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FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

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Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#231

Post by Forgeties79 »

lazide wrote: post #177
night862 wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point is, it doesn't matter. They're selling a Locked iPhone instead of an Un-Locked iPhone. Is the Locked Phone devalued because it is locked to AT&T or is the Unlocked phone at a premium because it is not?

It does matter, by depressing market value - if widespread enough to cause overall market value to be depressed. Not sure what you’re getting hung up about. You clearly already know what’s going on or you wouldn’t be able to write the last sentence.

If that was how these things shook out you two wouldn’t have anything to debate.

Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#232

Post by pcai »

lolinder wrote: post #114
pcai wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is 100% an anti theft mechanism - it prevents people from stealing phones from carriers. The scam is: - get a new iphone from tmobile that costs $30 over 2 years. - don’t pay them anything: you just got a free iphone. Tmobile is mad and won’t provide service to that handset because you stole it from them. - You open a new line with at&t and tell them you’re bringing your own phone. Carrier locking prevents this. I…

A) This isn't what OP was asking about. They're pretty clearly asking about stolen devices from a consumer, not consumers stealing devices from carriers. B) Your take is complicated by the fact that there actually is a secondary market for locked phones [0], so this isn't just about people rent-to-owning a phone with an explicit installment plan. [0] https://www.ebay.com/itm/186656753206

My point is that carrier locking is about managing credit risk and fraud, not an evil plot to trap customers, and not a mechanism for discouraging street theft.

It’s only complicated if people conflate issues or fail to understand the mechanics of carrier locking. You can just call up a carrier and ask to have the phone unlocked and they’ll oblige if its paid off. Sometimes people confuse carrier locking with imei blacklists, which is for stolen handsets. Sometimes people confuse phones with modems or firmware that only work with specific carriers as “carrier locked” but again, that’s not the same thing

Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#233

Post by xp84 »

ezfe wrote: post #230
lazide wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can only sell it for $10 when it’s locked, it’s a deterrent.

But it's not $10 because being locked to a major US carrier doesn't depress the price significantly.

Indeed. Anecdotally I’ve seen in a few places where the going rate for one carrier or another is actually a bit higher than unlocked because people aren’t that well-informed and think “I need a Verizon phone cuz I’m on Verizon.”

Which was pretty universally true in the USA 15 years ago.

Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#234

Post by Centigonal »

spondylosaurus wrote: post #213
Centigonal wrote: post #67

I was abroad recently, and my mother couldn't get service because her phone was SIM locked by cricket and the requisite six month period haven't passed for it to be eligible for an unlock. She had bought her phone full price from Cricket. If she had purchased the same phone for the same price somewhere else, it would've come unlocked.

Depending on which phone, it may have actually cost a bit more than what she paid to get an unlocked phone. I always buy unlocked, but Best Buy charges an extra hundred bucks compared to the "activate with your carrier" version!

I didn't know that part!

Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#235

Post by SirMaster »

Does this mean no more discounts? If so that would suck. That's how I buy my phones. Like I only paid $350 for my iPhone 14 Pro because they had $1000 off with a trade-in. And I was able to buy an eligible used trade-in phone from Amazon to get the deal.

Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#236

Post by throwaway81523 »

siskiyou wrote: post #57

Just adding a little bit of context about AT&T: I collect used cell phones, erase them, unlock when possible, and distribute them to unhoused people through several local food shelves, which allows those people to access benefits, housing, health care, jobs, etc which would otherwise be out of reach. With AT&T I can go to their website and unlock an old phone in minutes, allowing them to use a no-cost carrier like QL…

There's also huge e-waste and technological regression from shutting down the 2g and 3g networks. I have several perfectly good old phones that are now useless as phones. They were better phones than current ones, because they were smaller and used much less power, through the one weird trick of not containing what we used to call workstation-class processors. I don't understand why they couldn't make the current base stations (they are SDR anyway) serve multiple standards. I had thought that was possible.

Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#237

Post by Jaiba123 »

zrobotics wrote: post #152
siskiyou wrote: post #57

Just adding a little bit of context about AT&T: I collect used cell phones, erase them, unlock when possible, and distribute them to unhoused people through several local food shelves, which allows those people to access benefits, housing, health care, jobs, etc which would otherwise be out of reach. With AT&T I can go to their website and unlock an old phone in minutes, allowing them to use a no-cost carrier like QL…

Slightly OT, but as someone who escaped poverty this is the type of volunteering that is super helpful and makes a huge difference. A quick Google search doesn't turn up anything like this in my local area, do you have any pointers on starting/finding a program like this to contribute to? I really what you are doing, I have been looking for a way to give back now that I am in a financially secure position and that so…

[flagged]

Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#238

Post by odo1242 »

School-Cotton wrote: post #197
EricE wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yup - it's why the iPhone wasn't on Verizon for years - Verizon insisted on being able to "customize" the iPhone and Apple told them to pound sand.

As a years-long happy Verizon and iPhone user I'm glad they did! Now I wish they would do the same thing to the EU wanting to "customize" the iPhone... (e.g. forcing USB-C)

Yeah, I agreed with the usb-C law until I realized how easily usb-C cables snap compared to the alternatives lol

Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#239

Post by coolspot »

throwaway81523 wrote: post #236
siskiyou wrote: post #57

Just adding a little bit of context about AT&T: I collect used cell phones, erase them, unlock when possible, and distribute them to unhoused people through several local food shelves, which allows those people to access benefits, housing, health care, jobs, etc which would otherwise be out of reach. With AT&T I can go to their website and unlock an old phone in minutes, allowing them to use a no-cost carrier like QL…

There's also huge e-waste and technological regression from shutting down the 2g and 3g networks. I have several perfectly good old phones that are now useless as phones. They were better phones than current ones, because they were smaller and used much less power, through the one weird trick of not containing what we used to call workstation-class processors. I don't understand why they couldn't make the current bas…

Because radio spectrum is limited resource. They are going to reuse 2g and 3g frequencies for new protocols.

Re: FCC wants all phones unlocked in sixty days, AT&T and T-Mobile aren't so keen

#240

Post by lazide »

Forgeties79 wrote: post #231
lazide wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It does matter, by depressing market value - if widespread enough to cause overall market value to be depressed. Not sure what you’re getting hung up about. You clearly already know what’s going on or you wouldn’t be able to write the last sentence.

If that was how these things shook out you two wouldn’t have anything to debate.

Honestly, I’m not even seeing the point of the debate. Even their argument implies they’re well away of it.
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