month, but the price of the phones (indirect from Amazon even) would be $1100, so assuming they would be happy with Tmobile for two years, they get a better deal with the subsidy.

I still say the best option is making your own subsidy: http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33447 , you can even switch to the cheaper plan for $35 - http://talk.maemo.org/showthread.php?t=33760

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

That's not correct. If you get the plans with data, it's $20 more. If you get the plans with just voice or just voice and text, it's $10 more. You can see in my post that you quote I specified that I was talking about the plans with data, when I said $20 more. I was assuming that anyone who got the N900 would want the data connection. [Edit: Also, I'm pretty sure that T-Mobile will not let you buy an N900 from them and not get a data plan. This is what they do with the G1 right now and the Touch Pro 2. I don't see why they would treat the N900 differently.]

T-Mobile's website is pretty confusing, but you can see the plans laid out in a more straightforward manner here (although if you price it out on the website you will get the same results):

http://www.tmonews.com/2009/10/unlim...lan-breakdown/
http://www.tmonews.com/2009/10/project-dark-pricing/

To be precise, it's $20 more for the unlimited talk+text+web plan on Even More ($99) versus Even More Plus ($79). Although actually, as I look more closely, if you get one of the plans that doesn't include data, Even More is $10 more and then adding smartphone data is $30/month (versus $25/month on Even More Plus). So in that case, you'd pay $15 more per month on Even More versus Even More Plus.

So, assuming you want a data plan with your N900 [and in fact assuming T-Mobile won't let you get the N900 without a data plan], the Even More plan is $15-$20 more per month, which makes the subsidy a ripoff. If you buy the N900 from Amazon right now, you pay $582. If you get it subsidized from T-Mobile for $299 (assuming ceroberts75 is correct on this price), you also pay $360- $480 more over two years for the more expensive Even More plan (assuming you want the data plan [and you probably will have no choice anyway]). So you pay $659-$779 "subsidized" versus $582 on Amazon.

I know, these plans are super confusing. People are pulling their hair out right now. Even the T-Mobile customer service people are confused and quoting all kinds of wrong prices on the phone.

But trust me. You're fooling yourself if you think the subsidy is a good deal. It's always been a money maker for the phone companies. It's just a way to trick people who can't or don't bother to do the math.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

What is the best T-mobile plan in the US for the following:
- two phones, one an N900, the other the simplest voice-only phone
- minimal voice use (about 200 minutes per month combined between
both phones)
- no text/sms on either phone
- unlimited data on the N900 (must support ssh and tethering; ideally
really unlimited but I will live with anything at least as large as
2G/month so long as they only shut down data and don't charge
exhorbitant fees for going over)
- i don't need a subsidy for the N900, i don't need 20-month payment
either
- subsidy or 20-month payment for the other voice-only phone would be
nice but not necessary
- prefer no contract, but a 2-yr contract is ok

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

At the moment, since T-Mob does not subsdize the N900, the best plan is Even More + 750 minute talk family plan, $50/month, plus the additional smartphone data, at $25/month, for a total of $75.

But if you are not a current T-Mobile subscriber, be sure that you have decent coverage in places you care about. Here's one way to check: buy a prepaid T-Mobile phone and use it for a few days.

If you have coverage where you need it, you can use the phone for the 2nd line on your plan.

If the coverage is poor, you can return it for a refund within a few days.

I did that and was surprised at how poor T-Mobile coverage is in my area. I'm returning the phone today and getting a Droid, even though I'd prefer a N900.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

I just checked and I appologize because I was off on my pricing. Apparently the smartphone dataplan costs have gone up from $25 before project black to $30 on Even More plans although they are still $25 on EMP plans, and particularly with family plans, that might frustrate some of the numbers I was citing. Ultimately, it all comes down to the numbers, and unless you can save $15*24=$360 with a subsidy, it's not worth it. I guess I only got in at exactly the right time.

One annoying thing on the T-mobile site is that they make it look like you're forced to pay the whole $30 for unlimited web+texting if you select a smartphone first, but I found that if you select the plan first then add a phone, you can get data only for $5 less. Since I can send texts just fine with Google, this is for me.

Re: N900 Subsidized in US, but by who..?
 

Just a quick -welcome to the forum!- to CaptainGinyu and hwong_pz! :)