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White House Files Petition Asking FCC to Require Carriers to Unlock All Mobile Devices

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The Obama administration has filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking that all wireless carriers be required to unlock all mobile devices, reports The Washington Post. The move comes several months after The White House backed a "We the People" petition that successfully garnered more than 100,000 signatures calling for cell phone unlocking to be made legal.

The "We the People" petition was started following an October ruling by the Library of Congress' Copyright Office that ended an exemption within the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that formerly allowed cell phone unlocking. It became illegal for U.S. mobile phone users to unlock newly purchased cell phones without express permission from their cell phone carriers on January 26, 2013.

According to Tuesday's petition from The White House's National Telecommunications and Information Administration, permitting unlocked devices, including both smartphones and tablets, would increase both competition and consumer choice.
"Americans should be able to use their mobile devices on whatever networks they choose and have their devices unlocked without hassle," said Lawrence Strickling, assistant secretary of the NTIA.
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The FCC reportedly began investigating whether or not the cell phone unlocking ban results in harmful effects for consumers in March, though no news has surfaced on the issue since then.

At this time, it remains illegal for individuals to unlock cell phones purchased after January 26, 2013 in the United States. Carriers are still permitted to unlock devices, however, and unlocked devices can also be purchased at unsubsidized prices from a number of carriers.

Article Link: White House Files Petition Asking FCC to Require Carriers to Unlock All Mobile Devices
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2013/09/17/white-house-files-petition-asking-fcc-to-require-carriers-to-unlock-all-mobile-devices/
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flash84x

macrumors regular
Aug 5, 2011
189
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This is great. But I could also see it having the negative side effect of cellular companies building proprietary/incompatible networks so that devices built for their network can only be used on their network.
 
GSPice

GSPice

macrumors 68000
Nov 24, 2008
1,632
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flash84x said:
This is great. But I could also see it having the negative side effect of cellular companies building proprietary/incompatible networks so that devices built for their network can only be used on their network.
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Unlocking won't get rid of roaming fees. International SIM swaps will be great though
 
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rosujin

macrumors member
Mar 2, 2010
31
10
Didn't see that one coming! Great news.
Though, I already eBay-unlocked my iPhone 5 a long time ago :D

Now let's have another look at that Death Star;)
 
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clayj

clayj

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Jan 14, 2005
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When all phones are required to be unlocked on demand, you can kiss the $99 or $199 iPhone goodbye. They'll START at $499 or $549, to reflect the true retail value of the phones. It's locking that makes subsidized prices possible.
 
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iansilv

macrumors 65816
Jun 2, 2007
1,083
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OK- so are they asking that this be done despite carriers offering incentives to customers by selling discounted phone? Or is this for companies to do on non-discounted phones or phones off of contract?
 
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skorpien

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
2,339
0
Great news, and hopefully Canada follows suit. The way I see it, if you're in a contract, you still have to pay to get out of it, so what's the point of locking the devices anyway? If there were no penalties for breaking your contract it would make sense. As it is now though, it's redundant and in my opinion only there to make carriers more money (in Canada, carriers charge to unlock even if you're out of contract).
 
Orlandoech

Orlandoech

macrumors 68040
Jun 2, 2011
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clayj said:
When all phones are required to be unlocked on demand, you can kiss the $99 or $199 iPhone goodbye. They'll START at $499 or $549, to reflect the true retail value of the phones. It's locking that makes subsidized prices possible.
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^^^ What he said....
 
M

mdorais

macrumors regular
Apr 28, 2008
153
100
clayj said:
When all phones are required to be unlocked on demand, you can kiss the $99 or $199 iPhone goodbye. They'll START at $499 or $549, to reflect the true retail value of the phones. It's locking that makes subsidized prices possible.
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Anyone can have it done via Ebay for $5 so I doubt it.
 
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skorpien

macrumors 68020
Jan 14, 2008
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chumawumba said:
If this happens then goodbye subsidization.
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That makes no sense. Carriers would still require you to pay to get out of your contract, and that usually more than makes up for the subsidization you get on your device. People are unlocking phones and have been doing so for years in the gray market and that hasn't made carriers abolish subsidization.
 
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cgk.emu

macrumors 6502
May 16, 2012
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Klae17 said:
This won't get us to forget about the NSA, Obama.
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Sure it will! Just keep shoving crap that doesn't matter down the general publics throat, most people love that sort of thing. It brings happiness to their pitiful lives.
 
Carmenia83

Carmenia83

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Feb 25, 2012
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clayj said:
When all phones are required to be unlocked on demand, you can kiss the $99 or $199 iPhone goodbye. They'll START at $499 or $549, to reflect the true retail value of the phones. It's locking that makes subsidized prices possible.
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Not necessarily. Just because your phone is unlocked, doesn't relieve you of the contract you signed. If you ditch early, you'll still be paying the subsidized portion of the hardware in your early termination fee.
 
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bluespark

macrumors 68040
Jul 11, 2009
3,091
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clayj said:
When all phones are required to be unlocked on demand, you can kiss the $99 or $199 iPhone goodbye. They'll START at $499 or $549, to reflect the true retail value of the phones. It's locking that makes subsidized prices possible.
Click to expand...

Wrong, service contracts make subsidized phones possible.
 
R

rosujin

macrumors member
Mar 2, 2010
31
10
chumawumba said:
If this happens then goodbye subsidization.
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I never believed that carriers actually had to lock phones to a network in order to force customers to honor a contract.

If a customer decides to cancel mid-contract, the carrier can simply enforce the early-termination penalty. Anyone under contract has a social security (or at least a credit card) on file with the carrier. I doubt that many people would risk ruining their credit for a gain of a couple hundred dollars.
 
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wikiverse

macrumors 6502a
Sep 13, 2012
689
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clayj said:
When all phones are required to be unlocked on demand, you can kiss the $99 or $199 iPhone goodbye. They'll START at $499 or $549, to reflect the true retail value of the phones. It's locking that makes subsidized prices possible.
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That's not true.

Australia has unlocking on-demand after 6 months, and iPhones are usually free on contracts.

Within 6 months, you can pay a fee (Usually around $90) to get the phone unlocked.
 
age234

age234

macrumors 6502
Jun 28, 2004
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The FCC is part of the executive branch, of which Obama is the head. Can't he just tell them to change their policy?

He uses executive orders to do everything else...
 
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cuda12

macrumors member
Mar 13, 2011
67
0
Miami, FL
This is beyond what government should be able to do. If a company is paying >50% of the actual cost of the phone, they're entitled to put whatever restrictions they like. Anyone who thinks government can just force companies to sell us unlocked phones for what locked phones cost now is not being honest with him/herself.
 
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