Here in Sweden carrier locks ended a decade ago.
And what are we offered now?
24/36 months plans of subscription and a okay payment plan for a +1000 euro device. iPhone 15 Pro Max is €1330 from the major resellers. With a 2-year with 40GB/ month plan it gives you a ~€200 discount on the phone.
If you're a student or senior you get much cheaper plans, and if you got the cash, it might even be better to buy the phone with cash.
FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
31–40 of 90 posts
Re: FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
#32My device shouldn't be carrier locked at all. I took out a loan to pay for this thing. They got their money for it immediately.
During the February AT&T outage[1], my wife's phone was affected, and she had to go somewhere. I should've been able to spend $20 on a throwaway e-sim and had it working before she left the house. Instead, I had to shrug my shoulders and suggest she find WiFi wherever she was headed.
Carrier locks in today's age are leftover garbage from a dated, consumer-hostile business model that's no longer practiced. And if I default on my loan repayments, the creditor can garnish my wages.
1: https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/22/tech/att-cell-service-outage/...
Re: FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
#33TIL locked phones are still a thing, somewhere. Not gonna lie: That feels fairly wild at this point.
Re: FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
#34Earlier quoted context omitted.
People with nothing don’t care if they get sent to collections, hence the need to have some control over the device while monies are owed for it. Just like vehicle interlocks for subprime auto notes. Until you pay off the collateral, it isn’t your ownership, simply permission to use while servicing the debt.
Then the companies should not extend that loan/credit
Then a lot of folks who finance phones on cheap or free installment plans currently won’t get phones, simple as that. If regulators are fine with that, that’s a reasonable position I suppose. Carriers aren’t a charity to take on aggressive credit risk in these financial consumer populations. Incentives->outcomes.
Re: FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
#35I don't think people realize that the US is the only market in the world where phones are carrier locked, and in fact the only market where carriers have so much power over the features and overall experience of your phone. Mobile carriers dictate that a phone has to be sold with a locked bootloader. They decide if/when the phone should get OS updates. They are the ones who fill the phone with bloatware. Up until a few years ago the phone had a more prominent logo of the cell carrier than the company that actually made it.
US carriers have used their government-granted monopolies to influence the market wayy beyond phone calls and data plans, and it's about time it should end.
Re: FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
#36I wonder what this would do to the prices of phones? In particular, I wonder if iPhones would be as popular (or as expensive) if people paid the full price up front? I suspect if people paid up front for phones, people wouldn't gravitate to the latest and greatest.
[deleted]
Re: FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
#37There are lots of subtle ways carriers can punish unlocked phones. I tried using an unlocked Samsung flagship with a Verizon MVNO and it never worked properly. They even told me that various features wouldn't work such as Wi-Fi calling. Had to go with the main carrier anyway, so I might as had a locked phone. If the FCC pursues this rule they need to cover all the loopholes and even then it will probably be years of malicious compliance like we're seeing from Apple in the EU app store ruling.
Re: FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
#38Earlier quoted context omitted.
People with nothing don’t care if they get sent to collections, hence the need to have some control over the device while monies are owed for it. Just like vehicle interlocks for subprime auto notes. Until you pay off the collateral, it isn’t your ownership, simply permission to use while servicing the debt.
Here in Europe they will actually ask you for a proof of employment/income before they sell you the cell phone plan. If you are unemployed then your only option is pre-paid sim, and those usually do not come with phones.
In which country?
Re: FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
#39TIL locked phones are still a thing, somewhere. Not gonna lie: That feels fairly wild at this point.
Its always the US ...
the comments are always full of "the system will break down if they scrap it / wont somebody think of the children"
Re: FCC rule would make carriers unlock all phones after 60 days
#40Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yep, no more carrier locked $20 iPhones.
It's only $20 because they add installment payments to the monthly bill which is recouped by early cancellation fee.
No, these are prepaid phones. They're just betting on you staying with the prepaid carrier since they're locked.
Recent deal: https://slickdeals.net/f/17036050-walmart-stores-64gb-apple-...
I bought one for $20 several years ago as a glorified iPod touch and never activated it.