Cell phone unlocking on the rise
Wed Jul 16, 2008 11:27AM EDT
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Say you want to use your fancy new Samsung Instinct on a carrier other than Sprint. It can probably be done... but it's likely to be a pain, and it may brick your phone altogether, as cellular unlocking always runs the risk of making your phone inoperable.
Now, MetroPCS (the scrappy, "no contract" regional outlet which has blossomed to 4.4 million subscribers) has launched a service offering to unlock any phone sold by its competitors for use on the MetroPCS network. The unlocking service costs $30 and comes with a free month's worth of calling service. (MetroPCS is a CDMA network, so phones sold by AT&T and T-Mobile aren't eligible. Sorry, iPhone fans!)
Some observers are now expecting other carriers to follow suit, citing the potential for MetroPCS to quickly grab half a million new customers based on the service alone. Imagine the industry havoc if T-Mobile were to launch an iPhone unlocking service to grab customers from AT&T...
Naturally, carriers and phone manufacturers aren't thrilled about the idea of all of this. Unlocking a phone is often a violation of the carrier's terms of service or the phone's EULA (or both), and as BusinessWeek notes, Virgin Mobile and others have already won lawsuits against customers for buying locked phones, unlocking them, then reselling them at a premium as unlocked handsets, but most of those cases have targeted people who resell handsets in bulk. Virgin has complained that the practice has cost the company over $50 million to date.
But the legal tide may be shifting toward the unlockers' favor. One lawyer has sued Verizon and Sprint, with the upshot being that the companies are now supposed to actually help you unlock your phone, but only after the expiration of your contract. The FCC also seems sympathetic to the plight of the unlocker: While it doesn't specifically address unlocking, one of the terms placed on the winner of the recent 700MHz cellular spectrum auction requires that any device that supports the frequency must be allowed to connect to the network. Verizon, which won the auction, has been fighting the rule, but it nonetheless shows that the tide may be shifting that direction.
Comments on Cell phone unlocking on the rise
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2 Posted by druss523 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:48PM EDT Report Abuse
I think we should be able to use any phone on any service with the exception of "exclusive" phones per se the iPhone which is contracted to AT&T. If I want a phone that my cellular service provider doesn't sell, I should stil be able to buy the phone and use it with my service. This will allow the service provider to offer a wider selection of phones for their customer''s to choose from.
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3 Posted by medtech1a on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:14PM EDT Report Abuse
Cell phone carriers think they have control over what us tech freaks want. The haven't a clue. Eventually they will wise up and unlock all phone or else. And yes I enjoy a good challenge.
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4 Posted by mike.falzone on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:19PM EDT Report Abuse
They will never stop cell phone unlocking as long as certain phones only come out for certain carriers. Its a faulty system that gives the consumer nothing but inconvenience.
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5 Posted by antcasa on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:56PM EDT Report Abuse
In many, not all, European countries 'locking' phones is not allowed at it is seen as anti-competitive. And even in the countries where carriers are allowed to indulge in this anti-competitive practice, 'all' phone shops offer an unlocking service, and all carriers offer a 'sim card only' service, for using their cards on unlocked phones. Can't understand how America, with its very competitive and free-market economy can allow phone locking, whereas in 'socialist' Denmark, it is strictly outlawed. (This applies to the Iphone as well, can't remember which countries, but legally unlocked iphones are available in a number of them).
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6 Posted by fareasterntrading on Fri Sep 4, 2009 6:35AM EDT Report Abuse
Whoever dreamed up the entire "locked" thing figured out a way to screw us and put us behind the world in cell phones. DON'T BUY a locked phone you can get lots of unlocked Quad band phones out there. Google Android phones, like the Dream G2 and many others that aren't cheap fakes...yes you can get pretty good iphone clones too they aren't as good as the real deal but cheaper. check it out at; http://all4lessmedia.ecrater.com/category.php?cid=802296
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7 Posted by bmcorson on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:10PM EDT Report Abuse
What's the big deal? T-Mobile and AT&T will give you the unlock code of one of their discounted phones, once you've been a customer for 90 days. Just say you're traveling overseas and need the phone unlocked to use a pre-paid SIM. The subsidy lock allows carriers to give you a discount for a contract. Both T-Mobile and AT&T will let you sign-up for service if you want to use your own unlocked phone. They don't care, because you're a paying customer. If you want an unlocked phone from the get-go, plenty of places will sell them to you (like Best Buy or a ton of them on E-Bay). You just need to pay more than with getting a discount with a contract.
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8 Posted by oji_tanaka2002 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:44PM EDT Report Abuse
I can understand the havoc that ulocking would wreck, but also, why should I be limited by what networks or providers I can use? I should be able to buy the phone I want, then shope around for the best deal in service providers.
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9 Posted by sheelah_n on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:18PM EDT Report Abuse
How the business should work. Choose your phone any model any style....then pick your carrier. Simple. Everyone wins and people would be happy with their carrier because they got who they wanted in the first place. Why it will never be like that? Because people change carriers for different reasons, mostly to get a better phone, which in turn you have to pay a fee to break the contract.... the carriers LOVE FEES. Also by buying the phone direct from the manufacturer we could get it much cheaper than the phone carrier wants to sell it to us? Why are they in the business of selling phones anyway.
1 Posted by davisjms7 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:38PM EDT Report Abuse
I can understand locking cell phones if the carrier gives you the phone free to come over to their service, but if you buy the phone, and these phones are not cheap, then they should be unlocked so you can choose the carrier you want to go with. It is your phone and you should have total rights over it.