Starting Today, It's Illegal to Unlock Your Cellphone

[Denim Chicken]

Originally Posted by theogt

Right, this is what makes this decision a proper one. It's also only illegal if you're under contract and your carrier prevents you from unlocking. Your carrier can certainly allow unlocking if they so choose -- and some do.

The key issue here is that you don't own the operating system on your phone. You own a license to use that operating system. And the manufacturer can place restrictions on your license. If you don't like it, don't buy (or license) their products.

This is BS. You own the phone and should be able to do whatever you want with it. What you're saying is akin to buying a car, but you can't modify the computer settings because you don't own the software license. The Govt shouldn't be getting involved in this anyway.

[BrAinPaiNt]

Originally Posted by Denim Chicken

This is BS. You own the phone and should be able to do whatever you want with it. What you're saying is akin to buying a car, but you can't modify the computer settings because you don't own the software license. The Govt shouldn't be getting involved in this anyway.

No he is right.

If you want to buy the phone you can buy one unlocked at FULL PRICE. There is nothing forcing you in not buying a full priced unlocked phone...heck some people do that when a new phone is put out. You buy it from ATT or one of the other providers you are buying it a greatly reduced price and in doing so agree to only use their service.

If you want to compare it to a car it would be like LEASING a car not flat out buying a car.

This day and age it amazes me the number of people who will sign a contract and just don't think they should honor it....that goes for both parties of the contract.

[Denim Chicken]

Originally Posted by BrAinPaiNt

No he is right.

If you want to buy the phone you can buy one unlocked at FULL PRICE. There is nothing forcing you in not buying a full priced unlocked phone...heck some people do that when a new phone is put out. You buy it from ATT or one of the other providers you are buying it a greatly reduced price and in doing so agree to only use their service.

If you want to compare it to a car it would be like LEASING a car not flat out buying a car.

This day and age it amazes me the number of people who will sign a contract and just don't think they should honor it....that goes for both parties of the contract.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but to get the reduced price on the phone you have to sign a two-year contract. So you are already agreeing to use their service or pay a cancellation fee. Now if you do chose to pay the fee or another company buys out your contract you don't have to give the phone back, so I don't think they should tell you what to do with your property. They should actually make the phone a lease if they want to restrict your actions.

[theogt]

Originally Posted by Denim Chicken

This is BS. You own the phone and should be able to do whatever you want with it. What you're saying is akin to buying a car, but you can't modify the computer settings because you don't own the software license. The Govt shouldn't be getting involved in this anyway.

You own the phone. You don't own the software. If you want to completely erase the software (and there was some way to do that), you could. That's not illegal.

[Denim Chicken]

Originally Posted by theogt

You own the phone. You don't own the software. If you want to completely erase the software (and there was some way to do that), you could. That's not illegal.

It's not illegal to 'jailbreak' your device (or 'root') and modify settings other than the SIM. Also, not sure if still true, but it was possible to 'unlock' your phone with a hardware mod-leaving the software unaltered--so should that be illegal too?

[JBond]

If anyone cares, you can unlock AT&T and T-Mobile Galaxy S3's without the carrier being able to do a damn thing about it. There is an easy software hack.

I do think it is silly that there is a law against unlocking a phone that you have purchased assuming you have paid your bill and the contract is up.

[CanadianCowboysFan]

Originally Posted by JBond

If anyone cares, you can unlock AT&T and T-Mobile Galaxy S3's without the carrier being able to do a damn thing about it. There is an easy software hack.

I do think it is silly that there is a law against unlocking a phone that you have purchased assuming you have paid your bill and the contract is up.

Isn't that the key though? Your contract has to be up.

Up here, we don't have that law but carriers now allow you to port your number although most just get new phones if they do. However, my company Telus allows me to switch phones at any time but they figure out my savings on the phone, and reduce it by 1/36 every month that passes. I could switch from my present blackberry to say a Samsung Galaxy SIII no problem, just have to pay out balance on my previous phone.

If I switched carriers mid contract, I would pay a penalty, usually 2-3 months bill.

[rickjameschinaclub]

Originally Posted by TheKey

When you bought the cheap phone, you paid only a fraction of the cost. The carrier subsidized the majority of the cost on the condition that you stay with their service..

You think the price they getting on the phone is anywhere near what your paying for it? Cheap is a relative term.

[TheKey]

Originally Posted by rickjameschinaclub

You think the price they getting on the phone is anywhere near what your paying for it? Cheap is a relative term.

http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/08/tech...sidy/index.htm

Check out this article.

[TheKey]

Originally Posted by Muhast

I have never tried ATT. I know people online complain about it a lot.

T-Mo is very easy. Barely put up any fight at all. I don't think the others are two tough either.

T-Mo is owned by the German company Deutsche Telekom, which has a presence all over Europe. That's probably why.

[rickjameschinaclub]

http://www.slate.com/articles/busine..._good_for.html

Looked into this a little bit more:

Rather than tempt you in the door with low monthly bills, they induce you to switch by offering a discounted price for the latest and greatest phones, with the iPhone being the biggest prize of all. The customer walks out thrilled with the deal he got on his phone. Only later, when his ridiculous, complicated, and obscenely high bill comes, does he realize he has been fleeced.

[View Full Quote]This game’s been working great for Verizon and AT&T, but much less so for T-Mobile. The subsidiary of Germany’s Deutsche Telekom has failed to achieve the scale to compete with the big two, and its corporate masters decided they didn’t want to make a risky investment by growing the company. Plan A to sell T-Mobile to AT&T was blocked by the Justice Department and the FCC, who wanted to preserve competition in the marketplace.


Now T-Mobile’s gearing up to try to compete by changing the game. They’ve finally secured a deal to put the iPhone on their network. They have made the radical and perhaps brilliant decision to sell it and other smartphones without subsidy. That’ll make the devices a lot more expensive. Consumers will be surprised to learn that the $199 iPhone 5 actually retails for $649. AT&T and Verizon essentially pay Apple the full price, sell it to you for the low price, and make it up by charging you more every month.


But that subsidy is quite costly for customers. If you buy a subsidized iPhone 5 from AT&T, the cheapest plan available costs $85 per month and only comes with 1 GB of data, a minimum of $2,040 over the two years of the contract. A basic T-Mobile unlimited voice plan with 2 GB of data costs $59.99 per month, $1,440 over the two years. In order to get that $450 iPhone discount, you would end up paying $600 more to AT&T over the life of the contract, and get less data.