What they are doing actually makes sense to me. If I were to pay $179 for the phone, then immediately cancel, I would have to pay the $200 early termination fee. That's a total of $379. Without the equipment recovery fee, I would own that phone having only paid $379, instead of the $529 everyone else pays. I then turn around and sell it on eBay for $475 and I pocket the difference. How is that fair to Google?

I think the equipment recovery fee was put in place to ensure this type of thing doesn't happen.