Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
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Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
#2"Verizon was previously required to unlock phones automatically after 60 days due to restrictions imposed on its spectrum licenses and merger conditions that helped Verizon obtain approval of its purchase of TracFone. But an update applied today to the TracFone unlocking policy said new phones will be locked for at least a year and that each customer will have to request an unlock instead of getting it automatically."
merger conditions.
Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
#3What irks me about this is that consumers are already financially on the hook in terms of subscription periods and cancellation policies and conditional deals etc. The only legitimate reason to "lock" the phone hardware is to ensure the person doesn't pay with a stolen credit card and vanish... which doesn't take a whole dang year!
The long locking-period is just a way to impose a stealthy and anti-competitive switching-cost onto consumers, denying them the right to use the things they own.
It's also an example of how just because one doesn't care about politics... doesn't mean it won't "care" about you.
> While the Biden-era FCC’s leadership criticized yearlong locking periods and proposed a 60-day unlocking requirement for all carriers, the Trump FCC appears likely to write a new industry-wide standard that would be welcomed by large mobile carriers.
Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
#4Just buy your own phone. A midrange Samsung is like 350 eurodollars these days.
Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
#5Can a carrier ever surreptitiously lock an unlocked phone, or is it only on phones financed or purchased through the carrier? For example, if I bought an unlocked phone and attached it to my Verizon plan, could Verizon lock it?
Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
#6"Verizon was previously required to unlock phones automatically after 60 days due to restrictions imposed on its spectrum licenses and merger conditions that helped Verizon obtain approval of its purchase of TracFone. But an update applied today to the TracFone unlocking policy said new phones will be locked for at least a year and that each customer will have to request an unlock instead of getting it automatically.…
I mean, it was really difficult to get it unlocked after 60 days: you had to know the special password "for travel."
Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
#7Pocket-sized devices with more computing power than we could have dreamed of as children, and society has somehow allowed it to become a completely miserable experience.
I'm part of the problem. But I won't be (as much) after I get a used one and put Graphene OS on it.
Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
#8Just buy your own phone. A midrange Samsung is like 350 eurodollars these days.
Some of devices automatically lock once used on a carrier network
Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
#9Re: Verizon starts requiring 365 days of paid service before it will unlock phones
#10Having lived in a lot of countries over the past couple of decades, I can say this is absolutely something Americans do completely wrong. Just buy your phone at full price. The "free" phones cost significantly more than a full price phone.