Starting Today, It's Illegal to Unlock Your Cellphone

[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]

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]

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]

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/technology/iphone_carrier_subsidy/index.htm

Check out this article.

 

[TheKey]

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/busin...s_paying_more_for_your_phone_is_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.

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.