Forum Discussion
Arcadyan "device eligible for unlocking" offer from T-mob?
I've had T-mob's wireless internet with the Arcadyan box for 3 months (@$50/mo). In this month's bill there was this statement: I'm assuming that this means I can continue renting the Arcadya...
henry51 wrote:rellor wrote:…
You know something is going on when you must rent, in perpetuity, a piece of equipment that had a fixed price and that eventually becomes obsolete.
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But are we really renting our TMO gateways? Can't the $50/mo. we pay be considered payment for the internet service we receive? And, with the the internet service we receive, we get a gateway that needs to be returned once we terminate our subscription to the service?
A more honest way for T-Mobile to look at it would be to separate the portion of the $50 that pays for equipment form the portion that pays for service. When you've had the service for enough months/years that the money in the former bucket exceeds the fair price of the device, it should be yours, unlocked and ready for you to pop in a SIM card from the provider of your choice. And you should pay only for the service after that point, if you choose to stay with T-Mobile.
I have no idea what portion of the monthly $50 charge T-Mobile allocates to customer premises equipment (CPE), but I can say that the quoted replacement price of the gateway ($370) is excessive. That price would be appropriate for consumer brand hardware bought at a real store like BestBuy, with the attendant (hardware-specific) marketing, advertising, inventory and sales costs.
Given that the gateway is wholesale rather than retail hardware, it would be generous to price it at $200. Allowing, say, $7/month, the device should be yours in 2.5 years.
