Unauthorized Unlocking of New Mobile Phones Set to Become Illegal in U.S.

[pika2000]

SERIOUSLY? The government should've BANNED provider locking! This is completely ridiculous.

*sigh

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Why not instead make the LOCKING of handsets illegal?

And for those that argue that this would make phone companies unable to provide handset subsidies, you still have to pay early termination fee to exit your contract early (effectively paying back the phone subsidy).

Locking handsets in one of the most anti-competitive practices that exists.

That is what countries like Singapore did, simply ban it, no problem. But no, here in the US, there are so many corporate sheep that will go above and beyond defending provider locking, including tech "journalists" and geeks. Mind boggling.

 

[Mackan]

The U.S has always been a joke. But that's the way their citizens prefer it.

 

[charlituna]

You can unlock your device for $3-4 on eBay, and you don't need AT&T or other company to do it. It's 100% legit (probably inside job), and the best thing is that it works.

And as of Saturday eBay will be nixing that sort of thing or risk being called an accessory

But what about just jailbreaking with no unlock

 

[pika2000]

Too bad though if you travel overseas within your contract period and want to put in a local sim.

This is the thing. The carriers are charging you an arm and two legs on international roaming. Unlocking forbid them from milking this cash cow.

 

[charlituna]

I thought Apple was more interesting in selling their products and not what people do with them. .

Apple has nothing to do with this law

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So I get a phone and leave AT&T PAY for the early termination fee essentially paying for the phone and I can't unlock it? Another senseless law.

Law don't say that.

It's specifically about those folks that unlock phones via jailbreaking and changing the firmware by hand. NOT buying unlocked phones or carrier programs to unlock them at the end of contract etc

 

[yg17]

I hope you all now see the USA's descent into TOTALITARIAN rule by the Communist government of the USA.. This is one of many things to come. Expect more of our freedoms to go by the waste side. I have been unlocking my phones for many years now and this is a direct blow to DEMOCRACY and Freedom.

The USA under the current Communist regime has no right to take our freedoms away.. Who cares if one wants to unlock their own phone for use on another carrier. I say its time for the people to stand up and revolt against this new law.. We need to mobilize massive protests against this decision by our government.

Yes, 1984 is happening all over again.. The US Government has become far too powerful and corrupt.. but this is just what happened in the 1930s when Germany's government went down the toilet.. The same will happen to the US..

People wake up!!! If you think taking our rights to unlocking our phones for use on another carrier is bad, wait until the next few months and years.. Yes, things are going to get ugly.

I was not born in America, but I can sense the danger of the current regime in this country.

If this isn't a joke poking fun of the right wing loons who think President Obama is a communist and you're 100% dead serious with that, please note that the Librarian of Congress, who is the sole person in charge of the decision to ban unlocking of phones, was appointed by Reagan.

 

[carlgo]

I hope you all now see the USA's descent into TOTALITARIAN rule by the Communist government of the USA.. This is one of many things to come. Expect more of our freedoms to go by the waste side. I have been unlocking my phones for many years now and this is a direct blow to DEMOCRACY and Freedom.

The USA under the current Communist regime has no right to take our freedoms away.. Who cares if one wants to unlock their own phone for use on another carrier. I say its time for the people to stand up and revolt against this new law.. We need to mobilize massive protests against this decision by our government.

Yes, 1984 is happening all over again.. The US Government has become far too powerful and corrupt.. but this is just what happened in the 1930s when Germany's government went down the toilet.. The same will happen to the US..

People wake up!!! If you think taking our rights to unlocking our phones for use on another carrier is bad, wait until the next few months and years.. Yes, things are going to get ugly.

I was not born in America, but I can sense the danger of the current regime in this country.

Is this real or is it sarcasm?

 

[pika2000]

Did anyone else actually read the article?

AT&T will still unlock your phone at the end of your contract, Verizon phones come unlocked and Sprint will unlock them after three months.

Anyone who doesn't find this acceptable can still purchase an unlocked iPhone. I don't quite understand why everyone is up in arms about this.

It makes a lot of sense to me. Your phone is locked to a carrier because you signed a contract to pay them every month for two years. I know some people would be nice and stay on contract and just need an unlocked phone for their travels overseas. In my experience, most times the carrier is more than accommodating if you say "I've been an *** customer for X years and I need my phone to work on local carriers when I travel to the Brazil every four weeks."

Anytime I've seen one of these unlock services, it is always sketchy and often has questionable scruples. I can't think of a good scenario, in the iPhone environment we currently live in, where unlocking would be used for anything but subverting a system.

ETA: Oh, and AT&T will unlock the phone of any deployed member of military service and any phone that's bought at full price. Bottom line, only reason for the unofficial unlocking services is for people who want to cheat the system and buy a phone for less than it retails.

Why is it acceptable for you to have your phone locked to a single provider to begin with? I get subsidy in exchange for a contract. Why should the handset be provider locked? In some countries, provider locking is banned as it's determined to be anti-competitive, which it is.

And cheating the system? How? Those people are still in contract. The carriers are still getting their money. How is that "cheating" the system? Please explain. All I see is carriers screwing the consumers and being anti-competitive.

 

[charlituna]

It's amazing laws can be switched on and off like that without going through the legislature.

And if he didn't have his power unlocking and jailbreaking would still be illegal as he was the one that granted the exceptions

 

[Apple_Robert]

I hope you all now see the USA's descent into TOTALITARIAN rule by the Communist government of the USA.. This is one of many things to come. Expect more of our freedoms to go by the waste side. I have been unlocking my phones for many years now and this is a direct blow to DEMOCRACY and Freedom.

The USA under the current Communist regime has no right to take our freedoms away.. Who cares if one wants to unlock their own phone for use on another carrier. I say its time for the people to stand up and revolt against this new law.. We need to mobilize massive protests against this decision by our government.

Yes, 1984 is happening all over again.. The US Government has become far too powerful and corrupt.. but this is just what happened in the 1930s when Germany's government went down the toilet.. The same will happen to the US..

People wake up!!! If you think taking our rights to unlocking our phones for use on another carrier is bad, wait until the next few months and years.. Yes, things are going to get ugly.

I was not born in America, but I can sense the danger of the current regime in this country.

We are not a Communist country. We are a Constitutional Republic, in spite of the downward spiral of the federal government; one that has been ongoing for many decades.

There is no "right" under the Constitution, or the respective state constitutions, for one to have an unlocked phone.

What you are addressing, is a personal preference. Preferences and "rights" are not the same thing.

Edited to add: Democracy is mob rule. The United States has never been a Democracy.

 

[Tiger8]

In bed with carriers

Of course! I should not be allowed to unlock the ****ing phone I paid $650 for

 

[haruhiko]

Gee, not just the US. Your country probably cocked something up as well buddy.
I don't know if HK really did this but it sounds plausible.

In 1996, the Telecom Authority in Hong Kong decided that -

http://tel_archives.ofca.gov.hk/zh/tas/mobile/ta970220.html

TA's Final Considerations
Taking into consideration the comments in the submissions and the rulings of the EC, the TA decides that the way forward on the "SIM Lock" issue should be as follows -

The TA does not restrict operators and dealers to use "SIM Lock" for protection of subsidy of equipment provided that the customers are well informed of the amount of any subsidy, the "SIM Lock" arrangement and the conditions for repayment of the subsidy to unlock the "SIM Lock" at the time of purchase of the equipment;

The TA would allow operators and dealers to deploy SIM locked equipment to customers for the purpose of deterring theft and fraud or for the enforcement of the rental or installment contracts with the customers concerned. However, the following conditions governing such deployment of "SIM Lock" will apply -
For anti-theft and anti-fraud applications, operators and dealers should inform the customers clearly about such "SIM Lock" arrangement and also provide them with the necessary procedures and methods of unlocking the equipment by the customers themselves or by the operators and dealers free of charge to the customers;

Where the equipment is rented or paid by installments by the customers, operators and dealers will have to advise the customers concerned about the SIM locking arrangement and provide them with the detailed unlocking procedures if they have already paid up the total equipment cost.

If "SIM Lock" is solely used for the purpose of tying customers to networks other than for the purposes stated in (a) and (b), it may adversely affect competition in the mobile industry. Therefore, this practice is forbidden.

The European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is now developing the specification for the "SIM Lock" feature as part of the GSM/DCS standard. The TA requires that the "SIM Lock" feature to be implemented in Hong Kong must be in conformity with the ETSI specification and standard.



In practice, to avoid all these hassles, all the carriers in Hong Kong provide most if not all phones unlocked.

 

[charlituna]

A similar attitude was shared by the person sentenced to 7 years prison for robbing Steve Jobs' home.

Except he wasn't. He was given 7 years for robbing several homes including Steve's to the tune of over a half million dollars in goods. That amount is why he got such a long sentence, not the 'including Steve's'

 

[acidflame]

Hmmm looks like they dont want their prices to have to go lower to make them even sensible! LOL what a joke...

what im getting out of this is that the mvno's are chopping their profits and this is the carriers way of making it harder for customers to jump over to a mvno like straight talk with an ATT phone or tmobile phone. It does absolutely nothing really and makes the consumer angry.

I swear they should just quit ripping us off for a crappy data pool. That should be illegal.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Of course! I should not be allowed to unlock the ****ing phone I paid $650 for

Contract Law.

 

[wxman2003]

Most Americans have no clue that they can currently buy unlocked phones. Thus they have no clue the right they just lost.

 

[tito2020]

This is what happens when u vote for someone who has a smart phone in the oval office .

 

[aggierob]

International Businessmen

So basically new regulation is screwing over AT&T, as the new international businessman-friendly service provider of choice is Verizon. Who legally cannot lock there SIM-slots due to usage of the 700c band for LTE. Verizon really got stuck in a good position.

If you are based in the US, but travel overseas on occasion, then get the iPhone 5 from Big Red. You get "great service" in America, and can swap in any local SIM you want, wherever you go. And you keep paying your US phone bill. Everyone wins.

I'm ditching AT&T.

 

[pika2000]

Hmmm looks like they dont want their prices to have to go lower to make them even sensible! LOL what a joke...

what im getting out of this is that the mvno's are chopping their profits and this is the carriers way of making it harder for customers to jump over to a mvno like straight talk with an ATT phone or tmobile phone. It does absolutely nothing really and makes the consumer angry.

I swear they should just quit ripping us off for a crappy data pool. That should be illegal.

What should be illegal is provider locking from the get go.
Without provider locking, carriers will not have so much control over the handsets. And maybe, just maybe, they will be forced to compete by, I don't know, providing better service?

 

[Apple_Robert]

Most Americans have no clue that they can currently buy unlocked phones. Thus they have no clue the right they just lost.

No "right" was lost.

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What should be illegal is provider locking from the get go.
Without provider locking, carriers will not have so much control over the handsets. And maybe, just maybe, they will be forced to compete by, I don't know, providing better service?

Why should it be illegal?

If one does not like the service provided by carrier A, one has the ability to choose another carrier, or avail him or herself to other options.

 

[pika2000]

Most Americans have no clue that they can currently buy unlocked phones. Thus they have no clue the right they just lost.

True, especially since pretty much any tech "journalists" out there keep recommending carrier controlled phones to the masses.

 

[HMI]

We should ban phones.

Is it still legal to pass notes in class?
Maybe we need to go old school again!

 

[ThunderSkunk]

Except that government has nothing to do with capitalism.

You might not think so, but ask any congressman if free market enterprise shouldn't extend to lobbyists buying their votes.

 

[pika2000]

Why should it be illegal?

If one does not like the service provided by carrier A, one has the ability to choose another carrier, to avail him or herself to other options.

Sure, but why one's phone has to be locked to carrier A? That's the point about ANTI-COMPETITIVE. The phone shouldn't matter. Do you want to buy a computer that is locked to a single ISP?

 

[Daremo]

I am 74 years old and can remember when our beautiful country was free.

The corporations have taken over and now we live in a Fascist country. You younger ones do not know what you are missing in quality of life. Freedom was very very good. Video cameras everywhere, Homeland security agency, torture of prisoners, largest prison population by several times in the world, etc.

I'm 41, and I to remember a better time as well. As a kid, things were much different. Mom stayed home to raise the kids, while dad's salary was enough to support a family of 4, and we never went without. Times are VERY different now. Too much struggle, and too much government control.