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Verizon No Longer Plans to Sell Unlocked iPhones
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Again, from the article, to also deters folks from being able to use stolen identities to create new accounts and get phones that can be immediately resold. Looks like all major US carriers are keeping phones on their network for 40-60 days (apparently long enough for fraud to be detected) before unlocking them.
Maybe Verizon will do what T-Mobile does... if a customer wants to travel overseas during the temp. lock period, they'll give the phone a temp. unlock.
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My mistake, I misunderstood his comment.
Sprint and Verizon have the CDMA version which are compatible with other countries, you are correct on that one. AT&T and T-Mobile have, I believe the GSM network, which doesn't work internationally if you are purchasing it to use exclusively for other countries. I have experiences on both Verizon and AT&T, and only Verizon and T-Mobile phones work internationally if you are giving it to a family member overseas.
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Trying to figure out how this might affect resale value. I generally sell my old phones on eBay, but if having a locked phone dramatically lowers the value of resale I'll probably be better off purchasing from Apple directly.
If it's true it makes Verizon's decision even more obnoxious, I wonder if they're hoping for a spike in trade-ins from this as well.
If it's true it makes Verizon's decision even more obnoxious, I wonder if they're hoping for a spike in trade-ins from this as well.
FWIW, Verizon and Sprint are CDMA-based networks... T-Mobile and AT&T's networks are GSM-based... Anecdotally, since the iPhone 5s, both my AT&T and Verizon iPhones have always worked great in Hong Kong...
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The lock Verizon is talking about is short-term. They haven't said how long, but the other carriers are doing it for 40-60 days after purchase, so the guess is in that range. Unless you're reselling immediately after buying (which it doesn't sound like, since you said "old phones"), it shouldn't affect your value any?!
If the phone is only locked for 2 - 2.5 months, I can't see it really affecting eBay price.
I don't see any legal ambiguity. They already do this. For example I can enter a payment plan without a credit check but a new customer has to get a credit check. My bank will pay a check if it overdrafts my account rather than bounce it because I have a history of having a healthy balance and not bouncing checks. But someone else may get that same check bounced.
Lots of businesses take into account customer history when they decide.
It is not ambiguous to say something like that they will unlock immediately upon request for all current customers in good standing but if you're a new customer not paying cash, then you may have to wait X days. The exception is someone using fraud to buy a phone on my account to then steal it. So maybe immediately isn't right either. Maybe 30 days or something.
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Likely just the value for those who pre-order it or buy it on launch day and want to then turn around and resell it.
One of the key metrics for the health of a cellular company is "churn", which is the percentage of customers that have left, presumably to another competitor. If you have relatively high churn, it indicates that you have problems with competitiveness. If churn numbers are consistently increasing, that could be seen as an early indicator of a company's decline relative to its competitors, causing shareholders to flee and stock value to fall.
Another very significant reason why we didn't like churn is that customers who frequently hop across companies are actually serviced at a monetary loss. There is cost associated with acquiring customers (marketing, activation, customer support) and losing customers (deactivation, number porting, and customer support). When someone quits and rejoins, quits and rejoins, we actually lose money on them.
So churn is VERY important. When I worked at a cellular company, our bonuses were partly tied to churn rates.
So to get to answering your question, a phone is locked in large part because it adds another hurdle that customers have to jump over in order to switch providers. Every additional hurdle helps to keep churn down.
I second this, I used to do a lot of travelling for work and my personal lines are T-Mobile and Verizon and the work phone was AT&T. If I didn't have service on T-Mobile no other devices had it either. Sometimes one of the three would get a ping of a signal but dead zones were dead zones otherwise. Now if you want to talk about data, yeah T-Mobile and AT&T suck there but that's a given.
What the hell are you talking about ? Do criminals provide you service before stealing?"These steps will make our phones exponentially less desirable to criminals." Like yourselves ?
You may not like the company , but calling them criminals is a step too far.
as others have stated this is no different from every other carrier so no reason to hate on verizon they will still unlock your phone. It was nice feature knowing if i ever left verizon my device would work on any carrier without any extra effort.
However it was never verizon's choice to sell the devices unlocked, it was forced on them in a ruling by the FCC for the spectrum they licensed for their LTE network. it was never verizon's choosing but this is also the same thing t-mobile, at&t and sprint do.
However it was never verizon's choice to sell the devices unlocked, it was forced on them in a ruling by the FCC for the spectrum they licensed for their LTE network. it was never verizon's choosing but this is also the same thing t-mobile, at&t and sprint do.
They weren't FORCED to do anything. They agreed to the terms with the FCC to do this when they bought the spectrum.
With the news this is getting I'm sure Verizon is going to have to walk this back pretty shortly.
Interesting that everyone says Verizon’s prices are high. I took my Verizon plan details into a T-Mobile store (3 lines, all phones paid off), and the guy said he couldn’t come close to the price I’m paying to Verizon.
This decision is both anti-consumer and anti-industry. There is nothing to be glad about.
Nope, has nothing to do with making legitimately sold phones less desirable.To make your phone less desirable to criminals... riiiight...
Is the US the wild wild west? How often do your stores get robbed? Stuff like this would make national news here and i cant remember the last time it happened
Agree, it's not a criminal activity nor is there any statute claiming it is. This is pretty simple, IMHO. Verizon doesn't like black marketers snatching up their iPhones when they come out just to ship them overseas. That's hoarding and exploiting plus it takes away the opportunity for their current customers to upgrade on Day 1. That they will unlock the phone after some period of time discourages this hoarding activity without making it too onerous on their customers. Isn't that why Apple won't sell unlocked phones until supplies are healthy?
Not that I tested it but I imagine if someone needs their phone unlocked quickly due to overseas travel, they'll do it.
Are all your phones paid for? Does your quoted price include any installment payment for phones?
What's going to happen when you buy an unlocked iPhone directly from Apple this spring? Will inserting the Verizon sim locked the phone for whatever length Verizon decides, or will the phone remain unlocked?
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It won't be unlocked if Verizon has it's way. You will need to activate the phone, wait the grace period, and then ask for it to be unlocked.
Not all Verizon related, but:
$370,000 in San Francisco: https://www.theverge.com/2017/11/3/16601970/iphone-x-devices-stolen-apple-store-san-francisco
$590,000 in Netherlands: https://gizmodo.com/this-590-000-iphone-robbery-sounds-like-the-craziest-h-1797392159
300 iPhones (San Fran again): http://abcnews.go.com/Business/300-iphone-xs-stolen-delivery-truck-san-francisco/story?id=50922011
$41,000 from Verizon store in Florida: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/c...es-from-verizon-store/FUfFYd4oeU4eLd9j8JDePI/
What a joke. All phone plans in America are a joke. We need a Robin Hood company to start up here. “RobinHoodwireless”
Verizon plans to stop selling unlocked smartphones as a way to deter criminals from stealing the devices, the company told CNET.
As of today, Verizon devices will be locked to the Verizon network and unlocked as soon as a customer signs up for service and activates the phone. Later in the spring, though, smartphones will remain locked until unlocked by Verizon, and Verizon has not yet shared details on how long it will keep phones locked before offering to unlock them.
Verizon previously sold all of its smartphones, iPhones included, unlocked, which means they were not tied to the Verizon network and could be used with any carrier right after purchase.
Purchasing a Verizon iPhone has long been a way to get an unlocked device right away, as Apple often does not sell its own unlocked models until several weeks to several months after a new iPhone launches.
With the iPhone X, for example, all Verizon models sold in November were unlocked and were able to be used across different cellular networks.
Going forward, the smartphones that Verizon sells will be locked to the Verizon network. Smartphones locked this way will not be compatible with other carriers until unlocked by Verizon, which is similar to how other cellular carriers in the United States operate.
According to Verizon, the new policy is aimed at preventing criminals from stealing unlocked phones that can be resold or used overseas. "We're taking steps to combat this theft and reduce fraud, Tami Erwin, executive vice president of wireless operations for Verizon told CNET in a statement. "These steps will make our phones exponentially less desirable to criminals.
Verizon has not yet shared details on how its unlocking policy will work, but if it's like other carriers, such as AT&T, the company will offer to unlock a smartphone after a waiting period. AT&T requires customers to wait for 60 days, Sprint requires customers to wait for 50 days (and then automatically unlocks devices), and T-Mobile has a 40-day waiting period, but does offer temporary unlocking for customers who need to travel.
AT&T and Sprint require smartphones to be paid off before being unlocked, but CNET says Verizon will allow customers to unlock their devices regardless of whether or not they're paid off once the waiting period has expired.
Article Link: Verizon No Longer Plans to Sell Unlocked iPhones
