201–210 of 286 posts
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If you can only sell it for $10 when it’s locked, it’s a deterrent.
$10 is a lot of money to some people. It was a lot for me at one point in my life.
But it’s a lot more likely over $5000 right?
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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…
That sounds like a speculation on a tangential benefit instead of the major consideration in locking phones. The carriers can blacklist any phone's IMEI at any point (in addition to the usual collections attempts, credit reporting etc) which achieves the same effect but better if a phone is stolen from them.
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…
Would you be accepting any phone(s) if shipped to you or do you have a group you would recommend that accepts shipments of phones? Thank you!
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$10 is a lot of money to some people. It was a lot for me at one point in my life.
Sure, and some places you’ll get mugged over $5 or worse. But it’s a lot more likely over $5000 right?
Can't the operators just sell unlocked phones with monthly installments instead? The installment plan will then include free service for some amount of data/minutes. If the user chooses to switch operator, they are still bound by the installment contract to pay off the phone.
That’s how it should work. My understanding is that the carriers (probably correctly) assume that there are more people who will buy a cool phone if they don’t think about it as a short term loan – and then keep paying the same price after the phone is paid off. If they had to say “$900 in 24 payments of $50” more people would decide they don’t need the “Pro” model and the carriers would be forced to compete with the…
I support this move as hopefully it will kill off the practice of carrier specific OSes. The last carrier phone I bought was a Samsung Galaxy 4 from T-Mobile. I got a total of 0 os updates out of it because T-Mobile never released a new version of the OS (even though Samsung did). They just abandoned the phone. At this point the most important quality of a phone to me is active security updates, so I'll never buy one…
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You can not fill out job applications or participate in the modern economy with a feature phone
Feature phone? What year is this where the only options are a $1200 iPhone or a "feature phone"? A person can walk into a Best Buy today and buy a carrier-agnostic, factory-unlocked Android phone -- new, in a retail box, with a warranty -- for less than $100. No strings, no contracts, no weird stuff. It's just an item that they have for sale in their store. (Or, FFS: The last Android phone I bought new was $64.00, in…
> Depending on your budget, you can get a feature phone for around $50
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…
Just saying, don’t feel bad for “just” giving money.
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I've never heard of this disambiguation. An unlocked cellphone has always meant (1). A rooted or jailbroken phone means (2). For three, why would it make sense for manufactures to advertise a phone with/without a lock screen? It doesn't make sense.
Advertising isn’t the only context where these terms are used… In usual conversation “is your phone unlocked?” could mean 1 or 3
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Reminded me of this YouTuber who bought 10 stolen iPhones for $1000: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26bdjJqWdCo (prepare for hundreds of jump cuts)
So far I have never handled a stolen phone as far as I know so I don't know much about that angle. What I get are peoples old iPhone 7's that have been sitting in a drawer for a few years. They are eager to donate them but have no idea how to get their personal data off them, so the work I do is sitting down with them and walking them through the process. I would say that's about 1 hour per phone including getting to…
Do you also help teach them how to navigate the changes to each new version of iOS/Android? I would find that frustrating... so many "hidden affordances", and increasingly complexity.