In 2010, Brazil mandated that carriers had to unlock phones at customers' request for free. In 2012, it was mandated they stop selling locked phones altogether.
Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
41–50 of 57 posts
Re: Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
No one is forcing you to buy a locked phone. It's easy enough to buy unlocked phones and sign up with any of the carriers without a contract. You get a lower monthly rate too and often pay less in the long run. People have been voting for the carrier locks with their dollars by mortgaging their phones through carrier subsidies. We can all agree that carrier locks are stupid, but I don't see why the government needs t…
It has not been that easy, in my experience. Apple did not sell an unlocked iPhone 6 until last month, and I think they may have done the same locked-only-for-a-few-months thing with the 5s. I don't recall seeing earlier iPhones for sale unlocked at all, you had to do something illegal to them up till surprisingly recently -- maybe the 4, not sure? I think the legislation is responsible for the easier access these da…
It has been happening since the iPhone 4s: http://www.engadget.com/2011/11/11/apples-us-online-store-be...
Re: Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
#43I hope this won't mean online unlockers don't vanish - we still need them in the savage wastelands of Canada.
Re: Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
#44I think these phones should be unlocked the day you sign up for a contract. What's the point in keeping them unlocked? You can't violate your contract. I can think of one downside for them carriers: they won't be able to charge you extra when you travel abroad, but then you have to ask if that's really in the best interest of the customers? Perhaps not.
Correction: I meant, what's the point in keeping them locked?
Re: Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
#45This seems pretty vague about what "unlocking" really means. For example, I had a Verizon HTC 8X which was "unlocked" (as are all Verizon LTE phones), but you couldn't edit the MMS gateway. Some older Verizon Android phones were "unlocked" but with no APN editor, so you couldn't get data service. Does anything about this code prevent carriers from playing the "it's unlocked but good luck configuring it" game?
I'm fairly clueless about this topic, but I thought "unlocking" simply meant you can install a different OS if you want.
Re: Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
#46I think these phones should be unlocked the day you sign up for a contract. What's the point in keeping them unlocked? You can't violate your contract. I can think of one downside for them carriers: they won't be able to charge you extra when you travel abroad, but then you have to ask if that's really in the best interest of the customers? Perhaps not.
Prosecuting a violated contract takes money itself. You have to do the cost/benefit of prosecuting users and losing subsidized phones vs. paying to develop locks and maintaining an unlock process.
Re: Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
#47I think these phones should be unlocked the day you sign up for a contract. What's the point in keeping them unlocked? You can't violate your contract. I can think of one downside for them carriers: they won't be able to charge you extra when you travel abroad, but then you have to ask if that's really in the best interest of the customers? Perhaps not.
You definitely can violate your contract. Just stop paying your bill. Or declare bankruptcy. The carrier will try to collect, but even if they do they'll end up with a fraction of the value.
Most phones can be unlocked. For an iPhone, the difficult part is to jailbreak it and doing it yourself can be a little painful, but that hasn't been a problem for many people. So somebody stops paying their bill, or declares bankruptcy. Do you think there's anything stopping them from unlocking their phones for pennies?
As an anecdote, I once stopped paying my bills to Vodafone and gave up on my contract obligations. At that time Vodafone demanded a 250 EUR interruption fee, which in the meantime became illegal in my country. Well, I told them to dare and sue me, because I have proof of unjust treatment and service disruption on their part and I did have that evidence. Basically they were assholes, they knew it and they gave up on any claims. I also unlocked my iPhone 3GS by myself and moved my business somewhere else.
Just like DRM, there is absolutely no valid reason for selling locked phones, other than lock-in, i.e. to prevent you from using other carriers while in roaming and thus suffer roaming charges. But even that is just annoying, because you can get unlocked feature phones for $30 without a contract, with a battery that lasts for a whole week and just use that.
Re: Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
#48Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know my point of view is really unpopular, but in my opinion if you value your freedom and privacy you should buy a phone. Just get one that is cheaper or a used one if you can't afford the latest greatest. Would you take a subsidise laptop with a bunch of restrictions from your ISP?
I bought a used one, but I think it's still locked, and I'm not using a major carrier, so they're not going to 'unlock' me now (was an AT&T iPhone 5s, now using net10). Maybe it's 'unlocked' enough to use net10, but I think it's not truly 'unlocked', and may never be.
Well, of course you need to verify that it is unlocked when buying used, this is as important as verifying that it is functioning.
Re: Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I know my point of view is really unpopular, but in my opinion if you value your freedom and privacy you should buy a phone. Just get one that is cheaper or a used one if you can't afford the latest greatest. Would you take a subsidise laptop with a bunch of restrictions from your ISP?
Of course it is unpopular. You're treating freedom and privacy as a commodity. If I cared and spent enough money, could I also restrict other people's freedom or privacy? Neither should be a function of ability to pay. That being said, that is more or less how it is now -- you pay in cash/time/effort.
I think it is unpopular because people want the latest gadget but don't want to pay for it.
> You're treating freedom and privacy as a commodity
To the same extent that when I rent a car I accept the restriction on it. The difference is that I am more concerned about these restrictions than most people, and most of the time I will buy a smaller car or a used one rather than live by rental companies rules.
To me the current situation in the phone market is like people leasing cars and crying to the government that the leasing companies' rules are unfair.
Re: Starting today, wireless carriers have to unlock your phone
#50Is it common to need permission from the carrier to unlock?
I use a smartphone now (which I was able to unlock myself), but when I had a 'feature' phone there were any number of small mobile shops that would unlock for a few quid. This is in the UK.