Hey everyone
I live in India and one of my friend is currently in New York. I wanted to purchase a N900 and that too real fast as my friend will return to India in a day or two.
I just wanted to know whether my friend can purchase the phone instantly from the NY flagship store or they would take some time. In other words will my friend be able to just walk in the flagship store and come out with a N900 in his hand? If not then what is the probable waiting period at flagship stores.

Kindly help me out folks

There are no hassles to buying an unlocked phone in the US, other than availability.

If it is in stock then yes, your friend can just buy the phone. If not, there are several electronics stores in the city, like J&R for example, where you might be able to find the N900 in stock.

Your friend should call ahead to the stores in question, to see if they are in stock before going to the store.

T-Mobile Ripoff

I decided to add this message into an existing thread, but you get the pleasure of reading my headline anyway!

There is a factor that I didn't notice when considering the price of T-Mobile service -- the $35 "initialization fee". So, just because you own your own phone you thought you were free to switch from one plan or service to another, possibly no plan? Well, some of those steps will incur an extra $35 fee. For example, I just intended to sign up for the Internet Only plan, unlimited. The sales person I was talking to on the phone never mentioned the $35 initialization fee during the previous conversation, nor did the other Tmobile employee I talked to earlier in the morning. I repeatedly mentioned to them, "so, if I don't like the service after one month, there is no reason I shouldn't just say goodby and stop the service! And they agreed. So when I got to the end-part of this conversation, AFTER I GAVE THE CREDIT CARD INFO, the guy said, "ok, before we finish this there's some legal stuff that we have to go through, ok?" "Sure!" I said. I thought it was a done deal. Then he listed a bunch of dull stuff and tossed in something like, "and you understand there's a $35 initialization fee" in the midst of other stuff. Then he stopped and said, "Do you understand and agree to these conditions?" I paused for a second and said "NO!" Then I asked him why he or the other Nokia employee had not mentioned this fee before. I pointed out to him that if I decided to just use the Internet Only service for one month, the next time I went to use it the $35 initialization fee would be tacked on again, and he agreed.

Extra $35 charges have to be significant considerations for some people and the usage patterns they were imagining. I am going to have to rethink my entire plans. Maybe I should just revert to only using my tablet on my home wireless, at no extra cost.

initial activation charges are nothing new, all service providers have them. im just surprised its 35..expected it to be somewhere around 10

Thanks for the info geneven, I'm contemplating jumping to tmobile from att. $60 vs $90 a month

I'll probably end up going with Tmobile too, but not now. Maybe in July when my forced Sprint to the finish line is over.

I paid ~$30 just to get a "new number" on my existing Verizon account. I believe initialization costs are closer to $50 for new accounts.

I paid ~$30 to "port my AT&T cellular number" to T-Mobile.

It costs ~$30 to "port my existing Vonage number" to another VoIP provider's service.

$35 is about the going rate for provisioning a phone number...in the US anyway.

I didn't care what phone number I had, so what colnago is saying seems to have nothing to do with my experience.

"Initialization fees" are basically "provisioning costs"...$35 is roughly the going rate to reserve a circuit. It has "much" to do with your experience, as far as establishing an account/service. Sometimes the fees are waived if accounts are opened "online" or during some promotion.

The fact that you're salty because they kept that fact from you in the beginning is a different story. However I was mainly responding to waleed786's post.

And people call the UK a rip off? Wow - those are some serious additional charges you guys have to pay! Porting your number from one provider to another in the UK is free and cannot be refused by law - finally our bunch of politicians did something right - well first time for everything!